Tag Archives: Jimblebar

NRW to help support ‘sustainable production’ at BHP’s majority-owned Jimblebar iron ore mine

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NRW Holdings Limited’s NRW Civil & Mining business has been awarded a development contract for BHP at the Jimblebar mine in the east Pilbara (some 39 km east of Newman).

The scope of the contract includes various civil, building, mechanical and electrical works to support sustainable production at Jimblebar.

The project will include bulk earthworks and covers the construction of a number of permanent facilities.

The contract also includes the construction of a new floodway and an light vehicle access road complete with heavy and light vehicle standpipes and washdown facility. Additionally, the contract requires a HDPE pipeline re-alignment and installation of a 33 kV overhead powerline.

The contract is valued at approximately A$109 million ($73 million) and will commence in November 2024. The project is scheduled for completion in the June quarter of 2026 and will employ a team of up to 120 personnel and 55 items of plant and equipment.

The Jimblebar iron ore mine is a part of an 85:15 joint venture between BHP and Mitsui and ITOCHU. It is one of five mines and four processing hubs that make up Western Australia Iron Ore – an integrated system of joint ventures connecting 1,000 km of rail infrastructure and port facilities.

Jimblebar is home to BHP’s first fully autonomous truck operation.

BHP and Gallawinya agree on tyre agreement for WAIO operations

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A new contract with Pilbara Traditional Owner business Gallawinya Pty Ltd, will supply up to 4,000 tyres a year for light vehicles and light trucks across BHP WA Iron Ore’s central Pilbara mining operations, the mining company says.

Gallawinya is one of more than 80 Indigenous and Traditional Owner businesses engaged directly in the first half of BHP’s 2023 financial year – with a total spend of more than A$120 million ($82 million) – to Indigenous and Traditional Owner businesses through WAIO’s Project Rise initiative.

Chris Cowan, Head of Global Indigenous Procurement, said the Gallawinya contract represented a major step forward in a non-traditional supply area and would create social value opportunities including additional regional employment.

“We’re trying to find ongoing, longer term operational contracts to collaborate with Traditional Owner businesses, and this is a great example of that,” he explained.

“What I particularly like about this one is, it’s demonstrating a new category of supply by a Traditional Owner business that we haven’t seen before, and it’s going to create social value back into the communities in which we operate.

“We hope to collaborate with our maritime team to bring tyres directly into Port Hedland to reduce the need to transport the tyres by road from Perth to the Pilbara. This will improve our carbon footprint as well as safety risk and performance.”

Under the contract, Gallawinya will initially supply tyres to BHP’s central Pilbara operations (Mining Area C, South Flank and Yandi) before potentially expanding to other WAIO’s mining sites including Jimblebar, Newman and Port Hedland.

Gallawinya is a subsidiary of Nyamal owned and operated East West Pilbara Group, which employs more than 10 people in the Pilbara, through its facilities at Port Hedland and Karratha. The BHP supply contract will create more training and employment opportunities for Indigenous people.

Compared to the same period in FY22, to date WAIO has increased its year-to-date annual spend by around 62.5% and, thanks to Project Rise, is on track to deliver on its FY23 target of A$225 million spend with Indigenous and Traditional Owner businesses, which will extend to A$300 million in FY2024.

BHP reaches autonomous drilling milestone at WA iron ore operations

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BHP’s Western Australia Iron Ore division has reached a significant milestone, with its drills operating autonomously for more than 479,607 hours, drilling more than 25 million metres, the company said.

WAIO’s remotely operated drilling program commenced at Yandi in late 2016 and has since expanded to a total of 26 rigs across five Pilbara mine sites.

The rigs are all controlled remotely from the Integrated Remote Operations Centre (IROC) in Perth, Western Australia.

WAIO Asset President, Brandon Craig, said: “This is an exciting milestone in WAIO’s autonomous journey and one we should all be proud of.

“The autonomous drilling program sought to eliminate the risk of safety incidents and serious injuries to our people and, by removing them from the drilling frontline, we’ve also seen an increase in overall drill productivity.”

