Tag Archives: South Flank

Autonomous drill rigs, Oyu Tolgoi recognised in Epiroc awards

Automation, Base metals, Equipment maintenance, Mining equipment, Mining industry recognition, Mining maintenance, Mining services, , , , , , , ,

Epiroc’s first annual awards have recognised close customer collaboration in Mongolia and innovative autonomous drill rigs in Australia.

Its “United in Performance Award” honours exceptional customer collaboration, the company said. This inaugural award is presented to Anders Berglund, Bayar Torguud, Batzorig Jamsranjav and Alf Lawrence at Epiroc’s Customer Center in Mongolia, as well as to mining company Oyu Tolgoi LLC.

“Their far-reaching collaboration is boosting productivity and safety at Oyu Tolgoi’s major copper mine,” Epiroc said. “With the mine located remotely in the South Gobi desert, Epiroc has developed strong local service capabilities, yielding customer benefits such as on-time spare parts delivery. The companies are emphasising safety and diversity and they have successfully worked together to recruit more women as equipment operators and service technicians.”

The Inspired by Innovation Award, meanwhile, recognises Epiroc’s most innovative technical development that has had a proven commercial success.

It has been presented, this year, to Tyler Berens, Tim Ledbetter and Dustin Penn at Epiroc’s Drilling Solutions division, Lars Eriksson at the Rocktec division, and to Adrian Boeing at the Customer Center in Australia for developing and deploying autonomous Pit Viper drill rigs for BHP.

A fleet of Pit Vipers is operating remotely at iron ore mines in the Pilbara region, some 1,300 km away from the office building in Perth, Western Australia, where BHP’s operators are located.

“This automation solution brings strong customer benefits, including improved work environment, higher productivity and lower operating costs,” Epiroc said.

Back in December, the first autonomous Epiroc Pit Viper 271 drill rig broke ground at BHP’s South Flank iron ore project in Western Australia. This was the first of five autonomous drill rigs to operate at the mine, all of which will be controlled remotely.

Per Lindberg, Epiroc’s President and CEO, said of the awards: “We are proud of our strong teams that continuously focus on making customers more productive and safe while lowering their operating costs. Automation and proactive customer collaboration are two important ways to achieve this.”

The awards will be presented to the winners at the company’s Annual General Meeting on May 9.

Monadelphous adds ‘inflow’ infrastructure work to BHP South Flank iron ore package

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

Engineering company Monadelphous Group says it has been awarded a second construction contract, valued at A$104 million ($74 million), at BHP’s South Flank iron ore project in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

The contract includes structural, mechanical, piping and electrical and instrumentation works associated with the project’s inflow infrastructure and brings the total value of work secured by Monadelphous on this project to A$212 million, the company said.

The company’s previous contract – awarded last month – includes structural, mechanical, piping and electrical and instrumentation works associated with the project’s outflow infrastructure.

Work under the inflow infrastructure contract is expected to start immediately and be completed by March 2021, according to Monadelphous.

Monadelphous Managing Director, Rob Velletri, said the award of a second contract at South Flank enables Monadelphous to realise efficiency synergies between the two packages of work, and underlined the strength of its long-term relationship with BHP.

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. The company carried out the first blast at the project in September.

Civmec to help modularise BHP’s South Flank iron ore mine

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

Civmec says it has signed a contract with BHP that will see the ASX-listed engineering company fabricate and modularise key components for the under-construction South Flank iron ore project, in the Pilbara of Western Australia.

The award of the South Flank module fabrication and assembly package #3 covers the supply and assembly of 23 fully-equipped ‘smart modules’, including the supply and installation of the required mechanical and electrical equipment up to no-load commissioning for each module, Civmec said. The scope comprises conveyor shuttle modules, sample station, pump skids, train loadout and feeder modules, all of which will be fabricated and assembled at Civmec’s facility in Henderson, Western Australia, before being transported to site for installation.

Work will commence immediately, with completion anticipated by mid-2020, according to Civmec.

