A Civil contractor of projects seconded MEC to assist in the design and scheduling of the rehabilitation earthworks at a central Queensland mine. The study compared and contrasted the most cost-effective methods of material movements by reviewing truck shovel, scraper and dozer push scenarios to find the best and most cost effective fit. The final package delivered included a detailed schedule, dozer vectors, machine hours, landform and haulage simulation models, topsoil and seeding allocations and requirements including the quantity of additional material to be ameliorated for topsoil deficits.

MEC provides projects, project management and governance for technical services across the mining sector. The advantage of having MEC apply their governance and project management expertise to your operations is that we work to a framework for the rules, relationships, systems and processes that impact the cohesiveness and effectiveness of your technical services and operational teams. Establishing cascading and dovetailing systems allows greater transparency and accountability for delivering results and managing systems. MEC Engineers apply this know how to a wide range of projects to address environmental, rehabilitation and closure planning needs. We have established Progressive Closure and Rehabilitation Plans for many of our clients in strict adherence to government policy factoring in drainage and final landform requirements. MEC will work with owner teams or contractors to achieve the best overall outcome for the site.

MEC was approached by BHP to assist in establishing guiding systems and processes in the coal business planning unit to ensure best mine engineering and planning practice was being applied across the coal division. The team had oversight of the long-term planning and budgeting process and ensured the system could dove tail across to medium and short term planning. The result was a process that defined how the remote corporate team will coordinate activities in mine planning across the business and particularly with sites to sustain value along the planning cycle.

MEC was selected to participate in an innovation investigation process run by Hitachi Construction Machinery across several mining operations to develop an energy power-draw estimation and map against the mine schedule by assessing various waste and ore mining and transportation assets mixes. Fleet analysis was completed on an ‘energy agnostic’ basis, informing energy intensity models across the Life of Asset. This was then used to understand variability in emissions and how to optimise the schedule where traditional mobile fleet assets were interchanged with fast charge placements and trolley track lines. Furthermore, these assessments were modeled to optimise for pit infrastructure position and asset value impact.

The project deliverable was an emissions-focused schedule that featured the best fit of low power draw waste and ore mining assets for the site given the constraints of the remote locations and the availability of green energy options.

BMA challenged MEC to assist them in assessing lower emission material transport options, and a future-fit mine design approach to support this. This was undertaken by profiling and assessing their carbon emissions footprint associated with the operations mining cycle and in particular the mobile fleet used across their extensive strip mine operations. MEC created a baseline mining emissions-focused schedule from current operations and then trialed a mix of alternative technologies suited to the constraints of mining in a strip mine. Factored into the consideration was altering mine designs, pit phase schedules, and most impactfully more technologically advanced and sophisticated continuous conveyor systems and modular crushing units to remove diesel-related emissions that created an opportunity for a step-change in the BMA business ESG goals without reducing throughput.

BHP contracted MEC to assist them in undertaking an opportunity assessment to identify options to enable a step-change in carbon emissions to meet their net-zero 2050 target across their WAIO Operations. MEC developed a baseline, life of asset emissions model to understand the opportunities presented by In-Pit Crushing and Conveying, Excavator Electrification, Trolley Assist, and the revolutionary Small Autonomous Battery Electric Truck Fleet or SWARM Principal to directly abate emissions and enable the early capture of “Green Electrons”. Utilising our expertise in this field MEC was able to present elegant solutions to the practical and pragmatic application of each technology to not only achieve significant reductions in emissions but simultaneously maintain or improve BaU production and quality, operational productivity and reduce strip ratios through reduced waste mining while increasing ore recovery. The study found a reduction in mine operations emissions opportunities of up to 50% from the baseline across the technology options.

In its objective to reduce its carbon emissions footprint Goldfields selected MEC mining to undertake an options study and assessment of the transition plan for their Tarkwa and Damang sites to compare new asset mixes including mobile crushing and conveying systems, Trolley Line and retrofitting diesel trucks with Liquid Natural Gas. The site had unique challenges to overcome with jurisdiction over the source of power adding urgency to the success of the project. MEC’s reputation for adding value to projects was validated with findings of further savings for the site in refining the mine sequence to best utilise the new mine operations asset mix.