2 minute read
It may be small, but Mipac’s Perth team, its office nestled between the CBD’s pedestrian mall and Elizabeth Quay, is the driving force behind some of Mipac’s biggest current and future projects.
And even though Mipac has had a presence in Perth since 2012, starting with a temporary project office to support its First Quantum Minerals (FQM) projects, there were no permanent staff based in Western Australia when the state came out of COVID lockdowns.
“In two short years, we’ve grown significantly, with 10 permanent staff now in our St Georges Terrace office,” says Steven Cohen, Mipac’s Sales and Marketing Manager.
“From Perth, we’re leading the execution of BHP’s West Musgrave project and have developed a healthy pipeline of both greenfield and brownfield projects.”
A global resource hub, Western Australia has always been seen by Mipac’s senior leadership team as an important strategic growth region thanks to its potential to help the company diversify into commodities like lithium (a critical mineral) and iron ore.
In fact, as per the Department of Industry, Science and Resources’ Resources and Energy Major Projects 2023 Report, Western Australia is home to over half of all critical minerals projects in Australia.
Significantly, the mining sector produces over 50 different minerals from 125 projects operating across the state, and Western Australia is ranked among the world’s top five producers for at least a dozen of these commodities. In 2022-2023, Western Australia’s resources sector delivered a sales record of AUD254 billion.
Another benefit of having a Perth office is that this provides a more favourable timezone for meetings with Mipac’s clients in Africa. As Perth-based Business Development Manager Stephen Allan says, “It’s much nicer to have meetings with our clients in Africa at 9pm Perth time (3pm in Zambia) than 11pm Brisbane time!
“Perth is also major engineering hub for Africa, so it makes sense for us to have a presence here.”
The timeline below shows the development of the Mipac Perth team and office since 2012. Over the next 12-24 months, Mipac’s WA team will continue to grow.
“Mipac is 100% committed to growing our Western Australia business. Given our successful track record of partnering with clients in both WA and Africa and the exciting opportunities for both regions, we are planning for a significant expansion in our WA team over the coming months and years,” says Steven Cohen.
Watch this space.
Timeline of Mipac's Perth office
2012
First Mipac presence in WA. Project office set up at 45 Ventnor Avenue, West Perth.
2016
3 operations staff move to Ventnor Avenue office for 2 years to support Cobre Panama project.
2021
One Perth-based senior engineer and one Perth-based business development manager employed, to establish first permanent WA presence.
2022
One project manager relocated to Perth from Brisbane office. Three new control systems engineers employed in Perth.
2023
Mipac’s Perth office moves to Level 10, 99 St George’s Terrace. One business development manager, one project manager and three engineers added to Perth team.
2024
Two more engineers added to Mipac’s Perth office.
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