Civmec’s Chief Executive Officer, Patrick Tallon, said: “We are extremely pleased to be given this opportunity to further support BHP in the delivery of what will ultimately become its flagship mine. The award of this scope of work complements the packages already in production for thyssenkrupp, in the supply, manufacture, trial assembly, surface treatment and pre-assembly of stackers, bogies and equalisers for the rail mounted machines for the South Flank project.”

When fully operational, South Flank will be one of the world’s largest iron ore operations integrating the latest advances in autonomous-ready fleets, digital connectivity and modular design, Civmec said.

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. The company carried out the first blast at the project in September.

The combined value of these packages for South Flank is around A$48 million ($34 million).

NRW looks forward to further growth as iron ore focus pays off

Mine operation news, Mineral project development, Mining equipment, Mining finance, Mining services, Steel and iron ore, , , , , , , , , ,

NRW Holdings has reported year-on-year increases in revenue and earnings in the six months to December 31, 2018, and says its focus on securing work in the iron ore sector has started to pay off.

Revenue came in at A$521.1 million ($370 million) for the six-month period, up 50.9% year-on-year, while earnings before interest, depreciation and amortisation rose from A$40.3 million in the six months to December 31, 2017, to A$74.3 million in the most recent half year.

The company’s order intake in the six months totalled A$1 billion, increasing total work in hand to A$2.4 billion, it said.

Jules Pemberton, NRW’s CEO and MD, said “Not only have we delivered incremental earnings growth, but we have been able to maintain strong cash flows through the period to reduce net debt to A$12.8 million and gearing to 4.3% despite an increase in capital expenditure driven by the purchase of key mining assets.

“All businesses performed on or above plan and it is worth noting that the Golding business has now generated cash equal to its acquisition cost within the first 14 months of ownership.”

The company, in previous outlook commentaries, mentioned NRW was looking to secure work on iron ore sustaining projects in Western Australia; a target that the company is starting to deliver on. Pemberton said: “Progress to date has been extremely positive following the awards of South Flank for BHP, in July 2018, the Koodaideri Plant site for Rio Tinto, announced in January 2019, and the award of Fortescue Metals Group’s Stage 1 Eliwana rail package, in February 2019.”

On top of this, NRW Holdings also announced the acquisition of the RCR Mining Technologies (RCRMT) business last month. On this transaction, Pemberton said: “The RCRMT business has developed a wealth of intellectual property across a range of products and processes and are recognised as leaders by global resource clients The acquisition will allow the company to provide incremental services, in line with our strategic objectives, to a number of core clients common to both NRW and RCR MT and is a very strong foundation on which to build a broader maintenance services business.”

Epiroc autonomous drill gets working on BHP’s South Flank iron ore project

Mine operation news, Mineral project development, Mining equipment, Steel and iron ore, , , , ,

The first autonomous Epiroc Pit Viper 271 drill rig has broken ground at BHP’s South Flank iron ore project in Western Australia, the mining major confirmed.

This is the first of five autonomous drill rigs to operate at the mine, all of which will be controlled remotely from the BHP Integrated Remote Operations Centre in Perth.

BHP, which officially broke ground on the $3.6 billion project in July, is targeting first ore extraction in 2021 and expects to ramp up to 80 Mt/y of output. South Flank will replace production from the existing Yandi mine, which is reaching the end of its economic life. The company carried out the first blast at the project in September.

Epiroc says the Pit Viper 271 is the most productive drill available for rotary tricone and downhole drilling of 171 mm to 270 mm holes with up to 18 m cleanhole single pass capability.

It features a patented cable feed system with automatic tensioning for improved component life and low total cost of operation, with the standard Rig Control System (RCS) providing on board automation capability as part of the standard drill package to help deliver safety and productivity.

“With RCS you can run automation with an operator on board with options like auto drill and auto level, or you can run with the operator off the drill with the optional BenchREMOTE package, allowing one operator to run one or multiple units,” the company says.

“With the RCS system on Pit Vipers you can even achieve your ambition of fully-autonomous drilling with almost no human interaction with the drill.”

BHP grants Decmil extension to Mulla Mulla camp contract

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

Decmil Group’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Decmil Australia, has been awarded an extension to its contract with BHP at the Mulla Mulla camp in Western Australia.

