Mining Development Project Examples
Bontang Coal Mine-Indonesia
Indonesia is the world's third largest exporter of steaming coal (after Australia and China). The Bontang Coal Project involved the development of 3.5 million tons of coal per year in the coastal hills of East Kalimantan, Indonesia. The project mines coal from multiple seams in multiple pits. Coal from these pits is processed at the mine, where a large stockyard area provides crushing, washing and blending facilities.
P.T. Indominco Mandiri, a coal mining company based in Bontang, East Kalimantan, was part of a joint operation in developing the Bontang coal concession with Washington Division. Our services included:
- Exploration
- Reserve evaluation
- Construction
- Ongoing operations management
Phase 1 of the engineering, procurement, and construction management (EPCM) contract with Washington Division produced 1.65 million tons per year of barged coal shipments in 1977. The services consisted of:
- Installing crushing and stockpiling facilities
- A dredged barge loading port facility
- 21 miles of haul roads
- Supporting infrastructure
Challenges included working around highly erosive soils in a wet, remote, and tropical climate.
Phase 2 construction, completed in 1999, included:
- The addition of coal stacking, blending, and truck load-out facilities
- Truck dump stacking, reclamation, and ship-loading facilities at the port. P.T. MK Indonesia (PTMKI), a wholly owned subsidiary, managed the mine and facilities operations under a long-term agreement.
El Cerrejón Coal Mine—Colombia
The largest coal mining operation in Latin America, El Cerrejón was developed by a joint venture between the Colombian state organization, Carbones de Colombia SA (Carbocol), and Intercor, a subsidiary of the US energy company, ExxonMobil Corp.
The project originally was estimated to cost $2.1 billion, but because of efficiencies developed by Washington Division, the project was completed for $1.8 billion.
The project's three main features were:
- A surface coal mine and associated facilities near Barrancas
- A completely new port at the Bay of Portete, on the Caribbean Sea
- A 145km mine to port railroad
We designed and constructed all coal-handling facilities at the port and mine sites, as well as an airport at each site. More than 12,000 people were involved in the project.
Fort Knox Gold Mine—Alaska
Cyprus Amax Gold Inc (now owned by Kinross Gold) was engaged in the mining and processing of gold and silver ore in North and South America, Russia, Australia, and Africa. The Fort Knox gold project, located approximately 15 miles northeast of Fairbanks, Alaska, was completed for Fairbanks Gold Mining Inc., a subsidiary of Amax Gold, Inc.
The facility can process 36,000 tons of ore per day. Washington Division was the prime contractor for the development, and managed subcontractors for the facilities construction, which included:
- Primary crusher building
- Conveyor system
- Multi-floor mill
- Refinery complex
Our role also included detail engineering and engineered-equipment procurement coordination.
Gibbons Creek Lignite Mine—Grimes County, Texas
Navasota Resources Ltd. is an aggressive and experienced mineral exploration company known for its keen evaluation and development of mineral resource properties.
Early work consisted of environmental planning and designs for regulatory compliance, permitting, developing five and 30-year mine plans, cost estimates, and conceptual layouts for mine facilities.
Once built, the mine produced 3.5 millions tons of lignite a year which fed a nearby 400-MW power generating station. We continued our work at the mine, providing long-term contract mining, maintenance, and management services from 1979 to 1996, at this lignite strip mine 90 miles northwest of Houston.
When the mine closed, we completed the site reclamation including regrading dragline spoils and covering them with selected material to a depth of up to six and a half feet.
JORMAG Magnesium Oxide Plant—Jordan
Washington Division performed construction management services to the Jordan Magnesia Company Ltd., (JORMAG). The scope of work included construction completion, commissioning, and start-up of the Magnesium Oxide Plant located in Ghor Nmairah/Al-Safi, Jordan.
