Brownfield Projects Engineering

Brownfield engineering relates to engineering activities (e.g. design, commissioning) that interface to, upgrade or modify an existing operation or plant.  Performing a brownfield engineering project requires an approach that is different to greenfield projects.  In greenfield projects, where work is being completed on a new site, the plant is not currently operating and for the most part provides a blank canvas to work within.  In contrast to this, projects undertaken on a brownfield site need to work within existing plants and their production and shutdown requirements, at all times targeting to minimise disruption to the operation.

Some of the many challenges faced in brownfield engineering projects include assessing existing electrical, structural and mechanical capacities for expansion, gaining access for construction and cranage within an operating site, and the inherent safety implications this may present, whilst working to minimise any required shutdown periods.

When Orana Engineering carries out brownfield engineering projects, wherever possible any new plant or equipment is in line with current site standards to ensure that onsite operators and maintainers remain familiar with their systems and that the availability of site spares is not compromised.  If this is not possible we place a strong focus on ensuring operators and maintainers are familiar with new technology being installed and identifying any new critical spares needing to be carried by site to minimise plant outages in the event of breakdown.

We have carried out multi-discipline brownfield engineering projects for coal, metalliferous, oil and gas clients as well as industrial and commercial clients. Explore the case studies below for more information on brownfield engineering services by Orana Engineering.

Orana Engineering Brownfield Project Engineering

UG Conveyor Installations - MG Mechanical Installation

Detailing the installation of mechanical equipment and conveyor structure is one of the final steps for completing a maingate drive-head design. Installations designed by Orana Engineering (MG32, MG33, MG33C, MG34, MG35 and MG36) for Glencore’s Oaky No.1 underground coal mine typically detail the arrangement of drives, transfer stations, take-up units, maintenance equipment and overhead structure to support the carry belt.

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UG Conveyor Installations - MG Mechanical Installation

APA Group Tender

APA Group released a project for tender that involved electrical and instrumentation works targeting the rectification of minor hazardous area compliance issues identified in a hazardous area audit.  Condamine Electric Company (CEC) tendered on this work and engaged Orana Engineering to prepare a detailed estimate of project costs necessary to complete the rectification works.

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APA Group Tender

22M Flyover Conveyor

Glencore's Oaky Creek Coal Mine engaged Orana Engineering to perform the electrical and control system engineering design for the 22M Flyover Conveyor. The new conveyor provides an interface between two existing conveyor systems.

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22M Flyover Conveyor

Ball Mill No. 2 Recommissioning

FMR Investment's Eloise Copper Mine had a requirement to recommission their No.2 Ball Mill.  During the process of the recommissioning works it was identified that a means to relocate the grinding media to the feed chute needed to be designed and engineered with RPEQ certification.

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Ball Mill No. 2 Recommissioning

CHPP Conveyor Capacity Audit

Vale Carborough Downs Coal Mine (CDCM) required details of the current and possible future capacities of their Module 1 and 2 product conveyors at their coal processing plant in Central Queensland.  As a result, Orana Engineering was engaged by the CDCM site engineering and maintenance team to perform the necessary site visits, calculations and reporting.  The study consisted of 8 plant conveyors and outlined high level recommendations of modifications required for the plant to achieve higher tonnages.

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CHPP Conveyor Capacity Audit

Crane Lifting Beam

The mother beam of the 40T ship loading crane at the Port of Townsville had been in service for over 30 years and was nearing the end of its service life. With regulatory compliance changes and much improved safety practices in the past 30 years, Xstrata Copper (now Glencore) engaged Orana Engineering to redesign the mother beam based on the existing beam and incorporating required changes to meet the current compliance requirements. This was also an opportunity to improve the current design by incorporating feedback from the crane operators and maintenance personnel.

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Crane Lifting Beam

Crusher Circuit Upgrade

Eloise Copper Mine had purchased a new Metso TS4.2 dual deck vibrating screen to replace the existing smaller screen and a second Omnicone cone crusher to provide a secondary crushing circuit to increase their production and improve operational efficiencies.

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Crusher Circuit Upgrade

Cyanide Tank Upgrade

In recent years Orana Engineering has enjoyed a productive relationship with Resolute Mining Ltd through its subsidiary Carpentaria Gold by undertaking several projects at their Ravenswood site. Sodium cyanide is a very toxic compound used on site to recover gold from prepared ore. It is potentially lethal to humans and animals and can be extremely detrimental to the environment.

