Two Years On: Engenium’s Thriving in Brisbane

Just over two years ago, Engenium, a trusted project delivery, multi-discipline engineering and advisory services consultancy, expanded into Queensland and established a Brisbane office. This was to be its fourth office nationwide alongside its headquarters in Perth, a satellite office in Karratha in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, and the Newcastle office headed by Heath Baker in New South Wales.

Following the development of a regional entry strategy and business plan, the task of getting the office off the ground and building its portfolio of clients was given to Stephen Beamond, Engenium’s Executive General Manager for Queensland.

“I was initially approached by Wayne Peel, Managing Director of Engenium, and asked if I would like to take on the development of a regional entry strategy based on previous experience in Queensland and I jumped at the chance”, said Stephen. “Once this was completed and approved by the board, I was offered the Executive General Manager role to implement it”, he added.

The idea to establish the Brisbane office as Engenium’s ‘Process Engineering Centre of Excellence’ has worked well for the business.

“We have won a range of work in the battery and precious metals area, coal studies, sustaining capital works and support for the expansion of a major iron ore mine. We have also had several secondments with ‘Tier 1’ contractors and miners. All our assignments are treated with the same level of importance, based on the philosophy that you are only as good as your last project.”

While the Brisbane office is in its growth phase it utilises the backing of its head office in Perth for corporate services support, as well as a large pool of engineers and designers to assist as required.

“The Senior Leadership Team, including the Directors, are very hands-on and are always available to provide support, or help nut out a particular project we are working on”, said Stephen.

Brisbane has also leveraged Engenium’s national service agreements with ‘Tier 1’ resource houses. This has resulted in Brisbane being able to bid for and win several projects.

Just this year Stephen and his team completed the engineering design and construction of a gold adsorption pilot plant for Newcrest Mining, which was then shipped to the project location in Lihir, Papua New Guinea.

“We leveraged learnings and input from Brisbane Met Labs (BML) which has built numerous metallurgical test plants and had previously run tests on Lihir ore. The project timeline was really short, just four months, so it was all hands-on deck to get this completed on time.”

So, what is in store for the Brisbane office now?

“We are currently working on several future metals projects for the battery industry, along with sustaining capital projects for several ‘Tier 1’ customers and peer reviews”, says Stephen.

“We are continuously winning new work thanks to our process engineering expertise which has been firmly established here in Brisbane. I have some great connections in the industry, and I love networking. I often find a brief conversation with someone you do not know, or a chance encounter with an old acquaintance, often presents some wonderful opportunities”.

If you are looking to undertake a testwork program, feasibility study, design a new process plant or would like to know how to make your existing process plant more efficient get in touch with Stephen Beamond in Brisbane for a chat.

“We have six principal process engineers who are experienced in all aspects of gold and precious metals, bauxite processing, aluminium smelting, iron ore, lead, zinc, coal, copper concentrators and hydromet copper processing, as well as base metals comminution and floatation. We do it all!”.

Stephen Beamond
Executive General Manager, Queensland
Engenium

Stephen is an accomplished executive with a proven domestic and international track record within the resources industry. He has over 25 years' experience encompassing consulting, engineering, construction and asset management in the minerals processing (alumina, coal, base and precious metals), materials handling, power generation, oil and gas, refining and supporting infrastructure sectors.

Stephen has a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Queensland, is a member of the Australian Society of Cost Engineers and has been guest presenter at the University of Queensland Business School, RMIT and Penn State University.