Efficient dewatering solutions are vital to mining operations, and Rio Tinto’s Hope Downs 4 mine site near Newman in the remote Pilbara region is no exception.
With a view to improving reliability and increasing capacity of mine dewatering in the future, Rio Tinto identified the need for some critical dewatering infrastructure. But before they put the project out to tender, they needed a better understanding of the challenge and the potential parameters for a dewatering pipeline that would have to span some 20 kilometres and integrate with an existing turkey’s nest.
" OneStone was professional and easy to work with throughout the entire process. Their expertise and skills were a perfect complement to Engenium’s, and their timeliness and quality of design ensured a well-received solution by the end client "
Brian De Swardt, General Manager – Operations WA, Engenium
The Solution
Partnering with fellow consultants Engenium, we developed a concept design for extracting water from the turkey’s nest, specifying everything from pipe sizes and pressure ratings, to pump duty and pump station design.
To keep infrastructure and installation costs to a minimum, we proposed a solution that pumped the water to a natural high point some of the way along the 20-kilometre dewatering path, from where the water would gravitate to a discharge point on a natural creek.
The Result
The base design we developed gave Rio Tinto the information they needed to embark on the tender process with confidence.
Not only did they have a good grasp of the design-and-installation challenge, as well as the complications that might arise, we had given them all the benchmark information they needed to accurately assess bids, right down to the size and temperature de-ratings for the HDPE pipeline.