The works, which upgrade and expand the existing Mulla Mulla village, will support current operations at Mining Area C and the South Flank iron ore project, the latter of which is currently in execution.

The extension adds to the A$13 million ($9.5 million) early works package announced in August 2017 and the A$75 million stage one package announced in November 2017.

The second stage includes the refurbishment, relocation and installation of a further 632 rooms, the installation of 10 laundries and the supply and installation of new verandas. The scope also includes internal roads, drainage and concrete footpaths. The works on the second stage will commence immediately.

The 80 Mt/y South Flank iron ore project is aimed at sustaining BHP’s Western Australia iron ore production as the Yandi mine is exhausted over the next five to ten years. The South Flank deposit is around 130 km by road northwest of the town of Newman, and approximately 8 km to the south of the company’s existing Mining Area C operation.

BHP commenced its first blast at the project in September and expects first ore extraction to take place in 2021.

BHP’s South Flank to receive world’s largest rail-mounted stackers and reclaimer from thyssenkrupp

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

thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions has been awarded one of the largest fabrication and construction projects the company has ever handled in Western Australia, with an order from BHP’s South Flank iron ore operation.

Under the €150 million ($171 million) contract, thyssenkrupp will design, supply, construct and commission large-scale stockyard machines for South Flank, in the central Pilbara region.

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. The company carried out the first blast at the project in September.

thyssenkrupp will supply two stackers that deposit iron ore into stockyards for loading, and a reclaimer for loading the ore on to trains for transport to Port Hedland. The machines will have a capacity of 20,000 t/h, making them the largest rail-mounted stackers and reclaimer in the world, according to the company.

Torsten Gerlach, CEO Mining Technologies at thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions, said: “South Flank will be one of the largest iron-ore operations worldwide. We look forward to contributing to this project by combining longstanding global expertise in the mining business with local experience.

“Our strong partnership with BHP extends globally, but the Pilbara region is a core area where we have provided material handling solutions for decades. With our field service teams, we are supporting our customer on a daily basis.”

The design of the machines incorporates the latest Australian design standard requirements and technology improvements centred on safe construction, operation and maintenance activities, according to the company.

 

Innovation and integration unlocking doors for Fluor’s mining and metals business

Automation, Base metals, Bulk handling, Environmental, Equipment maintenance, IoT, Metallurgy, Mine operation news, Mineral processing, Mineral project development, Mining equipment, Mining maintenance, Mining services, Mining software, Power supply for mines, Precious metals, Steel and iron ore, Water management, , , , , , , , , , , ,

With mining companies looking to replenish spent resources in many commodities, EPC and EPCM contractors’ pipelines are starting to fill up.

IM Editor Dan Gleeson spoke with Tony Morgan, President, Mining and Metals, Fluor, to find out how the contractor is continuing to win business and differentiate its offering from the rest of its peers.

International Mining: How important is securing early-stage involvement in mining projects in terms of eventually winning the major EPC/EPCM contract?

Tony Morgan: It is very important and there are some good reasons for that. If you get a contractor that is used to building significant projects and can apply the right tools in the earlier phase of the project, you will receive an aligned project in terms of the technology used, execution strategy and the techniques, such as modularisation. All of these plans will be built in at the front-end of the project and, when you go into the execution phase, the personnel executing the project will be well-versed in the strategy.

Quellaveco in Peru (pictured), South Flank in Australia, a bauxite mine in Guinea and Peñasquito in Mexico are good examples of projects where we were engaged in the early stages and helped set the projects up for success.

This isn’t to say that if one contractor starts a project, another contractor cannot come in. We have taken over and succeeded in the execution of several projects in this way. This typically occurs when the client deems that the previous contractor will be unable to perform the project’s execution phase because of the project’s size or the contractor has failed to perform in the current phase.

IM: Has the talk from mining companies of more EPC/EPCM contracts being offered with incentives/penalties that effectively share execution risk become a major trend in the industry?

TM: There’s always been a desire to include penalties and incentives in contracts. The extent to which these can be evenly applied really depends on the market, whether contractors are willing to take them on and then the client’s desire to have control over the project.