WAIO now has one of the biggest autonomous drill fleets in the world – which is managed by 32 crew members and one engineer all based at IROC.

IPRO Control Operations Manager, Clayton Hanrahan, added: “This achievement was made possible by a huge team of stakeholders, including the original Project Team, Technology, our vendor Epiroc, IPRO, IROC Drill and Control, all of our site partners in the Pilbara Drill and Blast teams and many more.”

Congratulations to everyone involved on reaching the milestone of autonomously drilling more than 25 million metres.

The automation journey begain with Yandi completing a successful 18-month trial of three autonomous drill rigs, paving the way for a staged approach across other WAIO mine sites.

Mining Area C introduced autonomous drilling in January 2017 before, in October 2017, the technology was implemented at Newman’s Eastern Ridge mine. In December of that year, Jimblebar introduced autonomous drilling and, in March 2018, Newman’s Whaleback mine implemented autonomous drill rigs. The journey has been rounded out by, in 2020, the introduction of autonomous drill rigs at South Flank, making WAIO’s drill rig program fully autonomous.

Monadelphous banks more work with Rio Tinto and BHP

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Monadelphous Group Limited says it has secured new contracts and contract extensions in the resources sector totalling approximately A$110 million ($80.1 million).

The company has secured a 12-month extension to its existing contract with BHP Iron Ore for the provision of general maintenance services for shutdowns, outages and minor capital works at the Mt Whaleback, Jimblebar, Eastern Ridge, Mining Area C and Yandi mine sites located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

Monadelphous has also been awarded several new contracts with Rio Tinto in the Pilbara under its sustaining capital projects panel agreement for:

  • The construction of new hawser rails and upgrades to the existing dolphins at Cape Lambert A and B wharves. The work, which includes design, fabrication, supply and installation, is expected to be completed by July 2023; and
  • The upgrade of conveyor gravity take-up systems at East Intercourse Island and Cape Lambert, with work expected to be completed in the September quarter of 2022.

In addition, Monadelphous has also secured a 12-month extension to its existing mechanical and electrical maintenance, shutdown and project services contract across BHP’s Nickel West operations in Western Australia.

Monadelphous adds to mining work with BHP, Rio and Codelco contracts

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Monadelphous Group Ltd says it has secured a number of new construction and maintenance contracts in the resources sector totalling approximately A$200 million ($146 million).

In Queensland, Australia, Monadelphous has been awarded a new three-year contract with Queensland Alumina Ltd to continue to provide general mechanical maintenance services at its operations in Gladstone. The company has also secured a 10-month extension to its existing contract with BHP Mitsubishi Alliance for provision of dragline shutdown and maintenance services to its operations in the Bowen Basin.

Monadelphous has secured a number of contracts in the iron ore sector in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

This includes two contracts with BHP under its existing WAIO Site Engineering Panel Agreement. The first is for the refurbishment of cells and rotating equipment on BHP’s Nelson Point Car Dumper 1, with work expected to be completed in the December quarter of 2021, and secondly, an extension to the haul road at the Jimblebar mine, with work expected to be completed in the June quarter of 2022.

A contract has also been secured with Rio Tinto for construction associated with the Marandoo Dewatering Sump Project, with work expected to be completed in the March quarter of 2022.

In Chile, Monadelphous’ maintenance and construction services business, Buildtek, has secured a construction contract with Codelco for work associated with the development of a new underground section of the El Teniente copper mine in Rancagua. Work is expected to be completed in the March quarter of 2023.

The company acquired a majority stake in Buildtek back in 2019.

Monadelphous Managing Director, Rob Velletri, said these new contracts and extensions continued to demonstrate the company’s solid track record of delivering for its customers.

“We are pleased to have secured this work and look forward to continuing to build on our valued long-term customer relationships,” he said.

