BHP Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) not too long ago entrusted Mammoet with the relocation of a 3,100 tonne Marion 8050 dragline from one finish of the Peak Downs coal mine in Queensland, Australia, to a different – a full 27 km away.
With a deadline to attain the relocation, it was sub-optimal to permit the dragline to journey beneath its personal steam, in accordance with Mammoet. The answer? Jack up the dragline so it may very well be carried by Mammoet Self-Propelled Modular Transporters (SPMTs).
SPMTs can journey as much as 5 km/h. Compared, a dragline can cowl roughly 1 km in 12 hours.
This strategy was taken as soon as earlier than by Mammoet in Australia again in 2017, additionally with BMA. This time nevertheless, failure to succeed in and cross a rail line by a sure deadline would end in appreciable downtime and value to the venture.
What’s extra, with further gear wanted to finish the job and all imports topic to strict customs necessities, Mammoet would wish to name on its world experience and fleet to make sure clean execution.
Eight Enerpac JS-500 towers have been arrange beneath the dragline for the jacking operation. As soon as it was elevated to 2.5 m, a configuration of 5 x 28 traces of SPMT have been positioned beneath the load to move it.
For the jacking stage, it was very important the engineers understood the burden and centre of gravity of the machine. Because of the dragline’s age, details about it was restricted, in order that they labored from a place to begin of what was obtainable for machines of an analogous age.
Whereas there have been some nuances, the dragline was safely and effectively lifted. Its weight was evenly distributed throughout 560 tyres, leading to a floor bearing strain of lower than 9 t/sq.m.
“Prior to now, dragline jacking in Australia has been carried out utilizing climbing jacks, which require guide dealing with of timber stacks to regularly elevate the load,” Jack Whittaker, Undertaking Supervisor at Mammoet, mentioned. “The JS500 system requires fewer jacking towers and makes use of cassettes, that are inserted at its base. This saved numerous time, resulted in much less gear and eliminated the necessity for guide dealing with.”
BMA constructed a brand new route for the dragline to take. The place there have been comfortable areas within the soil, metal mats have been used to forestall the SPMTs from digging in and getting caught.
Because of the distance and intense Queensland warmth, a canopied seat was put in on the deck of the entrance SPMT. This meant the management field may very well be mounted as an alternative of carried, and the driving force may very well be shielded from the solar.
The crew had a 72-hour window for the railway line closure. In that point they needed to assemble the non permanent ramp over the monitor, make the crossing safely and return every thing again to its authentic state.
“One of many key causes that BMA reached out to us was as a result of the Aurizon rail crossing is a crucial line – transporting coal from totally different mines within the area to the coast for exporting,” provides Laura Ewen, Department Supervisor at Mammoet. “Peak Downs had competing tasks within the space on the time, and the shutdown crossing window wouldn’t align once more for an additional three months. The dragline was required for coal extraction within the southern pits for manufacturing.”
Utilizing SPMTs not solely de-risked the venture and received the dragline to web site safely, on time and with out incident, it additionally decreased put on and tear on the machine and its mechanical elements, in accordance with Mammoet.
The opposite advantage of this methodology was logistical – the ancillary gear required to maneuver a dragline, together with a conveyable substation related through an extended ‘umbilical’ cable linked on to overhead energy cables on web site, was not wanted as a result of every thing was powered by the SPMTs.
Sometimes requiring over a month to move, Mammoet has now set a brand new benchmark for dragline transportation by relocating this unit 27 km to Peak Downs Mine in simply 10 days, attaining 8km per day and considerably minimizing downtime for the Marion 8050.
