North American Construction Group Ltd has entered into a definitive share purchase agreement to acquire Iron Mine Contracting (IMC), a privately owned Western Australian diversified mining services contractor.
The acquisition is valued at approximately C$115 million. Concurrent with this announcement, the company has provided a year-end update on its infrastructure and fleet optimisation initiatives, along with its 2026 financial outlook.
IMC is a diversified mining services contractor headquartered in Western Australia. The company provides a full suite of services, including contract mining, crushing, civil and tailings services to a blue-chip customer base. Its operations span key commodity sectors such as gold, iron ore and lithium backed by an established track record of safe and profitable operations.
IMC boasts a strong order book, currently exceeding C$1.0 billion and including a recently awarded lithium mining contract with a three-year term. This backlog is supported by a strong pipeline of large mining and civil projects.
Joe Lambert, President and Chief Executive Officer of NACG, commented: “IMC represents a natural and strategic extension of our business into the Western Australian market. The IMC team has built a high-quality business with strong margins sharing NACG’s core culture of operational and safety excellence. This acquisition provides a great foundation to fast track our Western Australia growth strategy which is considered a global powerhouse for base metals, precious metals and critical & rare earth minerals.
He adds: “Combined with the MacKellar Group, we are now an Australian Tier 1 contractor capable of executing complex scopes across the entirety of Australia. IMC is a well-run business in a great market presenting a clear opportunity for low-capital growth by leveraging our underutilised Canadian assets and our highly skilled in-house maintenance team experienced in major component and whole machine rebuilds.”
“Partnering with NACG and the MacKellar Group is a strategic accelerator for IMC, allowing us to meet our customers’ expanding needs within a strong market. This significantly scales our growth potential while preserving the strong culture, agility and customer focus that have always defined our business,” said Clinton Keenan, Chief Executive Officer of IMC. “We look forward to immediately leveraging NACG’s balance sheet and extensive equipment fleet to pursue a greater number of larger projects as this partnership will surely expand our client base and commodity market presence.”
NACG said the acquisition of IMC is immediately accretive and strategically transformative, delivering key benefits:
- Increased exposure to rare earth & critical minerals in Western Australia: step-change in geographic and commodity diversification with Western Australia set to immediately grow from 5% to 15% of our total earnings;
- Recognition as Tier 1 contractor in Australia: when combined with MacKellar Group, positioned as nation-wide Tier 1 Australian contractor, capable of pursuing larger opportunities in eastern and Western Australia;
- Accelerated growth in unit rate work:Â fast-tracks a stated objective to leverage its reputation of operational excellence with increased higher margin, lower capital, unit-rate contract work across Australia;
- Partnerships with top-tier producers in Western Australia:demonstrates trust, quality and the ability to meet stringent safety compliance and standards on complex projects; and
- Culture and operating alignment: IMC’s founder-led management team, safety culture, skilled in-house maintenance capabilities, and disciplined project management aligns with NACG.
In line with its objective to right-size its Canadian oil sands fleet, NACG executed a binding purchase and sale agreement during the fourth quarter of 2025 which is scheduled to close in the first quarter of 2026. The company sold 26 Caterpillar 400-ton haul trucks at book value from both the Mikisew joint venture and wholly-owned subsidiaries to a privately owned heavy equipment rental provider. As part of the agreement, the company purchased eight Komatsu 240-ton haul trucks currently located in Queensland, Australia. These equipment purchases in Australia directly offset planned 2026 growth capital previously earmarked for expanded Australian scopes, which are scheduled to commence during the second quarter of 2026.
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