Lycopodium Limited

S h a r e h o l d e r   R e p o r t

11

2015Financial Snapshot

(As at 30 June 2015)

39,732,373
Shares on Issue 
____________________________________

136.9 cents
Net tangible assests per share
____________________________________

$122.8 million
Revenue 
____________________________________

$1.0 million 
Net loss after tax 
____________________________________

(2.3) cents
Earnings per share after tax 
____________________________________

0 cents
Dividend per share (fully franked) 
____________________________________

Contents

1 

2 

6 

9 

Chairman’s Report

Managing Director’s Report

The Board of Directors

About Lycopodium

13 

Project Reviews

26 

Financial Information

28 

Shareholder Information

29 

Corporate Directory

Cover: Otjikoto Project, Namibia

Modular Tailings Treatment Plant,  Botswana

Shareholder Report 2015

 
Chairman’s Report

My name is Mick Caratti. I am one of the founders and presently chairman of Lycopodium.  
This publication is designed to introduce you to the company, telling you who we are, what we do and 
how we see our future. This report does not replace the statutory financial statements but is designed 
to provide an informative insight into Lycopodium in an easier to read layout. 

2014/15 has been a second tough year for Lycopodium and has resulted in the first full year loss since listing in 2004, driven by the 
reduction in the available work, the high level of competition and the cost of downsizing.

As per previous years I would like to provide some thoughts on the mining industry and the major trends as we see them.

•  During the period metal prices have fallen materially with nickel down 50%, copper and aluminium down 30% and iron ore fines 

down 40%.

•  Major iron ore companies have dropped expansion plans and are targeting cost and debt reductions.

•  Exploration companies are down to maintaining leases.

• 

Junior and mid tier miners with cash flow from existing operations can undertake projects but with prices at such low levels few have 
done so. 

•  The only bright spot in the world economies is the US but that is not likely to increase demand materially.

The 2014/15 year has seen a continuation of the decline in the minerals industry that began in 2013/14 and was initially driven during 
the period by fears of the effect of debt default on the Euro and later by the stock market crash in China which has continued through 
July and August. The uncertainty in Europe and China was visible last year but the recent instability in China means that the turn 
around point for the industry is further away than what was envisaged a year ago. 

Our strategy therefore is to maintain our relationships with long term and major clients, to target niche areas where our technical 
expertise provides a high chance of winning work and to thereby maintain our core team for when the turn around occurs. 

While the outlook is not positive for a significant uplift in metal prices, some projects have managed to obtain funding and some projects 
for the major companies will proceed regardless of market conditions or sentiment. We have begun EPCM work on some projects in 
this category such as the Bissa Gold Project in Burkina Faso and the Mako Project in Senegal. These projects require a technically 
innovative and cost effective approach and our reorganisation has allowed us to win this work on the basis of the teams and approach 
we have offered.

I have focussed so far on the minerals industry but it is important to also look at our other subsidiaries that service manufacturing 
and  infrastructure, including rail. There has been an upturn in spending in these areas that may be driven by increased government 
spending or possibly by the realisation that costs have come down with the reduction in demand from mining projects. The result is that 
these subsidiaries have been operating profitably and have good prospects for the coming year.

Last year we announced the acquisition of ADP, an engineering company in South Africa. The Southern Africa minerals industry has 
been adversely impacted as elsewhere including the diamond market, however ADP has won work with established and new clients 
based on its proven technical expertise in diamonds and is well placed for 2015/16.  A major attraction for the acquisition was the 
synergy to be gained by combining the ADP diamond skills with Lycopodium’s project management skills. Progress has been made 
in building a combined team to undertake larger projects in diamonds than were possible for ADP alone and this is expected to show 
results in the medium term.

As always the Board has maintained its conservative policy on debt and we remain debt free.

I commend and thank the staff, managers and directors of Lycopodium for their contribution in a second difficult year.

I hope you find the following information of interest and if you have any questions please call me.

M J Caratti 
Chairman

   •   1

Managing Directors Report

The 2014/15 financial year has been one of the most challenging periods that Lycopodium has experienced since commencing operations in 
September 1992. Depressed commodity prices have continued to adversely impact the mining sector resulting in a further deterioration in the 
demand for our services. As a result Lycopodium has reported its first operating loss since listing on the ASX in December 2004. The company 
has continued to react to these difficult market conditions and during the period has implemented further re-structuring initiatives to reduce costs 
and applied additional resources to identifying and securing new opportunities.

The poor result for 2014/15 has primarily resulted from a material deterioration in demand for the services provided by Lycopodium’s Australian 
and Canadian based minerals business units located in Perth, Brisbane and Toronto. Notwithstanding that these minerals business units comprise 
a material part of Lycopodium’s overall operations, Lycopodium is a diversified company and the majority of the other business units continue 
to operate profitably. This includes Lycopodium Process Industries, Lycopodium Rail, Orway Mineral Consultants, Lycopodium Infrastructure, 
50% owned Pilbara EPCM and 74% owned ADP Holdings. An operational overview of these business units is included in this report.

During the year Lycopodium finalised acquisition of a controlling interest in Cape Town South Africa based ADP Holdings (ADP) and has 
been progressively integrating ADP’s business units into the Lycopodium group. This acquisition is a strategic initiative to further diversify and 
strengthen our overall business operations in Africa. Not only does ADP offer access to cost effective additional resources it also opens up new 
markets, particularly in diamonds, to Lycopodium. Significant effort has been applied to this initiative and new opportunities are being identified.

The efforts of Lycopodium’s Australian and Canadian based minerals business units have been rewarded with the recent award of a number of 
studies and projects and with the successful integration of ADP the company is confident that it will be able to continue to offer competitive world 
class engineering services in what is, and is expected to remain for the foreseeable future, a highly competitive market.

Operational Highlights

Lycopodium Minerals Pty Ltd, based in Perth and Brisbane, and Lycopodium Minerals Canada Ltd, based in Toronto, collectively Lycopodium 
Minerals, continued to build their track record as the preeminent international engineer in terms of West African projects with the award and 
completion of feasibility studies for many of the most prospective near term projects. These included Newmont Mining’s Ahafo North Project in 
Ghana, Perseus’s Sissingué Project in Côte D’Ivoire, B2 Gold’s Fekola Project in Mali, Toro Gold’s Mako Project in Senegal, Endeavour’s Houndé 
Project in Burkina Faso and Gryphon Mineral’s Banfora Project in Burkina Faso.

Lycopodium Minerals continues to be the preferred engineer for First Quantum Minerals with good progress having been achieved during the 
year on the 70 Mtpa Mina De Cobré Panama Project in Panama and ongoing commissioning support being provided to their Sentinel Project in 
Zambia.

During the year design and commissioning services for Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines’ (KCGM) Emissions Reduction Project at their 
Fimiston and Gidgi sites were successfully completed. These projects have been acknowledged as being of significant value to KCGM in 
achieving the ever increasing level of environmental compliance standards.

Lycopodium Minerals also provided commissioning support to B2 Gold for their Otjikoto Project in Namibia and the project is now in commercial 
production. Lycopodium Minerals previously provided engineering and design services for this greenfield 2.4 Mtpa processing plant. The plant 
design includes provision for major expansion.

Lycopodium Minerals completed the feasibility study for Red Eagle Mining Corporation’s Santa Rosa Project in Colombia. Lycopodium Minerals 
were subsequently awarded the EPCM for this greenfield gold project which is now in progress.

Lycopodium Minerals strengthened its relationship with Nordgold and its subsidiary Bissa Gold through the award of the design and procurement 
of the 7 Mtpa Bouly Heap Leach Project in Burkina Faso. These services are currently progressing.

Through the 50:50 Pilbara EPCM Joint Venture with AECOM, Lycopodium Minerals continued with construction of the permanent infrastructure 
for Rio Tinto’s Nammuldi Project in Western Australia. This project is now in the advanced stages with the progressive handover of the remaining 
infrastructure.

ADP Holdings Pty Ltd (ADP), based in Cape Town South Africa, operates a diversified group of companies predominately servicing the diamond 
mining industry. ADP Marine and Modular (ADP M&M) focuses on developing modular process plants and marine technology solutions. ADP 
Projects specialises in studies, EPCM services and project management services with a strong focus on developing the optimal techno-economic 
solutions through innovative process engineering and fit for purpose project execution. ADP Africa is based in Johannesburg South Africa and 
offers logistics, spares supply and general support services to mines throughout Africa. Other companies within the ADP group include ADP 
Namibia (a 100% owned company registered in Namibia), ADP Kukama (a 50% owned company registered in Botswana) and Underwater Mining 
Solutions (UMS) (a 50% owned company registered in South Africa servicing the niche marine mining market).

ADP M&M has a long standing partnering agreement with Namdeb, a Namibian company 50% owned by De Beers and 50% owned by the 
Namibian Government. ADP M&M recently completed a new state of the art Final Recovery Plant to treat all Namdeb diamond production 
together with offshore diamond production from De Beers Marine and diamond production from the new 800 tph Senderlingsdrift process facility. 
ADP M&M also delivered a 0.5 Mtpa modular Kimberlite plant to Lipari in Brazil, two modular DMS plants to Debswana in Botswana, an alluvial 
plant to a client in Angola and have recently been awarded a contract to deliver a modular sampling plant to Lucara Diamonds for their Karowe 
mine.