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Cyanide Tank Upgrade

F100 Reagent Modifications

Orana Engineering was engaged by MMG’s Century Mine in Western Queensland to perform an engineering review of a proposed reagent dosing system within the concentrator.

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F100 Reagent Modifications

Flotation Cell Upgrade

In an effort to increase the efficiency of their concentrator, FMR Investment's Eloise Copper Mine enlisted the services of Orana Engineering to provide engineering and design assistance for the installation of 3 new copper concentrate scavenger cells, within the existing processing plant.

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Flotation Cell Upgrade

Gold Slurry Sampler

Orana Engineering was engaged to design a new sampling equipment installation to improve sampling effectiveness at Carpentaria Gold’s Ravenswood operations.

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Gold Slurry Sampler

Heavy Vehicle Washdown Facility

MMG’s Karumba Port Facility engaged Orana Engineering to design a heavy vehicle washdown facility to assist with management of concentrate for vehicles and machines used onsite. The project time frame was very short due to operational requirements, whereby Orana Engineering had to work from concept to IFC drawings within 7 days. Orana Engineering’s quality assurance system allowed the design to be completed quickly whilst ensuring a high level of quality for our client.

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Heavy Vehicle Washdown Facility

Inner Bypass Valves

Orana Engineering was engaged by MMG’s Century Mine in Western Queensland to investigate and design an upgrade within the concentrator to increase flow from a flotation cell to a tailings trough.

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Inner Bypass Valves

Jaw Crusher Platform

FMR Investment's Eloise Copper Mine is an underground mining operation producing copper concentrate for export.  The maintenance department of Eloise Copper Mine contacted Orana Engineering with a specific requirement for the design of an access platform for their jaw crusher including engineering certification and drafting.  The client provided Orana Engineering with site measurements and a basic concept of the design they were looking for.

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Jaw Crusher Platform

MG07 Conveyor – Chamber Design

Carborough Downs Coal Mine is an underground operation located in Central Queensland that utilises conveyors to transport mined coal to the surface for processing. As operations progress and new longwall headings are mined, new conveyor installations are also required. Designing a conveyor installation involves 3 major stages: the drive-head chamber design, the civil design, and the mechanical arrangement design.

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MG07 Conveyor – Chamber Design

MG08 Development Conveyor

Carborough Downs Coal Mine is an underground operation located in Central Queensland that utilises conveyors to transport mined coal to the surface for processing. As operations progress and new longwall headings are mined, new conveyor installations are also required. Orana Engineering was engaged by Carborough Downs to design a new longwall drive-head chamber and conveyor installation.

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MG08 Development Conveyor

MIBC & Diesel Upgrade

The purpose of the Reagent System Upgrade project at Glencore's Oaky Creek Coal Mine was to install new reagent storage tanks, discharge / delivery pumping system and automated flow control distribution manifolds for the delivery of each reagent to the nominated process connections. In the event of failure of the automated flow control system, rotameters for manual reagent addition were included as a contingency.

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MIBC & Diesel Upgrade

Mobile Plant Electrical Drawing Books

To improve the maintainability of plant electrical systems and personnel safety, Glencore's Hail Creek Mine employed the drawing management services of Orana Engineering to create bound books of electrical drawings for Dragline 1 (DL001), Dragline 7 (DL007) and Shovel 14 (SH014). Multiple books were made for each machine (in A4 and A3 sizes).

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Mobile Plant Electrical Drawing Books

Reagents Lightning Protection

To ensure the CHPP reagent tank farm lighting protection systems were adequate and complied with Australian standards, Moranbah North requested Orana Engineering undertake a review and design for an upgrade of the lightning protection systems (LPS) installed for the tank farm area.

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Reagents Lightning Protection

Redraw Dragline DL007 Drawings

To improve the maintainability of plant electrical systems and personnel safety, Glencore's Hail Creek Mine employed the drawing revision services of Orana Engineering to redraw all electrical power, control and termination diagrams associated with its Dragline 7 (DL007) into AutoCAD format

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Redraw Dragline DL007 Drawings

Sewage Treatment Plant Refurbishment

To increase productivity as well as maintaining compliance with current legislative standards, Glencore Coal employed the services of Orana Engineering to design, manage and oversee the installation of the electrical portion of their sewage treatment plant upgrade.

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Tailings Pumping System - As-Built

At the completion of the Tailings Pumping Upgrade for both the Main CHPP and Module 4 CHPP at Glencore's Oaky Creek Coal Mine, Orana Engineering received As Built mark-up drawings and documentation from the site project manager and was requested to make electronic revisions to the drawings and upload them into the site drawing management system.

