Liberty Industrial was engaged to undertake the safe and controlled demolition of redundant structures at the Ok Tedi Gold and Copper Mine located 11km north-west of Tabubil in the Western Province of Papua New Guinea (PNG). This project was carried out in the following two stages to facilitate the exchange of crews from Australia: Stage 1 - Demolition of the IPC and Screening Plant Stage 2 - Demolition of the Dump Pocket, Transfer Station and Conveyors.
Robust solutions
- A significant component of the project was the salvage and deconstruction of a scalping screen and bridge by the way of oxy cutting, rigging and lifting with a 400t Crawler Crane and 200t all-terrain mobile crane. A heavy crane lift specialist and a third-party structural engineer were engaged to prevent shock loading to retained infrastructure. To overcome the challenges of terrain height and location, our 200t High Reach Demolition Excavator fitted with a 7t shear attachment was utilised to carry out the demolition of the IPC, elevated Conveyors and Dump Pocket structures. A series of structural- engineer-approved pre-weakening cuts were created for the Transfer Station structure to be demolished by an 85t excavator.
- Site establishment was a crucial component of this project. Our team undertook months of project planning and engineering to set up plant, equipment and personnel on-site. Considerable logistical issues were taken care of to relocate plant and equipment from Australia to the project site in PNG. Our skilled project team also battled extreme weather conditions and the second wave of COVID-19 in PNG.
- An estimated 5,000t of ferrous and non-ferrous steel was demolished, downsized and recycled. Light to medium gauge steel was processed in situ by Liberty Industrial and transported to a stockpile for future shipping by the client.
Exceptional outcomes
Liberty Industrial achieved successful project completion in the agreed 6-month timeframe.