2   •   Shareholder Report 2015

Sendelingsdrif,  Namibia

ADP Projects has completed a feasibility study and commenced detailed engineering for a new marine processing plant for De Beers Marine. 
This plant will be installed on an ultra-modern, dynamic positioning sampling vessel that is currently under construction in Europe. ADP Projects 
also designed and commissioned a world first XRT based Final Recovery Plant for Gem Diamond’s Letseng Diamond Mine in Lesotho, completed 
a study for Rio Tinto’s Bunder Mine in India, commissioned a 2.5 Mtpa tailings plant for Debswana’s Jwaneng Mine in Botswana, provided EPCM 
services for plant expansions at the Navachab Gold mine and Kao Diamond Mine and is currently providing process design services for the new 
De Beers Canada Ghacho Kue Mine in Canada.

UMS completed a study for a major Southern African client to evaluate the viability of using sub-surface hard rock mining technology to mine an 
existing open pit Kimberlite pipe.

Lycopodium Process Industries (LPI), based in Melbourne Victoria, provides services predominately to the chemicals, renewable and 
pharmaceutical sectors with the following highlights:

•  Construction of a facility for integrated waste treatment and resource recovery for the Renex Group in Victoria was completed with 

engineering support supplied by LPI. LPI is currently assisting with final commissioning and product trials of the plant, which is designed to 
accept and treat contaminated soils and other prescribed industrial wastes using a pyrolysis rotary kiln technology from Germany.

• 

• 

LPI completed the detailed design for a weak nitric acid storage facility and an acid buffer storage facility for Thales Australia and was 
subsequently awarded the construction contract for the project. The project is under construction and forms part of the facility upgrade at the 
Thales Propellant and High Explosive Manufacturing Facility in NSW.

LPI has been engaged to provide engineering design services for an off-gas treatment system treating radioactive and chemical species 
evolving from various release points in the new ANSTO SyMo Facility for the Nuclear Medicine Program.

• 

LPI also provided engineering design services to long standing clients for three major pharmaceutical facilities during the year.

Orway Mineral Consultants (OMC), based in Perth and Toronto, provided metallurgical consultancy services to the global mineral processing 
market. OMC has operated since 1983 and has a reputation for delivering high quality studies and practical solutions in the areas of comminution, 
beneficiation and hydrometallurgy.

During the year OMC delivered comminution circuit design and optimisation services to a wide range of commodities, predominately in copper, 
gold, iron ore and base metals. In the current depressed market a large portion of the services rendered are associated with plant optimisation 
where OMC is able to help clients maximise cash flow at a time of low commodity prices.

OMC’s hydrometallurgical team specialises in the process design of copper, cobalt, nickel and uranium circuits. During the year this team 
developed a process for removing radionuclides from copper concentrates and a demonstration plant utilising this patented technology is 
scheduled to commence operations towards the end of 2015.

Lycopodium Rail (LR), based in Newcastle NSW, experienced a highly productive year across all business sectors, with its design team delivering 
major projects for Roads and Maritime, John Holland Rail and Australian Rail Track Corporation. LR’s asset management team expanded their 
market into Sydney Trains and further consolidated themselves as market leaders in the area of rail infrastructure management services by 
expanding services to major industrial clients and port owners including Port of Newcastle, Whitehaven Coal, Indemitsu, Crawford Freightlines 
and Ettamogah Rail Hub.

Lycopodium Infrastructure (LI), based in Perth, continued to strengthen the Lycopodium brand as a supplier of urban infrastructure providing 
engineering and architectural services to a growing number of local governments. New business activities included the provision of expanded 
support services to state government departments and design services to private sector small subdivision land developers. LI also continued to 
provide design services to the minerals sector albeit the demand for these services has tapered off in line with the reduced activity level in this 
sector.

Lycopodium Asset Management (LAM), based in Perth, continued to provide services to long term clients throughout the year including 
reliability and maintenance engineering briefs for Woodside Energy in the oil and gas sector, BHP Billiton, and Citic Pacific - Cape Preston Port 
in the minerals sector and Orica Mining Chemicals in the manufacturing sector. LAM also expanded its market through the provision of asset 
management services to West Australian Local Governments for infrastructure assets.

Corporate Overview

On 1 October 2014 Lycopodium finalised the acquisition of a 74% controlling ownership in ADP Holdings Pty Ltd (ADP), a South African based 
engineering company. ADP has a number of wholly owned South African operating subsidiaries of which the principal entities are ADP Marine and 
Modular Pty Ltd, and ADP Projects Pty Ltd. ADP also has subsidiaries established in Namibia and Botswana to support business in the respective 
countries.  Lycopodium holds options to acquire the balance of shares in ADP. As part of integrating ADP in to the Lycopodium group it was 
agreed on 1 July 2015 to change the name of ADP Projects Pty Ltd to Lycopodium ADP Pty Ltd in order to reinforce the synergies and increased 
capabilities of the combined entities.

   •   3

Managing Directors Report (Continued)

On 6 October 2014 Lycopodium exercised an option it held to acquire the remaining 25% of issued shares in Lycopodium Rail Pty Ltd. This 
acquisition was funded 50% in cash and 50% in shares. Lycopodium Rail Pty Ltd is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Lycopodium.

On 6 October 2014 Lycopodium exercised an option it held to acquire the remaining 15% of issued shares in Lycopodium Americas Pty Ltd. 
This acquisition was funded 50% in cash and 50% in shares. Lycopodium Americas Pty Ltd is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Lycopodium. 
Lycopodium Americas Pty Ltd holds all the issued shares in Lycopodium Minerals Canada Ltd.

HSE and Community

Notwithstanding that the past year has seen a reduced level on activity on construction and commissioning services Lycopodium has maintained a 
high level of focus on health, safety and the environment.

In 2014/15 there were 1.9 million manhours worked across the Lycopodium managed projects with a LTIFR of 1.6 against an 8.5 construction 
industry average.

On the community side, Lycopodium continued as an active sponsor and supporter of:

•  The Clontarf Foundation, a charitable not-for-profit organisation improving the education, discipline, self-esteem, life skills and employment 

prospects of young Aboriginal men.

•  B.A.S.I.C.S based in Accra, Ghana, an organisation committed to improving the quality of life for children living in some of the poorest areas of 

that city.

Additionally Lycopodium was an active participant in a number of Industry Engagement Panels and targeted educational initiatives in association 
with both the University of Western Australia and Curtin University and continued to provide support to a number of charitable initiatives 
championed by staff.

Full Year Results

For the financial year ended 30 June 2015, Lycopodium derived revenues of $122.8 million and a net loss after tax of $1.02 million. During this 
period Lycopodium incurred non-recurring restructuring costs of $2.5 million.

Basic earnings per share were -2.3 cents. The Directors have resolved not to declare a final dividend in accordance with our dividend policy. The 
total dividend for the year is therefore 1.5 cents fully franked.

Outlook

As previously discussed, the 2014/15 financial year has been a very challenging period driven in the main by depressed commodity prices across a 
wide range of commodities.  

This has resulted in major mining companies continuing to reduce investment across their operations, optimising existing assets and limiting capital 
expenditure to minor brownfield optimisations rather than major greenfield project developments.

Junior mining companies continue to find it difficult to raise capital for studies and projects.

The market place has seen increased competition between service providers which has led to increased appetite for risk and the lowering of 
margins.

On the positive side we have seen the green shoots of recovery in the manufacturing and infrastructure sectors with a steady increase in activity in 
these sectors during the year. It is however uncertain as to whether this recovery can be maintained.

With respect to the minerals sector we are yet to see any signs of recovery. Lycopodium believes that we are at the bottom of the cycle given that 
activity levels are the lowest that we have seen in 22 years of operation but at this time we cannot identify any signs of recovery in commodity 
prices which is the key to increased activity in the minerals sector.

Lycopodium has restructured its operations to accommodate this reduced level of activity and is focused on working with our clients through these 
leaner times. Through innovation and collaboration we are confident we will maintain our hard earned relationships with our clients and be ready to 
take up opportunities when they eventually crystalise.

As a result of ongoing initiatives we are of the view that the company is well positioned to turn around the poor 2014/15 result and return to 
profitability in the forthcoming financial year. Our balance sheet remains strong with substantial cash reserves and no debt and we believe that the 
benefits and opportunities to flow from the ADP Holdings acquisition further strengthen the company. While visibility into the future remains limited 
our view is that the company will be able to return to profitability in the 2015/16 financial period albeit the quantum may be small in comparison to 
previous years.

We will continue to actively monitor our forecasts, particularly given the uncertainty which remains in the market at this time.

4   •   Shareholder Report 2015

Acknowledgement

Lycopodium sincerely thanks our personnel for their effort and support during what has been a challenging year. The Board of Directors 
acknowledges that the company’s ability to continue to deliver world class services to our clients and to maintain and enhance the company’s 
performance and capacity is dependent on the continued commitment and support of our personnel.

We would also like to thank our clients for their continued trust in Lycopodium to deliver services to their projects and studies. We will as always 
work hard to maintain these valued relationships.

On behalf of my fellow Directors I take this opportunity to sincerely thank all personnel, both past and present, for their highly valued contribution 
over the past year.

