Wartsila Awarded Operations and Maintenance Contract for Argentine Power Plant

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--In December 2008, Wartsila Corporation (HEL:WRTAV) (Helsinki, Finland) signed a contract for the operations and maintenance of a 45-megawatt (MW) power plant to be located within the Argentine Mina Pirquitas mining project, owned by Silver Standard Resources Incorporated (NASDAQ:SSRI) (Vancouver, British Columbia). The Finnish company will provide the mine with three 14.8-MW 13V345G internal combustion engines, which will run on natural gas.

The operations and maintenance contract has been arranged for a period of five years. During that time, the company will operate and maintain the base-load power plant, which is being constructed to supply electricity for the mining activities.

The $220 million Pirquitas project is located in the northwestern province of Jujuy and will be developed and operated as a conventional open pit mine. The project, which has an estimated life of 10 years, will produce an average of 10.9 million ounces of silver per year.

Construction works at the site began in August 2007 and the completion date is estimated for the first quarter of 2009. Techint Compania Tecnica Internacional S.A.C.I. (Buenos Aires, Argentina) was awarded the engineering, procurement, and construction management contract for this project. For more details, view related March 28 2008, article - Silver Standard Resources Announces Increase in Pirquitas' Reserves.

According to Tomas Hakala, President of Wartsila in Latin America, this project was a great challenge for the company, considering that the power plant for the Mina Pirquitas will be operating at an altitude of 4,500 meters.

Wartsila has already supplied Argentine customers with engines that produce 51 MW of electrical power and will provide another 13 MW to the Cerro Vanguardia mining project. The company has other 13 other installations in Latin America totalizing 890 MW.

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