The Area C Expansion formed part of BHP Billiton’s Rapid Growth Project 3 and involved increasing the nominal production of Area C from 23 Mega tonnes per annum to 42 Mega tonnes per annum.
Decmil was awarded two portions of the new expansion works, the first being the fuel storage and handling facility at E Deposit. In order to meet increased production requirements, a new storage and handling facility was required at the E Deposit maintenance facility to cater for the increased number of mining vehicles and minimise the distance that the vehicles have to travel for the purposes of re-fuelling. Works for this contract included the design and shop detailing of all specialised equipment including the fabrication of specialised equipment, structural steelwork, piping and storage tanks. The scope of work also included delivery to site, construction and commissioning of plant which included the supply of all equipment and materials for the E Deposit diesel fuel storage facility.
The second portion of the Works was the Sample Preparation Building. This part of the contract covered the shop detailing, fabrication, transportation, construction and commissioning of the sample preparation building and its associated facilities which houses robotic sample preparation and ancillary equipment.