Case studies

Bechtel Mining & Metals – 890,000 words into French and Spanish

Chilean Spanish and Canadian French translation of a combined 890,000 words

• Bechtel Mining & Metals for global corporate communications
• standard turnaround times of 24-48hrs
• 2008 – current

Bechtel is a global industry leader in engineering, construction and project management. Bechtel’s Mining & Metals (M&M) unit works on projects related to the mining and production of materials such as aluminum, coal, copper, iron ore, alumina and other metals and minerals. The unit operates on six continents and has completed hundreds of major mining projects as well as more than 1,000 mining studies.

In 2008, Bechtel’s Mining and Metals contracted Absolute Translations as their exclusive language service provider for Spanish and French translation services used in Chile and Canada respectively. Absolute Translations was offered a contract in 2008, which has been renewed every year since.

The content requiring translation consisted of daily press releases, management announcements, documentation relating to corporate internal systems software, engineering, human resources and larger projects such as the Guinea Poverty Atlas. Over the course of six years, we successfully translated a combined 890,000 words into Spanish and French.

Feedback from Bechtel Mining & Metals
14th September 2009
“What can I say – amazing service – quick turnaround – smiling faces…… Seriously – thank you.” – Clare Honan (IS&T Manager, Bechtel Mining & Metals)

20th July 2010
“Thank you for all your wonderful work over the past week. We really appreciate it. And please pass our thanks on your translators; the feedback was fantastic!” – B. Stenhouse (Communications Manager, Bechtel Mining & Metals)

Xstrata Technology (now Glencore Technology) – 345,000 words into Russian

Russian technical translation of 345,000 words for a Metallurgy Project in Kazachstan

• Xstrata Technology for Kazzinc UST-Kamenogorsk
• standard turnaround times of 24-48hrs
• 2006 – 2010

Glencore is one of the world’s largest globally diversified natural resource companies.  It is a major producer and marketer of commodities and its operations comprise around 150 mining and metallurgical sites, oil production assets and agricultural facilities worldwide.

In mid-2006, Glencore’s former Xstrata Technology won a tender to install two new ISASMELT™ plants at its metallurgical complex at Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan. The installation was a key component of a major modernisation project and would establish Kazzinc as a copper producer, significantly improve the environmental performance of its lead smelter and contribute to an increase in the economic value of Kazzinc’s product lines and a decrease in operations costs.

Absolute Translations was contracted by Xstrata Technology to supply the Russian translation services for the manufacturing, construction and implementation of the plants, for which highly technical documentation was to be translated. Our Russian technical translator worked at an hourly rate and translated 500+ drawings and technical data sheets in often very tight turnaround times between 2006 and 2008.

Upon completion of the plant, Absolute Translations sent a specialised native Russian interpreter to Mount Isa Mines to assist with English–Russian interpreting duties to train the Kazakh workers on the mining site. The interpreter was onsite for four months.

We continued our collaboration with Xstrata Technology for Russian, Spanish, Portuguese and French translation services for the marketing collateral and tender documentation for the IsaMill™ and Jameson Cell constructions being installed across the globe. Over the course of six years we translated more than a combined 345,000 words into Russian, Spanish, Portuguese and French.

Feedback from Xstrata on Kazzinc project
21st November 2006
“Can you please pass on a sincere thanks to Vladislav for his unbelievable turnaround time on the reports of late. It is extremely appreciated and in particular with TL0077. The assistance we are obtaining from Absolute Translations and Vladislav is making our Phase 1 (rush) a lot easier and very streamlined. Again, I would like to thank you both for your wonderful assistance.” – T. Long (Project Administrator – Xstrata Technology Limited)

27th August 2007
“Would you also please pass on our most sincere thanks to Vladislav for his tremendous efforts over the last couple of weeks and in particular the weekend translation assistance he has provided us. Without his assistance our deliverable would be unreachable. Again, pass on our thanks for his assistance over this time.” – T. Long (Project Administrator – Xstrata Technology Ltd)

