UWP Consulting Mining Engineering and Construction Services

UWP Consulting is a South African-based firm of consulting civil engineers and construction managers, which was established in 1972. In addition to our 16 offices in South Africa, we have offices in Zambia, Tanzania, Botswana, and Zimbabwe. Plans for further expansion in the immediate future include Uganda and Namibia, with Ghana and Angola to follow.

Mining engineering and construction management

UWP offers the full suite of services typically associated with civil engineering consultancies, with its core competencies in the fields of transportation engineering, water engineering, structural engineering, development engineering and planning, as well as construction management.

We have been working in the mining sector since the late 1990s and have subsequently formed close working relationships with a number of mining houses and EPCM project houses. We have also formed alliances with specialist consultants and contractors who service the industry.

To date UWP has been appointed for more than 100 assignments on over 40 mines in nine African countries.

Mining infrastructure and construction risk/services management

A contract risk management strategy developed by UWP, known as the integrated construction unit (iCU methodology), has been successfully employed to undertake hundreds of infrastructure construction and mining projects with an aggregate value approaching one billion dollars.

The iCU approach utilises either of the FIDIC or NEC 3 platforms, and is both highly cost effective and contractually flexible, rendering it particularly suitable for dynamic project environments such as those encountered in Africa.

Contract documentation for open pit-mining projects

UWP’s extensive coalface experience and thorough understanding of construction and mining processes enables it to produce contract documentation for open pit-mining projects.

These adopt an appropriate procurement strategy for each project, properly define and allocate risk according to the unique requirements of each project, and incorporate specifications and associated payment clauses which are specifically drafted to accurately reflect the complexities and effort required to execute tasks.

Mining infrastructure provision and planning

Effective infrastructure provision entails the integration of multi-party interests to ensure that requirements are adequately met in a sustainable manner. The process entails the coordination of liaison between mining houses and authorities at local, regional, national levels, as well as the surrounding communities.

Spatial planning techniques and software ensure that infrastructure planning takes proper cognisance of current and future land use and natural resource utilisation, and incorporates socio-economic planning initiatives and obligations of both private and public sector entities.

Mining transportation engineering

Road and transportation projects for mining sector clients include both surfaced and un-surfaced roads, and range from light pavements for mining village access roads and streets to heavy-duty, deep-road pavement structures for haul roads and decline shaft accesses.

Roads and terraces, together with the associated storm-water drainage management infrastructure, have been designed by UWP for numerous mineral processing plants.

UWP has also designed gravel and surfaced runways for airfields, capable of accommodating a full range of aircraft from light passenger aeroplanes up, to commercial jetliners and large cargo aircraft.

Water engineering for mining projects

Water engineering services provided by UWP for mining projects include water resource and feasibility studies for bulk water supply, the detailed design of infrastructure for the conveyance and storage of raw, potable, treated and waste water, as well as specialist hydraulic and hydrological investigations.

Structural engineering for the mining sector

UWP’s experience within the mining sector encompasses structural steel, reinforced concrete, composite structures, as well as buildings. Examples of structures designed for mining sector clients include a variety of materials-handling silos, rail load-out bins, thickeners, filter presses, modular structural steel units for process plants, bridges and causeways, as well as warehouses, change houses, workshops and offices.