Greater Brockman Operations Dewatering Programme 

Since 2019, Sedgman Onyx has completed a rolling programme of works for new and/or upgraded dewatering infrastructure at Rio Tinto’s Greater Brockman Operations. This includes Brockman 2, Brockman Syncline 4 and Silvergrass, which has facilitated continued mining below the water table.  

Details

Location
Pilbara, Western Australia
Contract type
Managing Contractor
Status
Completed
Sector
Mineral Processing
Expertise
Water Infrastructure
Client
Rio Tinto Iron Ore

Overview

These programmes of works have included:  

  • Order of Magnitude Studies 
  • Detailed design (feasibility study) 
  • Implementation support 
  • As-built drawing assistance. 

As part of the programme, we undertook the following works: 

  • Hydraulic network modelling and interpretation 
  • Bore equipment and associated cable sizing and specification through datasheets 
  • Civil design of bore pads, access tracks and turkeys nests. 
  • Piping plans, profiles, standard and connection details, Piping & Instrumentation Diagrams 
  • Electrical design including drive and generator specifications, Motor Control Centre engineering and design, instrumentation, earthing, telemetry and communication. 
  • High voltage overhead power line design 
  • Engineering lists for tender documentation 
  • Study reports and/or technical memos 
  • Technical support during procurement and construction. 

Mining operations require continual dewatering to prevent water from infiltrate the mine.  The key challenges in a dewatering programme are alignment of design to hydrogeology targets and associated abstraction bore locations and integrating current and future mine plan requirements for life of bore design.   

Sedgman Onyx leverages on existing system knowledge to reduce engineering costs for network updates/ additions and more importantly readily identify potential network constraints.