Tag Archives: BMA

Golding and BMA strengthen ties with Blackwater civil works contract

Coal technology, Mine operation news, Mining services, Steel and iron ore, , , , , ,

Golding Contractors has been awarded a contract by BHP Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) for civil works at the Blackwater coal mine in Queensland, Australia.

The NRW Holdings’ wholly-owned subsidiary’s scope of works to be undertaken included establishing alternate access for heavy vehicles outside of the mining footprint; providing civil infrastructure to enable the relocation of a communication mast; relocating critical mine infrastructure (HDPE pipeline, high voltage power lines, fibre optic cable); constructing the drainage structure, to remove water flows from the proposed mining area into an existing creek system; and providing flood protection (levees) for the new and existing mining pits.

As part of this project, around 1.2 Mm³ of earthworks, 4 km of HDPE pipelines, 22 km of fibreoptic cabling and 21 km of overhead cabling is expected to be installed.

The works have an approximate value of A$35 million ($23.7 million) and contract completion is anticipated to be in January 2021.

NRW’s CEO and Managing Director, Jules Pemberton, said it was pleasing to be awarded this contract following work secured in July for the same client at Goonyella, with a value of circa-A$34 million.

Those works, also being undertaken by Golding, include around 950,000 m³ of earthworks and 10 km of new pipework, with completion scheduled in August 2020.

BHP and Mitsubishi to explore new emissions reductions technologies

Coal technology, Environmental, Power supply for mines, Sustainable mining, , , , ,

BHP says it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Mitsubishi Development Pty Ltd to work together in the pursuit of emissions reductions, including from the life-cycle use of marketed products.

BHP and MDP are reviewing opportunities to undertake research, pilot new ideas, and develop and deploy new emissions reduction technologies, BHP said.

The collaboration with Mitsubishi Development forms part of BHP’s global program of projects in China, Canada, the US and Australia to progress low emissions technology. This is in addition to the near-term and longer-term targets BHP has set for emissions reductions within the company’s global operations.

BHP Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Mackenzie, said the MoU marked the start of an important collaboration with one of BHP’s essential long-term industry partners.

“BHP is committed to accelerating the development of emerging technologies that have the potential to achieve material reductions in greenhouse gas emissions,” Mackenzie said.

“Our new collaboration with Mitsubishi Development demonstrates the important role the private sector can play in bringing these technologies to market.

“Both companies are committed to emissions reductions in a range of industries, including the steel industry.

“Our Japanese partners and customers are critical to the development of new technologies and approaches to emissions reductions that stand to benefit countries across the globe.”

Mitsubishi Development Managing Director and CEO, Sadahiko Haneji, said the MoU is an important initiative for a company engaging in mineral resource activities in Australia, such as Mitsubishi Development Pty Ltd (MDP).

“Mitsubishi Corporation Group, and therefore MDP, is committed to simultaneously generating economic value, environmental value, and societal value through all business activities it conducts,” Haneji said.

“In line with this principle and guided by commitment to corporate social responsibility as well as global climate targets, MDP is enhancing its efforts to generate further environmental value, to help society transition to a low-carbon future.

“We are confident that this partnership with BHP will help us to achieve our goal, as well as contribute to the sustainable future of our local and global communities.”

Mackenzie said: “At BHP, we work with customers, suppliers and parties along our value chain to influence emissions reductions across the full life-cycle of our products.

“As well as investments in emerging technologies, we set greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets for our operations, we build the resilience of our operations and communities to the physical impacts of climate change, and we work across sectors to strengthen the global policy and market response.”

Examples of BHP’s low emissions technology investments include:

BHP already has an existing partnership with MDP in the form of the BHP Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA), Australia’s largest coal producer and supplier of seaborne metallurgical coal. BMA, owned 50:50 by the partners, operates seven Bowen Basin mines, in Queensland (Caval Ridge pictured), and owns and operates the Hay Point Coal Terminal, near Mackay.

Hedweld’s Trilift TH15000 Workshop Tyre Handler ticks the boxes for BMA’s Saraji coal mine

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BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) has been on the lookout for a safer way of changing tyres at its Saraji coal mine in Queensland, Australia, and it thinks it has found a solution in the form of Hedweld’s Trilift® TH15000 Workshop Tyre Handler.

Across the mining industry, there have been many incidents, injuries and even fatalities when people handle heavy vehicle earth moving tyres, BMA says.

With tyre assemblies weighing up to 15 t, the team at BMA’s Saraji mine looked at ways to reduce the potential exposure and risk to tyre fitters when working in and around tyres.

Jarrod Layton, Superintendent Mods & Ops Projects in the Saraji Engineering team, said prior to a recent tyre replacement, a commitment was made to the site leadership team to challenge the existing mind set around tyre handlers for heavy earth moving equipment.

“A key part of this project was changing our way of thinking around tyre handling. We spent a lot of time engaging our teams and looking for opportunities to increase not only the safety and productivity of our processes, but also the culture that surrounds these types of activities,” Layton said.

“The team investigated a range of options and consulted the market, where they found Hedweld’s TH 15000 Tyre Handler – a device which removes tyre fitters from the direct line of fire and safely secures the tyre in place during changes,” BMA said. “The device also features a jib arm to support the weight of the rattle gun that is required to remove the wheel nuts.”

Using Bluetooth technology, the device is remote controlled to give the operator improved visibility when aligning the device with the tyre and removes the need for any manual handling of the product, according to BMA.

“As the size of mining equipment grows, traditional methods for handling tyres become more hazardous and time consuming,” Layton said.

“Traditionally, tyres are moved by equipment such as loaders and forklifts and requires at least two fitters to operate. These items however, have limitations due to their size, manoeuvrability and safety. A number of incidents occur within the mining industry every year involving tyre handling.”

The device also allows all bays in the workshop to be better used, as well as reducing the number of people required for tyre handling. In turn, this allows for a higher availability of the wheeled tyre fleets, BMA says.

Layton said: “While the safety and productivity benefits are clear, the cultural change has also been fantastic to see. The workforce can see that we’re investing in making their jobs safer and easier to do every day – they see that we’re willing to invest and try new equipment and train them in order to deliver safer results.”

Hedweld said the Trilift TH15000 Workshop Tyre Handler has been designed to provide a maintenance tool for the safe removal and installation of tyres from a range of earthmoving and plant equipment. It has been developed to be used in a workshop environment and its compact design poses minimal impact on the normal operations of a mining workshop, according to the company.

“This fully self-contained diesel/hydraulic powered, remote controlled unit will handle tyres and rims up to 15,000 kg. In addition the TH15000 can handle tyres ranging in size from 27.00 R49 to 59/80 R63,” Hedweld says.

SRG secures BMA Blackwater coal drilling contract from Downer

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Australia-listed SRG Global has has been awarded a circa-A$20 million ($14.3 million) contract for drilling works with services company Downer at the BHP Mitsubishi Alliance-owned Blackwater coal mine in central Queensland.

This award further reinforces SRG Global’s mining business as a leading provider of drilling services, according to the company. Works under the contract are expected to use an existing drilling fleet, with the work starting shortly.

Back in February, Downer announced it had been awarded a three-year contract, valued at approximately A$600 million, to provide mining and related services at Blackwater.

Meanwhile, SRG and Global Construction Services recently merged in an effort to become a global specialist engineering, construction and maintenance group.