Tag Archives: South Flank

Primero lays foundations for world’s largest rail mounted stackers, reclaimer

Bulk handling, Mineral project development, Mining equipment, Mining services, Steel and iron ore, , , , , , ,

Primero Group looks set to hit the June 30 deadline for the pre-assembly of two stackers and one “off-reclaim machine” for thyssenkrupp at the BHP-owned South Flank iron ore project, in Western Australia.

In an update posted today, Primero said it was nearing completion of the pre-assembly and dressing out of 24 machine modules for thyssenkrupp, with the last of these modules being “punch listed” and signed off in preparation for shipment.

The modules will complete the world’s largest rail mounted stackers and reclaimer, which are currently under construction on site in the state. thyssenkrupp said previously that the rail mounted stacker/reclaimer units will have a loading capacity of 20,000 t/h.

Primero has been carrying out the work at the Australian Marine Complex, in Henderson, south of Perth, Western Australia, with the company saying over 10 km of cable, 2 km of piping and 200 m of conveyors had been installed. The project has seen Primero reach 75,000 project hours loss time injury free, it added.

The Primero contract commenced last year and was expected to be completed in the current Australia financial year, ending June 30, 2020.

The $4.6 billion South Flank iron ore project will be one of the largest iron ore processing hubs in the world when operating. It includes an 80 Mt/y crushing and screening plant, an overland conveyor system and rail-loading facilities. The mine will replace production from BHP’s Yandi mine, which is nearing the end of its life.

Construction began in July 2018 and first production of iron ore is anticipated in 2021.

BHP’s South Flank on course for 2021 first iron ore deadline

Mineral project development, Mining services, Steel and iron ore, , , , , , ,

Fluor says BHP’s $3.6 billion South Flank iron ore project, in the Pilbara of Western Australia, is on track for first ore in 2021, with the engineering firm having erected the first 1,500 t of modules in the ore handling plant.

This construction milestone is in the critical sequence to first ore and comes after achieving 50% project completion, announced by BHP in October 2019, Fluor said.

Fluor is providing engineering, procurement and construction management services on South Flank.

In December, Mammoet said it had started transporting the first heavy components for the under-construction mine, with around 1,900 items including prefabricated and modular mine processing plant units of various sizes set to be moved from Port Hedland to the new mine site.

When operational, South Flank will be one of the largest iron ore processing hubs in the world. The project will include an 80 Mt/y crushing and screening plant, an overland conveyor system and rail-loading facilities. The mine will replace production from BHP’s Yandi mine, which is nearing the end of its life.

South Flank engineering and procurement work is being performed from BHP’s office in Perth, with Fluor working together with BHP as an integrated project team, it said.

Tony Morgan, President of Fluor’s Mining and Metals business, said: “We are extremely proud of what we have been able to accomplish with BHP on this project including our commitment to achieve diversity through the hiring of indigenous and local team members.

“The pioneering integrated team approach on this project is truly a collaborative effort. We look forward to continuing our long and successful relationship with BHP on this project and beyond.”

Richard Gerspacher, Project Director, said: “Based on the project routines and culture we’ve created, I am confident that the project will continue to proceed in a positive manner as we work towards first ore.”

Fluor previously performed the feasibility study for the project before it was awarded the follow-on construction and project management scope. Over the life of the project, it is expected that more than 9,000 people will be engaged in the South Flank work force.

Construction began in July 2018 and first production of iron ore is anticipated in 2021.

Mondelphous strengthens BHP ties in Western Australia

Base metals, Equipment maintenance, Mine operation news, Mining maintenance, Mining services, Steel and iron ore, , , , , , , ,

Monadelphous Group has secured a number of contracts across Western Australia with BHP as part of a package of construction and maintenance agreements worth circa-A$110 million ($75 million).

The news comes on top of existing maintenance and other contracts the company has previously secured with the major mining company.

These include a contract at the BHP-owned Mining Area C iron ore mine site in the Pilbara, where Monadelphous will provide upgrades to existing conveyer equipment, and power switching and stackers. Work is expected to be completed in the September quarter of 2020.

The engineering firm has also won a contract for the provision of services associated with the demolition and rehabilitation of a number of end-of-life facilities at Nelson Point in Port Hedland. This contract is expected to commence in January 2020 and will be completed in the September quarter of 2020.