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Tailings Pumping System - As-Built

Tank Static Line

All mine and industrial sites will list safety as their highest priority within their day to day operations. In line with this philosophy, management at Carpentaria Gold’s Ravenswood Operation enlisted the assistance of Orana Engineering to design a fall arrest system that could be easily removed and repositioned above the multiple leach tanks on site to allow for the safe removal and servicing of tank agitators.

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Tank Static Line

TC04 Trunk Conveyor Extensions

Carborough Downs Coal Mine is an underground operation located in Central Queensland that utilises conveyors to transport mined raw material to the surface for processing. As operations progress and new maingate headings are mined, trunk conveyor extensions are required.

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TC04 Trunk Conveyor Extensions

Tippler Refurbishment Feasibility

The Glencore Port Operations in Townsville operate an export facility for minerals concentrate and refined copper within the Port of Townsville precinct. The concentrate in-loading rotaside tippler has been identified as being at end of life and a feasibility study was commissioned in order to review the like-for-like replacement option for refurbishment of the tippler, considering the increased demand on the tippler moving forward.

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Tippler Refurbishment Feasibility

TK102 Bypass Piping

When tasked with a major repair to one of their leaching tanks, operations staff at Carpentaria Gold’s Ravenswood Operations enlisted the assistance of Orana Engineering to develop a solution that would allow for process operations to continue whilst leaching tank TK102 was out of service.

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TK102 Bypass Piping

Treated Water Boost Pumps

Glencore's Oaky Creek Coal (OCC) operation uses recycled water treated within an onsite RO plant to provide treated water for use by various operations on site. OCC recognised an opportunity to use this clean treated water for water supply to critical equipment such as Horizontal Belt Filters (HBF), improving the quality of water used for equipment, reducing downtime and maintenance requirements associated with poor quality water, in-turn improving the efficiency of the operation of the equipment.

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Treated Water Boost Pumps

UG Conveyor Installations – MG32 Tripper Chamber

Maingate roadways mined to accommodate longwall conveyors at Glencore’s Oaky No. 1 underground coal mine can vary from a few hundred meters to over 4 kilometres in length. Transporting vast quantities of coal over long distances requires a significant amount of power. In some cases the drive-head power is insufficient or is constrained by the allowable belt tension and an additional drive / power source is required to meet the required operating capacity. Commonly this additional power will come in the form of a driven conveyor tripper installed at a nominal point along the conveyor, which requires the appropriate excavation for the tripper installation inclusive of drives, tripper frame, braking and belt starter.

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UG Conveyor Installations – MG32 Tripper Chamber

UG Conveyor Installations – MG32 Tripper Civil Design

The site engineers at Glencore’s Oaky No. 1 underground coal mine have engaged Orana Engineering to determine the extent of the civil work required to install the maingate tripper equipment in MG32 longwall conveyor.

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UG Conveyor Installations – MG32 Tripper Civil Design

UG Conveyor Installations – MG32 Tripper Mechanical Design

In high capacity longwall conveyor arrangements, the installation of a tripper will typical occur after the chamber has been fully developed. The installation designed by Orana Engineering for MG32 conveyor for Glencore’s Oaky No.1 underground coal mine detailed the arrangement of the tripper drives, brakes, pulley frame and load station.

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UG Conveyor Installations – MG32 Tripper Mechanical Design

UG Conveyor Installations - MG Chamber Design

Mining and transporting millions of tonnes of raw material every year requires significant infrastructure and planning for future works. The site engineers at Glencore’s Oaky No. 1 underground coal mine have engaged Orana Engineering on multiple occasions (MG33C and MG34) to design new conveyor drivehead excavations (chambers) to install conveyor drivehead equipment for development and longwall coal mining.

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UG Conveyor Installations - MG Chamber Design

UG Conveyor Installations - MG Civil Installation

The site engineers at Glencore’s Oaky No. 1 underground coal mine have requested the assistance of Orana Engineering to determine the extent of the civil work required to effectively utilise the drive-head equipment in newly mined chambers for conveyor installations for MG32, 33, 33C, 34, 35 and 36.

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UG Conveyor Installations - MG Civil Installation

Yokogawa DCS Upgrade

Since 2005 Orana Engineering has provided 24/7 support for Glencore's Oaky Creek Coal control systems.  At the Coal Handling  and Preparation Plant (CHPP) OCC uses a Yokogawa DCS as the primary control system, which was originally installed in 1998.  The system is very robust and the hardware, software and its configuration has proven to be very reliable and highly cost effective.

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Yokogawa DCS Upgrade