International Arbitration

Mine Owner vs. Engineering & Procurement Contractor

Mining System Underground Equipment

Providing Insight for SIAC Rules Arbitration

Exponent was called upon to investigate and offer opinions on alleged design and construction errors in a dispute between a mine owner and a subcontractor.

The Challenge

An mine owner filed a claim with the Singapore International Arbitration Center (SIAC) against a large engineering and procurement (EP) contractor seeking damages based on extra costs due to alleged design errors and delays to ore commissioning.

The owner asserted 16 specific claims related to the plant facilities' civil and structural design, including revisions made following the issuance of issued-for-contraction (IFC) drawings, as well as various standard-of-care issues related to the design of steel structures an embankment dam.

The EP contractor responded alleging that the owner's claimed design errors were revisions made during the design process and that the claimed damages were a result of the owner's actions.

The Exponent Approach

The EP contractor's outside counsel retained Exponent to investigate alleged design errors and render opinions regarding the issues in the context of the engineering industry standard of care.

In November 2017, Exponent's team prepared a comprehensive written report and gave expert evidence on behalf of the EP contractor at the November 2017 arbitration hearings held in Sydney.