GR Engineering Services (GRES) were awarded a design and construct contract by Kimberley Nickel Mines Pty Ltd to supply a continuous production paste back-fill plant for the Sally Malay nickel mine.
The paste plant is designed to filter and then repulp the existing plant tailings in a controlled fashion with cement and deliver the resulting paste underground, via a dedicated borehole and underground reticulation system. The plant has a designed output rate of 96dry t/t of the tailings at a feed density of 65% solids. At nominal cement dosing rates, a design throughout rate of 100 t/h paste is achieved. Duty and standby vacuum disc filters are installed to maximise operating utilization.
The works required High Voltage Transmission Lines to be extended from the existing line to the Paste Plant 1000kva Step Down Transformer.
Project Type – Design and Construct 11kv Overhead Transmission Lines.
Client – Kimberley Nickel Mines
Location – Kimberley Region – 120km’s North West of Halls Creek, Western Australia
Scope of Work
Interlec were awarded the design and construct contract for the 11kv Overhead Power Transmission to feed High Voltage power to the Paste Plant.
The Work Included
Design of the High Voltage Overhead Transmission Line.
Procurement of all materials and equipment for the High Voltage Transmission Lines to the Remote Kimberley Region Site.
Pole installation, conductor stringing and tensioning, installation of ground mount transformers and underground high voltage cable installation, terminating and testing.
Working in extreme weather and ground conditions and experiencing prolonged durations of the 47 degree heat Interlec’s “hardened” field installation team carried out another outstanding job and successfully completed the works with nil Lost Time Injuries and no fatigue or dehydration issues.
The terrain on this project was typical of the Kimberley region being mountainous combined with hard unstable ground, this made for an interesting job, the use of Interlec’s heavy duty plant and equipment made the job accessible in near non accessible conditions, standard pole augering equipment would have been fruitless in it’s application, all pole and stay holes required rock breaking, excavating and subsequent concrete installation for the pole foundations. In some areas Interlec required to construct ground surface platforms to enable poles to be installed and enable suitable future maintenance platforms for vehicular access.
The most critical factor of the job was to carry out all interconnections of the new High Voltage Cable Terminations and connections and the Tie in of the existing transmission line to the newly constructed transmission line in a 10 hour shutdown period. Mutual planning and meetings took place in the preparation of the shutdown between Interlec and the Mining Company prior to the shutdown.
The shutdown commenced at 4.30am in the morning with all field crew prepared via work method statements, Job Safety Analysis and Risk Analysis and installation programs at the work face. The works commenced at first sun rise with temperatures soaring to 45 degrees Celsius by 9.30am on the day of the interconnection works which provided extremely challenging conditions.
Thanks to the adequate pre planning and the fantastic support of Interlec’s onsite clients, the Interlec team were able to efficiently and safely complete the works 3hrs under the planned shutdown duration. Another successful job, another happy client and another notch of success in the belts of the Team at Interlec.
Well done team!
