PDF - 5.5 MB - Leighton Holdings

update
quarterly
February 2008
Qtr02
City of Dreams, Macau Leighton Asia
inside this issue • Half Year Report
• Road construction leads the way • Mt Keith ramps up
• City of Dreams takes shape • 400 George Street pre-sold
• Gold Coast desalination plant update

Leighton
Holdings
Quarterly
Update
2nd
Quarter 02
Wal King AO, Leighton Holdings' Chief Executive Officer
Southbank Redevelopment, Queensland, John Holland
Leighton half year profit up 32%,
work in hand at record $26.7bn
Leighton Holdings has announced a 32% increase
in operating profit after tax and minorities to
$250m (versus $190m last year) from a pre-tax
profit of $322m. A 50% franked interim dividend
of 60 cents was also announced by the directors
representing a 33% increase (45 cents unfranked
last year).
Chief Executive, Mr Wal King, said that he was
very pleased with both the operating performance
of the Group and the progress that had been made
in implementing a number of strategic initiatives
during the period.
“The Group has secured some $12bn of new
work, extensions and variations during the
period boosting work in hand to a record $26.7bn
versus $21.1bn at June 2007. Major construction
projects awarded included the $625m Sugarloaf
pipeline JV project in Victoria, the $1bn Sydney
desalination JV project and the $560m Saadiyat
Island highway in Abu Dhabi,” he said.
“New mining contracts includes the Tarong,
Sonoma and Lake Vermont coal mines in
Queensland. Significant extensions were also
awarded at the Yandi and Area C iron ore mines in
Western Australia, the South Walker Creek
coal mine in Queensland, the Challenger gold
mine in South Australia and at the MSJ coal mine
in Indonesia.
“Our work load translated into revenue growth
of 14% with total revenue for the six months
of $6.5bn. Of the Group’s major markets,
infrastructure provided revenue of $3.6bn (up 20%),
resources of $1.7bn (down 8%) and property of
$1.2bn (up 44%),” said Mr King.
“A highlight of the period was the acquisition of a
45% stake in Al Habtoor Engineering, one of the
leading construction contractors in the Gulf region,
for approximately $860m. Al Habtoor-Leighton
immediately became one of the region’s largest
multi-disciplined contractors.
“Al Habtoor provides Leighton with a significant
increase in capacity to enable both parties to
fully capitalise on the numerous opportunities in
the Gulf market, particularly in the United Arab
Emirates. The transaction brought an incremental
work in hand to the Group of some $1.5bn.
“A long-term joint venture agreement has
also been signed with Tourism Development
& Investment Company (TDIC) in Abu Dhabi.
The JV will undertake contracting and provide
management services for TDIC as they develop
billions of dollars of real estate and infrastructure
over the next few years,” said Mr King.
“The longer term outlook for the Group remains
positive driven by a record level of work, >>

30000
Leighton
Holdings
Quarterly
Update
2nd
Quarter 03
Financial Highlights
Key Performance Indicators for the Half Year period to 31 December
New Perth Bunbury Highway, Western Australia,
Leighton Contractors
31 Dec 2007 31 Dec 2006 %
$’000 $’000 Change
Revenue
- Group 4,755,610 4,897,513 (2.9%)
- Joint Venture Entities and Associates 1,755,074 805,065 118.0%
Other Revenue 25,125 22,395 12.2%
Total Revenue (includes the Group’s share 6,535,809 5,724,973 14.2%
of joint ventures and associates)
New Contracts, Extensions & Variations 12,347,103 9,630,252 28.2%
Value of Work in Hand (includes the Group’s 26,657,038 20,095,854 32.6%
share of joint ventures and associates)
Profit before tax 321,712 246,143 30.7%
Income Tax (70,989) (55,558) 27.8%
Minorities (473) (578) (18.2%)
Profit after tax 250,250 190,007 31.7%
Earnings per Ordinary Share 90.0¢ 68.3¢ 31.8%
Dividends per Ordinary Share 60.0¢ 45.0¢ 33.3%
31 Dec 2007 30 June 2007 %
$’000 $’000 Change
Total Capital and Reserves 1,432,889 1,350,473 6.1%
(excludes minority interests)
Total Assets 5,830,202 4,745,202 22.9%
Cash net of Borrowings (644,783) 669,262 (196.3%)
Undrawn Facilities and Guarantees 736,108 740,512 (0.6%)
Interim Dividend
The directors have announced an interim
dividend of 60 cents per share, 50% franked at
a tax rate of 30%, payable on 31 March 2008.
For non-resident and corporate shareholders
the dividend will include 30 cents per share
conduit foreign income.
Close of Books
For the purpose of determining dividend
entitlements, the Company’s Share Registry
Office will accept registrable transfers up to
5pm on Friday, 14 March 2008 if paper-based,
or by end of day on that date if transmitted
electronically on CHESS. Leighton shares are
expected to trade ex-dividend on the Australian
Securities Exchange on 7 March 2008.
Leighton Notes
Interest on Leighton Holdings Limited’s $200m
of Convertible Unsecured Subordinated
Resettable Notes (‘Leighton Notes’) will be
paid on 2 June 2008 at the rate of 8.01% pa in
respect of the period from 30 November 2007
to 28 January 2008 (both dates included) and at
the rate of 8.51% pa in respect of the period
from 29 January to 30 May 2008 (both dates
included). For the purpose of determining
Noteholders entitlements to the payment of
interest on the Leighton Notes only those
persons who are registered as Noteholders at
7.00pm on 23 May 2008 ('Record Date') shall
be entitled to receive the payment.

Leighton
Holdings
Quarterly
Update
2nd
Quarter 04
Gateway Bridge Duplication, Queensland, Leighton Contractors
>>
a strong competitive position in core markets,
continued growth in those core markets, and the
implementation of a range of strategic initiatives.
The backing of a strong balance sheet means that
the Group is well placed to invest for growth and
to pursue opportunities.
“Construction levels across the infrastructure and
property markets are forecast to stay strong for the
next five years stimulated by Australia’s sustained
economic growth. Investment in infrastructure will
continue to be driven by a growing population,
past under-investment and a commitment by
governments to resolve some of the existing
bottlenecks and deficiencies.
“The resources boom is set to continue for coal,
iron ore and energy related commodities during
2008 and 2009 with high commodity prices
likely to sustain investment in projects at high
levels. The Group is well positioned to increase
its contract mining activity as new mines are
opened up and existing clients seek to increase
production,” he said.
“Non-residential property remains strong in 2008,
due primarily to the strength of the economy - with
employment and business conditions remaining
positive - and the market should stay at similarly
high levels over the next five years. Medical and
educational facilities are likely to benefit from
continued investment from both the public and
private sectors.
“Real estate has been the major driver of project
activity in the Gulf, however a shift is now
occurring towards public infrastructure projects –
in water, power and transport. Construction across
both these sectors is now occurring simultaneously
and Al Habtoor-Leighton is well positioned to
undertake this work.
“Mining remains a key driver for Indonesia
and, with vast reserves of coal, oil and gas,
and its proximity to China and India, its future
looks positive. The Hong Kong Government has
announced an increase in capital expenditure over
the next few years, with rail and infrastructure
projects expected to dominate the market,”
said Mr King.
“In Macau, expansions to existing casino and hotel
complexes are underway or in planning while
other new developments remain on the drawing
boards. The current building boom in Macau is
coinciding with large infrastructure demands
– particularly for transport,” he said.
“We have restructured Leighton Asia and I’m
pleased to advise that Mr Hamish Tyrwhitt has
taken over the role of Managing Director from
1 January 2008 and has been appointed an
Associate Director of Leighton Holdings Limited.
This follows the decision by Mr Joe Dujmovic to
step down as Managing Director to concentrate on
health and personal matters.
“Hamish was most recently General Manager,
Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and New
Zealand for Leighton Contractors and prior to that
was General Manager, Malaysia for Leighton Asia
(Southern). He has 25 years of industry experience
and spent more than 20 years working for the
Leighton Group,” said Mr King.
John Holland Aviation Services, Victoria
Prominent Hill copper gold mine, South Australia, Thiess
“The balance sheet remains solid with total assets
of $5.8bn and gross cash of $511m. A disciplined
capital management plan is in place which
ensures the Group has the financial resources to
pursue growth opportunities to further diversify the
business.
“The Group’s work in hand maintains the great
momentum and revenue for the full year is
forecast to be over $14.5bn. We expect our 2008
profit to be up by at least 30% on last year’s record
result of $450m, which was up 63% on the
previous year,” said Mr King.