The best way to execute a project is to allocate the risk to the party that can best control the risk. If you step away from that principle, it can create inequalities in the contract.

Fluor is willing to take incentives and penalties where we have full control of the project, i.e., where we have been engaged from the start, we understand the project and have control over the execution phases. In a lot of our projects, we do that, especially using our engineering, procurement, fabrication and construction model.

In projects where we don’t have full control, there are other contractor arrangements that can be used successfully. For example, we are carrying out a project at the moment where we have an integrated project management team that combines the best personnel from both our client’s team and our team. On this project, there are significant performance incentives at the end of the project.

IM: How has the proliferation of automation, electrification and digitalisation impacted your work as an EPC/EPCM provider?

TM: It’s fair to say nobody – our clients especially – want mines coming into service in the 2020s and beyond that use the technology of 10 to 15 years ago. Automation, electrification and digitalisation are all critical to the success of these future projects.

At Fluor, we are investing a great deal in developing our automation and digitalisation expertise. We are working with IBM on several efforts around predictive analytics. We also have a section of the company focused purely on innovation. We are bringing innovative and automated solutions to projects, including some active and passive sensing technologies used to help safeguard personnel in the field and track equipment and materials.

One of the solutions we have developed is Safety Pin, which allows us to know where every worker is and to notify workers of areas that are not safe to enter.

Innovation is a differentiator for us as we have been adopting various innovations on a number of projects. We know what works and what doesn’t. Others talk about innovation without having applied innovations to large-scale projects.

IM: Where is Fluor seeing most demand for its services on a regional and commodity basis?

TM: We have projects globally, including bauxite and diamond projects in Africa, iron ore projects in Australia and gold projects in Mexico. Copper projects in South America are extremely active right now. We are executing a number of projects in South America – Quellaveco and Spence being two of the largest – and are also engaged on a number of other ones.

This article is part of a larger Q&A to be featured in the December print issue of International Mining

BHP blasts off at South Flank iron ore project in Pilbara

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

BHP has carried out the first blast at its South Flank iron ore project in the Pilbara of Western Australia, as the mining major continues with a schedule that should see first ore come out from the new mine in 2021.

The company officially broke ground on the $3.6 billion development in July, just over a month since it approved construction.

The South Flank project expands the existing infrastructure at Mining Area C, and involves construction of an 80 Mt/y crushing and screening plant, an overland conveyor system, stockyard and train loading facilities, procurement of new mining fleet and substantial mine development and pre-strip work.

South Flank is forecast to produce ore for more than 25 years, and is expected to help BHP Western Australia iron ore division’s average iron grade go from 61% to 62%, with the overall proportion of lump increasing to 35%, from 25%.

Clough is the EPC contractor on the project, with MACA, CIMIC’s CPB, SIMPEC and NRW Holdings also carrying out work at South Flank, which is owned 85% by BHP and 15% by Itochu and Mitsui (collectively).

BHP breaks ground at South Flank iron ore project

Bulk handling, Comminution of minerals, Equipment maintenance, Metallurgy, Mineral processing, Mining equipment, Mining project news, Mining services, Power supply for mines, Steel and iron ore

BHP has officially broke ground on the $3.6 billion South Flank iron ore project in the Pilbara of Western Australia, just over a month since it approved development of the project.

Officials from BHP and its joint venture partners Mitsui and ITOCHU were joined by Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan for the ceremony (pictured).

The South Flank project expands the existing infrastructure at Mining Area C, and involves construction of an 80 million tonne per year crushing and screening plant, an overland conveyor system, stockyard and train loading facilities, procurement of new mining fleet and substantial mine development and pre-strip work.

First ore from South Flank is targeted in 2021, with the project expected to produce ore for more than 25 years.

The project, owned 85% by BHP and 15% by Itochu and Mitsui (collectively), will contribute to an increase in the BHP Western Australia iron ore division’s average iron grade from 61% to 62%, and the overall proportion of lump from 25% to some 35%.

Clough is the EPC contractor on the project, with MACA, CIMIC’s CPB, SIMPEC and NRW Holdings also carrying out work at South Flank.