Rod Leonard
Managing Director

Integrated Waste Treatment & Resource Recovery Facility,  Victoria

   •   5

Board of Directors

Michael (Mick) Caratti 
NON EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN 

Rodney (Rod) Leonard
MANAGING DIRECTOR 

Lawrence (Laurie) Marshall
NON EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Mick has over 37 years’ experience 
in the mineral processing industry 
with involvement in conceptual 
evaluation, engineering, 
commissioning and study 
management for new and existing 
projects in Australia and overseas.

Mick has extensive experience in 
company management having been 
a director and shareholder of a 
successful engineering consulting 
company from 1982 to 1987, and 
then as a director and shareholder 
of Lycopodium from its formation 
in 1992.

Mick’s primary role as Chairman 
is to take a global view of 
the engineering industry and 
Lycopodium’s place in it whilst 
maintaining the Company’s 
founding philosophies and 
strategies. However, Mick continues 
to be involved at a project level as a 
Senior Consultant as required.

Rod has been the Managing Director 
of Lycopodium Limited since January 
2010.

One of the founding partners of 
Lycopodium and an Executive 
Director of Lycopodium Limited 
since listing in 2004, Rod has 
been a Director and Chairman of 
Lycopodium Minerals and a Non 
Executive Director of Orway Mineral 
Consultants.

His management roles within 
Lycopodium Minerals have included 
that of Technical Director for the 
Risk Management Group, Managing 
Director, General Manager of 
Operations and Manager of 
Metallurgy.

Rod has nearly 30 years’ experience 
in a variety of roles in the operation 
and project development of major 
projects in North and South America, 
Africa, Asia and Australia and has 
been involved in many aspects of 
the mineral processing industry from 
process development, feasibility 
studies, and design assignments as 
well as commissioning of projects. 

Laurie was Lycopodium Limited’s 
Managing Director until early 2010 
when, with the appointment of 
Rod Leonard, Laurie took up the 
positions of Non Executive Director 
and Consultant.  He is also a Non 
Executive Director of Lycopodium 
Process Industries, Lycopodium Rail, 
ADP Holdings and Metco Global. 

As a founding partner and Certified 
Practicing Accountant with over 
40 years’ experience in corporate, 
financial operational and risk 
management, Laurie has been 
instrumental in the development 
of Lycopodium from its early days 
as a privately owned engineering 
consultancy to that of a public 
company.

6   •   Shareholder Report 2015

Robert (Bob) Osmetti 
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR 

Bruno Ruggiero 
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Peter De Leo 
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR 

Bruno is a Mechanical 
Engineer with nearly 30 years’ 
experience in the minerals 
industry and a founding 
partner of Lycopodium. 

Currently the Technical 
Director for Lycopodium 
Minerals, Bruno guides 
the technical direction and 
standards for new project 
initiatives that the company 
undertakes.  

Bruno is an Executive 
Director of Lycopodium 
Minerals and a Non Executive 
Director of Lycopodium Asset 
Management.

Peter has been Managing 
Director of Lycopodium Minerals 
Pty Ltd since 2009.  Peter has 
previously held the roles of 
General Manager – Operations, 
Manager of Projects and Project 
Director within the organisation. 

Peter is a Civil Engineer with 
over 26 years’ experience within 
the construction and engineering 
industries.  Peter possesses 
strong business management 
and project implementation skills 
and has been responsible for 
the successful delivery of many 
of Lycopodium’s pioneering and 
large scale projects.

A Fellow of the Institute of 
Engineers Australia, Peter 
maintains an active involvement 
with industry associations and 
tertiary education institutions 
both as a representative of the 
organisation and of industry.

Bob is a Civil Engineer with 
over 36 years’ experience in 
the project management and 
construction management 
of projects in an EPCM role 
and has worked for major 
construction contractors in the 
mining sector.

He brings direct experience 
in all aspects of project 
implementation, estimating, 
scheduling and construction 
management as well as the 
management of a number of 
feasibility studies for major 
resource projects in Australia 
and overseas.

Bob is one of the founding 
partners of Lycopodium 
and has held diverse 
positions within the group 
and continues to apply his 
expertise across the group 
companies as Director – 
Projects.  

Bob is currently the President 
and Director – Projects  
of Lycopodium Minerals  
Canada Ltd.  

Keith Bakker 
COMPANY SECRETARY / 
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER 

Keith has been with 
Lycopodium for 18 years and 
in that time has carried out 
the roles of Commercial 
Manager and General 
Manager Finance.

A Fellow of the Certified 
Practicing Accountants of 
Australia, he brings to his 
role of Company Secretary 
and Chief Financial Officer, 
over 30 years’ experience 
in company secretarial and 
finance roles within the 
airline, human resource 
management and mining 
services sectors.

   •   7

8   •   Shareholder Report 2015

Hexham Train Support Facility, New South Wales

About Lycopodium

Our Company

Lycopodium is an innovative and value driven process, engineering and project management consultancy.

Our multidiscipline services are provided through our subsidiaries, which specialise in their industry segment.  Through our focused approach 
Lycopodium is able to consistently meet our clients’ expectations and develop long term relationships.

MINERALS

ADP

PROCESS 
INDUSTRIES & 
RENEWABLES

INFRASTRUCTURE

RAIL

ASSET 
MANAGEMENT

ORWAY MINERAL 
CONSULTANTS

Lycopodium Limited

• 

• 

• 

 Mineral 
Processing

 Materials 
Handling

 Plant and Mine  
Infrastructure

• 

• 

 Diamond 
Processing

 Mineral 
Processing

•  Fixed and 
    Modular 
    Process Plants

•  Underwater  
    Mining

•  Specialty Chemicals

•  Pharmaceuticals

•  Research &  
     Development

•  Food & Beverage

•  Manufacturing

•  Renewable Energy

•  Energy Recovery

•  Power Generation 
     & Distribution

•  Commercial &  
     Industrial Buildings

•  Water Supply,  
     Treatment, Disposal

•  Accommodation & 
    Townships

•  Agriculture

• 

• 

 Heavy Haul Bulk  
Freight  
Networks

 Private Owned  
Rail Lines & Sidings

• 

• 

• 

 Maintenance  
  Strategy  
Development & 
Implementation

•   Comminution  
Circuit Design, 
Modelling & 
Optimisation

 Criticality Analysis

•  Hydrometallurgy

 Maintenance 
Optimisation  
Audits

•   Process Plant 
Consulting & 
Commissioning

Established in 1992, Lycopodium is headquartered in Perth, Australia and is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange.  Lycopodium has offices 
nationally in Brisbane, Melbourne, Newcastle and Perth and internationally in Canada, South Africa and the Philippines.

Our Business

Lycopodium’s business model is based on consistently delivering quality services to clients through feasibility studies, projects, operations and 
maintenance advice which are fit for purpose, objective and reliable.  In this way Lycopodium adds value to a client’s business leading to long 
term beneficial relationships.  

We work closely with our clients to evaluate, develop and implement engineering solutions for their projects and our involvement starts from 
the early conceptual planning moving through the feasibility phases to the completion of design, construction, commissioning and handover, 
continuing with optimisations, reliability engineering and maintenance services on operational sites. 

Our contracting model is flexible and always aligned to meet a client’s requirements.  We deliver projects on the basis of reimbursable and lump 
sum EPCM basis (Engineering, Procurement, Construction Management), which relates to professional services only, and on an EPC basis, also 
referred to as lump sum turn key or design and construct, which encompasses professional services as well as plant and equipment.  We can 
also incorporate partial or fully integrated teams together with a client to best align with a client’s internal capabilities.

Our work, reflecting diversity in not only client background, but commodity, technology, scale of operation and geographic location, falls into key 
industry segments:

•  Mineral Processing

Our Mining and Mineral Processing clients range from major multinational producers through to junior exploration companies.  Their projects 
involve a wide range of commodities: gold, copper, nickel, diamonds, iron ore, cobalt, zinc, lead, manganese, uranium, tin, tantalum, rare 
earth minerals and platinum group metals.   

Projects, undertaken in diverse environments including tropical, arid, arctic and high altitude conditions, range in scope from large greenfield 
and brownfield projects involving process plant and equipment, civil and building works, control systems and supporting infrastructure to small 
skid-mounted, transportable plants.

• 

Infrastructure

Lycopodium has wide-ranging experience managing the assessment, design, planning and implementation of a variety of infrastructure 
elements.  Infrastructure elements include power supply, water supply and treatment, housing, commercial and industrial buildings, roads, 
aerodromes and general infrastructure.

   •   9

 
 
About Lycopodium (Continued)

•  Process Industries 

Our Process Industries clients, many of them household names, produce a wide variety of products in the manufacturing, pharmaceutical, 
chemical, food and beverage, healthcare, oil and gas and petrochemical sectors. 

With this diversity of sectors, Lycopodium’s expertise is wide, ranging from greenfield production facilities through to cutting-edge 
biotechnology and scientific research projects.

•  Rail

Lycopodium provides rail infrastructure asset management services, feasibility study and detailed design services to the heavy rail industry.  
These services are often complimentary in nature to larger projects undertaken within the group which include a rail component.

•  Renewables

Lycopodium is at the forefront of developments in renewable energy and energy efficiency including the implementation of projects in solar, 
biofuels, waste to energy and heat energy recovery.  

•  Agriculture

Given our extensive technical capabilities, we have had an increasing involvement in the agricultural sector.  This has included large irrigation 
systems, food handling and processing facilities, food and animal by-product processing to generate energy as well as new value adding 
by-products.  Often these agricultural projects encompass other industry segments in which Lycopodium operates. 

