Tag Archives: Jim Spenceley

Beca and Black & Veatch to collaborate on sustainable solutions for Australian mining sector

Environmental, Mining industry recognition, Mining services, Sustainable mining, , , , , ,

Beca and Black & Veatch (B&BV) have announced a collaboration to deliver sustainability and decarbonisation solutions, combined with a strong local presence, to service minerals and metals operations across Australia.

Beca is an employee-owned professional services firm that has been delivering engineering, advisory and management consulting services across Asia-Pacific for over 100 years, while Black & Veatch is an employee-owned global engineering, procurement, consulting and construction company with, it says, a more than 100-year track record of innovation in sustainable infrastructure.

“Clients recognise the need for more sustainable operations and more efficient resource management approaches from extraction and processing through to delivery,” Paul Language, a Business Director at Beca, said. “Our collaboration brings sustainability expertise, at scale, to mining operations across Australia.

“We understand what it takes for miners to succeed in Australia.”

Jim Spenceley, Senior Vice President of Black & Veatch’s Mining Business, added: “Clients have set ambitious sustainability and decarbonisation goals and we are helping them develop and implement the sustainability roadmaps that will make these goals attainable. For many years B&BV have collaborated for the benefit of clients in New Zealand and we look forward to extending our services to Australia.”

Part of B&BV’s strength is a strong shared culture. Both are employee-owned, a business model that has been delivering success for more than a century for each organisation. Both companies are committed to the safe delivery and management of critical infrastructure and embracing reconciliation in the minerals and metals sector.

“Sustainability and responsible corporate stewardship are core to both companies’ operations, in the way they act and the projects they deliver,” they added.

Black & Veatch helps the water balance at Escondida

Base metals, Environmental, Mine operation news, Mining services, Sustainable mining, Water management, , , , , , , ,

With BHP recently celebrating the completion of the Escondida Water Supply Expansion (EWSE) project at its majority-owned Minera Escondida mine in Chile, the designer and engineer of record, Black & Veatch, has taken the time to review its work on the more than two year project.

The expansion increases the mine’s desalination capacity to the point where 100% of its needs can be self-supplied with desalinated water, according to the company, helping to protect local groundwater resources while ensuring a more sustainable, resilient and reliable water future.

Black & Veatch served as designer and engineer of record on not only the EWSE project, but also the original Escondida Water Supply (EWS) project, heralded as one of the largest, most complex desalination infrastructure projects in South America, it said.

“Completion of the EWSE project comes amid mining’s growing focus on sustainability and resilience,” it said. “Minera Escondida is in the Antofagasta region in northern Chile, one of the driest regions in the world and water is at a premium. With the Monturaqui Aquifer closing in late 2019, BHP, the mine’s majority owner and operator, realised the need to bolster desalination capabilities.”

The project builds upon Black & Veatch’s history of providing water production, water conveyance and desalination services to BHP. In 2013, the company was selected to lead the engineering design, procurement, field inspection and pre-commissioning for the marine and desalination elements of the EWS project, which was completed in 2017.

When it came time to expand the Escondida desalination facilities, BHP again turned to Black & Veatch, hiring the engineering company to serve as engineer of record for the water production, water conveyance and high-voltage components of the project; providing engineering, procurement, construction management services, pre-commissioning and commissioning services.

The EWSE project involved multiple components to increase desalinated water production capacity by 833 l/s while expanding water conveyance capacity by 1,438 l/s. The project began in June 2017 and was commissioned one week ahead of schedule, on December 25, 2019, according to Black & Veatch.

“The project was executed on a tight timeline, but Black & Veatch was well-positioned to deliver on this work, given our knowledge of the original EWS project and the client,” Jim Spenceley, Senior Vice President of Black & Veatch’s Mining business, said. “This knowledge allowed us to identify efficiencies, reducing the amount of time to construct and commission and allowing us to safely deliver EWSE ahead of schedule.”

The original EWS infrastructure was developed with expansion in mind, and Black & Veatch’s design allowed BHP to adopt an optimised solution that used the existing EWS footprint, helping to lower capital costs, it said. Replicating equipment used in the EWS project also helped standardise and simplify operations and maintenance, according to the company.

Iain Humphreys, Business Line Director and Head of the company’s regional office in Santiago, Chile, said: “Black & Veatch provided the in-depth knowledge and experience to undertake this strategic project on behalf of BHP and to successfully complete EWSE. Having worked on both projects really pays testament to the high skill level and deep experience of all our professionals.”

