Cementation Skanska, the group’s underground construction specialist, has doubled the size of its Canadian business with the acquisition of Aurora Quarrying Limited, one of Canada’s premier mining contractors.
This move takes the company into the top three in the Canadian market and is part of Cementation Skanska’s long term strategy to have strong local business units in its main markets. It is already the market leader in the United Kingdom and in South Africa.
Stewart Keeble, managing director, said, “Mine contracting has good margins but requires specialist knowledge, people and equipment. This friendly acquisition continues Cementation Skanska’s drive to grow and strengthen its local businesses. Aurora, based in Ontario, brings to Cementation an experienced team of skilled people, a good plant fleet and a strong client base with a broad spread of work in areas where we have not previously been active. Its acquisition takes Cementation into the forefront of North America’s premier mining contractors and engineers.”
For the past two years Cementation Skanska and Aurora have been partnering in a joint venture which resulted in a recognition of their complimentary skills in terms of expertise and market placement. Aurora will now be fully integrated into Cementation Skanska’s Canadian company.
Established in 1972, Aurora has a reputation for performance and excellent customer relationships. Its specialist skills include shaft sinking, alimak raising, lateral developments, contract mining and underground civils work. Over 30 years of trading, it has built up a strong client base and a strong safety culture, recording the lowest accident frequency rate among mining contractors in Ontario in 2000 and 2001.
This complements Cementation Skanska, which prides itself on its strong safety culture and environmental track record. Its projects have received several environmental commendations and earlier this year it gained ISO 14001 accreditation, the internationally recognized standard for environmental practice in the workplace, which Cementation believes is a first for a contractor operating in the mining industry.
In a further recognition of the company’s growing strength, Cementation Skanska was presented with a Queen’s Award for Enterprise last month. This is the UK’s highest recognition for continuous achievement in international trade and acknowledges the company’s position as one of the world’s leaders in its field.