Ausenco Ltd – 1,120,000 words into Spanish, Chinese, Portuguese & French

Spanish, Chinese, Brazilian Portuguese and French translation of 1,120,000 words combined of Corporate Announcements, Presentations, Policies and Marketing Brochures

• Ausenco Ltd for global corporate communications
• Standard turnaround times of 24-48 hours
• 2006 – 2012

Ausenco is a global company providing consulting, engineering, project delivery and asset operations, management and optimisation solutions to the minerals & metals, oil & gas and industrial sectors. Ausenco’s global team is based across 26 offices in 14 countries and many project locations.

From 2006 to 2012, Absolute Translations has been Ausenco’s primary translation service provider for their global corporate communications into Spanish, Chinese, Portuguese and French. In 2010, the group’s services and locations were repositioned to match the changing needs of their clients, and they were rebranded under the Ausenco masterbrand.

Absolute Translations was contracted as Ausenco’s translation services partner in this rebranding, providing Spanish, Chinese, Portuguese and French translation typesetting services in record timeframes. We translated corporate announcements, presentations, policies and switchover information as well as seven marketing brochures, listed below. In the course of eight years, we translated a combined 1,120,000 words into Spanish, Chinese, Portuguese and French.

• Minerals & Metals
• Energy
• PSI Process Infrastructure
• Sandwell Process Infrastructure
• Vector Environment & Sustainability
• Program Management
• Corporate Brochure

Feedback from Ausenco on the Brochures translation
13 April 2010: “Just want to thank you very much for all the hard work and ensuring that the brochures were delivered to us on time. Really appreciate it. We think the translations were done to a very high standard.” – S. Mladjenovic (Global Communication Coordinator – Ausenco)

27 April 2010: “Once again thank you for getting all of the brochures translated for us in a very efficient timeframe. We have had our staff read through them and they all confirmed that the translations were excellent. – S. Mladjenovic (Global Communication Coordinator – Ausenco)

Minas de Revuboè – 150,000 words in 30 days

Portuguese translation of a 150,000 word Feasibility Study for a mine in Mozambique

• Minas de Revuboè Limitada (Talbot Group)
• completed in 30 days

The Talbot Group is a private company that traditionally invests globally in resource companies and in most cases, in early stage projects such as Minas de Revuboè in Mozambique. Its current resource investment portfolio, of which Revuboè is an important part, includes carbon materials, energy and base metals.

Absolute Translations was commissioned by Talbot Group in 2010 to translate a Feasibility Study into European Portuguese for their Minas de Revuboè project. The study contained 150,000 words and the translation had to be completed within 30 days.

The study comprised of 17 Chapters, all relating to different fields of study: Executive Summary, Strategy, Geology, Mining, Infrastructure, Coal Handling Preparation Plant, Human Resources, Project Execution, Operations Management, Information Technology, Health & Safety, Environment & Community, Ownership (legal, contractual), Risk Management, Capital Cost Estimate, Operating Cost Estimates and Investment Evaluation.

A team of five (5) highly qualified and specialised native Portuguese translators was brought together. All of the translators selected a number of chapters for translation, duly within their field of specialisation. There were no pre-existing glossaries available, so in order to ensure consistency across the different chapters, the team had to build Translation Memories (TMs) and import them onto our server. The CAT tool we used for this project was TRADOS Studio.

We selected an experienced and highly qualified native Portuguese proofreader to check and edit all of the chapters as they came in, and test the translation consistency throughout by means of the imported TMs. If conflicted terminology appeared, the proofreader virtually met with the team and discussed the different terminology options. After discussions and in-country testing, the agreed translations were implemented across the different chapters via the streamlined process of our CAT tool.

The translations were delivered on time and on budget with quality and consistency assured. Absolute Translations continued to provide translations into Portuguese for Minas de Revuboe well into 2011.