Monadelphous will also carry out a 12-month extension to its existing contract with BHP’s Nickel West division for the provision of maintenance, shutdowns and off-site repair services at the Kalgoorlie nickel smelter.

Lastly with BHP, the company has been awarded a contract with thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions (Australia) for the construction of a reclaimer and two stackers at BHP’s South Flank project in the Pilbara. thyssenkrupp has previously said these will be the largest rail mounted stacker/reclaimers in the world, with a loading capacity of 20,000 t/h.

Monadelphous’ work is expected to be completed in the March quarter of 2021.

In Queensland, meanwhile, the ASX-listed company has secured a three-year contract for the provision of general mechanical and maintenance services as part of Incitec Pivot’s scheduled turnarounds for its Queensland manufacturing facilities, it said.

Mammoet keeps BHP South Flank iron ore project moving forward

Mineral project development, Mining equipment, Mining services, Steel and iron ore, , , , , , ,

Mammoet is doing its bit to ensure BHP hits its 2021 first production goal at the South Flank iron ore project, in the Pilbara of Western Australia, having started transporting the first heavy components for the under-construction mine.

Around 1,900 items including prefabricated and modular mine processing plant units of various sizes will be transported from Port Hedland to the new mine site, 340 km away, Mammoet said.

The $3.6 billion South Flank project, around 8 km south of BHP’s existing Mining Area C operation, will replace production from BHP’s Yandi mine, which is nearing the end of its life. The investment into the new mine site will ensure the continued production of high-quality iron ore for more than 25 years, according to BHP.

Once complete, South Flank will be one of Western Australia’s largest iron ore processing facilities. As mentioned, production is expected to start in 2021.

Mammoet has existing operational branches in Port Hedland and Karratha, meaning it is equipped to provide localised support for the South Flank project.

Among other heavy haulage equipment on site, Mammoet has 96 axle lines of SPMT located in the port and the mine site, as well as 178 axle lines of conventional trailers with 14 prime movers. The company says it has approached the large-scale logistics project with detailed planning to coordinate the thousands of components that are arriving at the port over 14 shipments and ensure they are delivered to site safely and on time.

REMA TIP TOP Australia belts up at BHP South Flank project

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REMA TIP TOP Australia has been selected by Monadelphous to install more than 50 km of conveyor belting for the BHP-owned South Flank iron ore project, in the Pilbara of Western Australia.

A key component of the project to build the $3.6 billion mine, the conveyor belting will be delivered with splice kits and the installation and splicing of steel cord and fabric belt on five conveyors systems, three of which are overland conveyors, with 77 rolls of belt to be installed and 77 splices to be completed in total. REMA TIP TOP Australia will assist Monadelphous in this work.

The conveyor solutions specialist has worked with Monadelphous on a range of major projects in the past and it is this proven track record that was critical in securing the project for the business, it said.

Steve Hipwell, REMA TIP TOP Australia Projects Manager, said: “This project represents a significant win for the business and is a testament to the commitment we have shown to delivering quality projects.

“Monadelphous have a substantial pipeline of works in the resources, energy and infrastructure sectors so it’s great to continue to build on our successes with this leading engineering company.”
Hipwell said mobilisation was set to begin in the June quarter.

Earlier this year, Fenner Dunlop secured the contract to manufacture and deliver the overland conveyor belt package to South Flank.

BHP is targeting first ore extraction at the operation in 2021 and expects to ramp up to 80 Mt/y of output. This will replace production from the existing Yandi mine, which is reaching the end of its economic life.

thyssenkrupp helps keep BHP South Flank iron project on track

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thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions (Australia) says it is on track to deliver the world’s largest rail-mounted stackers and reclaimer on schedule for BHP’s South Flank iron ore project, in the Pilbara of Western Australia.

The company was, in November 2018, awarded the contract to design, supply, construct and commission two stackers that will deposit iron ore into stockyards for loading, and a reclaimer for loading the ore into trains for transport to Port Hedland.

These large machines will each have a capacity of 20,000 t/h, making them the largest rail mounted stackers and reclaimer in the world.

thyssenkrupp developed the two fully autonomous stackers and reclaimer with the latest statutory requirements for functional safety as defined in AS4024 and AS61508. For machine collision avoidance, a combination of GPS, SIL-rated encoders and limits are used. The fully autonomous machines are digitally connected and monitored from a remote centralised control room, according to thyssenkrupp.

