Civil Engineering December 2021 | Vol 29 No 11

T he Iron Bridge Magnetite Project is a magnetite mine and processing facility, located in Western Australia, to be operated by Iron Bridge Operations (IBO). The Iron Bridge Ore Processing Facility (OPF) site is located approxi- mately 135 km south south-east of Port Hedland, and 1 240 km north of Perth, in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. When in operation, Iron Bridge will deliver a high grade 67% Fe magnetite concentrate product, at an annual produc- tion of 22 million wet metric tonnes. Iron Bridge is comprised of four main facilities, namely the OPF, including dry plant and wet plant sections, port concen- trate handling facilities (CHF) and pipe- lines. The OPF consists of 25 sub-areas incorporating 26 conveyor lines. The premium magnetite concentrate product will be transported via a slurry pipeline to the port where it will be processed at an onshore dewatering facility prior to stockpiling. GOING DIGITAL IBO awarded Hatch the bulk of the detailed engineering for the OPF, CHF and dewatering facilities. The team chose to deliver the detailed engineering designs, including civils, concrete, steel, mechanical, piping, and electrical systems, utilising the Bentley suite of CAD programmes. This allowed the engi- neering team to determine, with accuracy, whether the interfaces between all dis- ciplines were measured correctly. Before fabrication the team was able to run “clash detections” to ensure that no unforeseen issues would arise during construction. MODULAR FABRICATION Module fabrication was chosen to save on costs and time. The steel of all build- ings, bins, and conveyor structures, was fabricated and assembled in China and Australia and transported to Pilbara via land and sea. To accommodate the modularisation delivery solution, structural elements including all beams, columns, bolts and plates, etc. were assigned a module number and labelled according to func- tion, area, and quantity of elements, in order to streamline the process of fabrica- tion, shipping and construction. GLOBAL COLLABORATION The project team worked globally across all of Hatch’s six regions, and the dry plant area was designed and coordinated by Hatch South Africa. The dry plant consists of seven main areas intended for the initial crushing process. These include a primary crusher, secondary crusher, primary grinding, coarse ore stockpile, tertiary crusher, dry magnetic separator and air classification. Several conveyor lines are utilised to carry the material through its life cycle. The civil component of the project consisted of the design of internal access roads, haul and transportation roads, bulk earthworks platforms and stormwater design. The stormwater design, which progressed in tandem with the earthworks design, was complex due to the nature of the topography. The stormwater from the platforms is channelled into three sedimentation ponds in alignment with the environmental requirements. Civil design had to be completed in advance of the other disciplines fully completing their designs to allow the bulk earthworks contractor to commence work on site. This required close co-ordination internally with the various disciplines and communication with the site team to minimise the risk of re-work and delays. REMOTE WORKING SUCCESS The Iron Bridge project would have been a massive undertaking for Hatch South Africa and Hatch Global under normal circumstances. To deliver a project of such a scale during the Covid-19 pan- demic was nothing short of incredible. The team pulled together and man- aged to work remotely within days, showing immense resilience and dedica- tion all the while battling the internal struggles and mental challenges which came with lockdowns, the ‘new normal’, global illness and isolation.  SANRAL SA I CE 2021 Nat i onal Awards Category: I nternat i onal FINALIST International category (Sponsored by SKI Civil and Structural Engineers) KEY PLAYERS Client: FMG Fortescue & Formosa Steel Consultant: Hatch Contractor: Civmec Iron Bridge Magnetite Project 42 December 2021  Civil Engineering Hatch South Africa was responsible for the dry plant area Modular fabrication saved on costs and time