D&S Resources were engaged by Iluka Resources to convert their processing plant from a dual stream to a single stream process on the Jacinth-Ambrosia mine, located in the Eucla Basin, approx 300km north-west of Ceduna.
The Jacinth-Ambrosia mine is in the Eucla Basin within the state of South Australia approximately 300km north-west of Ceduna. The operation is comprised of the Mining Unit Plant (“MUP”) and Wet Concentrator Plant (“WCP”) and ancillary equipment. The WCP’s main purpose is to separate the Heavy Mineral (HM) from less valuable minerals, whilst maintaining acceptable HM recovery, HM grade, WCP throughput rate and runtime.
With the relocation of mining to Ambrosia in 2022, there is an opportunity to revert to the original Single Street Tailings methodology. With the higher strip ratio at Ambrosia in comparison to Jacinth, tailings void availability improves materially because of an accelerated mining face advancement in comparison to Jacinth, allowing a reassessment of tailings methodologies utilised at the operation.
Scope of work
Fabrication and supply
- Supply of expansion bellows, Polyurethane spacers, bolts, nuts and gaskets
- Development of fabrication drawings from plant isometric drawings
- Supply and fabrication and hydro-testing of 38 rubber-lined and coated carbon steel piping spools and custom reducers)
- Supply of HDPE pipework and fittings
Field piping
- Poly Welding (T630 Poly Welder) and installation of felid piping (400, 450 and 500mm)
- Pencil tank piping tie in during shutdown
- Installation of new pipework / valves and flow meters
WCP modifications
- Mechanical
- Supply, welding and installation of HDPE Pipework and supports throughout WCP
- Installation of fabricated carbon steel pipework, including pipe supports
- Electrical and Instrumentation
- Disconnection, dismantle, installation and reconnection of flow, density and pressure transmitters and gauges and reconnection of Warman Pump power cables
Skills/services demonstrated
- Custom fabrication with QA — 38 rubber-lined and coated carbon steel piping spools and custom reducers, fabricated and hydro-tested in-house
- Drawing development — fabrication drawings produced directly from plant isometrics, not supplied ready-made
- Multi-material field piping — poly welding (T630) across 400–500mm HDPE lines alongside coated carbon steel installation
- Shutdown-window execution — critical tie-in work (pencil tank piping) scheduled and delivered within a live shutdown, showing capability to work to a fixed outage window
- Cross-discipline delivery in one scope — mechanical (pipework, supports) and electrical/instrumentation (transmitters, gauges, Warman pump power reconnection) handled as a single integrated project rather than separate contracts
- Brownfield plant modification — reconfiguring an operating WCP’s piping and instrumentation to support a changed process methodology, not new-build work
