Engineering Maintenance & Support

Carborough Downs Coal underground mine had transitioned from a bord and pillar mining system to longwall. The result was a need to upgrade capacity of the coal clearance conveyor system. Orana Engineering was engaged to provide Client Engineering assistance to deliver underground conveyor equipment to meet the longwall production schedule. Orana Engineering monitored vendor design progress against the schedule, performed design reviews to ensure correction of errors prior to final client approval, monitored and managed fabrication and delivery schedules and managed budget and variations in line with the contract. By co-ordinating with the client’s installation group and managing the vendor in line with the client’s schedule, the conveyors were successfully installed and made available for longwall production.

For site consistency of electrical design and installation standards and compliance with Australian standards and legislation, Glencore Oaky Creek Coal engaged Orana Engineering to prepare new site electrical specifications. The scope combined existing site specifications and practices and, where applicable, incorporated them into the new specifications. These specifications included:

• Electrical Design
• Electrical Installation 
• Preferred Electrical Equipment List
• Site Equipment Numbering
• Drawing Management

Orana Engineering’s extensive knowledge of Queensland mine sites and long-standing experience at Oaky Creek enabled specifications to be produced cost effectively and fully inclusive of site specific details. Orana Engineering continues to maintain these documents for Oaky Creek Coal, ensuring that latest versions are readily available to site personnel via Oaky Creek’s drawing management system.

During an upgrade to the Concentrator at MMG’s Century Mine located in Western Queensland, Orana Engineering was engaged to design a lifting beam for the installation of a new flotation cell.

BMA Gregory Crinum engaged Orana Engineering to perform an audit and inspection of the Crinum underground mine surface fire water system with respect to providing adequate pressure and flow for the Crinum North conveyor system and stockpile conveyor. Orana Engineering completed a site inspection and audit against the design drawings, with site-verified information then used for compliance assessment in line with Australian Standards. The audit included in-depth assessment of the fire water system to Australian, BMA and site Fire Management Standards. Hydraulic modelling of the fire system was also undertaken to validate existing pressure measurements. Orana Engineering was able to make recommendations regarding compliance and system hydraulic performance, which assisted BMA in improving system capacity.

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.

Carborough Downs Coal Mine is an underground operation utilising 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 to design a new longwall drive-head chamber and conveyor installation, initially providing a drawing set detailing required drive-head chamber dimensions to suit the conveyor installation. Using AutoCAD, a civil design and conveyor equipment arrangement was produced. The conveyor design had to consider several constraints, including available equipment, transfer tie-in to existing trunk conveyor, maintenance access, drainage, minimum clearances and belt curves. Upon layout approval, AutoCAD drawings were produced detailing civil and mechanical design aspects, enabling site engineers to complete installation with efficiency while ensuring regulatory compliance.

For personnel safety and compliance with Queensland’s Coal Mining Safety & Health Regulation it is a requirement for mine sites to provide electrical workers with access to up-to-date drawings for electrical equipment and electrical installations. To improve the maintainability of plant electrical systems and personnel safety, Hail Creek Mine engaged Orana Engineering to create bound books of electrical drawings for Draglines 1 and 7 and Shovel 14. Multiple books were made for each machine in both A4 and A3 sizes and using waxed (water proof) paper to ensure longevity. Using vendor drawings from the client, Orana Engineering produced bound books containing all electrical power, control and termination diagrams associated with the respective mobile plant.

Following commissioning of their Process Water Reverse Osmosis (RO) Plant, Oaky Creek Coal received approximately 150 electrical drawings from the vendor. To provide site personnel with access to the drawings, Oaky Creek engaged Orana Engineering to register these within their existing drawing management system. There are many drawing management systems and tools on the market and Orana Engineering has the capabilities and resources to utilise whatever system is preferred by a client. Oaky Creek Coal sets a very high standard in the industry for the maintenance of drawings and in real terms realises the significant cost benefits that good drawing management delivers in enabling site personnel to perform effectively and safely.

To ensure the CHPP reagent tank farm lighting protection systems complied with Australian Standards, Moranbah North requested Orana Engineering to undertake a review and design an upgrade of the lightning protection systems for the tank farm area. With the area encompassing fuel storage tanks, it was classified as having structures with "explosive or highly flammable contents" and was therefore required to comply with AS1768 : 2008 Lightning Protection. Orana Engineering’s audit of the installation and its lightning protection systems confirmed that an upgrade of the facility was needed to comply with current lightning protection standards. Using its team of detailed draftsmen Orana Engineering created a set of drawings detailing the work required to comply with AS1768 : 2008 Lightning Protection.

To improve the maintainability of plant electrical systems and personnel safety, Hail Creek Mine employed the drawing revision services of Orana Engineering to redraw electrical power, control and termination diagrams associated with its Dragline 7 into AutoCAD format. Having electrical drawings in CAD (computer aided design) format, is one of the most efficient ways to capture site electrical modifications, installations or as-building changes for ready access by site personnel involved in maintenance and operations. Working closely with site contacts and onsite electricians, Orana Engineering was able to accurately reproduce 247 electrical drawings into AutoCAD for Dragline 7.