Offsite pre-assembly of these locally designed and manufactured machines is well underway in Perth, according to the company, with many of the large pre-assembled modules already complete. These modules are to be transported from their current location at the AMC complex in Henderson, to the BHP South Flank site with construction likely to commence in late January 2020. The first machine will be commissioned and ready for first ore in line with BHP’s 2021 target.

Zoran Matijevic, Project Director – South Flank Project at thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions (Australia), said: “It has been a great privilege to lead thyssenkrupp’s team through design, procurement, fabrication and preassembly phases so far, and achieve 50% overall project progress milestone ahead of the plan. I look forward to logistics, construction and commissioning phases and final handover of this equipment.”

thyssenkrupp’s Industrial Solutions global Business Unit (BU) Mining has recently streamlined its operations and are now fully focusing on mining equipment, with the engineering centre of excellence for materials handling located in Perth.

BHP’s Jansen potash project set for early-2021 investment decision

Energy minerals, Mine shafts and equipment, Mineral project development, Mining project news, Steel and iron ore, , , , , , , , ,

While uncertainty remains around the construction of BHP’s Jansen potash project in Saskatchewan, Canada, the company, in its September quarter results, confirmed it is still spending money on the asset prior to making a development decision.

BHP said the Jansen Stage 1 potash project will be presented to the board for a final investment decision by February 2021. The currently Stage 1 plan, which is in the feasibility study stage, involves building out initial capacity of 4.3-4.5 Mt/y of potash, with expansion optionality.

The miner has, so far, committed to spending $2.7 billion on the project. This is expected to result in the excavation and lining of the 7.3 m diameter production (975 m deep) and service (1,005 m deep, pictured) shafts – sunk by DMC Mining using Herrenknecht’s Shaft Boring Roadheader – and the installation of essential surface infrastructure and utilities. The overall Stage 1 project is expected to have a capital outlay of $5.3-5.7 billion.

In the September quarter results, BHP said in order to make a final investment decision, work on engineering to support project planning and on finalising the port solution is required. The BHP Board has, as a result, approved $144 million of spending for these activities, with an additional $201 million in funding set aside to further de-risk the project. The latter is focused on the mine’s scope of work, advancing other engineering and procurement activities, and preparation works for underground infrastructure, it said.

“This will enable an efficient transition of the project team between the study and execution phase, should the project be approved,” BHP said, adding that the release of funding to the project will be staged over this period.

The company, meanwhile, gave an update on its South Flank iron ore development, in the Pilbara of Western Australia, with CEO Andrew Mackenzie saying the project was 50% complete, with all major items on schedule and budget.

South Flank, which is expected to cost $4.6 billion to build, is set to replace production from the existing Yandi mine, which is reaching the end of its economic life. BHP is targeting first ore extraction at the operation in 2021 and expects to ramp up to 80 Mt/y of output.

BHP engages WestStar’s Precast Australia for South Flank iron ore project work

Mineral project development, Mining services, Steel and iron ore, , , ,

WestStar Industrial subsidiaries SIMPEC and Precast Australia have won more contracts in Western Australia, with a notable win at BHP’s South Flank iron ore development in the Pilbara.

The two have been awarded A$3 million ($2.1 million) in contracted work, with engineering contractor business SIMPEC receiving circa-A$2 million in extensions to its current contracts in the state.

SIMPEC didn’t name any specific contracts within its statement, but the company recently won a contract to construct the 25 MW diesel power generation facility at Fortescue Metals Group’s Eliwana iron ore project in WA.

Prefabricated concrete construction business Precast Australia, meanwhile, has been awarded a contract by Georgiou Group to supply wall panels for the construction of a Costco Warehouse in the Perth Airport precinct. It has also been engaged directly by BHP to initially supply and deliver 200 precast concrete elements to South Flank. The company said there was an opportunity for substantial growth in this contract award.

In addition, Precast Australia was awarded contracts by RHG, Zorzi and Shelford, with total contracts awarded being circa-$1 million.

Battle for greenfield mining autonomy

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The big two global giants in autonomous mining truck solutions continue to battle it out in chasing new contracts, especially for greenfield mines that offer a chance to supply more profitable “new” autonomous fleets as opposed to retrofitting autonomous capability onto existing fleets.

