There has been no recent news that I could find on BYL. I am...

There has been no recent news that I could find on BYL. I am surprised that no new small contracts have been announced since some time in February (BYL averages about two such announcements a month on its website). Also, there has not been a 3rd-party analysis posted on BYL's website since February 2013. New contract announcements, plus some opinion on BYL's mining-services' future, would be good.

Perhaps we can take heart from the fact that as of today, BYL, which employs some 540 full-time people, is currently looking to hire as per the list below. The Student-Engineer positions are paid holiday positions, but one assumes that BYL hopes to pick up some of these when they graduate. This is not a company exploring retrenchments, but I imagine retrenchments can occur when remote jobs that employed locals are concluded.

Analyst Programmer - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Perth - - Information Technology
Junior Estimator - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - Perth - - Operations
Graduate Engineer-Mining - - - - - - - - - - - Perth - - Operations
Graduate Engineer-Mechanical - - - - - - - - Perth - - Plant
Graduate Engineer-Civil - - - - - - - - - - - - - Perth - - Operations
Estimator - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Perth - - Operations
Student Engineer - Mining (Mid Year) - - - - Perth - - Operations
Student Engineer - Mining (2014/15) - - - - - Perth - - Operations
Student Engineer - Mechanical (Mid Year) - Perth - - Plant
Student Engineer - Mechanical (2014/15) - - Perth - - Plant
Student Engineer - Civil (Mid Year) - - - - - - Perth - - Operations
Student Engineer - Civil (2014/15) - - - -- - - Perth - - Operations
Safety and Training Advisor - - - - -- - - - - - Pilbara - - Operations
Senior Project Engineer - - - - - - - - - - - - - Karratha - - Operations

I do not know enough to write with confidence about BYL's only mining-services contract with Karara Mines limited (KML), but I seem to recall that BYL had stated that the recent spike in activity would decline. I think this is because KML's magnetite shipments have finally got going, and the hemetite business, with which BYL is involved, was always regarded as a gap filler.

KML seems to be exporting more hemetite, but mining less, with third-party ore making up the difference, and I am unaware if BYL is involved in extracting that third-party ore, or not. The blurb at:

http://gindpublic.powercreations.com.au/images/gind---aaraingeih.pdf

states, “Shipments of DSO hematite for this period [6 mths to June 2014] are expected to be in the range of 1.6-1.8 million wmt at an average weighted grade of 58%. Third party purchases are expected to account for approximately 45% of the total shipments.” The report later details recent history as follows:

“Hematite production also increased and, as previously advised, shipments included purchases of third party ore to maximise the use of installed rail and port capacity. During the period [3 mths to Dec 2013] third party purchases amounted to approximately 0.334 million wmt.

- - - - - - Karara Hematite DSO - (Unit ‘000 wmt) - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - Sep 13 Qtr - - Dec 13 Qtr - -YTD total
Ore Mined:
- - High Grade - -- - - - 786 - - - - - - 593 - - - - - 1,379
- - Medium Grade - - - - 49 - - - - - - - 87 - - - - - - 136
- - Low Grade - - - - - - 203 - - - - - - - 76 - - - - - - 279
- - Total - - - - - - - - - 1,038 - - - - - - 756 - - - - - 1,794

DSO Shipped - - - - - 1,042 - - - - - 1,495 - - - - - 2,537

The following production guidance is provided for the six months to 30 June, 2014:

• Magnetite concentrate: 2.4-2.7 million wmt at an average grade of approximately 65% Fe
• Hematite DSO shipments: 1.6-1.8 million wmt, including approximately 45% third party purchases.”

I assume the difference between the quantity of hemetite mined and hemetite shipped is made up by third-party ore and stockpiles.