Leighton
Holdings
Quarterly
Update
2nd
Quarter 01
Saadiyat Link expressway, United Arab Emirates
Leighton International signs
long-term joint venture
agreement with TDIC
in Abu Dhabi
Tourism Development & Investment Company (TDIC), the tourism
asset development arm of the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority
(ADTA), has entered into a joint venture agreement with Leighton
to create a major new force in construction in the United Arab
Emirates’ capital.
Angsana Eastern Mangrove project, United Arab Emirates
TDIC Headquarters enabling works, United Arab Emirates
The new 51:49 joint venture, TDIC-Leighton
Contracting LLC, has been formed to
undertake contracting for civil engineering
and infrastructure, building, and mechanical
and electrical projects, project and
construction management and facilities
management services for TDIC.
Initial projects covered by the agreement
include the 6.5km, Saadiyat Link road
(awarded to Leighton in September this
year) which will connect Abu Dhabi's
Shahama district to Saadiyat Island, the
27km 2 island lying offshore Abu Dhabi city
and which is being transformed into a
signature leisure, cultural and residential
destination. The Saadiyat Link road will
transverse the island and connect to the
10-lane Saadiyat Bridge, which is already
under construction from Abu Dhabi's Mina
Zayed area. The Saadiyat Link, which
includes five lanes in each direction, is due
for completion in 2009.
The contract covers construction of the
Saadiyat Link and associated side roads;
the main feeder road to the up-market
Saadiyat Beach district, providing easy
access to the planned five-star resorts and
golf course; seven bridges with a total deck
length of 1.6km; three tunnels; 10.7km of
storm water drainage; 22.3km of sewerage
systems; a 30km potable water network with
a ground storage tank and pump station,
various mechanical and electrical works,
and installation of all utilities required to
service Saadiyat Link and the Saadiyat
Beach district including all hotels, residential
developments and road systems.
Other projects covered by the agreement
include the Eastern Mangroves Hotel and
the new TDIC headquarters being built
adjacent to Maqta Bridge, the main gateway
to Abu Dhabi city.
Managing Director of the Al Habtoor
Leighton Group and Leighton International,
David Savage, says the agreement
represents one of the Group's most
significant partnerships, and will underwrite
the company's business in Abu Dhabi for the
foreseeable future.
"TDIC is one of Abu Dhabi's largest, most
respected developers," he said. "We
are delighted that it has selected us as
its partner for its exciting development
program. We look forward to working
with TDIC to develop Abu Dhabi into one
of the world's leading tourist and cultural
destinations."
The agreement is expected to generate a
minimum annual revenue of US$270m in the
first year, growing to a minimum of US$1.4bn
in the fifth year.
"In line with TDIC's overall ethos of
employing best practices, this new joint
venture will adhere to global standards
in human resources, health, safety and
environment deployment," said Lee Tabler,
Chief Executive Officer, TDIC.
"While Leighton will bid for additional TDIC
contracts, it will be judged on a purely
professional and commercial basis in a
transparent and competitive process.
"Leighton has repeatedly demonstrated
long-term commitment to Abu Dhabi and
the wider region in terms of investment, a
factor which weighed heavily in its favour
when selecting a joint venture partner.
Once again, TDIC has demonstrated its own
ability to forge partnerships with truly worldclass
providers raising the benchmark for
quality delivery.
"The size, scope and complexity of some of
the projects we are planning here require
world-class contractors who prioritise
environmental sustainability in the design
and construction processes. Leighton is
regarded as a world-leader in its field and is
a good fit for what we are trying to achieve",
added Mr Tabler.

Leighton
Holdings
Quarterly
Update
2nd
Quarter 06
Total road and bridge construction
work done at historical peaks
$bn
15
12
9
Stand-alone bridges
6
Runways and access roads
Subdivisions
Local roads
3
Private toll roads
Highways and arterials
0
1992
1994
1996
1998
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
2012
Value of construction work done in 2005/06 constant dollars for year ending June.
Source: BIS Shrapnel
Road construction market
leads the way
The road and bridge construction market is approaching a record
value of $12bn of annual work done, which currently represents
over 20% of engineering construction work occurring nationally.
The immediate future holds very strong and consistent levels of
work, with the major challenges being the availability and cost of
labour and materials.
Traditionally, road construction activity has tended
to follow residential construction cycle trends,
driven by subdivision work undertaken by private
developers and the construction of local roads.
A key component of the current roads 'boom,'
however, has been the $15bn Federal Government
Auslink program, which has directed State and
Federal funding into national arterials, highways
and tollways, with additional contribution from
the private sector. Population growth and the
establishment of regional corridors are two of the
reasons for increased focus on nation-wide long
term roads planning. Additionally, the movement
of road freight in Australia has doubled in the
last twenty years and is forecast to double again
over the next twenty years. Based on the success
of the first five year program, and the incredible
amount of work still to be done, Auslink II is due
to commence in 2009/10 for another five years,
with a record $22bn budget. This is expected to
coincide with a dramatic upturn in residential
activity which would take road construction to
new heights.
The shift from public to private spending
The other significant element of the increase in
road construction is the level and percentage of
work undertaken by the private sector. There has
been a considerable change in the delivery of key
economic infrastructure and the new models are
likely here to stay. The success of alliances and
Private Public Partnerships (PPPs) for tollroads and
major highway upgrades has also seen an increase
in the value of maintenance work outsourced as it
is built into the overall project contract period.
Spending cycles across the States
to diverge
Based on current State and Federal project
commitments, there is considerable difference in
the growth potential of construction work across
the States. Brisbane and its surrounds has a
record, much needed commitment of over $4.0bn
per annum to create and improve transport routes
around the city and between its satellite cities,
as it prepares for a population expansion of over
1.5 million people over the next 20 years. This
includes the $3.0bn Airport Link and the proposed
widening of the Ipswich Motorway estimated to
cost $1.5bn. Bids for the Airport Link closed in

Leighton
Holdings
Quarterly
Update
2nd
Quarter 07
Qld to drive the nation's spending,
with NSW expecting future growth
$bn
Queensland
New South Wales
Victoria
Western Australia
South Australia
Other
Value of construction work done in 2005/06 constant dollars for year ending June.
Source: BIS Shrapnel
December 2007 with a decision expected to be
announced mid-2008. Expressions of interest have
also just been called for the $2.0bn Northern Link
which would commence in 2010.
NSW has just finished its record levels of road
construction peaking at $4.0bn in 2006. This was
driven by the completion of the Westlink M7,
Cross City Tunnel and Lane Cove Tunnel. However,
as the nation's most populous State it has not
seen the end of the required investment. Major
upgrades are proposed for the Pacific Highway
and Hume Highway, and new connecting roads
including the M4 East, F3 - Sydney Orbital Link, F3
- Branxton Link and a new F6 tollroad are planned.
This is expected to coincide with the long-awaited
pick-up in subdivision activity, pointing to another
particularly competitive time for resources.
Victoria has also come off its record spend of
over $2.5bn in 2007 with the near completion of
EastLink. This provided a massive investment with
over 40km of roads and 88 bridges constructed
over a three year period. Victoria has no projects of
this size in the immediate pipeline, and activity is
expected to remain below $2.0bn per annum over
the next five years. This is still considerably higher
than historical trend levels however and should
provide steady workflow. Post 2012 it is expected
that either the Eastern Freeway Extension or the
East West Tunnel will commence.
The other state to see a significant change
is South Australia. While its total value of
investment is small relative to other States at
around $0.5bn, it is likely to see over 65% growth
in private sector road construction in the four years
Total project
Major road projects for the future State value ($m)
M4 Tollroad - City West Link (M4 East) NSW 7000
F3 - Sydney Orbital Link NSW 3000
F6 tollroad NSW 2200
Gateway Motorway Upgrades QLD 3500
Airport Link QLD 3000
Northern Link QLD 2000
Ipswich Motorway QLD 1600
Toowoomba Range Bypass QLD 1500
Bruce Highway: Brisbane to Sarina QLD 1200
Further South Road Improvements SA 2000
East-West Link Tunnel VIC 5000
Western Ring Road - widening VIC 2200
Eastern Freeway extension VIC 2000
Source: BIS Shrapnel
to 2009/10. It's economy is entering a new era of
growth with major mining opportunities pumping
new investment into the State. This has created
solid business conditions and employment, as well
as underlying demand for key infrastructure.
Post 2012 road construction expected
to climb even higher
Across Australia there are at least 12 projects with
a combined value of over $25bn waiting in the
wings, as set out in the table above. There is the
possibility some of these will be brought forward
to commence before 2012 once the allocation of
Auslink II occurs, including the M4 East in NSW.
Overall, the future for roads looks very bright.

Leighton
Holdings
Quarterly
Update
2nd
Quarter
08
Hard at work on Brisbane's
North South Bypass Tunnel
Leighton Contractors, along with partners Baulderstone Hornibrook
and Bilfinger Berger Concessions, is designing and building
Brisbane's first privately financed toll road, the $1.94bn
North-South Bypass Tunnel (NSBT).
Tony Spink, Project Director
Tony Spink, the Project Director discusses the
progress made so far.
"The project is 6.8km from end to end, and
comprises 4.8km of tunnels that will link the Inner
City Bypass and Lutwyche Road in the north with
Shafston Avenue, Ipswich Road and the Pacific
Motorway in the south. The NSBT will greatly
reduce traffic congestion in Brisbane.
"While contract completion for the project is
October 2010, we’re working very solidly towards
opening the project earlier.
"There are several big challenges to meet. It’s
not a green field site, we’re working right in the
middle of the city. We have to deal with very hard
rock called Brisbane Tuff that has a strength of
about 100mva, or about 3 or 4 times harder than
Sydney Sandstone. We are boring underneath
the Brisbane River. Importantly though, we have
assembled a highly capable and experienced
construction team that is very focused on
effectively managing each of these challenges.
"The job connects into the Brisbane arterial road
system at either end and in the middle but it’s
really a tunnelling job with some big equipment.
"We’re using two tunnel boring machines (TBMs)
as well as eight roadheader mining machines.
The value of all that equipment and the ancillary
equipment that goes with it is about $150m.
"The TBMs we’re using are 12.4m in diameter
and double shielded - the largest ones ever used
in Australia. The tunnel boring machines will be
critical to our success and there’s been a lot of
work put into the design, development and then
the procurement of them through Herrenknecht
which is a German company specialising in TBMs.
"Each TBM will advance 16 to 20 metres every
day leaving behind a completely lined and safe
tunnel for the state of the art mechanical and
electrical installations. Roadheaders are used
for the atypical sections of excavation and by
comparison each roadheader advances less than
2 metres per day.
"Due to the severe water restrictions in Brisbane
we can’t use potable (town) water for any
construction purpose and we do have a big
demand with our tunnelling operations. The TBMs
require something like 500,000 litres of water a
day. It has to be clean water, so to produce this
water we’re taking water out of a nearby creek
adjacent to the work and we’re putting it through
a desalination plant. So that’s made us relatively
independent going forward.
"Health and safety is a big issue on this job. We
have 2,000 employed at the coal face. We’ve got
a precast concrete segment producing factory
out at Eagle Farm near the airport and the job
extends right through to Woolloongabba down in
the south. So keeping those people safe over that
scattered distance is a big logistics exercise for us
and the work is done on a 24/7 basis which just
renders the task even more difficult.
"We’ve really taken a practical common sense
approach to safety and have a simple plain English
system with a view that we have to communicate
this system to some 2,000 people. It seems to
have worked quite effectively to date.
"This is a job built on the outskirts of the Brisbane
CBD, right in the middle of built up suburbs. A lot
of our work sites are built within 10m or less of
private homes and most of the work is located
right next door to very dense traffic on heavily
congested roads around Brisbane.
"Managing the interface with the community is a
big task. We’ve got a dedicated team of 7 people
to do it and we have an extensive programme
of proactive consultation and notification of
impending work.
"Success for me on the NSBT will be providing a
good workplace for people where they’re paid well
and they’re safe, and that we finish the job early
to reduce risk. The other thing I’d like to leave
behind on the job is that our neighbours feel that
they’ve been dealt with fairly and reasonably by us
in what is quite a difficult environment,”
emphasised Mr Spink.