•  Maintenance and Reliability

Maintenance and reliability engineering clients come from the oil and gas, petrochemical, power and water utilities, infrastructure, mining and 
minerals processing and marine industries. 

In this sector, there is significant experience in re-engineering existing systems for brownfield operations as well as developing and 
implementing new maintenance management systems for greenfield operations.

Project examples of the various commodities and industry sectors in which Lycopodium has worked during the recent year follow later in this 
shareholder report.
Our Services

Throughout our 20+ year history, Lycopodium has developed a reputation for providing technically innovative and cost effective engineering 
solutions and delivering projects which exceed the client’s project criteria and performance targets.
Lycopodium operates with well established systems and processes to ensure consistency in our approach across all aspects of project delivery.  
Our services fall generally into four areas of expertise:
Process

Lycopodium’s process group has a wide range of experience to undertake the development of new processes and determine the viability of new 
and existing processes, including:

•  Planning, design, supervision and interpretation of laboratory, bench-scale and pilot-scale test programs.

•  Flowsheet development, mass and energy balances, process modeling, process design specification.

•  Management and coordination of necessary skills in the production of studies.  These studies are done at different levels of confidence 

depending on the stage of investigation and are usually defined as concept study, pre-feasibility study and detailed or bankable feasibility 
study.

•  Evaluation and selection of new and alternative processes at the conceptual and pre-feasibility study stages to determine the viability of new 

and existing processes.

•  Comminution circuit design using specialist database and in-house software to design crushing and grinding circuits and predict their 

performance.

•  Hydrometallurgy for base metals, uranium and rare earths.

•  Commissioning, training and operations services.

•  Design, construction management and operation of pilot plant installations.

•  Plant audits, debottlenecking evaluations and staged development planning.

•  Environmental compliance processes, for example cyanide recovery and destruction, arsenic fixation and disposal, metal precipitation and 

water management.

10   •   Shareholder Report 2015

Engineering

Lycopodium’s engineering group can offer a wide range of capabilities for the development of a project, including:

•  Conceptual and detailed design of processing plants.  

•  Conceptual and detailed design of infrastructure including earthworks, roads, drainage, power supply and transmission systems, buildings 

and, accommodation villages with amenities, water and wastewater systems. 

•  Design expertise covering all relevant disciplines including:

-    Architectural 
-    Civil  
-    Structural 
-    Mechanical  

-    Piping
-    Electrical
-    Instrumentation
-    Process Controls

•  Design, program, test and commission plant automation control systems.

•  Plant refurbishment and relocation.

•  Conceptual and detailed design of large modular and panelised plants for major projects down to small transportable and skid-mounted 

plants.

•  Plant debottlenecking, upgrading and improvements.

•  Troubleshooting and modification of mechanical and electrical installations.

•  Design expertise in tropical, arid, arctic and high altitude locations.

•  General engineering consulting services including due diligence reports, project valuations and debottlenecking studies.

Project Delivery

Lycopodium undertakes the project and construction management of clients’ projects, including:

•  Full project and construction management to deliver complete projects.

•  Health, safety, environmental, community relations, quality management services.

•  Project controls including cost control and scheduling.

•  Tender preparation and evaluation.

•  Procurement, expediting and inspection services.

• 

Logistics and transport management. 

•  Plant evaluations and assessments for insurance or sales purposes.

•  Capital and operating cost estimates.

•  Financial evaluation of projects.

•  Client representation.

•  Development and implementation of project accounting services.

•  Development and implementation of project maintenance and reliability engineering services.

   •   11

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
About Lycopodium (Continued)

Maintenance and Reliability Engineering Services 

Lycopodium can assist plant site operators to reduce operating costs and increase productivity, whilst complying with statutory regulations 
and duty of care obligations, by refining or re-engineering their operating methods, maintenance management practices and implementing the 
required change processes.

These services fall within the following areas:

•  Maintenance System Development – the preparation of work instructions to provide comprehensive maintenance actions.

•  Optimisation – the fine tuning of systems, procedures and processes to cost effectively provide the highest productivity, availability and 

reliability for an operational site.

•  Materials Management and Optimisation – encompasses all aspects of identifying, categorising and organising equipment in a facility or 

system.

•  Operational Readiness – the provision of services to assist clients to initiate operation of new projects.

•  Planning – the detailed processes and practices that form the maintenance planning cycle.

Our People

Engineering consulting is a service industry and Lycopodium is dependent on its people for the quality of service it provides.  Lycopodium is 
proud of the professionalism and loyalty of the team it has developed and their achievements in the innovative and cost effective design and 
construction of projects in diverse industries and regions.

Lycopodium uses a team approach to its work where each project has a team drawn from the disciplines required and is led by a project manager.  
Each discipline is headed by a discipline manager who is responsible for monitoring and controlling the quality of work within the discipline 
and ensuring each project manager has sufficient resources to run the project team.  Regular formal management meetings are held to review 
progress, cost and quality and ensure all projects are fully resourced, on time and on budget. 

Lycopodium provides a team of respected professionals in each of the disciplines required in a process, engineering and project delivery 
business.

Our Projects

Lycopodium, while Australian headquartered, operates both nationally and internationally.  Through our subsidiaries, Lycopodium has undertaken 
over 5,000 projects, studies and consulting briefs in over 50 countries spanning Australia, Africa, Asia, North America and South America.  
Projects have ranged from small, prototype facilities to demonstrate new processes or technologies through to world class, greenfield and 
brownfield projects incorporating the largest equipment items in the world.  Many projects have been delivered into remote locations with limited 
existing infrastructure and services.  

Our Clients

Lycopodium services a wide range of organisations headquartered throughout the world including large international companies, mid tier and 
emerging companies, and junior and start up companies.  The majority of our services are the result of long standing relationships with our clients, 
built over years of high quality services specific to their requirements.  Lycopodium’s highly customer focused approach and ability to deliver 
tailored, value adding solutions has been fundamental to our success.

Lycopodium focuses on achieving each client’s aims as its primary objective and its success is demonstrated by the high level of client 
satisfaction and repeat business the company enjoys.  Lycopodium continues to deliver innovative and fit for purpose outcomes, tailored to the 
needs of individual clients.

Our Goals

Lycopodium’s aim is to be the best in its field through the delivery of techno-economic solutions which optimise a project’s returns to each of our 
clients.  We believe our success is intimitely tied to the success of our clients’ projects.  

Lycopodium has a proven track record of meeting budgets and schedules and achieving project performance criteria on both large and small 
projects and in greenfield (new) and brownfield (existing operating plant) environments.  

A successful process, engineering and project management consulting company doesn’t stand still – it grows through consistency and reliability 
in project delivery, accepting new challenges and resetting goals, which for Lycopodium reflects in larger, more complex projects and work in new 
areas, be they technical or geographic.

Long Term View 

Lycopodium continues to focus on the longer term horizon.  Our growth has always been the product of delivering excellence to our clients on a 
consistent basis.  In turn we are rewarded through repeat work, references to new clients and industry recognition for technical and project delivery 
excellence.  This approach has enabled the business to expand through organic growth in alternative geographic locations and through strategic 
acquisition where clear added value to the business can be demonstrated.

12   •   Shareholder Report 2015

Project Reviews

Project:  Otjikoto Project
Location:  Namibia
Client: 
Sector:  Minerals - Gold

B2Gold Namibia (Pty) Ltd

On 10 March 2015 President and Chief Executive Officer of 
B2Gold Corporation (B2Gold), Clive T Johnson declared to the 
market:  “B2Gold is pleased to announce the Company’s new 
Otjikoto Gold Mine in Namibia achieved commercial production, 
ahead of schedule, on February 28, 2015. The ramp up of 
production continues well ahead of budget. 
The open pit Otjikoto Gold Mine poured first gold on 
December 11, 2014, one week ahead of schedule.  In January 
2015, the Project continued its strong ramp up to commercial 
production ahead of schedule and produced 8,587 ounces 
against a budget of 8,267 ounces.  Better than budgeted 
performance was attributed to additional mill availability (89.6% 
versus budget of 70%) and better than anticipated throughput 
(34% above budget).  February 2015 also saw gold production 
ahead of budget (10,228 ounces produced versus 8,863 ounces 
budgeted).”
Lycopodium has been working with this project since January 
2013, completing the EP (engineering / procurement) contract 
with a design scope for the process plant plus plant infrastructure 
(administration and mine services buildings, sewage, water and 
power distribution). Also, during the plant construction phase, 
Lycopodium provided on-site construction scheduling, technical 
support, site drafting support and engineering technical expertise 
for plant commissioning.

The process flowsheet encompasses primary crushing, milling, 
a gravity circuit which takes 100% of the process flow, pebble 
return circuit with provision for future crushing, leaching, 
CIP (carbon-in-pulp) and then a standard desorption and 
electrowinning circuit before smelting.  Design layout also made 
provision for future leach and CIP circuit expansion to allow an 
increase in plant throughput to 3 Mtpa.
Expansion of the Otjikoto mill from 2.5 Mtpa to 3 Mtpa is now 
underway with the installation of the first additional leach tank 
during 1Q2015.  Major additional work to be completed includes 
installation of a second leach tank, construction of a pebble 
crusher and associated piping and pumping components and 
it is anticipated that this work will be completed by 3Q2015.  
Lycopodium again completed the engineering design and 
procurement activities for the plant expansion scope, and 
continues to provide office based technical support for 
construction as work progresses. 
B2Gold is a Vancouver based gold producer with four operating 
mines (two in Nicaragua, one in the Philippines and now the 
Otjikoto Mine in Namibia) and a portfolio of development 
and exploration assets in Nicaragua, Mali, Burkina Faso and 
Colombia.

