| Work Detail |
Milicic: the construction company grows hand in hand with large investment projects in mining
In this year that they celebrate their 50 years in the market, they have on their hands to advance in the process of internationalization of the company, mainly in Peru. They brought eight trucks to Rosario, the only ones available in the country, that support 100 tons of weight. The construction company that only does business big.
They have it clear, as they say in urban language. The construction company from Rosario Milicic knows how to find where the big businesses are because her know-how is precisely the management of large-scale works with complex engineering. They first grew in the 80s with the enormous demand that there was to build the agro-exporting ports of the industrial cordon of Rosario. In the early 1990s they worked to modernize the companies that were being privatized and in 1995 they began to provide services in a business that even today is the one with the greatest potential in the country: mining. The founder of this company is Carlos Milicic, a businessman who grew by force of his own drive and vision and who knew how to incorporate the second generation from very early on. Milicics general manager is one of his daughters, María de los Ángeles,
To understand what Milicics work is like, you have to know that 60% of his businesses come from mining and the rest is divided into services for the gas industry, infrastructure for industries, equipment rental and environmental services, among others. They work mostly outside of Rosario because their clients demand works in Salta, San Juan, Mendoza, Catamarca, Neuquén, Santa Cruz and internationally they have their own offices in Peru and Uruguay.
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But today the axis of the company is another: mining. María de los Ángeles puts all the chips on that business and explains in this interview with Negocios how this market is: “Argentine mining is, in terms of volume, 5% of Chilean mining and we share the Andes. If Argentina exports 3,000 million dollars in mining, Chile exports 60 billion to give you an idea of ??the magnitude. Argentina has a huge development opportunity in the mining sector, there are many projects on the way because the world is demanding it. They are very large investments and for the country they are important opportunities”. And she concludes the idea with a thought that her father transmitted to her: "My father always said that mining was going to be the second soybean in Argentina." But of course,
Within the mining sector in Milicic they work in three different types: metal, lithium and cement. In the first, they have worked on most of the projects that have existed and are in the country and are currently in San Juan where they move large amounts of soil, around one million cubic meters per month. There they built a bowl of enormous dimensions where the earth that they collect from the mountain is deposited and from different processes they access the metals. An interesting fact that María de los Ángeles contributes is that there is an equation through which it is considered that, with the movement of certain tons of earth, a metal can be found, for example "one gram of gold is calculated for each ton of soil that you move”, he specifies.
With regard to lithium, they are working on developments for its extraction in Salta, where they built 400 hectares of pools to contain it. And in what has to do with cement, they work in Olavarría and San Luis in the exploitation of quarries to search for limestone. María de los Ángeles explains that "the production of cement is made with limestone, the companies have to do a great deal of earth to get to the place where the limestone soil is."
The largest trucks in Rosario
At this moment in the Milicic plant there is a milestone. Because this year they invested to buy 8 trucks plus their attached equipment that supports a weight of 100 tons. “I believe that this type of truck never existed in the city, we have them disassembled due to their volume and then they are transported unassembled in different trucks to the works because they cannot circulate armed”, he explains. They have trucks of 100 and 70 tons that are used for cement plants. Even in Argentina, the only 100-ton trucks available are owned by them.
These are Milicics new 100-ton trucks. In the photo you can measure the size.
These are Milicics new 100-ton trucks. In the photo you can measure the size.
Photos: Celina Mutti Lovera / La Capital
In addition, Milicics general manager describes that they are also working for YPF in Neuquén, where they have a base in Añelo in the heart of Vaca Muerta for gas production. On the other hand, another type of work that they are doing is the cement foundations of the wind farms, they have already built 13 parks in total in the country. This fact is curious: to support the columns of the mills, the equivalent of cement used to build an eight-story building is required.
But Milicics businesses are also behind the borders. Because in Peru they have their own offices in Lima from where they seek to take a concrete step towards internationalization. María de los Ángeles explains that Peru is much more developed than Argentina in mining, there is a demand for works in this sector and for energy and infrastructure, but of course, the ecosystem of suppliers is also much more developed than in our country. Therefore, the Rosario construction company seeks to validate its business model and be competitive. “We are quoting, not yet executing because it is a complex moment in Peru and some investments are on hold”, she explains. In the case of Uruguay, they also have their own offices there and are competitive for large projects.
The projection of the business for Milicic cannot be better, because if the investments are made and the State is also committed to the development of the mining sector, even some statements by officials lead one to believe that this could happen fundamentally so that the country does not depend on a only sector like the field, Argentine mining has everything ahead. "Mining, gas, oil are inputs that the whole world demands," defines María de los Ángeles.
A new building on the way
Although Milicics big businesses are not in Rosario, the truth is that in the plant they have in the city you can breathe something of the mining industry. There is a huge warehouse where the trucks rest prior to their transfers to mountainous areas, and also a workshop where each piece of equipment is tuned up. In addition, they are building a new office building of 3,300 m2, with 150 jobs and a SUM for 100 people. Everything will be ready in June next year.
A second generation that projects the future
Milicic is a family business since not only Carlos and María de los Ángeles are in the firm, but also Flavia, María de los Ángeles sister, is the Administration and Finance manager. The search in these years was to achieve that the company transcends the family, that is, that it has an organizational chart and a solid, organized structure that works in the future. |