NSBT Tunnel Boring Machines at a glance:
- Largest double-shield tunnel boring
machine ever manufactured in the world.
- Largest tunnel boring machine ever used
in Australia.
- The cost of each TBM is $50m.
- The diameter of each TBM is 12.4 metres
(equivalent to a 4-storey building).
- The length of each TBM is 253m.
- The weight of each TBM is 4,000 tonne
(as much as 2,350 family cars).
- The tunnel boring machines are made
from steel.
- Each TBM cutterhead includes 77
tungsten carbide tipped 19 inch
disc cutters.
- A team of 21 people per shift will operate
each tunnel boring machine 24-hours
per day.
- The TBMs will remove approximately
3.5 million tonnes of rock to construct
Brisbane’s first major road tunnel (enough
rock to fill the Brisbane Cricket Ground,
the Gabba, nine times over).

Leighton
Holdings
Quarterly
Update
2nd
Quarter 10
Leighton Asia's City of Dreams takes shape
Leighton Asia and John Holland, in joint venture with China
State Construction Engineering, are undertaking a management
contract for the construction of the City of Dreams in Macau.
The development comprises: four deluxe towers of between
28 and 35 storeys, providing hotel accommodation ranging from
four stars up; serviced apartments; an underwater-themed casino;
a luxury retail arcade; international food and beverage outlets, and
a performance hall with seating for around 2000 people.
Roger Barnett, Project Director of the City of
Dreams talks about the project.
"The City of Dreams project in Macau is a
US$2bn+ fast track construction project. The
Leighton Asia, China State and John Holland joint
venture (LCJ) client is the Melco PBL Development
Company which is an organisation formed by
Laurence Ho's Melco gaming industry and James
Packer's Crown Limited.
"We are constructing over 600,000m 2 of floor area
within the development, which is the equivalent of
about 55 soccer pitches. The progress here is quite
remarkable. We poured the first blinding concrete
on the ground on 17 January 2007. Since then we
have poured 225,000m 3 of concrete. That's about a
hundred trucks every day since then.
"40,000 tonnes of structural steel have been
fabricated over in mainland China in a factory that
we established for this project. We have broken
all records for fabricating steel in Guangzhou
Province. There's another 40,000 tonnes of steel
reinforcing in the concrete structure. We also have
dedicated factories in China manufacturing the
façade and other construction components.
"The client is undertaking the design of the City
of Dreams. Design and statutory approvals are
currently controlling progress on the project, so
we are doing all we can to help its advancement.
We have recently combined all our staff into a
600 man office on the northern edge of the site to
streamline the coordination process.
"Macau used to be a very sleepy little town
where people, such as myself, used to bring our
families for a quiet weekend. Now of course it has
completely changed, it has overtaken Las Vegas
in the gambling stakes. It is like Las Vegas on
steroids. It is absolutely booming. Having said that
there is still some of the old Macau here. There's
the old red district (so called for the dyes from
the garment factories,) the old narrow streets and
there is Coloane, which is a quiet beach area.
It is a unique blend of the modern casinos and the
little restaurants. It is quite a pleasant place to live
and work.

Leighton
Holdings
Quarterly
Update
2nd
Quarter 11
Roger Barnett, Project Director
"About 50% of our 2,500 workforce come from
Hong Kong. The remainder are Macanese and
mainland Chinese labour. This creates challenges
because the Macanese have never been exposed
to the level of safety standards that our Hong Kong
labour works to and for the mainlanders this is a
completely different ball game.
"We are developing a program with Mandarin
speaking safety officers to communicate the
need for good safety behaviours. We have
also introduced the Leighton SafeX "reward for
safety" system into this project and it's proving
very successful with the Macanese and the
mainlanders, who haven't encountered this
approach before. It's really quite exciting to see
how it changes their attitude.
"The casino projects in Macau have created a lot
of jobs for the local community, certainly in the
gaming and catering areas. We are quite well
known in the community and we need to keep
high standards of behaviour and communication
here. We also need to be conscious that we are
guests in somebody else's country.
"We continually interface with the university
and the international school next to us. We have
improved their facilities and assist them wherever
we can.
"Environmentally we maintain the standards of
Leighton Asia and have all the usual procedures
that go with it.
"Our staff are a combination of secondees from
Leighton Asia, mainly out of Hong Kong, John
Holland out of New South Wales and China State
of course. We are working very well together. I
never cease to be amazed at the way the young
Australians fit into this very different environment.
It really suits their culture and background.
"We do introduce technology into the job wherever
we can, but the Chinese traditionally like to do
things their own way. A lot of our Australians,
certainly the site managers, bring in their way
of doing things. Our big balloon lights are an
example. I know these were used on the Lane
Cove Tunnel project in New South Wales, but they
have never been used in these parts of the world
before. They raised a lot of interest and because
we are working here seven days a week, 24 hours
a day, we have to have good lighting and they are
proving very effective.
"Another initiative we are employing is the
aluminium pan formwork system or the slab
construction on the hotels, rather than the
traditional Chinese knock down timber formwork.
This is proving very successful.
"A primary measure of success on this project
is turnover. Quite simply, the more we spend
the better the progress we are making. Every
month, the first thing we look out for is how much
turnover we have achieved and the figures are
quite staggering. We believe at some stage we
are going to hit the HK$1bn per month mark during
our peak periods. We haven't got there yet but we
are determined to.
"City of Dreams is a fantastic project to be
involved with. It is an enormous challenge, we
have a great team of people here and they're all
completely dedicated to getting this job over the
line," enthused Mr Barnett.

Leighton
Holdings
Quarterly
Update
2nd
Quarter 01

Leighton
Holdings
Quarterly
Update
2nd
Quarter 13
Thiess' Mt Keith nickel mine
ramps up operations
The Mt Keith project is an alliance between BHP Billiton
and Thiess, which has been running successfully
for the past five years.
Ben Hiatt, the Project Manager, discusses
the ramping up of the project.
"We have just increased our mining from
37 million bank cubic meters (BCM) a year to
45 million BCM a year and will be further
expanding the output to 57 million BCM by
June 2008.
"We currently run a fleet of 48 Caterpillar 793
haul trucks, 3 Leibherr 996 shovels and 3 O&K
340 shovel/excavators. We'll soon be adding
another 13 Caterpillar 793 trucks along with
2 Hitachi EX8000 face shovels, the first 850 tonne
hydraulic shovels in Australia.
“One of the biggest challenges with ramping up
the output is staffing. Currently we have
555 people in the Alliance, but we'll be
expanding this to more than 650 people by the
second half of 2008. In order to mitigate the skill
shortage being experienced around Australia and
particularly in Western Australia, the Alliance is
sourcing people from interstate and overseas.
We are also undertaking a substantial 'Green
Program,' training inexperienced people to
operate the equipment.
“BHP Billiton acquired a simulator to enhance the
Green Program. The simulator is a great resource
for teaching people that have had no mining
experience, in a safe environment, the basics of
operating a haul truck. BHP Billiton recently also
added a shovel module that will assist with upskilling
our operators' shovel and excavator skills.
The simulator reduces the impact of training on
production while people are learning the hand-eye
skills and minimises equipment damage.
“Technology is also helping our site safety. We use
slope stability radars to monitor the mine walls.
These radars can detect mine wall movement to
within 3mm. Due to the depth of the Mt Keith pit
and because of its complex highwall structures
the radars are crucial to continued operations.
They give us the confidence to continue mining
knowing that we can evacuate operators before
any rock fall.
“As you can imagine with a pit this size dust
can be a problem. We currently have 4 water
trucks working at any one time. We’re using subpotable
water and we’re also trialling a number
of different products for dust suppression on the
roads. Automatic watering via remote sprinkler
heads has also been introduced and is working
well on the mine stockpile. It is being considered
for other areas on site as our workload increases.
“I believe the culture within the Alliance is a
positive one. We have the opportunity to use the
strengths of both Thiess and BHP Billiton to get
the best possible outcome for the business. I have
a number of different people reporting to me from
both BHP Billiton and Thiess. No-one talks about
which organisation they work for. It’s all about the
project and how we’re going to get the job done,
how we’re going to do it safely, how we’re going
to continue to improve and how we’re going to
meet the goals and targets," said Mr Hiatt.
“Zero harm is a primary focus and concern at
Mt Keith. We are striving to ingrain a leading
'zero harm' culture within the Alliance. We have
substantial processes and auditing systems
that support our health and safety performance,
but we also put a lot of effort into behaviour
modification and peer-on-peer empowerment to
safely manage our day to day tasks.