In addition, Washington Division’s responsibilities included:
- Project controls
- Development of the construction completion schedule
- Evaluation of the status of procurement and its subsequent management
- Materials control functions
- Management of all subcontractors
- Coordinating vendor support during the commissioning and start-up process
- Ancillary construction engineering support as required
JORMAG’s specialty plant produces magnesium oxide and its derivative from Dead Sea brines, which are concentrated and selectively crystallized using a series of solar evaporation ponds. The resulting carnallite brines are converted from magnesium chlorides to a pure form of magnesium oxide, suitable for use in the global marketplace.
Ok Tedi Project—Papua, New Guinea
The Ok Tedi mine, located in the Western Province of Papua, New Guinea, is a major producer of copper concentrate for the world smelting market. Located on the headwaters of the Ok Tedi River in the remote Star Mountains, its revenues last year accounted for approximately 10 percent of New Guinea GDP. In this mountainous jungle, Washington Division developed a gold and copper mining complex at an isolated and inhospitable location.
The project consisted of two stages:
Stage 1 involved the excavation and processing of the gold-bearing overburden at the mine, town site, and power construction.
Stage 2 involved the copper mining and processing activities. Washington Division and associated companies, were responsible for the overall design, procurement, and construction of Stage 1 facilities and systems, including:
- Mine service facilities, including an equipment maintenance workshop, warehouse, offices, worker amenities, roads, and fuel storage and dispensing system
- 15,000-tpd gold extraction plant, including leaching, pressure stripping, electro-winning, and smelting
- 14-km tailings pipeline and a 24-meter-high rock-fill dam for tailings disposal
- Town site for 1,250 people, including educational facilities, police and fire stations, government offices, post office, recreational facilities, supermarket, and stores
- Hydroelectric dam and power station with two 25 MW generating units
- 132-kilovolt, twin-transmission line, substation, and distribution systems
- 170-km main access road to the mine site, industrial facilities, and town site.
Refugio Gold Project—Chile
At 15,000 feet above sea level Washington Division refitted an operating gold mine, making it more efficient and profitable. After two years of operation by Compasnia Minera Maricunga, Washington Division was requested to perform design, procurement, and construction on this retrofit project worth more than $15 million.
Washington Division was asked to thoroughly upgrade the mining operation with a housing camp, sewage treatment facility, and fire water system. The production side of the improvement included:
- Acid wash circuit
- Cyanide mixing system
- Leach circuit
- Fine-crusher building
- Conveyor improvements
- Structural concrete investigation and repairs
Sipan Gold Mine—Peru
Compania Minera Sipan mines and refines gold in the Sipan region of Peru. Although legend has miners finding pure nuggets of the valuable mineral, most gold is found as fine grains dispersed through solid rock.
At the Sipan Gold Mine in Peru, Washington Division used their engineering expertise and construction management services to allow Compania Minera Sipan to successfully and profitably mine for gold deep in the Peruvian Andes.
The scope of the work included complete civil, electrical, mechanical, process, and structural design of the facilities, as well as procurement and construction management. Our engineering responsibilities included:
- Site layout design
- Haul and access road design
- Grading and drainage
- Sediment ponds and topsoil
- General arrangements
- Office building, warehouse, support facilities, and metallurgical laboratory
- Fire protection and potable water systems
- Sewage treatment plant
- 2 MW diesel-powered electrical generating plant with primary power distribution
- 8,000 ton per day crushing plant
- Solution distribution systems and reagent systems for heap leach
- 750 gpm Merril Crowe gold recovery system
- Mercury retorting, smelting and doré refining
Washington Division also was responsible for:
- All procurement
- Expediting and logistics
- Constructed the complete project, including all site work, heap leach pads and liners, treatment ponds, sewage treatment, fresh water supply system, and the Merrill Crowe refining systems.
Our complete construction services included:
- Cost controls
- Subcontract administration
- Field accounting
- Scheduling
- Material receiving and warehousing
- Construction safety
- Commissioning and start-up services