   •   13

Project Reviews (Continued)

Project:   Nammuldi Below Water Table
Location:  Western Australia
Rio Tinto
Client: 
Sector:   Minerals - Iron Ore 

Project:   Red Area Complex
Location:  Namibia
Client:   Namdeb
Sector:   Minerals - Diamonds 

Rio Tinto, a leading international business involved in each stage 
of metal and mineral production. In the Pilbara area of Western 
Australia, operations comprise 15 mines, four independent port 
terminals, a heavy freight railway and supporting infrastructure, 
including the Operations Centre in Perth some 1,500 km away.
Rio Tinto has a project called The Nammuldi Below Water Table 
(NBWT) that extends existing mining below the water table.
Lycopodium has been working on this project since 2007 when 
a number of scoping reports and reviews were undertaken.  
A Preliminary Engineering Study (2009) and a Definitive 
Engineering Study (2011) were completed and in January 
2012 Lycopodium, in joint venture with URS Australia, was 
awarded the EPCM contract for the implementation work 
for the stockyards and train load out and associated project 
infrastructure.   
In the past year, engineering and procurement activities were 
finalised, and activities were then largely focused on completing 
the construction management and commissioning of various 
operational components.
In order to ensure the commissioning phase was managed 
effectively, an integrated commissioning team was utilised. The 
team comprised a number of stakeholders including several Rio 
Tinto business units, EPCM groups and construction contractors 
who all worked together to successfully deliver the overall 
Nammuldi project commissioning requirements.  
In late 2015, the focus now shifts towards making the site 
fully operational including the finalisation of the remaining 
handover requirements of the plant facilities, and the completion 
of construction management of the project’s non-process 
infrastructure.

ADP was commissioned by Namdeb for the design and 
implementation of the Red Area Complex (RAC) project in 
Oranjemund, Namibia.  The final objective of the facility was 
to produce an export diamond product from all of the Namdeb 
production sites, as well as final sorting and treatment of De 
Beers Marine Namibia concentrate product.
The RAC is the culmination of 10 years of effort between 
Namdeb and its partner ADP incorporating learnings from several 
earlier diamond recovery projects, resulting in a design that 
is both fit for purpose and world class with regard to diamond 
recovery plants.
The existing Recovery and Sorthouse located at #4 Plant within 
Mining Area 1, was built during the 1950’s and despite several 
upgrades over the years, was no longer able to perform to 
specification.
A breakdown of the project objectives is as follows:
•  Provide a Red Area Facility that is able to handle 

diamondiferous concentrates (recover, sort and despatch) 
from all of the Namdeb production areas for the projected life 
of mine.

•  Conform to De Beers Group Diamond Value Management 

Criteria with regard to “Red Areas”, with particular emphasis 
on diamond control guidelines and loss prevention.  The 
overall recovery efficiency must be increased above 
historically achieved by Namdeb across the entire product 
size range for all sources.

•  Provide a separate sorting area within the complex for the 
De Beers Marine final concentrate sorting and diamond 
preparation.

•  Extend the land-based resource, by converting currently 

un-pay mining blocks into payable resource with the increase 
in recovered grade

ADP was the appointed EPCM contractor and mainly Namibian 
subcontractors were used to construct the facility. 

14   •   Shareholder Report 2015

Project:  Emissions Reduction Project – Gidji UFG
Location:  Western Australia
Client: 
Sector:  Minerals - Gold

Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines

Project:  Endex Reactor
Location:  Victoria, Australia
Client:   Calix Limited
Sector:   Processing Industries 

Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines (KCGM) operates the 
Fimiston Open Pit, Mt Charlotte Underground Mine and Fimiston 
and Gidji Processing Plants on behalf of Joint Venture Owners, 
Barrick and Newmont.  
A large proportion of the gold ore is refractory, meaning sulphide 
minerals trap the gold making it difficult to extract by direct 
cyanidation and carbon adsorption processes. For this ore type, 
roasting – which produces off-gas emissions, is the most efficient 
and cost-effective method of recovering the gold.
KCGM initiated the $98M Emissions Reduction Project (ERP) 
which has eliminated sulphur dioxide and significantly reduced 
mercury emissions from its Gidji and Fimiston Processing Plants. 
The project saw commissioning of a 30 tph Ultra Fine Grinding 
(UFG) Mill at Gidji to replace the roasting process and significant 
upgrades for the Carbon Kilns and in the Gold Room at Fimiston.
For the ERP, Lycopodium undertook a Pre-feasibility Study, 
Definitive Feasibility Study and Front End Engineering Design, 
whilst to develop the Gidji UFG, Lycopodium completed a 
Scoping Study, Pre-feasibility Study and Definitive Feasibility 
Study. 
Lycopodium completed the detail design for the Gidji component 
of the ERP in December 2014.  Additional works associated with 
the ERP included implementation of an upgrade of the Gidji to 
Fimiston water supply system.
KCGM opened the new UFG Mill in June 2015, completely 
replacing roasting and eliminating atmospheric emissions from 
the Gidji Processing Plant.

Calix Limited, a Sydney-based company, is focussed on the 
staged technical development and commercialisation of various 
calcining technologies.  
Calcining is an industrial process that uses very high 
temperatures to change the physical and chemical properties of 
various solid materials, such as minerals, metals and ore.
Calix has developed and operates a commercial production 
facility at Bacchus Marsh in Victoria utilising their ground 
breaking Catalytic Flash Calcination (CFC) process.  Instead of 
the traditional direct heating of minerals for calcination, the Calix 
process utilises an indirect heating process.  This separates the 
calcination process from combustion gases, delivering benefits in 
terms of mineral properties and carbon emissions.  The Bacchus 
Marsh plant already provides a range of high quality calcined 
minerals to the building and construction, agriculture, water and 
power industries. 
As part of ongoing research and development, Calix has 
extended the CFC technology into its Endex (endothermic–
exothermic) Reactor, with the intention to reduce carbon 
emissions during energy generation by extraction of carbon 
dioxide from fossil fuels prior to reduction, through capture and 
sequestration.
Applications for the Endex Reactor include CO2 sequestration, 
gasification of lignite, coal gas to hydrogen and natural gas 
to hydrogen.  Development work of a demonstration plant is 
being supported by grant funding from the Australian and British 
Governments.
Lycopodium has provided Front End Engineering Design (FEED) 
studies to Calix for both 2 MW and 10 MW Endex Reactor 
demonstration plants.  Lycopodium has also continued to provide 
mechanical engineering support to the Bacchus Marsh facility to 
extend the operating envelope and throughput capacity of the 
CFC process.

   •   15

 
Project Reviews (Continued)

Project:   Carrapateena Hydromet Concentrate Upgrade
Location:  South Australia
Client:   Oz Minerals 
Sector:   Metallurgical and Comminution 

Project:   Modular Tailings Treatment Plant
Location:  Botswana
Client:   Debswana Diamond Company Ltd
Sector:   Minerals - Diamonds 

Debswana Diamond Company Ltd, known as Debswana, is 
located in Botswana and currently the world’s leading producer 
of diamonds by value through four operating diamond mines in 
central Botswana. 
ADP was commissioned in 2009 by Debswana for the design of 
a modular tailings treatment plant with a 2.4 Mtpa name plate for 
its Jwaneng mine.  
The 37 million tonne tailings resource is exceptionally high grade 
largely because the plant was not initially designed to liberate all 
locked diamonds below the top size of 25 mm. 
Concept, Feasibility and Value engineering studies were 
conducted by ADP from 2009 until 2011 upon which a contract 
for the detailed Engineering and Procurement was awarded 
to ADP.  The Engineering and Procurement phases of the 
project were completed in Q3 2013 and were followed by the 
construction of the plant.  Debswana elected to manage the 
construction and commissioning of the plant, while ADP provided 
technical support.  The project was commissioned in Q4 2014 
and is currently in its ramp up phase.

Australian based miner OZ Minerals owns and operates the 
high quality Prominent Hill copper-gold mine and Carrapateena 
advanced copper-gold exploration project, both located in South 
Australia.
Purchased in 2011, Carrapateena is an iron-oxide copper-gold 
deposit located approximately 130 km north of the regional 
centre of Port Augusta.  In August 2014, a Pre-feasibility 
Study was completed which confirmed that Carrapateena is a 
technically and financially viable project.
OMC has been involved with this project since the inception of 
the prefeasibility study in early 2013, and provided assistance 
with both the comminution front end design, through major 
crushing and grinding equipment sizings, as well as the 
hydrometallurgical concentrate treatment process following 
the copper flotation.  Hydrometallurgical work has seen the 
successful completion of a pilot scale concentrate treatment 
plant, progressing into a larger scale demonstration plant 
targeted for completion in early 2016.
The concentrate treatment process leaches iron from the 
concentrate, decreasing its weight by 45% with no loss of 
copper.  This reduces the concentrate mass to be transported 
representing a significant freight and smelter treatment charge 
cost reduction.  The leaching of iron increases the copper 
content up to 60% and significantly reduces the impurity contents 
in the concentrate (particularly uranium), which potentially could 
open up additional markets for the concentrates as well as 
further de-risking the project. 
The demonstration plant aims to prove the process and generate 
valuable engineering data for scale up.  OMC has patented this 
novel process with a view that it could be used to treat similar 
copper concentrates in the Gawler Craton and across the globe.