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Quarter 14
underground brine outlet tunnel
underground inlet tunnel
underground fresh water pipe
pumping station
pumps
drum screen
residuals area
15Ml tank
15Ml tank
flocculation tanks
filter beds
reverse osmosis building
Gold Coast Desalination Project
now over 50 percent complete
The John Holland Group is part of the GCD Alliance, which was
awarded a contract to construct, operate and maintain the
Gold Coast Desalination Project in December 2005. The GCD
Alliance is comprised of John Holland, Veolia Water, Sinclair
Knight Merz and Cardno, and is delivering the project on behalf of
SureSmartWater - a 50/50 joint venture between Queensland State
Government and Gold Coast City Council.
John Pincock, Project Director of the Gold
Coast Desalination Project, talks about it's
operation and progress.
"The Gold Coast Desalination Plant is a project
capable of delivering 125 megalitres per day
ensuring the future water supply of South East
Queensland. The project is on schedule to supply
first water in November 2008 and full water
capacity in January 2009.
"John Holland is the principal contractor in the
alliance, Veolia provides the process technology,
SKM provides the detailed main plant design and
Cardno provides the detailed pipeline design.
"The project is located at Tugun, on a 6ha site, on
the coast of South East Queensland. The site was
chosen specifically because of its proximity to both
the ocean and also to the existing water pipework
infrastructure. We commenced the project in
August 2006 with remediation of the site which
was an ex-waste disposal area.
"In order to proceed with the project we carried
out a full Environmentally Relevant Activity
Application, involving numerous plans and studies
by various universities to ensure that the impact of
the project on the environment is minimal.
"The project is comprised of three main
components. The first of these are the two
tunnels, an inlet tunnel and an outlet tunnel, one
2.4km long and the other 2.2km and both are
nearing completion. The second component is our
24km pipeline, which is currently at about 9km
laid, and is scheduled to take water around about
mid-June this year. The final component and the
heart of the project is the desalination plant, which
is around 60% complete.
"The two tunnels we are constructing are about
3m in diameter. In order to get the job completed
on time we acquired two Herrenknecht tunnel
boring machines, manufactured in Germany. Once
we are finished with the machines they are buried
out under the sea bed as we are unable to retract
them from the tunnels that they have formed.
"In order to get 100 year durability for the concrete
inlet and outlet tunnels, our segment liners
have metal fibres in the concrete instead of the
standard metal reinforcing. This hasn't been done
for this application before in Australia, although it
has been done in Europe with great success.
"The desalination process is really quite simple.
We take water in from the sea, using a gravity fed
system, through the intake tunnel which is 20m

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filtered sea water tank
below the surface of the sea. It then comes into
the site through a shaft which is approximately
70m below ground level. On top of that shaft we
have a number of pumps which pump the sea
water through a preliminary intake drum screen
before it reaches the flocculation tank. There we
add a flocculent aid which causes fine suspended
particles in the sea water to aggregate before the
water goes through a number of filter beds. The
filters are very similar to swimming pool filters,
using sand and anthracite as a filter medium.
"We then hold that filtered sea water in a tank
before pumping it into the reverse osmosis
building. There we have a number of modules
carrying reverse osmosis membranes (which
are very fine membranes.) The water is pumped
through at a relatively high pressure of 64 bar
and there the salt is trapped in the membranes.
Because the processed water is so pure, we have
to add minerals to make it taste like tap water. The
water comes out from the membranes into two
large 15Ml tanks. When we backwash the filters,
instead of pumping that backwash out to sea we
put it through the residuals area where it forms
into sludge and we take it to landfill.
"In order to get the water from the plant out to the
distribution network for the public, it goes through
a pumping station, then via a one metre diameter
cement lined pipe which is buried underground.
This pipeline will be laid through a number of
easements and roads. Once we have gone
through these areas, we reinstate them and
revegetate them.
"Of the water that comes into the plant only one
third of it actually goes out as pure water. The
other two thirds, which is brine, is twice as salty
as the water that's coming in and this is pumped
back into the discharge shaft and then by gravity
goes back out to sea. When it goes back out to
sea, in an area of about 120m by 225m, the water
mixes in with the sea water and returns to normal
salinity levels. This is due to the wave and tidal
movements and to the design of our distribution
system on the sea bed which also has minimal
effect on the marine micro organisms that live in
the sand.
"Site safety has been a first priority for us. It has
been a magnificent feat for the alliance to reach
1.75 million man-hours without a lost time injury.
This has taken a lot of commitment and hard work
from the team. Our motto is that if it doesn't feel
safe, if it doesn't look safe, then we don't do it.
"Working at heights is a major risk here. We
ensure that everybody is thoroughly trained to
work at heights. We also have barge work in
over 20m deep water and tunnelling work under
pressure, which is why we have a hyperbaric
chamber on site. Because we are such a compact
site, one of the other important safety issues
is pedestrian and vehicular interaction. We are
constantly evolving the layout of the site as the
project progresses and at our pre-starts we make
a point of advising everybody of any changes to
crane movements and to road access changes.
"Another challenge is that we are located in a
heavily populated part of South East Queensland.
At the start of our project all access to the site
was through Boyd Street which goes through a
residential area and in order to minimise the effect
on the community we built our own access road to
take all construction traffic away from Boyd Street.
Our interaction with the community has been
carried off in an exemplary manner with their full
support," said Mr Pincock.

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Quarterly
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2nd
Quarter 16
Andrew Borger, Leighton Properties' Queensland Manager
Leighton Properties pre-sells
its half share in 400 George
Street Brisbane for $210m
The sale, to HSBC Trinkaus, settled in December 2007.
The transaction demonstrates the level of international interest in
Brisbane’s booming commercial property market.
Andrew Borger, Leighton Properties'
Queensland Manager, offers an insight into
this development.
“400 George Street is a joint venture with
Grosvenor Australia. The development includes
43,000m 2 of 'A-grade' office space, a food hall,
restaurants, a childcare centre and a gymnasium.
“Leighton Properties and Grosvenor Australia
secured the prominent 2,902m 2 site in the middle
of 2006 and contracted award winning architect
Cox Rayner to complete the design. Cox Rayner
were aligned 100% with our commitment to
develop a high quality sustainable development.
"Thiess commenced construction in December
2006 and the project is on track for completion
by mid 2009. 400 George Street will showcase
Australian excellence in environmentally
sustainable design, and has achieved a 5 Star
Green Star office design rating with a predicted
4.5 Star ABGR rating. 400 George Street's smart
technology and facilities will create what we
believe to be the best building in Brisbane and an
iconic landmark for the future.
“Jones Lang LaSalle’s Corporate Services Team in
Canberra identified a possible Federal Government
11,500m 2 requirement in Brisbane which resulted
in the first 9 commercial levels of the 400 George
Street development being leased. After securing
a lease agreement, for in excess of 23,000m 2 , to
the Commonwealth Government and private sector
tenants, Leighton Properties sold its half share
of the project to HSBC Trinkaus of Germany for
$210m last December.
"HSBC Trinkhaus were working with CBRE to find

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Quarter 17
their first investment in the Australian market
and decided on the booming Brisbane market and
400 George Street. This is a record pre-sale for
any project on a rate per m 2 basis anywhere in
Australia. It reflects both the quality of the projects
that Leighton Properties develops and the healthy
state of the Brisbane market.
“When we first started this project we wanted
to understand what people really wanted out of
their buildings. We engaged Wesley Corporate
Health to do a major study into the future of work.
We found that it wasn’t just the office space that
people were focused on, there were a lot of other
things. That's why we introduced a childcare
centre into the development, a gymnasium, a
healthy food court, restaurants, and retail services.
We will also provide some 282 bike racks,
showers, change rooms and locker rooms, offering
people an alternative way to come into work.
We’ve had a great response to that, resulting in
this project attaining one of the largest leasing
pre-commitments in 2007 in the Brisbane CBD.
“We’re working with our neighbour - the owner
of the adjoining 100 year old heritage listed
McDonnell and East building, integrating its
carparking access and loading dock facilities into
our development to provide a best-for-site solution.
That building was able to be refurbished and repositioned
as a result. A great win-win partnership
with our neighbour.
“One of the things that we’ve done to deliver
a very sustainable 400 George Street is to
provide a 3.1m floor-to-ceiling height around the
perimeter, to a depth of around 1.5m on all floors.
That means that there will be significantly more
daylight penetrating into our floors. This will
reduce our energy consumption and also provide a
superior working environment. Also it will provide
a great 'wow' factor for occupants and visitors.
“One of the reasons we believe we’re able to
deliver on our projects is the strong relationship
we have with each of our contractors. At 400
George Street, Thiess is delivering our vision.
Thiess has been involved from day one, working
up our design, working with the subcontractors,
and now importantly constructing this building.
“At our monthly project meetings the first item
we always speak about is safety, we’ve passed
on the baton of safety responsibility to Thiess but
Leighton Properties monitors it closely. Thiess has
a fantastic approach to safety through their weekly
tool box talks and the integration of subcontractors
into their safety systems.
“I think success on the project will be measured
in a number of ways. There’s definitely the
financial hurdles, but also what I measure is the
long term benefit. This building is at the pinnacle
of excellence for sustainability in Australia - it’s
providing a benchmark for change.
“Leighton Properties philosophy is to always push
the boundaries. To try and provide a solution that’s
not just going to be sustainable in the first year or
five, but one that we can look back at in 20 years
time and say we are really proud to have delivered
that building; it stood the test of time. The basis
for that is growing a culture where you don’t take
second best as an answer. That often means
having to work that extra bit harder and having to
create a skill base of diverse team members to
find that solution. So we set the bar very high at
Leighton Properties,” observed Mr Borger.

