b'2004 Bruised but not beatenCurragh North Mine Despite the handbrake of the Global Financial Crisis, in the mid-2000s Thiess was flying Thiess is awarded the contract forhigh. Roads, rail and mining operations in Australia and abroad were all kicking goals. Curragh North Mine, located in theAlliances and partnerships were tight and productive. It seemed like the good times metallurgical coal-rich Bowen Basin. would go on forever. The awarding of two major projectsthe $4.8-billion Airport Link in Queensland and the $3.5-billion Victorian Desalination Plantwas met with jubilation. But as the 2000s became the 2010s, these decades proved challenging.Both projects were (and are) recognised as engineering and construction marvelsand will continue to be for generations. But the discovery of soft ground on the Airport Link job led to major design changes and cost overruns. The management company, BrisConnections, was facing a difficult financial situation. And the bigger the project, the hungrier it is for capital. Of course there was pressure! says Steve Wille, who was Tunnelling Manager at the time.The Victoria Desalination Plant was beset with even more troubles. Everything frombad weather to industrial action and sharply rising wages hampered the project. Thiess recorded a major loss in the 2010-2011 financial year. A focus on mining and services underlined the ensuing yearsboth areas had been performing well during the maelstrom and would now be given more oxygen. Special Projects was added to the list of divisions, underpinned by enhanced risk-management procedures. International expansion in those core areas hit the planning tables.We could derive some confidence from our historyweve been through tough times before and we can get to the other side of this one, says Thiess long-termer Terry Bulmer. And thats exactly what happened. Thiess emerged leaner, more focused and with improved risk measures that they could take into new areas, namely natural gas projects, telecommunications and services.Off the back of the companys challenging projects, a massive liquified natural gas (LNG) construction project in the Surat Basin in eastern Australia totalling $1.8 billion was awarded, along with LNG projects in the west. Winning QCLNG [Queensland Curtis LNG] is as much a testament to relationship-building as it is to our engineering and construction ability, said Grant Fraser, leader of Thiess Special Projects division atthe time for the seventy-fifth anniversary book.85'