The main battle grounds remain Australian iron ore in Western Australia’s Pilbara region and Canadian oil sands in the Alberta production hub centred on Fort McMurray, though there are also surface haul truck autonomy trials ongoing in other mine types such as iron ore in other parts of the world, gold, coal and copper.

In iron ore the competition has turned traditional norms on their head.

Rio Tinto, traditionally a Komatsu truck user, announced earlier in 2019 that it had agreed to work together with Caterpillar to create an automated mine operation at the Koodaideri iron ore project, in Western Australia. The agreement will see Cat® and dealer WesTrac supply and support mining machines, automation and enterprise technology systems for the new mine. Rio, in a separate release, said this would see the supply of a fleet of 20 new autonomous 793F trucks.

Then in September, BHP, traditionally a Caterpillar truck user, turned the tables again by announcing that it will deploy 41 new Komatsu 930E-5 ultra-class autonomous haul trucks at its new South Flank iron ore mine in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, commencing in October 2019.

But OEM battles aside, autonomy comes with its own issues. This includes the mine having sufficient network capacity in place but also other practicalities like how it ties in with haul road design and how it affects OTR tyre performance.

This tyre angle is being delved into in some detail by Tony Cutler, Principal at specialist consultancy OTR Global, at the forthcoming inaugural Truck & Shovel Conference from International Mining Events, running 19-20 September in Singapore at the InterContinental, Middle Road.

His talk, “Factoring tyres into autonomous haulage”, will point out that since 2008, over 400 autonomous haul trucks have entered commercial operation on open-pit mines and, while autonomous haulage offers improved productivity, safety and operating cost, he argues that the main constraint to maximising these benefits is tyres. This presentation identifies the limitations associated with tyres – some inherent to the tyres, others to the autonomous systems and operating environments – and suggests solutions.

Cutler will be joined in an autonomy related session by Drew Larsen, Director of Business Development, ASI Mining, in a presentation titled: ‘Autonomous Mining – more feasible than you might think’.

The company, 34% owned by global mining OEM Epiroc, began work on a project with Barrick Gold to retrofit and automate a fleet of Komatsu 930-E Ultra Class haul trucks at the Arturo joint venture operation in Nevada, last year, and judging from Barrick’s commentary in its June quarter results, the gold miner is happy with how things are going.

Interestingly, Barrick said initially none of the OEMs wanted to engage in the project, “due to the mammoth task of retrofitting an autonomous system to a 20-year-old fleet of ultra-class trucks and the technological limitations that come with that age of machine”.

Barrick found another partner in ASI that specialises in autonomous solutions both inside and outside the mining industry and has now successfully completed a proof of concept (POC) utilising five haulage units “that have delivered over 5.5 Mt faster than any other similar POC in the industry”, it said.

These autonomous solutions require a lot of data to be effective and while there are no shortages of nodes on equipment nowadays, the haulage and loading industry is still coming to terms with how best to leverage this data.

Speakers from Komatsu will be confronting this issue head on at the event, with Jason Knuth, Senior Manager – Data Solutions, and Simon Van Wegen, Product Manager – Data Solutions, presenting a keynote titled, “Data-driven designs for dynamic mining environments”.

The two intend to reveal how OEMs are leveraging the plethora of data nodes on smart equipment to adapt equipment and design solutions for the modern mine environment.

To hear from more speakers like this, register for Truck & Shovel by clicking here.

Primero to work on stacker/reclaimers for BHP South Flank iron ore project

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Primero Group Limited says it has been awarded a “significant contract” at the BHP-owned $4.6 billion South Flank iron ore project in Western Australia.

The ASX-listed company will carry out the pre-assembly of The South Flank Balance Machines for thyssenkrupp Industrial, it said.

thyssenkrupp was awarded the supply and installation of the Balance Machines by BHP in November 2018, Primero said.

Primero’s scope is the pre-assembly of the two stackers and one “off-reclaim machine” at the AMC (Australian Marine Complex), located in Henderson, south of Perth.

The machines will be the largest rail mounted stacker/reclaimers machines to be installed in the world, with a loading capacity of 20,000 t/h.

The contract is set to commence immediately and is expected to be completed in the current financial year, ending June 30, 2020.

Primero said: “The contract award represents another significant win for the company’s Non-Process Infrastructure division and will create up to 60 direct positions locally over the contract period.”