Global diversified engineering services and project management group Ausenco Ltd (ASX: AAX) announced today it has won the contract for the US$100 million processing plant upgrade of Kingsgate Consolidated Limited's Chatree North Gold Project in Thailand.

The agreement covers construction of a new plant and upgrade of existing infrastructure to more than double the mine's total throughput capacity to 5.0Mtpa of mine ore.

Ausenco CEO Zimi Meka said the contract built on the company's long association with Kingsgate, which started with the construction of the original Chatree Gold Project in 2001.

This latest project win builds on a number of global contracts awarded recently, creating a strong momentum into 2011 for Ausenco, and a variety of challenging project opportunities for its workforce, he said.

"In the last few months, Ausenco has been awarded a number of Create contracts including work on the Prosperity Gold-Copper project in Canada, the Cadia East processing plant upgrade and multiple contracts for Kestrel Mine."

Mr Meke said the company is "expecting clients to make a number of significant investment decisions over the short to medium term and, we are confident of winning our share of this work."

Ausenco's Minerals & Metals team will manage the EPCM assignment for Chatree North, with specialist procurement expertise being delivered from the company's global procurement hub in Thailand, the company said.

Work on the Chatree North Gold Project is slated to commence immediately and is due for completion during the third quarter of 2011. The Chatree Mine is Thailand's largest gold mining operation.