Published in the September 2010 Australia’s Mining Monthly

While there has been a lot of Australian Securities Exchange action in terms of miners going on to the market, there has been precious little in terms of suppliers. The only one to head to the market this year was coal industry supplier Mastermyne.

Part of that has been due to the uncertainty in the market caused first by the resources super-profits tax and then by its replacement, the Minerals Resource Rent Tax.

The MRRT has certainly not deterred maintenance specialist Allmine from making a bid to join Mastermyne on the bourse.

Adding to its confidence, no doubt, was the news that Rio Tinto is spending another $US790 million to take its iron ore production to 330 million tonnes per annum. That takes Rio’s announced investment in its Pilbara expansion to $US1 billion.

That sort of expansion is going to require some serious maintenance servicing and it is that sort of business that Allmine intends to win.

After all, the demand for mobile earthmoving plant maintenance is driven by the amount of earth that is to be moved. Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton’s Pilbara plans alone call for a lot more earth to be moved.

That is not to mention the sort of work planned for the coal fields of the Hunter Valley and the Bowen Basin.

Allmine wants to get a piece of that pie and is banking on its “one stop shop” service model to win it more business.

Besides heavy equipment, Allmine also fits out light vehicles, installing things such as fire suppression, first aid kits, dual batteries, long range tanks, roll bars, engine protection systems, beacons, radios and even seat covers.

It also offers the Vital Fault Analysis System that it developed. This can be set to switch off the vehicle’s engine if certain warnings are ignored.

The company has released a prospectus detailing its plans to raise $10 million from offering 50 million shares at 20c apiece.

Allmine was incorporated in 2007. It has five mining services businesses that were merged to form a fully integrated maintenance business. That business has service centres in Karratha, Leinster, Perth and Darwin supported by an about 50-strong fleet of field service vehicles.

In addition, Allmine has an aftermarket earthmoving consumables business called Wildkat that operates as a standalone warehouse business across Australia and Fiji.

Besides growing into the Hunter Valley, Allmine plans to add service centres in the Pilbara and the Bowen Basin.

Allmine's IPO on the ASX was initially planned for September but has been pushed back. The ASX website states the listing date is "to be advised".