16   •   Shareholder Report 2015

 
Project:   Fimiston Goldroom Retort and  
Kiln Offgas Cleaning

Location:  Western Australia
Client:   Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines 
Sector:   Minerals - Gold 

Integrated Waste Treatment & Resource 

Project:  
                 Recovery Facility
Location:  Victoria, Australia
Client:   RENEX Group
Sector:   Process Industries 

Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines (KCGM) operates the 
Fimiston Open Pit, Mt Charlotte Underground Mine and Fimiston 
and Gidji Processing Plants on behalf of Joint Venture Owners, 
Barrick and Newmont.  
The Fimiston Processing Plant at KCGM processes ore from 
the Fimiston Open Pit and Mt Charlotte Underground Mine, and 
also recovers gold from loaded carbon from the Gidji Processing 
Plant.  The Fimiston Plant consists of crushing, grinding, 
flotation, carbon in leach (CIL) and gold recovery circuits.
An objective of KCGM’s $98M Emissions Reduction Project 
(ERP) is to reduce gaseous mercury emissions from the Fimiston 
Plant. The project involves installation of a new retort oven in 
the Gold Room and an off-gas scrubber, regenerative thermal 
oxidiser and a Sulphur Impregnated Carbon (SIC) filter bed 
system on a new Carbon Regeneration Kiln, and a Mercury 
Storage Facility.  
Originally, in January 2012, Lycopodium was engaged to perform 
the design of a ‘takeout package’ from the ERP consisting of 
the gold room retort and kiln off-gas cleaning works, including 
the addition of a third carbon regeneration kiln at Fimiston. In 
November 2013, the scope of work was extended to include 
the detail design, specification of equipment and vendor 
coordination.  
Additionally, in October 2014, Lycopodium was engaged to assist 
with the preparation of documents for the formal approval of gas 
supply to the site. Detailed design works associated with this 
task including the specific gas code requirements with statutory 
approvals by the Office of Energy were completed in March 
2015. Commissioning gas was formally approved for supply to 
the new plant in May 2015.   
KCGM has installed all the associated equipment to complete 
the works and commissioning was completed in June 2015.

Soil contamination or soil pollution is caused by the presence 
of xenobiotic (human-made) chemicals or other alteration in 
the natural soil environment. It is typically caused by industrial 
activity, agricultural chemicals, or improper disposal of waste. 
The concern over soil contamination stems primarily from health 
risks, from direct contact with the contaminated soil, vapours 
from the contaminants, and from secondary contamination of 
water supplies within and underlying the soil.  Soil contamination 
also causes harmful consequences for ecosystems.
Victoria’s first permanent facility for the thermal treatment 
of contaminated soils and other PIW’s (prescribed industrial 
wastes) commenced receiving contaminated soil in November 
2013.  The plant, built and developed by Australian company 
RENEX, with the support of major investors including Cleantech 
Ventures, Macquarie Bank and OPTrust, will treat up to 
70,000 t/y of contaminated soils and other PIW’s, otherwise 
destined for landfill.  
Located in Dandenong South, the plant will use a pyrolysis kiln, 
an advanced thermal treatment technology designed and proven 
in Germany, to thermally decompose organic contaminants in 
soils, including polyaromatic and petroleum hydrocarbons and 
organic pesticides.  The plant is also capable of treating mercury 
impacted soils and wastes.  
Pyrolysis is the chemical decomposition of organic materials by 
heating in the absence of oxygen or any other reagents.  The 
design concept of the RENEX plant is to recover the energy 
from the contaminants in gaseous phase to provide fuel for the 
thermal oxidisation unit. 
Construction of the process plant was completed in November 
2014 with cold and hot commissioning of the Pyrolysis Rotary 
Kiln Technology beginning December 2014.  Proof of Process 
started in June 2015 after successful cold and hot testing.  
After EPA approvals and licensing are completed the plant will 
commence processing contaminated soils.
Lycopodium’s role with this project was the Australianisation 
of the technology (technology from Germany, manufactured 
in multiple countries and then transported to site) and detailed 
design of the balance of the plant.  Lycopodium’s recent role 
included the management of the commissioning of the plant and 
assistance in completing the proof of process testing to allow 
EPA licensing to be obtained.

   •   17

   
Project Reviews (Continued)

Project:   Sendelingsdrif 
Location:  Namibia
Client:   Namdeb
Sector:   Minerals - Diamonds 

Project:  Maules Creek Rail Infrastructure Management
Location:  New South Wales, Australia
Client:  Whitehaven Coal Limited 
Sector:  Rail

ADP Marine and Modular were commissioned by Namdeb to 
determine and implement a complete economically viable and 
sustainable solution to mine the Sendelingsdrif alluvial deposit 
located in Namdeb’s Orange River Mines Mining License Area 
(ML42) on the Namibian side of the Orange River.
The Sendelingsdrif area has a tourism-based land end use and 
as such the full design of the project was done with that end state 
in mind. A full Environmental Impact Assessment was conducted 
and included various specialist studies as identified by the team 
and Interested and Affected Parties (I&AP) during the stakeholder 
engagements. 
The Sendelingsdrif project team (a partnership between ADP 
and the Namdeb Owners team) executed the detail design and 
construction of the Sendelingsdrif Treatment Plant (STP) and the 
associated infrastructure.
Seamless transition between the current Daberas operation and 
the Sendelingsdrif operation was seen as one of the biggest 
challenges of the project as the same mining equipment had to 
be utilised as was currently in operation at Daberas. 
All on-mine infrastructure had to be provided to cater for all 
necessary support services, including water, power, earthmoving 
and treatment maintenance facilities, administration buildings, 
etc.
The Sendelingsdrif Treatment Plant was designed to treat 850 tph 
of head feed from seven separate alluvial mining zones.
The plant is divided into two distinct areas – a dry front-end 
comprising main tip with rotating barrel screen feeding dry 
primary and de-sanding screening sections. The de-sanded 
stockpiled material is then fed to a wet screening section where 
after it goes through a dense-medium separation plant and large 
stone recovery plant.
A feature of this plant was substantial re-use of re-furbished 
second hand plant from the client, which served to reduce the 
capital costs significantly. 
The construction period spanned two summer periods where 
temperatures regularly exceeded 50 degrees centigrade. 
750,000 million injury free manhours was a major achievement 
on this project.

18   •   Shareholder Report 2015

From its headquarters in Sydney, Whitehaven Coal Limited 
(Whitehaven) manages the operations of mines at Werris Creek, 
Tarrawonga and Rocglen, the Narrabri North underground mine 
and the Maules Creek Project, all in New South Wales.  The 
company also owns interests in various other exploration and 
potential development projects in Queensland and New South 
Wales. 
Maules Creek is located in the heart of the Gunnedah Basin 
and is within close proximity of critical infrastructure. It is 
approximately 18 km north-east of Boggabri and only 16 km 
from the main railway line servicing the coal terminals at the Port 
of Newcastle, 360 km south-east of the Project.  The Project is 
considered to be one of only a few remaining Tier 1 undeveloped 
coal assets in Australia and with 362 Mt of recoverable reserves, 
is one of the largest coal deposits in Australia. 
The Maules Creek Rail project required the construction of 
30 km of new railtrack servicing two coal load points, one 
being Whitehaven’s Maules Creek coal mine, the other being 
Indemitsu’s Boggabri Coal mine.
Construction work at Maules Creek started in January 2014 and 
within the year, in December 2014, Whitehaven announced that 
coal railings from Maules Creek had commenced.  Marking the 
milestone, Paul Flynn, Whitehaven’s Managing Director and 
CEO, said: “The railing of the first coal from Maules Creek is a 
significant achievement for Whitehaven Coal.  Railing first coal 
less than a year from when construction started is a fantastic 
outcome and I congratulate all those involved in this very 
successful project.”
Lycopodium contributed to two areas of the Project, the first 
being the design and construction verification of the new railway 
connection to the ARTC Hunter Valley Rail Network, the other 
being the provision of ongoing engineering services with regard 
to the routine Inspection and Assessment of the new private 
railway.  
Work also included providing a 10 year asset management 
plan and maintenance budget plus a preventative maintenance 
service schedule for the rail assets.

 
Project:  Hexham Train Support Facility 
Location:  New South Wales, Australia
Client: 
Sector:  Rail

Aurizon 

Newcastle and the Kooragang and Carrington Coal Terminals, 
Aurizon is redeveloping approximately 38 hectares of zoned 
industrial land it owns into a TSF. 
The TSF will provide for the operaional management of Aurizon 
trains including statutory and routine maintenance inspections.  It 
will enable Aurizon locomotives and wagons to be attached and 
detached; provisioned with fuel, water and other supplies and to 
be serviced or temporarily stored.  Completion of construction is 
expected mid 2015.
Lycopodium has been appointed the Independent Project 
Verifier to the Project.  The role of the independent verifier, an 
organisation that is free from project obligation, is to conduct 
investigation into the validity and preservation of contractual 
requirements and adherence with required standards and 
guidelines. Lycopodium was originally engaged by Aurizon to 
independently assess the design and construction to ensure the 
site will interface correctly with the Hunter Valley Coal Network 
Typically, the scope of work in all phases of the Project includes:
•  Design: Track and Civil Detail Design, Risk Management, 

Design Principles and Design Certificate.

