Sedgman Ltd announced it has signed a new contract worth $80 million for the Benga coal handling and preparation plant (CHPP) in Mozambique.

The Benga CHPP contract will consist of an 800 tonne per hour (tph) Dense Medium Cyclone, reflux classifier and flotation circuit with raw and product coal handling facilities and has been designed with provision for staged expansion to 3,000 tph.

The Benga project is being developed by Riversdale Mining Ltd and its partner Tata Steel Limited in Mozambique's Moatize basin through their jointly owned entity, Riversdale Mozambique Limitada (RML).

Sedgman's scope of works relates to the US$270 million first stage of the Benga project and is being delivered by Sedgman Australia, Sedgman South Africa and Sedgman Mozambique.

This new contract expanded Sedgman Ltd scope of works for Benga CHPP to more than $143 million and put the total value of EPC metals contract won by Sedgman over the past three months to $225 million.

Sedgman managing director Mark Read said the increasing amount of work being won in southern Africa demonstrated the success of the company's global diversification strategy in penetrating targeted offshore markets and regions where its major clients were operating.

"Importantly, this new contract follows on from the $150 million of EPC contracts won by Sedgman's Coal division in the past three months, and the award to the Metals division of an EPC contract for Discovery Metals' Boseto Copper project in Botswana which is potentially worth US$85 million," said Read.