Tag Archives: Yandi

BHP and bp collaborate on HVO mining equipment trial at Yandi

Environmental, Mining equipment, Mining services, Steel and iron ore, Sustainable mining, , , , , , , ,

BHP is trialling the use of hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) to help power mining equipment at its Yandi iron ore operations in Western Australia.

Supplied through a collaboration with bp, the renewable diesel made from HVO will be used in haul trucks and other mining equipment over an initial three-month trial period, the miner says.

BHP Western Australia Iron Ore (WAIO) Asset President, Brandon Craig, said: “About 40% of BHP’s operational greenhouse gas emissions come from using diesel fuel, and this is a core focus of our decarbonisation strategy. Ultimately, our aim is to have fully-electric trucking fleets at our sites, but alternative fuels like HVO may help us reduce our emissions in the meantime while the electrification transition takes place.

“This collaboration with the teams at Yandi and bp is really exciting to see, given the potential application in our WAIO business and BHP’s operations globally.”

bp President Australia, and SVP Fuels and Low Carbon Solutions, Asia Pacific, Frederic Baudry, said: “bp’s ambition to be a net-zero company by 2050 or sooner, and to help the world get to net zero, recognises the crucial role bp has to play in the energy transition.

“Globally, bp plans to increase its investment in low-carbon energy. Forging strategic partnerships with companies like BHP enables bp to create solutions that satisfy the increasing demand for lower carbon fuels in sectors like mining and transport.”

BHP has a medium-term target to reduce operational greenhouse gas emissions by at least 30% by its 2030 financial year, from an FY2020 baseline. Approximately 40% of BHP’s operational emissions in its FY2020 baseline year came from diesel-powered equipment.

The HVO is to have internationally recognised certification as being sourced from more sustainable feedstocks such as waste products.

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 reduces vehicle ‘events’, hazards at Yandi iron ore mine with the help of MSD

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A BHP-developed system is harnessing data from a range of existing safety systems to improve safety in light vehicles (LV) and surface mobile equipment (SME) at its Western Australia Iron Ore (WAIO) mine sites, the miner says.

The Magnet Safety Dashboard (MSD) uses existing operator and equipment monitoring systems to quickly identify potential behaviours or job factors that might increase the likelihood of safety events occurring (‘at risk’ scenarios).

BHP explains: “Operations have historically used different hardware and software systems in isolation. MSD was developed to address integration potential between existing systems providing population-sized data sets on driver/operator behaviour.”

Events and hazards associated with LVs and SME can occur frequently at BHP, so the ability to quickly understand and influence human and job factors, which could contribute to safe outcomes, supports leaders to manage risk more holistically.

MSD harnesses a range of data from collision avoidance, distraction and alertness monitoring and fleet management systems, including location, speed, acceleration, braking and cornering. All selected information is monitored and assessed from a central location, which allows immediate access for relevant employees and medium-to long-term trend analysis, the company claims.

Over 800,000 metrics from more than 20,000 devices, using 300 instances of 60-plus data points, are collected.

Leaders are alerted if hardware, software and network controls are not operating as expected, while team members are alerted if acute intervention is required (where it is possible to achieve).

The system has also created efficient ways to record and display recommended response actions where chronic patterns are present, according to the company.

This accurate and timely notification of driver behaviour events, trends and hot spots requiring improvement has increased awareness and, in the Yandi iron ore mine site, resulted in reductions to the frequency of fatigue, distraction, error and non-compliance events, BHP says.

The Magnet Safety Dashboard program at Yandi Mine Site’s has contributed to a 58% reduction in overall reported vehicle events (December 2020 to April 2021) and a 70% reduction in reported speeding events (October 2020 to April 2021).

Following the program’s positive results and learning at the Yandi mine site, an MSD pilot will be implemented across all WAIO mine sites, BHP says.

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.

Mammoet keeps BHP South Flank iron ore project moving forward

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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.

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.”

WA government, EPA approves BHP’s strategic 50- to 100-year Pilbara mining plan

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The Western Australia Government has approved a 50- to 100-year strategic mining proposal for the Pilbara by BHP, which outlines bold plans for new and existing mines, the state said.

BHP’s Pilbara Expansion Strategic Proposal details a cumulative picture of the miner’s planned and potential operations across the Pilbara, including mining operations, rail, storage areas, dams and associated mine infrastructure.

It mentioned new potential mining operations at Caramulla, Coondiner, Gurinbiddy, Jinidi, Marillana, Mindy, Ministers North, Mudlark, Munjina/Upper Marillana, Ophthalmia/Prairie Down, Rocklea, Roy Hill and Tandanya; alongside future expansions of existing mining operations at Jimblebar, Mining Area C, Newman and Yandi (pictured).

This type of “strategic proposal”, which the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) has approved with conditions, “helps reduce red and green tape, allowing the EPA to consider the cumulative impacts of future proposals, rather than assessing impacts on a case-by-case basis, as individual mines or developments are proposed”, according to the government.

The EPA assessed the impacts to flora and vegetation, fauna, water quality and quantity, air quality as well as social surrounds, with the ministerial statement for BHP’s strategic proposal including conditions that may be applied to each development, including environmental management plans, a cultural heritage management plan, a mine closure plan and offsets through contributions to the Pilbara Environmental Offsets Fund where significant residual impacts remain.