•  Construction: Specifications, QA plans, Construction 

Methodology, Design Changes, Due Diligence Inspections, 
Possession related completed QA, Possession Certificate/s.

•  Closeout: Review As Builts, Final Site Inspection, Review 

an assessment of any non standard items, Treatment of any 
residual risks, Issue of Notice of Completion, Issue of Close 
Out Report.

In January 2015 Lycopodium was engaged by Aurizon to 
provide project management services in addition to Independent 
verification.

Each year, Aurizon, Australia’s largest rail freight operator, 
transports more than 250 Mt of Australian commodities, 
connecting miners, primary producers, and industry with 
international and domestic markets. It provides customers with 
integrated freight and logistics solutions across an extensive 
national rail and road network, traversing Australia.  The 
company also owns and operates one of the world’s largest coal 
rail networks, linking more than 50 mines with three major ports 
in Queensland.
Construction is currently underway on the development of the 
A$186 million Hexham Train Support Facility (TSF) to service 
Aurizon’s growing Hunter Valley coal freight business and 
capacity pressures in the coal supply chain.  Located in the 
Hunter Valley of NSW, a few kilometres from the Port of  

   •   19

Lycopodium also developed the piping and instrumentation 
diagrams to define the overall process as well as the necessary 
mechanical design of the individual equipment elements and 
associated electrical and process control systems, including 3D 
equipment and piping layouts.  Data sheets and specifications 
to enable Synergen Met to procure all equipment were also 
delivered by Lycopodium.
In November 2014, the Australian team’s production unit took 
out the top prize at the Institution of Chemical Engineers’ Global 
Awards in the UK, by winning the 2014 Award for Outstanding 
Achievement in Chemical and Process Engineering as well as 
winning the Core Chemical Engineering category.  The invention 
also won the 2014 Institution of Engineers Australia, Queensland 
Division, Engineering Excellence Award for Research and 
Development and Innovation.

Project Reviews (Continued)

Project:   100 kW Skid Mounted Sodium Cyanide  

Plasma Reactor

Location:  Tasmania, Australia
Client:   Synergen Met Pty Ltd
Sector:   Process Industries  

Formed seven years ago, Synergen Met Pty Ltd (Synergen Met) 
is an Australian-owned and operated business made up of a 
team of scientific minds with more than 80 years of experience in 
the global mining industry.  
After six years of development and testing, Synergen Met 
has produced a world-first, modular process plant that can 
manufacture sodium cyanide (NaCN) at a mine site.  Located 
at a mine in Australia, the Synergen NaCN Plant is a 100 kW 
skid-mounted, stand-alone production unit, the size of a standard 
40 ft shipping container and readily transportable.  
Cyanide, one of the most critical, but hazardous, reagents used 
in the global mining industry has been used in gold production for 
more than 120 years, but its transport, storage and handling can 
pose significant risk to people and the environment, with the EU 
classifying it as ‘very toxic’.  The Synergen NaCN Plant has the 
potential to change not only the global cyanide production and 
supply industry, but the way toxic chemicals are manufactured 
and delivered to end use customers.  
The new process differs from existing cyanide production 
by using nitrogen instead of ammonia as a source material.  
Nitrogen, the most abundant gas in the earth’s atmosphere, can 
be extracted from the air for cyanide production using existing, 
off-the-shelf technology.
Lycopodium‘s involvement has been in the design development 
of, initially, a 10 kW plant, then a 100 kW plant, starting from pilot 
plant data provided by Synergen Met.  There is also a larger 
plant under development.  Using process simulation software, 
Lycopodium has developed the plant design to:
• 

simulate the mixture of gases exiting the plasma arc, from a 
mixture of feed gas, consisting of nitrogen and a hydrocarbon 
gas

•  absorb the HCN gas formed in the plasma arc into sodium 

• 

• 

hydroxide solution, to form sodium cyanide
filter out the carbon (soot), a by-product of the plasma 
reaction
scrub out residual HCN gas from the gases released to the 
atmosphere.

20   •   Shareholder Report 2015

   
Award of the EPCM contract earlier this year ensures that 
Lycopodium will continue to fast track this project.  With 
project financing and licensing now completed by Red Eagle, 
site construction is expected to commence in 3Q2015 with 
commercial production anticipated during 2016.  Once 
constructed, San Ramon will be the largest modern gold mine 
in Colombia and the first gold mine operating under recently 
introduced environmental permitting legislation.
Since the completion of the Feasibility Study, Lycopodium 
has been advancing the engineering with most of the basic 
engineering deliverables being complete and released for 
detailed design.  Major long lead items (SAG mill, Verti-mill and 
filter press) have been ordered, tender documents for all the 
other major contracts are being developed and most of the key 
procurement packages are in an advanced stage of completion.  
The Earthworks contract is near completion, and will soon 
commence in parallel with the collaring on the mine decline 
access.
The Lycopodium scope, is currently on budget and ahead of 
schedule, and is being executed primarily from the Toronto 
office with support coming from the Manila office and a 
local Colombian engineering group. The team will peak to 
approximately 40 people including a site based construction 
management team.

Project:  Santa Rosa
Location:  Columbia
Client:   Red Eagle Mining Corporation
Sector:   Minerals - Gold 

In a press release to the market dated 17 March 2015, 
Red Eagle Mining Corporation (Red Eagle) announced the 
appointment of Lycopodium as the EPCM contractor for Red 
Eagle’s 100% owned San Ramon Gold Mine. 
“We are very pleased to have engaged Lycopodium as EPCM 
contractor for the San Ramon Mine,” comments Bob Bell, Chief 
Operating Officer. “Lycopodium is very familiar with San Ramon, 
having worked on the Project from an early stage, including 
leading the Feasibility Study and engineering design work. We 
have been impressed with their innovative design concepts 
resulting in improved efficiencies and cost savings that have 
been reflected in the Feasibility Study and the ongoing detailed 
engineering.”
Red Eagle will commence development with the fully-permitted 
San Ramon deposit in the south eastern part of their Santa 
Rosa Gold Project which comprises a total area of approximately 
33,000 hectares.  The Project is located 73 km northeast of the 
Antioquia department capital Medellín in northern Colombia. 
In October 2014 Lycopodium completed the Feasibility Study 
which outlined a 1,000 tpd underground mining operation 
producing an average annual production of 50,000 ounces over 
an eight year mine life.  The Project comprises an underground 
decline accessing the San Ramon mine, processing plant and 
plant infrastructure.  Processing incorporates single-stage 
crushing, SAG milling and flotation with concentrate re-grinding 
followed by conventional  
carbon-in-leach processing the combined float tails and reground 
concentrate to produce gold dore with 96% recoveries.  

   •   21

Project Reviews (Continued)

Project:  Flynn Drive Stage 2
Location:  Western Australia
Client:   City of Wanneroo
Sector:  

Infrastructure 

Project:   Port Botany Rail Line Upgrade
Location:  New South Wales, Australia
Client: 
Sector:   Rail

Australian Rail Track Corporation

The Australian Rail Track Corporation Ltd (ARTC) was created in 
1997 after the Commonwealth and State Governments agreed to 
the formation of a ‘one stop shop’ for all operators seeking access 
to the national interstate rail network.  ARTC plays a major 
role in the transport supply chain and in the overall economic 
development of Australia as its network is used to move a range 
of commodities including general freight, coal, iron ore, other bulk 
minerals and agricultural products. Its network is also important in 
providing access for interstate and inter-city passenger services.
ARTC has invested billions of dollars to build, extend and 
upgrade its network to improve safety, reliability and transit times, 
and to allow for the capacity that the Interstate market and Hunter 
Valley coal chain that is required. 
Lycopodium’s involvement with the Port Botany Rail Line 
Upgrade has been the detailed design of track and supporting 
formation and supporting structures associated with the proposed 
asset upgrades of the Metropolitan Freight Network.  These 
upgrades involved track and civil construction and associated 
design to upgrade sections of the network to heavier rail, 
concrete sleepers, upgraded ballast condition, improved drainage 
and associated geotechnical and structure enhancement works.

The City of Wanneroo is a local government area with city status 
in the rapidly developing northern suburbs of Perth, Western 
Australia.
In 2008, the City of Wanneroo initiated the ‘Flynn Drive 
Realignment and Upgrade Project’ as part of its commitment 
to upgrade major road networks within its region. The Project’s 
master plan provides for the realignment and upgrade of Flynn 
Drive to a 4-lane dual carriageway.  Flynn Drive, classed as a 
District Distributor (B) road, is a two lane single carriageway that 
intersects with Wanneroo Road, a Primary Distributor Road and 
a major throughway in the area.  Land use abutting Flynn Drive 
is undeveloped bushland with access being provided to material 
quarries whilst the land use to the east is light industrial.
The City adopted a staged approach to the upgrade.  Stage 1, 
completed in October 2014, involved approximately 800 m of 
new Flynn Drive road alignment from its new intersection with 
Wanneroo Road to the tie-in with existing Flynn Drive.  It also 
included all roadworks on Wanneroo Road associated with the 
construction of the new Wanneroo Road / Flynn Drive intersection 
and minor roadworks on Flynn Drive / Tranquil Drive intersection. 
In February 2014, Lycopodium was awarded the contract to 
provide contract administration and construction supervision 
services for the construction of the Flynn Drive Stage 1 Project.
Stage 2 called for approximately 1.4 km of new Flynn Drive road 
alignment from the tie-in with Stage 1 to the existing carriageway 
alignment east of the Flynn Drive / Tranquil Drive intersection. 
In April 2014, Lycopodium was awarded the contract to provide 
engineering services for the design and documentation of 
Stage 2.  Lycopodium’s deliverables included detailed road 
design, stormwater drainage designs, street lighting design, 
modelling of existing service, and consultation with utility service 
providers.  
Lycopodium completed this work in 4Q2014 with the 
commencement of construction awaiting the allocation of 
government funding.

