SNC-Lavalin has been awarded a contract valued at more than $50 million US to provide engineering, procurement and construction services for a thickened mine tailings disposal system at an iron ore project in Chile. The system will treat 20,000 tonnes of tailings produced by the mine each day. The Montreal engineering giant said the contract was awarded by CompanDia Minera del PacDifico for work at the Cerro Negro Norte iron ore project in the Atacama desert, one of the driest places in the world.