Civmec extends Pilbara stay with more iron ore agreements

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Civmec Ltd has won multiple new contracts for its maintenance, manufacturing and construction divisions with a combined value of over A$100 million ($77 million).

Among these awards is a three-year contract for the maintenance division with Alcoa of Australia Ltd to provide calciner maintenance, major overhaul and repair services, including scaffolding, mechanical, refractory and electrical services at its Kwinana, Pinjarra, and Wagerup refineries. These plants contain 17 calciner units, two liquor burners and five regenerative thermal oxidisers.

The manufacturing division is celebrating minerals and metals sectors contracts in the Pilbara of Western Australia.

Among these is an agreement for Civmec to supply, manufacture, trial assemble and deliver four main train load-out bin modules for the BHP-owned Jimblebar iron project. The company will also supply, fabricate, surface treat and modularise shuttle trusses, conveyor trusses, platework and stick steel for the Rio Tinto-owned Gudai-Darri iron ore project, also in the Pilbara.

Still in the Australia iron ore hub, Civmec’s construction division is set to complete a civil package, including detailed earthworks, concrete placement, cabling and pipework for a Roy Hill de-bottlenecking project, as well as the delivery of a fixed plant workshop for Rio Tinto’s Mesa A project, where the group is already undertaking other structural, mechanical, piping, electrical and instrumentation work.

Monadelphous set to take on more BHP work in Australia, Chile

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Monadelphous Group has gained a further foothold in numerous BHP majority-owned projects as part of its latest construction and maintenance contract awards in the resources and energy sectors that come with a combined value of around A$100 million ($72 million).

Under its recently awarded WAIO Site Engineering Panel Framework Agreement with BHP, the company has been awarded the following contracts in the Pilbara region of Western Australia:

  • A contract for the supply and installation of the Jimblebar Transfer Station project, with work expected to be completed by December 2020; and
  • A contract for the refurbishment of Car Dumper 3 at Nelson Point, Port Hedland, with work expected to be undertaken during the second half of 2020.

Further, Monadelphous has also been awarded a contract under its WAIO Asset Panel Framework Agreement with BHP for the Port Availability Improvement project to provide multidisciplinary brownfield modification works to conveyors and transfer chutes across the Nelson Point and Finucane Island facilities, in Western Australia. The work is expected to be completed in the second half of the 2021.

Then, in Chile, Monadelphous has secured several new contracts through its maintenance and construction services business, Buildtek, which it acquired late last year.

This includes two contracts with Minera Escondida BHP, for the construction and assembly of a communications tower and associated infrastructure at the Escondida copper mine, as well as an upgrade to the conveyor system feeding the Filter Plant Warehouse at Coloso Port, both in the Antofagasta region.

These contract awards were announced the day before Monadelphous released its 2020 financial year results, which showed the company generated A$1.65 billion of revenue in the 12 months and produced a net profit after tax result of A$36.5 million.

Autonomous trucks arrive on time at BHP’s Newman East mine

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As expected, the first fleet of autonomous trucks have arrived at BHP’s Newman East mine site with full roll out to be complete by September.

Home to BHP’s Innovation Centre, the Newman East mine will be the second of the company’s Western Australian mines to transition to fully autonomous haulage with 20 autonomous trucks due on site before the end of the year, BHP said. The first was the Jimblebar iron ore mine in the state, which transitioned in 2017.

The existing fleet of Cat 793s would be retrofitted with autonomous haulage systems, BHP previously explained.

BHP’s Newman Operations General Manager, Marie Bourgoin, said the transition would advance BHP’s technology strategy while also creating 41 new, permanent roles and investing A$33 million ($23 million) in contracts with Western Australian businesses.

“We recognise how important it is for BHP to partner with local and small businesses, particularly as we move into a post-COVID economic recovery phase,” she said.

“We are pleased to have been able to offer A$33 million in contracts to WA vendors for a range of work packages including autonomous conversion kits, trailers, training content development, and a number of engineering and construction packages.

“We know our success will be strengthened when we work together with local people and businesses. We will continue to explore further local initiatives as autonomous haulage rolls out, and beyond.”

