Shares in ASX-listed construction company WestStar Industrial (ASX:WSI) have skyrocketed close to 40% on the back of a major contract win from its wholly-owned subsidiary, SIMPEC.
SIMPEC has received an $8 million contract to provide piping and insulation work at the Tianqi Lithium Kwinana processing plant.
The contract is the single largest project win in SIMPEC’s history.
The award also signifies SIMPEC’s place in the growing Western Australian lithium boom, with the lithium refinery set to emerge as the world’s largest lithium hydroxide plant, with an estimated total output of 48,000 tonnes per annum.
SIMPEC received the contract win from the Tianqi Kwinana plant’s head contractor MSP Engineering, which represents the business’s second contract with MSP.
MSP has engaged SIMEC for works at the Talison lithium project in Greenbushes, most recently with a tanks package as part of a project expansion to increase capacity.
Greenbushes is believed to host the world’s largest known lithium spodumene reserves.
The Tianqi lithium refinery in Kwinana is expected to process spodumene ore from the Talison Greenbushes operation.
Commenting on the number of major lithium project wins, WestStar Industrial director Bert Mondello said:
This award will no doubt place SIMPEC in a strong position to win further work and larger contracts.
“With a strong pipeline and increased tendering activity, we are confident that further awards will result early next year.
“The group order book is now at $25M only half way through the year with much of this total falling within FY19, against full year revenue of $9M for WestStar last year,” he said.
For the past year, SIMPEC has tendered for more than $150 million of work and continues to build its order book with a handful of blue-chip partners, including BHP and Rio Tinto.