CHPP Operations

Today, an ever increasing number of mining companies are realising that significant efficiencies can be achieved by outsourcing the operations of facilities to Sedgman's highly skilled Plant Operations team.

Plant Operations Services:

Sedgman Plant Operations offers the following services to client-owned mines through operation contracts or through BOO/BOOT (Build Own Operate or Build Own Operate Transfer) financial arrangements:

  • Operation and maintenance of processing plants
  • Operations safety management
  • Environmental management
  • Planned maintenance
  • Asset business management

The key benefits offered by Sedgman Plant Operations are:

  • Excellent safety record - one of the best in the industry with each plant under Sedgman operation having an outstanding track record. We are committed to maintaining this record through the use of our rigorous safety systems and operator training provisions.
  • The ability to conduct post-construction fine tuning to maximise the efficiencies that can be gained from the design.
  • Increased throughput. Sedgman Plant Operations has played a key role in almost doubling the Coppabella plant throughput capacity from 450 tonne/hour to 600 tonne/hour and now to 850-900 tonne/hour.
  • Maximum uptime. With many years experience, our senior plant managers and operators are the best in the business when it comes to maximising uptime and maximising yield. They also provide a superior bank of knowledge for training our newer operators and are especially useful when the time comes to commission a new plant or upgrades and modifications to existing plants.
  • Better control of consumables. Our plant operators and managers are well practiced in identifying potential sources of economy in consumables. Our systems for monitoring plant performance allow quick identification of areas where intervention would be beneficial and alternative control strategies useful. With the assistance of our Operations Support and Engineering Groups, alternative strategies and possible solutions are quickly identified and can be quickly and economically implemented.
  • Lower costs, higher safety, less injuries, less downtime and increased yield mean the costs of running the plant are much lower for the client. In most cases, it is much more cost efficient for mining companies to tap into our vast accumulated operating experience than operating the plant themselves.

Enhanced productivity. Efficiency gains. Less waste. Higher throughput. Fewer breakdowns. Lower facilities costs...

These are just some of the outcomes that Sedgman Plant Operations Group continually produces for the plants we are engaged to manage, including:

Blair Athol (Rio Tinto)

Presently operating at over 250 tph, this small plant is owned and operated by Sedgman. It was designed and constructed by Sedgman in 1999. Although the facility was built only to process Blair Athol's out-of-specification stockpiled coal for a two-year period, production has continued to the present. As the resource quality of Blair Athol in Queensland’s Bowen Basin depletes towards the end of mine life, the need increases for coal unsuitable for direct sale to be processed through the Sedgman facility to achieve the desired product quality.

The plant produces low ash (8%) product in sufficient quantities to blend high-ash non-washed coal to achieve the desired specification. The Blair Athol plant has been progressively upgraded and optimised to consistently produce required quantity and quality of product coal. This achievement is notable because of the need to process a continually changing feed type of diminishing quality. The plant incorporates DMC and spirals gravity separation circuits with coarse trucked reject material. Sedgman’s responsibilities extend from feeding the ROM using tracked reclaim dozers through to the trucking of coarse reject material to deposit in a permanent emplacement area.

Moorvale (Macarthur Coal)

Sedgman has provided operation of the plant at Macarthur Coal’s Moorvale Mine in Queensland’s Bowen Basin since undertaking the design, engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of an initial 450 t/h CHPP in 2002- 2003 , then overseeing its upgrade to 600 t/h in 2007. A co-disposal facility managed by Sedgman Operations handles all reject material and optimises overall process water consumption. Sedgman operates the plant on a continuous seven-day roster, with four operator maintainers per crew. This entails feeding the ROM coal, operating and maintaining the process plant and mobile equipment and train loading 24/7, 363 days a year, shutting down only on Christmas Day and Boxing Day allowing for maintenance. Sedgman aims for 7,200 hours operating time a year.

To account for expected future production, the original design incorporated provision for additional process equipment and additional stockpiling facilities to be simply added, individually, at a later time. In mid-April 2005, the product stockpiles were extended to include an additional stockpile whilst maintaining provision for more stockpiles to be added later.

Coppabella (Macarthur Coal)

Sedgman has operated the CHPP at Coppabella Mine in Queensland since designing and building a 500 t/h plant there for Macarthur Coal in 1998. Seamless operations have continued since, incorporating progressive plant upgrades to 800 t/h. The plant is able to process coal at a higher rate than this, depending on the coal type. Sedgman continues to operate the plant, providing a benchmark for efficiency, availability and capability for a single module plant. Coppabella produces 8.5% ash washed product for the export PCI market. Sedgman is responsible for operating and maintaining the process plant, mobile equipment and train loading on a 24/7, 363 days a year basis. Similar to Moorvale, the original design of this plant incorporated the flexibility required to allow upgrades to be done with minimal downtime and cost.

Outstanding Efficiency

Moorvale and Coppabella are outstanding examples of efficiency. Discounting planned maintenance days, they have sustained quarterly availability of more than 96%, significantly over our 92% target for Sedgman operated plants. (In our experience with new facilities, a minimum availability of 90% is readily achieved however as the operation matures 95% is generally achievable).

In January 2010 milestones were passed and new records achieved when Moorvale, Blair Athol and Sonoma outstripped their previous top production results:

  • Blair Athol achieved 212,597 t, bettering 209,816 t set in July 2006
  • Moorvale (410,930 t) exceeded 400,000 t for the first time
  • Sonoma (516,690 t) surpassed 500,000 t for the first time.

As operators of modern plants and having the benefit of undertaking numerous due diligence and value adding projects for existing plants, Sedgman is very well placed to continue to provide industry leading operations performance.