22   •   Shareholder Report 2015

Project:   Kingsway Baseball / Softball Club Rooms
Location:  Western Australia
Client:   City of Wannerloo
Sector:  

Infrastructure  

Project:   Landsdale Subdivision
Location:  Western Australia
Client:   Urban WA Development Pty Ltd
Sector:  

Infrastructure 

The City of Wanneroo is a rapidly expanding outer metropolitan 
local government on the northern fringe of the Perth metropolitan 
area, located approximately 12 km from the Perth CBD at its 
nearest point and 62 km at its furthest point.
The City is the fastest growing local government in Western 
Australia and the fifth fastest growing in Australia.  The State 
Government’s draft sub-regional planning framework has 
identified the City as a major supplier of land and employment 
expected to accommodate three-quarters of the population 
growth in the north-west sub-region. 
In January 2014 the City awarded Lycopodium the contract for 
the detailed design, contract documentation, tender assistance 
and contract administration for the construction of clubrooms at 
the Kingsway Regional Sporting Complex, a major sporting area 
providing multipurpose sporting and recreation facilities.  These 
clubrooms include change and toilet facilities, kitchen, canteen / 
servery, several store rooms, first aid room, umpires room, main 
hall and large covered spectators area. 
The Project, currently under construction, is progressing ahead 
of schedule and on budget. 

Landsdale is a northern suburb of Perth, Western Australia 
located within the local government area of the City of 
Wanneroo.  In the late 1990s, Landsdale began to develop from 
market gardens and small rural lots into residential development.  
Today it is registered as mixed use, with residential, commercial 
and light manufacturing areas and identified as an area for 
strategic growth and market diversification.
Through its engagement by Urban WA Development Pty Ltd, 
Lycopodium has successfully entered the land development 
market sector with a contract to undertake the engineering 
design and construction supervision for the subdivision of Lot 
9005 Landsdale into 51 Green Title Lots.  
Lycopodium’s scope includes the following: 
• 
• 

 Geotechnical and utility services investigations.
 Civil designs and documentation for roads, earthworks, 
retaining walls and stormwater management.
 Utility service designs and documentation for water, sewer, 
power, street lighting, and communication services.
 Liaison with Water Corporation, Western Power, NBN Co, 
ATCO Gas and the Local Authority for design approvals. 
 Tender documentation and tender assessments.
 Construction supervision and contract administration.
 WAPC clearances.

• 
• 
• 
Lycopodium commenced the project in November 2014 with 
construction scheduled for completion in February 2016.

• 

• 

   •   23

   
Consolidated

2015
$

122,811,322  

(88,032,378)

(1,753,905)

(4,630,594)

(15,598,610)

2,840,323

(16,875,139)

(381,087)

(1,620,068)

604,655

(1,015,413)

1.5

0

1.5

2014
$

154,765,985

(128,008,025)

(2,340,068)

(2,967,808)

(16,086,803)

3,343,605

(872,001)

(152,293)

7,682,592

(3,973,206)

3,709,386

5.0

1.5

6.5

39,732,373

38,965,103

1.26

(2.3)

(54.0)

136.9

2.10

10.0

21.0

143.8

Financial Results 

Revenue

Employee and contractors expense

Depreciation and amortisation expense

Other project expenses

Administration and management costs

Share of net profit of joint ventures

Equipment and materials

Other

(Loss) / Profit before income tax

Income tax benefit / (expense)

(Loss) / Profit for the year

Dividend (fully franked) (cents)

Interim

Final

Total Dividend

Shares on issue

Share price as at 30 June ($)

Earning per share (cents)

Price earnings ratio

Net tangible assests per share (cents)

24   •   Shareholder Report 2015

Balance Sheet

ASSETS

Current assets

Cash and cash equivalents

Trade and other receivables

Inventories

Current tax receivables

Other current assets

Total current assets

Non current assets
Property, plant and equipment

Investments

Other assets

Deferred tax assets

Intangible assets

Total non current assets

Total assets

LIABILITIES

Current liabilities

Trade and other payables

Borrowings

Current tax liabilities and provisions

Total current liabilities

Non current liabilities
Borrowings

Provisions

Total non current liabilities

Total liabilities

Net assets

EQUITY
Contributed equity

Reserves

Retained profits

Non-controlling interest

Total equity

Consolidated

2015
$

2014
$

32,440,938

24,573,180

255,211

4,561,762

1,708,221

63,539,312

2,776,265

2,789,527

739,041

5,331,787

8,858,308

20,494,928

84,034,240

33,302,348

22,069,393

-

3,908,711

1,990,291

61,270,743

3,485,811

4,349,205

875,653

4,693,362

6,861,301

20,265,332

81,536,075

19,854,442

15,914,353

288,513

89,725

20,232,680

-

568,634

568,634

20,801,314

63,232,926

20,823,772

754,422

38,718,003

2,936,729

63,232,926

554,259

848,020

17,316,632

351,167

988,923

1,340,090

18,656,722

62,879,353

18,999,317

911,737

42,390,395

577,904

62,879,353

   •   25

Shareholder Information

The shareholder information set out below was applicable as at 18 September 2015.
A. Distribution of equity securities 
Analysis of numbers of equity security holders by size of holding:

1
1,001
5,001
10,001
100,000+

-
-          
-
-  

1,000 
5,000
10,000
100,000 

Total Holders

421
547
164
167
23
1,322

There were 174 holders of less than a marketable parcel of ordinary shares.

B. Equity security holders 
The names of the twenty largest holders of quoted equity securities are listed as:

Name

1 
2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

Reesh Pty Ltd  
HSBC Custody Nominees (Australia) Limited 

Luala Pty Ltd 

Caddy Fox Pty Ltd 

Selso Pty Ltd  

Accede Pty Ltd  

JP Morgan Nominees Australia Limited

De Leo Nominees Pty Ltd 

  9        Citicorp Nominees Pty Ltd

10        Citicorp Nominees Pty Ltd (Colonial First State Inv A/C)

11        Mr David James Taylor

12        Lycopodium Share Plan Pty Ltd

13        Mr Peter De Leo & Mrs Tiana De Leo

14        Botech Pty Ltd

15        Kensington House Nominees

16        Dr Gregory O’Neil

17        Rubi Holdings Pty Ltd

18        Nancris Pty Ltd

19        Tobaka Pty Ltd
20        De Bruin Securities

Total

C. Substantial holders 
Substantial holders in the company are set out below:

Number Held

Percentage of Units

9,104,637
7,345,577

3,167,332

2,612,332

2,058,148

1,942,332

1,172,327

830,366

802,796

667,068

484,389

385,000

333,405

305,405

247,635

195,174

175,000

175,000

142,291
135,000

22.91
18.49

7.97

6.58

5.18

4.89

2.95

2.09

2.02

1.68

1.22

0.97

0.84

0.77

0.62

0.49

0.44

0.44

0.36
0.34

32,281,214

81.25

Name

Number Held

Percentage of Units

1 
2 
3 
4 
5 

Reesh Pty Ltd  
HSBC Custody Nominees (Australia) Limited 
Luala Pty Ltd 
Caddy Fox Pty Ltd 
Selso Pty Ltd  

9,104,637
7,345,577
3,167,332
2,612,332
2,058,148

22.91
18.49
7.97
6.58
5.18

26   •   Shareholder Report 2015

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Corporate Directory

Directors
Michael (Mick) John Caratti
Rodney (Rod) Lloyd Leonard
Lawrence (Laurie) William Marshall 
Robert (Bob) Joseph Osmetti
Bruno Ruggiero
Peter De Leo

Company Secretary
Keith Bakker

Registered and Principal Office
Level 5, 1 Adelaide Terrace
East Perth WA 6004
T: + 61 (0)8 6210 5222
E: limited@lycopodium.com.au
www.lycopodium.com.au

Share Registry
Computershare Investor Services Pty Limited
Level 11, 172 St George’s Terrace, Perth WA 6000
T: +61 (0)3 9415 4267
Direct line for Investors: 1300 764 130
www.computershare.com.au

Lawyers to the Company
DLA Piper Australia
Level 31, 152-158 St George’s Terrace
Perth WA 6000
T: +61 (0)8 6467 6241
www.dlapiper.com

Auditor 
Grant Thornton Audit Pty Ltd
Level 1, 10 Kings Park Road
West Perth WA 6005
T: +61 (0)8 9480 2000
www.grantthornton.com.au

Level 5, 1 Adelaide Terrace
East Perth Western Australia 6004
T: + 61 (0)8 6210 5222 

www.lycopodium.com.au

30

Shareholder Report 2013