Leighton
Holdings
Quarterly
Update
2nd
Quarter 18
Leighton International's
Agra to Bharatpur Highway
Project is nearing completion
The US$50m Agra to Bharatpur Highway Project for the National
Highways Authority of India, spans the states of Rajasthan and
Uttar Pradesh in the north of India. The project involves turning an
existing road into a 45km long dual carriageway.
Garrett English, the project's Commercial
Manager offers an insight into the project.
"This is part of a nation-wide initiative to improve
the transport infrastructure in India - to make it
easier to transport goods from one part of the
country to another and that will help the economy.
"Rajasthan is notoriously one of the hottest states
in India, we get temperatures between May and
July of up to 48 degrees Celsius. We also have a
monsoon season here, starting in early July, which
goes on for about three months.
"One of the main health and safety issues that
we're facing is the interaction of our equipment
with a public unfamiliar with road building
activities. We have a dedicated liaison team who
go into the local communities and explain to them
what we're doing and also go into local schools to
talk to children about the dangers associated with
a project of this nature.
"Creating a culture of safety, including the use
of personal protective equipment, for the largely

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Quarter 19
locally employed staff and workforce who are not
very familiar with these practices is also a priority.
We carry out regular tool box talks to highlight
specific safety initiatives which we're taking.
"Interestingly we're finding that we have on the
footprint of the project lots of monuments and
temples which we need to relocate. It's very
important that we respect the values of the local
community and, so far so good, everything is
working out OK.
"We've also got a lot of animals moving around on
the project ranging from water buffalo to monkeys
and dogs etc. That's just a part of life here and
we have to work around that, which we've done
successfully so far.
"We strive on this project to minimise the impact
on the environment - we source only locally
produced materials. We use clean diesel in all of
our machines and all of our production plants. We
always use dust suppression as well and we've
got nine or ten dust suppression water trucks
operating throughout the project.
"We use the Leighton style of management here
on this project, we try to be largely permissive
in our management style. We like to give people
flexibility to manage the way in which they do
their work. The result of this is that we've seen a
lot of staff blossom and become very proactive and
take responsibility for what they're doing, which
is a big cultural shift for them. Essentially we're
using these projects as a training ground to create
the managers to run our business in the future.
"How do we measure our success on this project
Well first and foremost is how safely we work,
secondly how efficiently we work which obviously
leads to the profitability of the project and thirdly,
how we interact with the community and how we
deal pre-emptively with their concerns.
"Additionally this project will certainly help with
tourism in the area, which is a very large part of
the economy around here. The Taj Mahal is only
20km from here and the highway will help
increase flows of people to it," concluded
Mr English.

Leighton
Holdings
Quarterly
Update
2nd
Quarter 20
Leighton Contractors up and running
at the Sonoma coal mine
The Sonoma coal mine is located in the Bowen Basin,
200 kilometres north-west of Mackay, Queensland. A contract for
bulk excavation and selective coal mining operations at the new
project was awarded in July last year.
Graham Goodwin, the Project Manager and
Site Senior Executive (SSE) discusses the
new project.
“I’ve been working on the Sonoma project since
December 2006. The Sonoma coal mine started
production last year. The first overburden was
moved on 16 October 2007 and we sent our first
coal to the coal handling and processing plant on
13 December 2007. It’s been a good start for the
project and to see it come through to fruition has
been a very satisfying and rewarding experience
for me.
“I’ve been in the coal mining industry for 25 years.
I commenced my career in the coal fields of NSW
as an operator and I worked my way up through
the ranks to my current role as Project Manager
and SSE.
“Our current contract at Sonoma is for five years
and is valued at around $500m, with the prospect
of a further 10 year extension. The client is a joint
venture between QCoal (a Queensland operator),
Cleveland Cliffs (a US based iron ore miner), and
two other overseas shareholders. The contract
is performance based with key performance
indicators (KPIs) built into it. The KPIs are firstly,
safety and environment, and then production of
overburden and coal.
"The coal seam initially runs at a 20 degree angle.
The equipment moves around 35,000 bank cubic
metres (BCMs) of overburden and 30,000 tonnes
of ROM coal daily. 20 million BCMs of overburden
is expected to be moved each year with 5 million
tonnes of ROM coal. In 2010, coal production will
increase up to 6 million ROM tonnes annually.
"On site Leighton Contractors has two Liebherr
9350 Excavators - one on the coal and the other on
overburden. In addition an Hitachi EX5500 will be
mobilised to site in response to our clients request
to substantially increase coal and overburden
production earlier than originally planned. These
excavators will be supported by fourteen 789

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2nd
Quarter 21
Caterpillar trucks. The 789 Caterpillar mining truck
has a nominal capacity of 177 tonnes. The Liebherr
excavators weigh in excess of 300 tonnes and
have a bucket capacity of 18m 3 .
“Leighton Contractors' workforce at Sonoma is
currently 100 people. Employees are predominantly
hired locally from Collinsville, Bowen and other
northern centres. The operators have been
inducted on site, trained on the new equipment
and are meeting production targets already. This
great achievement has been accomplished safely
with no lost time injury, which is fantastic!
“In the township of Collinsville Leighton
Contractors is quite active, donating to the local
community, including the Collinsville Rodeo, the
local community centre, and a golf day raising
funds for the elderly. In the future, it is hoped
to give support to the community of Collinsville
by training young people to operate mining
equipment.
“Additionally, Leighton Contractors, in conjunction
with Sonoma Mine Management, is collaborating
with the local Birri people to ensure that the
cultural heritage of the site is respected. There
is a display cabinet set up in Sonoma's office to
display artefacts that have been retrieved from the
site. These will remain in Sonoma's care until the
area is mined out and rehabilitated.
"Furthermore, Leighton Contractors and
Sonoma Mine Management are aware of the
environmental impacts of mining and, therefore,
have established many measures, such as
monitoring of ground water and airborne dust.
So the result is a site which is responsible to both
the environment and the community.
“On site, I strive to achieve two things; that the
site itself is a safe environment and that people
enjoy coming to work. I believe that if this is
accomplished then production will flow. I’ve tried
and trusted in this philosophy over many years,”
enthused Mr Goodwin.
Graham Goodwin, Project Manager and Site Senior Executive

Leighton
Holdings
Quarterly
Update
2nd
Quarter 22
Thiess awarded Lavarack Barracks
Redevelopment Stage 4
The Lavarack Barracks Redevelopment Stage 4 project is a
'managing contractor' contract to provide building facilities and
infrastructure for the Department of Defence (DOD) in Queensland.
Carmelo DiBella, Senior Project Manager at
Lavarack Barracks Redevelopment Stage 4,
discusses the project and working again
with the DOD.
“The project combines adaptive re-use
of existing facilities and infrastructure and the
construction of new buildings including office
accommodation, amenity and storage areas,
logistical, medical and training facilities, plant and
vehicle workshops, transport compounds, road and
services infrastructure and landscaping. There are
approximately 80 buildings in the Lavarack project
that we’ll be working on, totalling some 60,000m 2
of floor area.
“Our client is the Defence Support Group
Infrastructure Asset Development (DSG-IAD) arm
of the DOD, and we also work very closely with
the barrack's resident 3rd Brigade, which is part of
the Australian Defence Forces Ready Deployment
Forces. As we’ve been on the Lavarack project
since the late 1990’s carrying out the earlier
Stages 2 and 3 we have put a major emphasis on
our relationship with the DOD. One of the keys
to the success of our relationship has been the
continuity of key players within the Thiess team.
We have developed a great understanding of how
the DOD operate.
“One of the challenges associated with continuing
to do work on successive Lavarack Redevelopment
Projects is ensuring that we don't become
complacent in our ongoing client relationship.
To that end, we have conducted relationship
management forums with relevant parties within
the DOD project team to ensure our objectives are
aligned, we have the right behaviours in place and
we continue to focus on the challenges ahead to
deliver the DOD's desired outcomes.
“This is a very large, diverse site and we’re
working in an environment where the army is
operating in a high level of readiness for a wide
range of operational tasks. Our biggest challenge
is to maintain our program and deliver the
facilities progressively by September 2010 while
the army maintains its normal operations. To
date, on all three stages of the Lavarack Barracks
Redevelopment, we have not had any significant
unplanned disruptions to the army’s operations.
A great result for us.
"On completion of this project we will have
undertaken in excess of $500m of work at
Lavarack Barracks which is a pretty significant
achievement for Thiess in this region.
“From a health and safety point of view we have
many challenges in relation to the number of work
sites that we are managing and therefore it’s
important that we plan and coordinate the work
properly to have the right amount of supervision to
maintain our focus on a high level of safety.
“We have a workforce that’s 100% subcontracted
which will peak at about 200 construction
employees, although over the life of the project

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2nd
Quarter 23
Lavarack Barracks Redevelopment Stage 3 included
the Headquarters building of the Third Brigade.
Lavarack Barracks Redevelopment
Stage 2 included accommodation units.
"I'm Carmelo DiBella, Senior Project
Manager on Lavarack Barracks
Redevelopment Stage 4.
“I’ve been with Thiess 18 years working
on various infrastructure projects mostly
in the North Queensland region. I’ve
worked on Defence projects over the
last 12 years and have been based
at Lavarack since 1999. I’m originally
from Ingham, a small township just
north of Townsville, where I grew up
on a cane farming property. I studied
civil engineering at Townsville's James
Cook University and joined Thiess on
completion of my studies.
“Working on a project such as Lavarack
allows me to lead a diverse team on a
complex regional project, for a motivated,
decisive and appreciative client. I get a
great deal of satisfaction working with
our subcontractors developing a safety
culture and competency level that will
help Thiess achieve an incident and injury
free workplace.”
we’ll need to induct in excess of 2,000 employees
as most of the subcontractors will only spend
about 3 months on the site at any one time. We
have to get their safety, culture, commitment and
competency level in place in a very short time
while they’re on our site.
“Just recently we implemented a safety initiative
committing all of our Thiess team to be a part
of a certain number of safety observations and
communications each month. It has resulted in our
team becoming more visible to the workforce and
taking more ownership of the safety culture of the
site, and our subcontractors get an appreciation
that we really do care about their safety.
“In setting clear safety standards we have ten
non-negotiable site safety rules that we want our
entire subcontract workforce to adhere to. When
any of the rules are breached we sit down with
the subcontractors involved in a counselling forum
to understand what the contributing behavioural
factors were at the time and what actions can be
taken to prevent the incident from reoccurring.
The objective is to change the mindset of those
involved towards safety. We’re finding that by
stopping the work area involved to hold the
counselling sessions and communicating with
the workforce at the right level that we’re getting
a positive response. We are demonstrating that
Thiess is prepared to put safety ahead of program
to achieve an incident and injury free work place.
“Our client is committed to environmental
management. The office facilities being delivered
achieve equivalence to a 4.5 Star Australian
Building Greenhouse Rating. Our design
management team is implementing a number
of ecologically sustainable initiatives. We’re
looking at achieving 20% less water consumption
than Building Code of Australia requirements by
using waterless urinals, AAA rated fixtures, and
appliances with electronic metering.
“DOD project criteria require us to provide
facilities that are primarily non-air conditioned to
assist in the Army being acclimatised for action
in comparable, harsh climatic conditions. Our
design management team has focused on the
orientation of buildings, cross flow ventilation
and solar shading. Cladding materials have high
thermal reflectance and insulation characteristics
combined with a reduced maintenance
requirement. Over the previous two stages of
Lavarack Barracks we have been able to provide
facilities that are both comfortable and suitable for
the operations that occur within them.
“Due to the large area our site covers we have
a significant environmental challenge in the
management of erosion and sediment run-off.
The waterways on Lavarack run into the region's
major river system then out to sea, which is the
Great Barrier Reef lagoon. We've implemented a
comprehensive environmental management plan
and to date we’ve had a great deal of success
handling the environment.
“A successful project outcome for me is to: have
an incident and injury free workplace; maximise
the amount of scope that we can deliver for our
client's budget; deliver quality facilities; maintain
uninterrupted army operations; and achieve a
better financial outcome than that established at
the start of the project,” said Mr DiBella.

