Rapid Growth Project 5, Yandi Mine

Hanson’s Yandi mobile plant in Western Australia has produced concrete for BHP Billitons RGP5 at the Yandi mine since 2001. RGP5 is part of Billiton’s iron ore expansion in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.

A new plant was constructed as part of RGP5 to increase installed capacity across BHP Billion’s Western Australia Iron Ore operations by 50 million tonnes to 205 million tonnes per annum. Materials produced by the plant help deliver significant infrastructure upgrades in Western Australia, including additional shipping berths at the Port Hedland inner harbour (Finucane Island); a second track for the company’s rail system between the Yandi mine and Port Hedland; and additional crushing, screening, and stockpiling facilities at the Yandi mine.

HeidelbergCements subsidiary Hanson Australia was commissioned to supply 30,000 cubic metres of concrete, mostly for the mine’s infrastructure requirements. Hanson’s Yandi mobile plant is located approximately 150 kilometres north of Newman in regional Western Australia. The twin-silo plant has a 65 cubic metre an hour capacity and has provided a dedicated concrete supply for BHP Billiton’s Yandi mine for the past eight years, having started as a six-week contract.

As a Most Responsible supplier, the Hanson Yandi mobile plant needed to implement an innovative waste management solution for the wash-down facility. The team designed and built an innovative facility that recycles water and captures all of its alkaline slurry. The system received wide acclaim within BHP Billiton, and was promoted internally within the company as a best-practice environmental initiative. The wash-down facility allows concrete trucks to wash out excess slurry in the bund at the front of the facility, draining any water off the slurry through a series of holes at the rear of the bund. The water then enters the pit and is recycled, either in the standpipe at the front of the bund or the spray gun located at the rear wash-down pad.

‘The new facility is excellent’, confirmed Glen Bolton, Environmental Superintendent at the RGP5 Yandi Mine project. ‘The way it was designed makes it easy for loaders to access and then remove the waste materials. The front of the bund has removable gates, the pit is ramped and the concrete apron around the facility slopes into the water pit. 'After Yandi built the wash-down facility, a poster explaining how it works was developed and then circulated through BHP and to their contractors’, says Chris Boak, Hanson’s Western Australia Mobile Projects Manager. ‘Those contractors include Fluor Australia and Sinclair Knight Merz.’ The mobile plant has operated solely for BHP’s Yandi mine since 2001, and the acclaim received by the plant’s wash-down facility confirmed Hanson’s status as a leader in waste-management innovation.

Further information

Project Data

  • BHP Billiton

    Owner

Rapid Growth Project 5 in Yandi Mine, Australia. Hanson’s Yandi mobile plant in Western Australia has produced concrete for BHP Billitons RGP5 at the Yandi mine since 2001