“BHP is required to refer future individual proposals outlined in the ministerial statement to the EPA to determine if they meet the high environmental standards set by the strategic assessment,” the government said.

WA Premier, Mark McGowan, said BHP’s plan has the potential to deliver tens of thousands of jobs for Western Australians.

“We expect this Australian-first plan will reduce environmental approval times by up to 50%, while maintaining the highest environmental standards,” he said.

“Industry has been crying out for this type of plan. It recognises the need to reduce unnecessary ‘green tape’ to increase investor confidence, and pave the way for more jobs. It is another sign our economy is improving with the major miner taking a long-term view of its proposals in the state.”

Environment Minister, Stephen Dawson, meanwhile, said: “The Pilbara region holds immense environmental value and a key focus of the EPA assessment was to ensure the proposal did not significantly impact on important regional environmental values, including Karijini National Park and Fortescue Marsh.

“Strategic proposals allow the EPA to take a bigger picture view of the potential environmental impacts the proposals may have, considering the cumulative impacts rather than on a case-by-case basis, as individual mines or developments are proposed.”

BHP’s Jurgens presents big picture automation plan

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Diane Jurgens, BHP’s Chief Technology Officer, used her time on stage at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch SmartMine conference, in London, to highlight the company’s plan to introduce full or partial automation across its entire value chain.

The miner has already introduced automation across many of its operations – from haul trucks at Jimblebar (Western Australia) to drill rigs at Western Australia Iron Ore – but Jurgens said the company has bigger automated plans.

This includes considering opportunities to accelerate truck autonomy across the company’s Australia and Minerals Americas sites – the company previously detailed plans to automate around 500 haul trucks across its Western Australia Iron Ore and Queensland Coal sites – and introducing “Decision Automation” to link autonomous processes and data from different sources together to create “near instantaneous, optimised decision making”, Jurgens said.

While she talked up the use of automation in mining – referencing the experience she has in the automotive and aerospace industries – she admitted full automation across the BHP group was unlikely.

“This is because we automate equipment and processes where it provides the highest value,” she said, explaining that investment in technology competes against all of other projects in the BHP portfolio, “and alternative uses of cash, under BHP’s Capital Allocation Framework”.

To test this, the company has built proving grounds at two active mine sites (Eastern Ridge in Australia and Escondida in Chile) to trial new innovations in geology, extraction and processes, and “develop workforce capability so that our people are equipped for the rapid pace of change that lies ahead”, Jurgens said.

Just some of the new innovations Jurgens mentioned included the use of advanced geophysics modelling to reanalyse existing drilling data. This new approach led, in November last year, to the Oak Dam copper discovery, near its existing Olympic Dam operations in South Australia.

Recently, sensors were installed at the Escondida test grounds to prototype the use of real-time data to analyse the quality and grade of ores and inform, for example, whether to divert unprocessed ore for leaching, to concentrators or waste. Jurgens said: “The key to achieving this is using data collected through the sensors and combining it with proprietary algorithms. We then apply our knowledge of the ore body to optimise the processing methods. Once in production, we expect these to improve throughput performance.”

With access to more detailed data on extracted material, machine algorithms can automate decisions to identify and divert waste, which increases plant performance and reduces processing costs, she added.

New patented leaching technologies have, meanwhile, increased metal recoveries by 10-12% and shortened the processing time by 50%, according to Jurgens. “At Spence in Chile we increased copper recoveries by about 10% and helped offset grade decline through implementing the low-cost Spence Recovery Optimisation project,” she said. “The initiative improved heap leach kinetics which meant we could maximise utilisation of the leach pads and therefore use the full 200,000 t of tankhouse capacity.”

This breakthrough also informed the successful heap leach trial at Olympic Dam, which the company has just completed.

The company’s automation and innovation journey has already resulted in significant wins, according to Jurgens.
Equipment automation is creating more efficient, standardised and safer operations, she said:

  • Autonomous blast hole drills across BHP’s Western Australia Iron Ore assets have increased drill rates by 25%, and reduced monthly drill maintenance costs by over 40%;
  • Haulage automation at the Jimblebar operation, in the Pilbara, has reduced heavy vehicle safety incidents by 80%;
  • Machine learning is being applied to maintenance on trucks in iron ore and coal – to analyse component failure history;
  • At Yandi, haul truck maintenance analytics increased truck availability to above 90% and generated recurrent cost savings. Replicating these strategies to our trucks in energy coal in the Hunter Valley, BHP has also seen an increase in truck availability;
  • Automating key components of BHP’s rail network is supporting increased capacity, more reliable dispatch and improved maintenance outcomes;
  • In Western Australia, material density scanning and laser precision have delivered an additional 2.4 t of iron ore per car while reducing safety risks of overloading;
  • The automated rail network scheduling system, which controls over 10,000 ore cars and transports about 270 Mt/y of iron ore, is becoming more effective through self-learning algorithms, ensuring trains arrive at port, on-time, and;
  • LiDAR technologies are being used to automate the loading of ships that transport BHP’s product to customers around the world.