Leighton
Holdings
Quarterly
Update
2nd
Quarter 24
Brian Gillon, Project Director
Work resumes at
Leighton Asia's Aviation Fuel
Supply Facility project
The new aviation fuel supply facility augments the existing fuel
supply to the Chek Lap Kok airport in Hong Kong which was built
by Leighton Asia over ten years ago. The new facility will receive
tankers direct from the Middle East of up to 80,000 tonnes.
Brian Gillon, Project Director of the Aviation
Fuel Supply Facility speaks about the project.
"The first part of the project is a 650m long jetty
with two berths, one for vessels up to 80,000
tonnes and the second for vessels up to 40,000
tonnes. Fuel will be offloaded along the jetty into
another part of the project, a tank farm with an
initial capacity of 140 million litres of fuel. The
fuel is stored here, certified and then pumped via
a pair of new submarine pipe-lines, 4.5km long,
to an existing pipeline and then on to the existing
aviation fuel facility.
"Our client is ECO Aviation Fuel Development
Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Hong
Kong and China Gas Company Limited. ECO has
a franchise agreement with the Airport Authority
Hong Kong to build and operate this facility to
provide fuel.
"The project value is in excess of A$100m.
We were initially awarded the project nearly
6 years ago, however, some of the project's
neighbours were uncomfortable with having a fuel
facility nearby and lodged a number of protests
resulting in delays to the project. Ultimately the
environmental permit was revoked, requiring the
Airport Authority Hong Kong to gain a second
environmental permit. We have been on-site since
last year and anticipate completion in the fourth
quarter of 2009.
"In terms of safety the real challenge on this
project is the diversity of the work. We're working
offshore on a jetty structure, doing piling work

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over water as well as working on the tank farm.
The tanks are 43.5m in diameter and 24.7m high,
so we have the hazard of working at height. Later
on we have piping and concrete work, and a
submarine pipeline to install.
"One of the things that we've done differently on
this project is to divide our staff up into teams and
each day we have one team go out onto site and
do a safety inspection. They have specific items
to look at each day. The site inspection teams
encompass everybody, the draftsman, the quantity
surveyors, the engineers, everybody. The people
who wouldn't normally get out on site to look at
safety specifically are going out with a fresh set of
eyes to help the field team.
"One of the particular challenges that we have in
terms of safety on this project is crossing a very
busy shipping channel known as Urmston Road.
Urmston Road has a lot of river traffic coming
from China into Hong Kong. To avoid the necessity
for our pipe-laying barge to cross Urmston Road
and interface with extremely heavy marine traffic,
we're proposing to place the barge 2km offshore
and then do a bottom pull of the pipe-line along
the sea bed to the tank farm.
"While the project is located in a primarily
industrial area we do have a community liaison
group visiting the project every quarter to go over
the progress of the works and, in particular, the
safety features of the project. Whilst I don't speak
Cantonese, the community group does seem to
appreciate the fact that I take the time to introduce
the project, the members of our team and the
progress that we've made to date on the project.
"The project is located in an industrial area and the
environmental impact of the project is quite small,
but there is a unique feature environmentally
- the jetty area is the habitat of the Chinese
white dolphin. While the dolphins don't have any
particular interest in our jetty they are particularly
sensitive to underwater noise. In the construction
of the jetty we use hydraulic hammers to drive the
piles which causes considerable underwater noise.
On the first Aviation Fuel Facility project, ten years
ago, we used what was called a bubble curtain to
reduce the noise. We have gone one step further
on this particular project and we have developed
a bubble jacket which is effectively a sleeve
that goes over the outside of the pile. We inject
compressed air at the base of the pile and this
has the effect of reducing the underwater noise.
We did considerable monitoring during a test
phase prior to construction to ensure that we were
having as little impact as possible on the dolphins
as far as underwater noise goes.
"Also we had to do a very detailed investigation
along the route of the offshore pipeline to identify
contaminated soils. There is natural contamination
in some of the soil and it's necessary for us to
dispose of that soil. We're now in the process of
removing specific layers of dredged material and
disposing of it in dedicated sites in Hong Kong.
"Ultimately the success of the project for us is to
send everybody home safely each night and to
finish the project on time and within budget.
"At the completion of this project we will have
built the most up to date aviation fuel facility of
any airport in the world," concluded
Mr Gillon.

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Quarter 26
Good client relations at work
at Thiess' South Walker Creek
Thiess secured a $345m three year contract extension for
services at the BHP Mitsui Coal (BMC) owned South Walker Creek
Coal Mine in August last year. Thiess have been operating at the
site since 1996.
Carl O'Hehir, Project Manager at South
Walker Creek, talks about the relationship
with Thiess' client BMC and life at the mine.
"We've been here for 11 years and recently
negotiated a contract extension which sees us
working until June 2010. So overall Thiess are
looking at 14 years here at South Walker Creek.
"We're located about 20km west of Nebo and
about 170km west of Mackay which is the major
centre in the area.
"We've got a very good relationship with the
client. We've been working very hard to further
develop that over the last two years and now
we've reached the point where Thiess are
responsible for the short term mine planning and
the client is looking further ahead and preparing
the long term planning. It's really a collaborative
approach.
"Recently we've had the opportunity to go away
from site and do a bit of team building with
BMC. We spent two days in the hinterland of
Mackay where we focused on what the different
key drivers for Thiess and BMC were. Out of
that we reached a better understanding of why
our positions don't always align but we came
away with a charter to always look for win/win
outcomes that achieve the best for South Walker
Creek as a whole.
"We're responsible for everything here; the topsoil
removal, the drilling and blasting, the waste
removal and the primary mover (the dragline). Then
there's the coal mining and transfer to the coal
preparation (prep) plant which we operate and
maintain. We're also responsible for maintaining
all the plant and equipment that's here as well.
"This 07/08 financial year we're planning to
produce about 3.5 million tonnes of product coal.
We're looking to move approximately
30 million bank cubic metres (bcms) of waste
and forecasting to haul 5.2 million tonnes of coal.
This year we're looking at about $140m worth of
revenue or turnover.
"Thiess supplies the fleet to South Walker Creek,
apart from the dragline which is the client's. The
coal preparation plant is also the client's. We run
four excavators, about 20 trucks and we've got
some ancillary gear and a couple of loaders for the
hopper at the prep plant. Overall the fleet has a
replacement value of about $100m.
"South Walker Creek is a bit of a boutique
operation and what I mean by that is we've got
up to nine different types of coal here and what
makes it really challenging for us is we need to
meet customer specifications by optimising the
blending of these different types of coal.
"We've got some steep dipping seams in the coal
at South Walker Creek, upwards of 10% so it
makes it very challenging for drag line operation
and also trucking. We've recently opened up two
new box cuts, trying to establish this pit as a fully
operational 20km long coal mine.
"Thiess had a great year in terms of safety
performance at South Walker Creek in the
06/07 financial year. We were able to reduce
our recordable injury rate and were successful
in taking out the Thiess Queensland/Northern
Territory/Pacific (QNP) quarterly safety award
for two consecutive quarters. The first time any
project within Thiess QNP has achieved this
and we were very proud of this. We were also
awarded the BMA Platinum Award for safety
performance. That was a real highlight for us in
that it was the first time that any BMA operation
- port or coal mine - was awarded this highest
achievement. For a contractor operation to be
awarded that, well we were very, very proud.
"One of the special initiatives we've taken on in
our health and safety program is engaging more
with our subcontractors. We've actually gone out
of our way to involve them in our safety talks.
We've extended the QNP field leadership time
policy to allow a team of senior managers, along
with our client representative, to go out and spend
a couple of hours talking with the subcontractors
daily. At the beginning we were getting a very
negative response from the subbies, but now
we're finding that it's become very positive.
Communication has improved so that the subbies
feel they're comfortable enough to talk to us about
issues they have. We can then action those issues
and get them the outcomes we are looking for.
We're finding that this is working for us. It's about
getting back to the basics - involving the guys.
"We support community activities that our guys
from South Walker Creek are involved in. We've
donated to the Mackay Water Ski Open Day. A
lot of the guys here are involved with the Mackay

