Thiess awarded $107 million construction contract by QAL

Issue Date:  11 July 2001
Issued By:  Leighton Holdings Limited

Company Announcements Office
The Australian Stock Exchange Limited
Level 4
20 Bridge Street
Sydney NSW 2000

Re: Thiess awarded $107 million construction contract by QAL

Dear Sir,

Please find attached a copy of a media release to be issued today by Thiess Pty Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Leighton Holdings Limited.

Yours faithfully,


A.J. MOIR
Company Secretary

Thiess awarded $107 million construction contract by QAL

Issue Date: 11 July 2001
Issued by: Thiess Pty Ltd

Major Australian engineering company Thiess Pty Ltd has been awarded a $107 million contract to construct three new Calciners for Queensland Alumina Limited (QAL), as part of a $175 million upgrade of QAL’s Gladstone alumina plant.

Thiess will work with engineering technology company FFE Minerals Australia to design, install, commission and test three 4,500-tonnes-per-day Gas Suspension Calciners and associated infrastructure.

As the name suggests, the Calciners will be utilised for the calcination process, which involves using extremely high temperatures to remove chemically bonded water from the alumina hydrate, ultimately producing the dry alumina powder from which aluminium is made.

The new Calciners will replace existing rotary kilns built in the late sixties.  Although dust levels from the existing calcination stacks are within environmental licence limits, community concern has called for an alternative approach.

Executive General Manager, Qld/NT/PNG Mr Murray Fox said FFE Minerals’ new technology was an environmentally sound solution to a long-term community issue.

“Through advanced technology and best practice construction techniques, we will provide major environmental benefits to both our client, QAL, and the entire Gladstone community,” he said.

“The new Calciners will reduce dust emissions by around 90 per cent, decrease gas usage by a quarter and cut greenhouse gas emissions by 245,000 tonnes per year.”

Project Manager Mr Brad Fackender said that, in addition to the environmental benefits, construction of the Calciners would have a positive economic impact on the Gladstone region.

“Thiess is looking forward to continuing its ongoing relationship with Gladstone, which we developed via projects such as Awoonga Dam in the early eighties and the Boyne Smelter Expansion in the mid nineties, through to our current involvement in the Awoonga expansion,” he said.

“We’re committed to adding value to the communities in which we operate and the fact that the majority of the Calciners workforce (expected to peak at 140) will be sourced locally reinforces this commitment,” he said.

Thiess will commence construction of the Calciners project in December this year and is targeting completion by December 2003.

Ends.

Released by Thiess Pty Ltd - ABN 87 010 221 486

For further information contact:
Mr Murray Fox
Executive General Manager
T: (61) 07 3368 0206

Mr Brad Fackender
Project Manager
T: (61) 0417 793 618

Ms Fiona Murcott
Public Affairs Manager
T: (61) 0419 758 196