Sinclair Knight Merz (SKM) has applied its extensive iron ore experience gained in the Pilbara to Brazil.
The Australian-headquartered global project delivery, engineering and sciences firm, recently completed a Value Engineering Study for the world’s largest iron ore producer, Vale (formerly CVRD). The study on the proposed new secondary and tertiary/quaternary crushing and screening facilities to identify opportunities for reducing capital and operating costs involved simplifying the plant by reducing the number of equipment items to decrease total maintenance effort and improve overall system availability. The study also investigated reducing procurement and construction lead times to fit into the project timeframe.
The scope of the $500,000 study was undertaken at the Screening and Crushing facilities of a wet process Iron Ore Beneficiation Plant at Vale’s Carajas Programa 130 Mtpa mine in Brazil.
SKM’s Group Engineering Manager, John Armstrong, said that SKM was hand-picked as a single service provider from a worldwide list of firms.
The Carajas project is an upgrade of Vale’s existing Carajas Mine Operations from 100 Mtpa to 130 Mtpa. SKM was engaged to undertake the Value Engineering Study SKM has been working on iron ore projects in the Pilbara for both Rio Tinto, as part of the Rio Tinto Iron Ore Expansion Projects, and for BHP Billiton, as part of the Mine and Port Developments Joint Venture with Fluor, for more than a decade.
For the Vale project, a team from SKM’s Mining and Metals group in Perth was relocated for a month to Belo Horizonte, Brazil.