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Water Ski club. We realise the importance those
guys place on their own employer supporting their
local community groups.
"Thiess is a major sponsor each year for SIDS
Trek for Kids which is a good excuse to get the
guys from site together socially. They bring their
families and trucks and utes to site; we have a
barbecue and take photos, it's a great atmosphere
and it's a great feeling for us to know that we're
contributing.
"More recently one of the initiatives we've taken
on board is going to the high school kids and
rolling out some relevant workplace health and
safety initiatives. Our own health and safety
superintendent Tony Barrow has been heavily
involved with this and finding some real benefits in
getting out there and giving the kids some awards.
The awareness that these kids have about safety
in the workplace is very impressive.
"An example of innovation and use of technology
here at South Walker Creek is the adoption of
the magnadrive coupling. It uses magnetic fields
to replace a mechanical coupling. This was an
idea that our own operations manager, Danny
McCarthy went over to America and investigated.
He brought it back here and we've had two
opportunities to apply the coupling. The first was
a fixed drive coupling on the feed conveyor belt in
our prep plant. We're seeing huge benefits there
in reducing our maintenance costs and also it
generates a built in belt protection capacity which
is giving longer term belt savings for us in the prep
plant.
"The second application was on a variable speed
drive on a hose down pump. The benefit there is
reduced power usage which has a direct impact
on greenhouse gas emissions. At the moment
it's only in its infancy but we're seeing power
reduction of about 30% since its introduction
three months ago and now we're looking for
bigger benefits from other applications in the
coal handling prep plant. It's the first time that
this magnadrive coupling has been used in the
Australian mining industry so Thiess were at the
forefront of that and we've already implemented
the technology on two of our other prep plant
operations here in the Bowen Basin.
"Our key indicators of success at South Walker
Creek are focused around our safety performance
and reducing our injury frequency rates, waste/
overburden movement and coal product output. If
we are on target here then the costs will also be in
good order. This is talked about each day in detail
with a genuine focus on the safety of our people
and reviewed on a monthly basis once the final
costs and production figures come through.
"The culture at South Walker Creek is a very
positive one and we're very people oriented here.
We have an open door policy where the guys from
the workshop floor or anywhere else can come
into the office and talk to anyone. We try and
enjoy what we do because we're all here away
from our families. So if I was to sum up in a couple
of words; it's about having fun, staying safe and
getting the results at the end of the day,"
concluded Mr O'Hehir.
"I'm Carl O'Hehir.
"I'm a mining engineer by trade. I left uni
in 1999 and started work with a mining
house here in the Bowen Basin. I left that
company four and a half years later after
filling various technical and supervisory
roles to join Thiess at Oaky Creek coal
mine. I had the opportunity to come to
South Walker Creek and have been here
for just over two years. I've been project
manager since July last year.
"I live in Mackay. It's about 170km away.
This morning I got up at about quarter to
five, left the wife and kids and you think to
yourself why do you do it, but the truth of
the matter is I love what I do. I enjoy being
out here. I enjoy being around the gear,
particularly the dragline - it's a personal
favourite of mine and I enjoy working with
the people that are here. South Walker is
a very challenging place. When you walk
away each day knowing that everyone
you work with leaves safely, and you've
hit your production targets then you've
actually achieved something. That's why
I'm here and that's why I do it every day."

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Update
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Quarter 28
Eastern Distributor and Cross
City Tunnel operations and
maintenance unite
Leighton Contractors was awarded the contract to operate and
maintain the Eastern Distributor in 1999 for a 48 year period.
Last year a consortium of Leighton Contractors and ABN AMRO
successfully bid for the nearby Cross City Tunnel. The Industrial
and Services Division of Leighton Contractors has taken on a 25
year contract to operate and maintain that tunnel. The synergies
between the Cross City Tunnel and the Eastern Distributor have led
to a merging and rationalisation of management structure.
Chris Dando, formerly Manager of
Operations and Maintenance at the
Cross City Tunnel, is now the Project
Manager for Operations and Maintenance at
both projects. Chris talks to us about
the undertaking.
"It was a somewhat challenging transition taking
over an operating motorway but we managed to
do that quite successfully.
"The Eastern Distributor motorway is 6km long
and almost 2km of that is a piggy-back tunnel
- the south-bound and north-bound lanes sit
one on top of the other. The Cross City Tunnel is
approximately 2km long, but the whole tunnel
network comprises of about 8km when you
consider all the on and off ramps. The Eastern
Distributor alone has daily traffic averaging
between 120,000 and 130,000 vehicles.
"We deal with a range of traffic issues every day,
keeping minor traffic incidents and breakdowns
from escalating into major traffic incidents is the
key outcome of our business. That's why the coordination
of our patrol crews and the Emergency
Services by our control room operators is so
important.
"After working in a motorway environment for
two years I have to say that driver behaviour can
be quite amazing. We've had truck drivers ignore
height restrictions, a motor cyclist attempt to drive
through the tunnel the wrong way but noticed and
did a u-turn. Topping that was a car and caravan
that did the same thing - but when they tried to
u-turn they stopped traffic all together.
"We also had 20 police vehicles chasing a car
against the flow of traffic, a dog that ran through
the full length of the Cross City Tunnel, a homeless
person walking against traffic and a drunken
reveller who entered the motorway and fell asleep
in the middle of the road! Never a dull moment.
"An important issue that we deal with is
maintaining a healthy tunnel environment. The
traffic we move can produce many potentially
harmful gases. We monitor these gas levels very,
very closely in the tunnels. A range of operational
procedures are available to the motorway
controllers to deal with any gas levels that may be
of concern.
"Regular maintenance of the tunnels is equally
important for driver safety. It includes wall
washing, road surface sweeping, closed-circuit
television system inspections (there are 263
cameras over the two motorways), emergency
phone system inspections (there are 331 phones
in the tunnels), crash barrier replacement and
light replacement, and inspection and repairs
to the industrial sized fans (127 across the two

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motorways.) We have over 9,000 lights and 5,000
of those are fluorescent which are replaced every
four to five years.
"We not only have to take care of the travelling
public, we also have a lot of local residents and
businesses at both sites to look after. The Cross
City Tunnel, in particular, opened when air quality
outside the tunnel was a very, very sensitive
issue. Consequently an Air Quality Consultative
Committee was established to review community
concerns. We have to provide a lot of air quality
data to the committee and decided an open-book
approach best demonstrated that we have nothing
to hide as far as maintaining the air quality at
Cross City Tunnel. We've had good feedback from
this group on the way we deal with a number of
air quality issues.
"The other big issue for our local residents is noise.
We can only do our maintenance at night between
the hours of 10.00 pm and 5.00 am and being
in the city there are a lot of high rise residents
around our two projects. The local residents are
very sensitive to any noise at night time. We find
that if we give them sufficient notice and keep the
noise to a minimum in the early hours, we meet
their requirements.
"The major goal of the underground motorways
is to take traffic off the suburban and city streets.
One of the major benefits of motorways is the
reduction in traffic fuel consumption and the figure
estimated for the Eastern Distributor was a saving
of 1.2 million litres per year.
"Another issue concerning the environment that
most people don't think about is the amount of
ground water and salt water seepage that we get
in both the vehicle tunnel and ventilation tunnels.
This is more pronounced at the Cross City Tunnel
where the tunnels are quite deep and sit below
the tide line, therefore, we get in excess of 500
tonnes a day. We collect and treat that water in
tanks before it is discharged to stormwater drains.
Part of that water is actually free of salt and is a
valuable resource, so we went through our client
to Sydney Council about it. Sydney Council are
keen to make use of it and have made it a major
component of the City of Sydney's groundwater
re-use program. We are currently working with our
client and Sydney Council to get this water re-use
project up and running.
"Traffic management and toll collection are fairly
IT based businesses. At the moment the use-bydate
of a lot of equipment at Eastern Distributor
has been reached and we're undergoing a tolling
system upgrade at various levels. The upgrade
will bring greater efficiencies. The Cross City
Tunnel opened as a cashless tollroad and certainly
that will happen in due course at the Eastern
Distributor.
"Safety on site is critical - an operating motorway
is a potentially dangerous environment. We have a
lot of remote areas in both these tunnel networks
and communications with workers in those areas
is important. We have to keep track of who is
working where in the tunnel, what work they're
doing and when we expect to hear from them.
"In addition to meeting forecast returns and safe
operation of both sites, success in the short term
is achieving steady state operation of the Cross
City. As I mentioned before we've only been on
site for 3 months. We took it over when it was an
operating motorway so getting that site settled
down and operating in a more steady state
environment is a key short term goal. We had a
major planned maintenance shutdown at Cross
City soon after we moved in; preparing for that and
successfully achieving it, and completing all the
scheduled maintenance that was required was a
major achievement.
"I've found a very positive culture here at the
operations and maintenance group at the Eastern
Distributor. Some of the people have been here for
seven or eight years - that's from the opening of
the motorway and there have been a lot of good
relationships formed. I see that both in the work
environment and socially. Certainly working in this
new environment has been a great experience for
me. It's only early days but I've got a great team
working with me," said Mr Dando.

