|
Haga clic aquí para la versión en español
The West Angelas Iron Ore project in Western Australia’s Pilbara region is the first of a new breed of iron ore mines supplying Marra Mamba-type ore to the world market. Its opening in 2002 marked the culmination of around 25 years investigation and development work. This A$1 Billion project also includes the upgrade of the Cape Lambert port facilities.
Sinclair Knight Merz first became involved with the Project in 1998 with an Enhancement Study of the proposed mine and upgraded port facilities. The firm was subsequently appointed to deliver the EPCM execution of the mine and processing facility, the upgrade of the Cape Lambert ore handling and port facilities, and associated infrastructure.
From the mine, ore is fed to the new process plant by 190t haul trucks, where it is crushed and screened to produce lump and fines products. These products are stockpiled using two slewing, luffing and travelling stackers. Stockpile reclaim to the train loadout is by bucket wheel reclaimer. The Plant has a rated throughput of 3000 t/h, which at peak production will dispatch 22 trains per week to the Cape Lambert port facilities.Initially, the Plant was operating at 7Mt/a, rising to full production capacity of 20Mt/a to meet market demand.
The Project also involved the power station and fuel handling facilities, a 35km water supply pipeline, accommodation village with access roads and airstrip, on-site buildings (including administration centre, workshop and warehouse), and communications facilities.
By any standards, the SKM involvement in the West Angelas Iron Ore Project has been a great success:
- Project delivered three months ahead of the revised schedule with 30% reduction in capital costs, without a negative impact on operating costs
- No lost time injury during more than two million construction hours
- No lost production during construction which was undertaken within operating facilities
- Numerous innovations applied to improve efficiency and reduce costs.
|