Innovative engineering design and construction practices developed for the A$1.1 billion Cape Lambert Upgrade project for Rio Tinto Iron Ore in Western Australia have established new benchmarks for future iron ore port facilities.
The completion of the Cape Lambert Upgrade was the second “pillar” in Rio Tinto’s expansion program that has enabled Rio Tinto to double iron ore shipping capacity from the Pilbara between 2003 and 2009 to 220 Mtpa, following the successful completion of the Dampier Port Upgrade Project two years earlier.
The Cape Lambert Upgrade, undertaken between 2006 and 2008 in two overlapping phases – an enhancement phase and an expansion phase – increased shipping capacity of Rio Tinto Iron Ore’s Cape Lambert facility from 55 to 80 Mtpa.
Sinclair Knight Merz (SKM) was appointed by Rio Tinto Iron Ore as the Engineering, Procurement and Construction Management (EPCM) contractor for the Cape Lambert Upgrade project.
The project was completed ahead of schedule, under budget and with an outstanding safety record.
The initial enhancement phase, which provided an increase to shipping capacity from 55 to 60 Mtpa, focused on increasing the utilisation and efficiency of existing plant and equipment with a relatively small capital expenditure.
The expansion phase, which provided the increase in shipping capacity to 80 Mtpa, included extending the existing iron ore wharf by 256m to create four shipping berths, a new shiploader, an expanded stockyard (including a new fourth bucket wheel reclaimer) and a new surge bin facility to maximise outloading tonnage rates.
Importantly, the Cape Lambert port facility remained fully operational throughout construction and managed to achieve record yearly export tonnages over the project duration.
The key to the successful delivery of this project in a period of unprecedented economic activity and major skills shortages included:
- An initial enhancement phase that yielded relatively significant gains by maximising the efficiency and utilisation of existing plant and equipment.
- Innovative engineering designs for the expansion phase, including the surge bin facility, ore wharf extension and new and upgraded wharf mooring dolphins, based on the philosophy of modularised and simplified construction to reduce site labour and provide a safer working environment.
- Meticulous planning and a staged execution in a “brownfields“ environment to limit any impact on the existing port operations that continued to ship record tonnages throughout the project.
- A new generation plant process control system that provides world-leading enhanced levels of automation for an iron ore port facility, increased plant utilisation, stockpile machine safety and the ability for the port to be remotely controlled from Rio Tinto Iron Ore’s Operations Centre in Perth
- Working in partnership with the local and wider communities
Safety in construction
The Cape Lambert Upgrade achieved an exemplary safety result considering the complexity and difficulty of some of the major parts of the project, especially given that a significant proportion of the project was brownfields work and involved work over water.
Over four million man-hours were worked on the project with one million man-hours Lost Time Injury (LTI) free achieved during two separate periods. This excellent safety record demonstrated the commitment of Rio Tinto Iron Ore and SKM to develop an outstanding safety culture on the project.
Project Sequencing
Excellence in planning to ensure a seamless integration with the existing operations was essential. Being an upgrade project, the vast majority of the works were performed in and around the existing equipment in the operating port facility. The project scope required upgrade works to every existing export circuit and the two existing shipping berths.
The works were undertaken in a staged manner, which was carefully planned to minimise impact on existing operations. Each stage provided an improved performance from one export circuit which then allowed another export circuit to be taken out of service for completion of upgrade works. Similarly, the availability of two existing shipping berths was maintained throughout the project with the addition of a new third shipping berth part way through the project and the completion of the fourth shipping berth towards the end of the project.
Surge bin facility
The "heart" of the expansion phase of the project was the surge bin facility that allows dual reclaiming to a single shiploading stream and buffering of a variable stockpile reclaim process, and enables ships to be loaded faster, effectively increasing the annual capacity of the shiploading process by approximately 10 percent. The performance of the Surge Bin Facility has been so successful that similar upgrades are currently planned for other Rio Tinto Iron Ore ports, and as a benchmark for new port designs.
Wharf modularisation
A major feature of the wharf construction was the modularisation of the wharf deck structure. This involved fabrication and assembly of the 900 tonne wharf deck modules at an onshore site, and with the assistance of a heavy lift ship, landing these modules onto the pile caps.
The modularised design concept, which was originally developed by the same project team for the preceding Dampier Port Upgrade project, was further enhanced to enable the wharf modules to be fully fitted out onshore with road slabs, conveyors, piping, electrical cable ladders and walkways.
The Cape Lambert Upgrade project was delivered three months ahead of schedule, under budget and with an outstanding safety record, making it a benchmark of Australian engineering and a signature project for Rio Tinto Iron Ore and SKM.
This is a condensed version of Steven Russell’s paper Cape Lambert Upgrade Project, delivered at the AusIMM Iron Ore Conference 2011 in Perth. For a full copy please contact Lucy Griffin.
© Sinclair Knight Merz
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Who does this affect?
Those with an interest in innovative design and construction techniques to deliver large-scale projects
What do I need to do?
Consider the benefits of an integrated approach to the planning and sequencing of construction activities in and around an operating facility.
About the author:
Steven Russell is a Principal of SKM and a Civil/Structural Engineer with over 20 years’ experience in the mining and minerals processing industries. He currently holds the positions of Operations Centre Manager and Manager Engineering, leading SKM's EPCM project team on the Rio Tinto Iron Ore Expansion Projects.
© Sinclair Knight Merz
Requests to re-publish achieve articles should be made here