Construction at the Bulong site, showing the pressure leaching area, autoclave, heater and flash vessel installations.

Good progress on the Bulong nickel project

The Bateman Kinhill-Kilborn (BKK) consortium is on schedule with the Aus$200M Bulong nickel project for Resolute Samantha Limited. The plant will process a major laterite nickel and cobalt deposit located 30 km east of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia. The primary objective of this EPCM project is to provide a plant which will be easy to operate and maintain and have a long life.

Engineering for the project commenced in November 1996. The design throughput was fixed at 537 000 t/yr of ore to produce 9 000 tonne of nickel and 700 tonne of cobalt per year. Additional test-work during the design stage identified the need for some alterations. Hazard and operability (HAZOP) studies were also conducted at this stage. The project office personnel peaked at 150 during 1997.

Procurement of major equipment was done in Australia, USA, RSA, Italy and the Netherlands and had to cope with shortages due to three similar projects being underway simultaneously in Western Australia (WA). All fabrication was carried out in Australia and included about 1 500 tonne of structural steel and plate-work.

Construction contracts were awarded generally to WA based contractors and site work commenced in April 1997 with site clearing and bulk earthworks, followed by the pouring of about 10 000 m 3 of concrete. The current emphasis is on the completion of piping and electrical installations. The construction workforce peaked at 400, including 28 BKK site personnel to manage the works.

Pre-commissioning activities successfully commenced with the grinding and crushing facility and a trial run using ore has been completed. This schedule will bring all plant sections up to start-up readiness progressively for full plant start-up at the end of August 1998.

More details are available from Tony Cau on +61-7-3320-3333 or Email basemetals@batemanengineering.com.

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