Bourgoin said there were no redundancies as part of the transition and more than 300 people in the Newman operations workforce were undergoing training and upskilling to work on an autonomous haulage site.

“We have created new control centre and roles, which many of our truck operators have transitioned into, as well as new opportunities in truck maintenance and fuelling,” she said.

“Importantly we have created 41 new permanent roles, which are being offered locally as well as FIFO and will continue to be filled over coming months.”

Since the introduction of autonomous haulage at Jimblebar, significant events involving trucks have decreased by nearly 90%, according to BHP.

BHP extends FIFO agreement with Alliance in Western Australia

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Alliance Aviation Services says it and BHP’s Western Australia Iron Ore division have agreed to extend their air charter services agreement for a further two years.

The extension solidifies a relationship that started with the first flight for BHP WA Iron Ore in 2009, Alliance said.

BHP’s WAIO division is an integrated system of four processing hubs and five mines connected by more than 1,000 km of rail infrastructure and port facilities in the Pilbara region of northern Western Australia. At each processing hub – Newman, Yandi, Mining Area C and Jimblebar – the ore is crushed, beneficiated (where necessary) and blended to create high-grade hematite lump and fines products. Iron ore products are then transported along the Port Hedland–Newman Rail Line to the Finucane Island and Nelson Point port facilities at Port Hedland.

Lee Schofield, Alliance’s Chief Executive Officer, said: “Alliance is delighted to be continuing the provision of these charter services into Coondewanna and Barimunya. Our commitment to safety and providing our clients with industry leading on time performance has played a significant role in being awarded this extension.”

Schofield, added: “In May this year, BHP acknowledged Alliance’s exceptional safety and operational record when BHP presented Alliance with an Aviation Safety Award in recognition of the safe carriage of 3.5 million BHP staff and contractors on charter and scheduled services throughout Australia from April 2002 to April 2019.”

BMA’s Palmer talks up potential for autonomous haul trucks

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James Palmer (pictured), BHP Mitsubishi Alliance Asset President, said this week that autonomous haulage systems (AHS) could become a much bigger part of the company’s operations in the future.

Speaking to attendees at a Bowen Basin Mining Club lunch in Mackay, Australia, Palmer said there was potential for 500 autonomous trucks to be introduced at BMA’s open-pit coal operations and BHP’s iron ore mines in the future.

This number of autonomous trucks first came up in a strategy briefing presentation delivered by Chief Financial Officer, Peter Beaven, in May.

Under a list of “projects in feasibility” in the appendices of Beaven’s presentation, the mining major detailed a staged haul truck automation plan that could cost less than $800 million to deliver, with the first of several investment decisions expected this year. In terms of the delivery of the project, BHP said it was estimating a staged rollout between 2020 and 2023, with AHS decisions made on a “site by site” basis.

This move follows a successful rollout of the technology at BHP’s Jimblebar iron ore operation in Western Australia, where the company, since implementation of the fully-autonomous solution, has seen significant incidents involving trucks decrease by almost 90%, according to Palmer.

It is this experience that has led to BMA and BHP Iron Ore studying widespread autonomous haulage at its operations.

“Through the study, which spans both BMA and BHP’s Iron Ore business, there’s potential to for up to 500 autonomous trucks to be introduced in our open-cut operations,” he said.

“It’s an ambitious target – that would see about a tenfold increase to BHP’s existing fleet of autonomous trucks already operating at Jimblebar today. But, like I said earlier, the results from Jimblebar – particularly the safety improvements – continue to make a strong case for change.”

In addition to talking up potential AHS operations, Palmer also spoke about the BHP Integrated Remote Operations Centre (IROC), a centre set up just over two years ago that has “created an extensive suite of training and upskilling opportunities for our people”, he said.

“Over 50% of the IROC’s mine control team have formerly operated heavy vehicles,” Palmer said. “Now, they’re helping drive our entire coal supply chain – from pit to port.”