Leighton
Holdings
Quarterly
Update
2nd
Quarter 30
John Holland awarded $117m
Melbourne International Terminal Expansion Works
The John Holland Group has been appointed
Managing Contractor at Melbourne Airport to
deliver a series of projects under the Strategic
Terminal Expansion Program for Australia Pacific
Airports (Melbourne). John Holland has been
awarded two expansion projects worth $117m and
is preferred contractor on the third project, which
is worth $84m.
John Holland’s Southern Region will deliver these
expansions to Melbourne Airport’s International
Terminal, adding five new aircraft gates, a new
international baggage processing system and a
new outbound passenger and retail precinct to
the existing International Terminal, as part of a
proposed $330m investment in airport expansion.
Work commenced on the projects at the end of
November 2007. The Program represents one of
the biggest private sector construction contracts in
Victoria and the biggest private sector investment
in Victorian transport infrastructure.
John Holland’s Managing Director, David Stewart
said, “John Holland’s work on Melbourne Airport’s
Expansion Program will be undertaken in a fully
John Holland has been awarded a
$625m contract to construct the 70
kilometre Sugarloaf Pipeline, a major
drought-proofing measure linking
the Goulburn River to Melbourne’s
Sugarloaf Reservoir.
The $625m pipeline is one component of
the Victorian Government’s "Our Water,
Our Future" plan to secure Victorian
water supplies for the long term. The
Pipeline will transfer 75 billion litres of
water to Melbourne per annum, helping
to modernise the Food Bowl irrigation
system and saving 225 billion litres of
water each year.
The contract is an alliance between
Melbourne Water, John Holland and
designers SKM and GHD. Construction
of the Sugarloaf Pipeline will combine
John Holland’s Southern Region
construction business with the
specialist capabilities of John Holland’s
Water and Structural Mechanical
Process businesses.
operational environment, drawing upon John
Holland’s exemplary track record in both safety
and delivery on complex projects. We will work in
partnership with Melbourne Airport to ensure that
all work is carried out in a safe and timely way,
without delays to passengers and aircraft.”
Peter Kessler, General Manager of John Holland’s
Southern Region said, “This award continues a
strong partnership between John Holland and
Melbourne Airport. Together, we won the 2006
Australian Construction Achievement Award for
Melbourne Airport’s remarkable runway widening
works. We look forward to working with the team
again during this significant project.”
More recently, Melbourne Airport and John
Holland formed a five year Relationship Framework
Contract for infrastructure works, commencing
with the Taxiway Victor contract, which is currently
underway.
Details of how the completed International
Terminal will look can be seen at www.
melbourneairport.com.au/t2
John Holland awarded $625m Sugarloaf Pipeline Project
John Holland Group Managing
Director, David Stewart said that “the
Sugarloaf Pipeline project is critical to
securing Melbourne’s water supply. John
Holland is delighted to bring our
diverse expertise and long-standing
experience to this new alliance with
Melbourne Water.”
The initial development phase of the
project will commence immediately,
involving extensive survey works and
community consultation program.
Construction of the pipeline is expected
to begin in April 2008 and to be completed
in 2010.
General Manager of John Holland
Southern Region, Peter Kessler
commented that “with the Sugarloaf
Pipeline, John Holland is excited to renew
its decade-long relationship with
Melbourne Water. We applaud Melbourne
Water’s selection of a relationship-based
contracting model and look forward to
delivering this essential infrastructure for
the state of Victoria.”
Leighton Contractors wins
Pluto LNG Site Preparation
Project in WA
Leighton Contractors has secured
a $163m contract to undertake site
preparation bulk earthworks at the
new Burrup Liquid Natural Gas (LNG)
Park site on Western Australia’s
Burrup Peninsula near Karratha.
The contract has been awarded by
Woodside as part of the Pluto LNG
Project. It comprises the first phase
of works to develop a new onshore
LNG processing plant.
Peter McMorrow, Managing Director
of Leighton Contractors, said that the
skills and experience of our people
remain key factors in winning
new work.
“The award of this site preparation
contract for Woodside highlights
our ability to mobilise people and
equipment within a tight labour
market and timeframe,”
Mr McMorrow said.
Site preparation and earthworks
commenced in January and are
expected to continue through until
third quarter 2008. The project
involves drill and blast, load and haul,
placement and compaction, and
crushing and screening works.
Ray Sputore, General Manager
of Leighton Contractors’ Western
Australian construction operations
said that this contract reflects well
on the company’s ability to service
the rapidly expanding resources and
energy sector.
“Leighton Contractors worked with
Woodside over two decades ago to
complete civil works for the
Northwest Shelf Development on the
Burrup Peninsula. At the time, this
landmark project was one of the
largest earth moving tasks in
Australia and laid the foundations for
future development of the Burrup,”
he said.

Leighton
Holdings
Quarterly
Update
2nd
Quarter 31
Leighton International wins
US$1.3bn of new work in UAE
Leighton International, through its
45%-owned associate Al Habtoor
Engineering, has been awarded
US$1.3bn of new work in Dubai and Abu
Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.
The first of these projects awarded, and
the first contract won by Al Habtoor
Engineering since it merged with Leighton
International in September 2007, is a
US$290m (A$310m) contract for the
construction of the new JW Marriott Hotel
in Abu Dhabi.
The project, for Abu Dhabi National
Hotels, involves the construction of a 10-
storey hotel with basement, 88 chalets,
a marine village, a staff accommodation
building, a spa facility and a lagoon. Work
commenced last year and is due for
completion in January 2010.
In December 2007, the company secured
a US$520m contract for the construction
of the new JAFZA convention centre
in Dubai for the Jebel Ali Free Zone
Authority. The JAFZA convention centre
complex will comprise twin towers for the
convention centre, a food court, a
33-storey office complex and sevenstorey
hotel.
A construction contract for two hotels on
Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, for Aldar, worth a
total of US$130m, was also awarded last
December.
The project for Aldar comprises the
construction of two separate 4-star
hotels on adjacent plots on Yas Island
in Abu Dhabi. The first hotel comprises
400 rooms and 30 suites; the second 200
rooms and 10 suites. Also included is a
ballroom, numerous function rooms, food
and beverage outlets and recreational
facilities including pools. Construction
commenced in December 2007 and should
be completed in September 2009.
In January, this year, a US$350m contract
was awarded for the construction of a
major mixed-use development in Abu
Dhabi for United Holdings.
The project, currently known as the
Plot 9 hotel, residential and commercial
complex, comprises:
- a 40-storey hotel tower;
- a 25-storey tower containing serviced
apartments;
Plot 9, Abu Dhabi, Leighton International
- a 19-storey residential tower; and
- an 18-storey office tower.
The overall built up area of the project
exceeds 240,000m 2 .
Construction on the project commenced
in early February and will be completed
in two stages. Stage 1 will be completed
in December 2009, and Stage 2 will be
completed in July 2010.
Managing Director of Leighton
International, David Savage, said that
the new contracts highlighted the
opportunities available to the company
since the merger with Al Habtoor.
"Al Habtoor has an unrivalled track record
in the region for these type of projects and
is considered the contractor of choice for
high quality building work," he said.
"The construction opportunities available
in the region are enormous. More than
$120bn will be invested over the next four
to five years on infrastructure projects in
Abu Dhabi alone.
"The outlook for us in this region is very
positive, and we expect to secure a
number of new projects in the next few
months," Mr Savage said.
Leighton Contractors' subsidiary
HWE Mining awarded
$600m contract extension at
Yandi, WA
HWE Mining has been awarded a three-year
contract extension worth approximately $600m at
the Yandi iron ore mine in Western Australia’s
Pilbara region.
The contract extension at BHP Billiton’s Yandi mine
will see HWE Mining provide complete mining
services at the project from the current completion
date of August 2009 until August 2012, with an
option for BHP Billiton to extend the contract by a
further two years.
The award of the Yandi contract extension follows
a decision in June 2007 to award HWE Mining
a two-year contract extension worth A$400m to
operate the Yandi mine.
Peter McMorrow, Managing Director of Leighton
Contractors, said that the contract extension
reflected the highly successful business
partnership between HWE Mining and BHP Billiton
Iron Ore that has spanned many years.
“The award of this contract is an outstanding
achievement that recognises our ability to work
alongside BHP Billiton in delivering mining
solutions that add value to their operations,”
Mr McMorrow said.
Craig Laslett, Executive General Manager of
Leighton Contractors’ Mining Division, said the
contract extension was an excellent result for the
HWE Mining team.
“HWE Mining has a proud association with Yandi
and has been providing contract mining services at
the mine for BHP Billiton Iron Ore since 1991,”
Mr Laslett said.
“Our team at Yandi have played a significant part
in delivering a world class operation that has an
exceptional safety record, and we look forward to
being part of the mine’s future success.”
Henry Walker Eltin commenced operations at
Yandi in 1991 with the construction of the first
process plant producing 5 million tonnes per
annum (Mtpa) of iron ore. Production has increased
over this period and HWE Mining now produces
more than 40Mtpa of iron ore, with over 400
employees on site.

Leighton
Holdings
Quarterly
Update
2nd
Quarter 32
Encouraging Indigenous
engineers
Twenty young Indigenous Australians from around
the country spent a week this summer getting
a taste of engineering to encourage them to
consider a career in the industry.
As students of the Indigenous Australian
Engineering Summer School, the teenagers were
given the opportunity to work in laboratories, use
computers, visit engineering projects and meet
successful and inspiring engineers.
The school is run by Engineering Aid, a
philanthropic organisation that provides
engineers and related services to assist
disadvantaged communities both in Australia
and overseas, and was hosted this year by the
University of Newcastle.
Leighton Holdings actively supports a range of
education and training opportunities for future
generations of young Australians. We have
sponsored the Engineering Summer School since
its inception in 1998.
Our partnership with the University of New
South Wales provides rural and regional students
with scholarships to study engineering and the
opportunity to undertake on-the-job training
through our operating companies.
"Our support for the Summer School is another
way Leighton provides opportunities for students
to learn about an industry that provides the basic
services required for a community to function,"
said Leighton Holdings' Chief Executive, Wal King.
"It is also an investment in the skills required
to meet future growth in the infrastructure and
resources markets which are so vital to our
national prosperity," added Mr King.
Former Prime Minister Bob Hawke, Patron of the
Summer School, believes the lack of Indigenous
engineers has been a significant factor in the
lack of proper housing and infrastructure in many
Aboriginal communities.
Engineers Australia in a recent article about the
Summer School acknowledged that 23 of its
alumni have graduated from university with
engineering degrees.
New headquarters for the
Leighton Group
Leighton Holdings and Leighton Properties
have returned to their head office in St
Leonards NSW following an extensive
refurbishment of the building that has
housed various areas of the Group since
1984. The project was developed by
Leighton Properties and constructed by
Leighton Contractors. The design reflects
the quality, longevity and strength of the
business and its people.
Leighton House was officially opened in
December with a short recital from the
Sydney Symphony Fellows. Leighton
Holdings is a proud sponsor of the Sydney
Symphony Sinfonia mentoring program for
tertiary music students.
Leighton Holdings Limited
ABN 57 004 482 982
472 Pacific Highway, St Leonards NSW 2065, Australia
www.leighton.com.au
Telephone (02) 9925 6666
Facsimile (02) 9925 6005