Between the two projects – the original EWS desalination plant and the EWSE – Black & Veatch worked more than 3 million worker-hours without a recordable safety incident, it said.

To complete the project safely, ahead of schedule and with the highest quality standards, Black & Veatch placed significant resources behind the project. A diverse international team contributed – the core team of local professionals located in Santiago was supported by Black & Veatch professionals from multiple US states, plus the UK, India, Chile, El Salvador, Cuba and Colombia. The project also had a 25% female participation rate, supporting BHP’s corporate goal of gender diversity.

BQE Water to install Selen-IX water treatment plant at US mine

Environmental, Mineral processing, Mining services, Water management, , , , , ,

BQE Water says it has entered into an engineering services agreement with Black & Veatch, an international engineering firm, for the design of a Selen-IX™ water treatment plant destined for a mine in the US.

The plant, at a scale larger than the currently constructed 6,400 m3/d Selen-IX treatment plant at Centerra Gold’s Kemess mine site in British Columbia, Canada, will remove selenium below three parts per billion limit at the end-of-pipe, the company said.

The plant will be designed to treat several thousand litres per minute of water on average and to adjust quickly to adapt to the changes in feed flow, according to BQE.

Jim Spenceley, VP Mining for Black & Veatch, said: “We recognise the value of BQE Water’s expertise in water treatment and the uniqueness of Selen-IX, which moves selenium control in the mining industry to a new level and enables important resource projects to be developed.

“The technological leadership of BQE Water, combined with Black & Veatch’s successful track record in delivering mission critical capital projects, matches perfectly the project requirements and we are excited to initiate the work jointly with BQE Water.”

David Kratochvil, President & CEO of BQE Water, said the ability of Selen-IX to remove selenium to levels below three parts per billion, coupled with the ability to quickly adapt to treatment requirements by fast turn-up and turn-down in terms of throughput, was key to signing this agreement.

“It also provides a platform for BQE Water and Black & Veatch to demonstrate to the mining industry our joint capabilities of delivering innovative water treatment solutions safely and cost effectively,” he added.

BQE Water successfully completed lab testing in 2019 that demonstrated the capability of Selen-IX to achieve the required water quality. The design of the water treatment plant is expected to be completed in the September quarter.

Selen-IX is a water treatment process technology that combines ion exchange and electro-reduction to remove selenium from large volumes of wastewater. As a purely physico-chemical process, it is insensitive to water temperature and is highly adaptable to variability in water flows and selenium levels, according to BQE Water. “The process fixes selenium into stable refractory non-hazardous solids suitable for co-disposal with tailings and potential offtake by steel producers,” the company said.

Black & Veach to manage refinery build for PT Borneo Alumina in Indonesia

Base metals, Industrial minerals, Mine operation news, Mining services, , , , , ,

PT Borneo Alumina Indonesia has appointed a Black & Veatch-led project management consortium (PMC) to develop an alumina refinery in West Kalimantan.

The facility, the first of its kind in Indonesia, according to Black & Veatch, will feature a 1 Mt/y smelter-grade alumina refinery, a 2 x 40,000 cu.m/h coal gasification plant and a 3 x 25 MW coal-fired power plant.

As the consortium leader, Black & Veatch will perform design review, equipment inspections, and provide power and coal gasification subject matter expertise. Consortium partner Progesys will be managing the alumina refinery process design scope, while another partner, Jaya CM, will be supporting the project with site construction engineers and inspectors.

Progesys is a minerals industry engineering company based in Canada, while Jaya CM is an Indonesia-based construction management company.

“As the project consultant, the consortium is responsible for evaluating engineering, procurement and construction bids and reviewing design engineering,” Black & Veatch said. The consortium will monitor major equipment supply and conduct factory acceptance tests. It will also oversee site construction and commissioning.

Jim Spenceley, Senior Vice President, Mining, Black & Veatch, said developing the downstream mineral processing industry will expand the Indonesia economy and create jobs. “Black & Veatch is ready to leverage our global expertise across business units to support as PMC overseeing our client’s Chinese engineering, procurement and construction contractor to ensure that the client realises the quality, safety and value they are seeking.”

Black & Veatch’s knowledge of international and country-specific engineering codes and standards, and contract structures systematically mitigates project cost and schedule risks, according to the company. “By serving as the interface between different engineering standards, Black & Veatch offers clients assurance that EPC contractors deliver on specific project commitments cost effectively.”