Moving the earth safely at Cadia Valley Operations

PYBAR Cadia Valley Operations

Managing multiple projects safely in environmentally sensitive areas, working in conjunction with client work team, tight deadlines and strict budgets.

It's all in a days work for PYBAR's Upper Rods Creek Dam project team at Cadia Valley Operations 

 

PROJECT SCOPE

Removal of vegetation and top soil to a clay base on the Upper Rod’s Creek Dam (URCD ), project then extended to dam wall construction.   Running concurrently was the new main Cadia access road works projects.

SITUATION

Cadia operations required a new dam to be built to ensure its ongoing water supply. This needed to be completed before the traditional rains and forecast wet winter season commenced.  Changes in the site layout meant a new main access road was required to be built with a deadline for July 2011.

PROCESS

Removing vegetation and an average of 1m of top soil, to a clay base to enable the construction of the dam wall.  The same team was then engaged to assist the Cadia team to construct the dam wall.  Material for the wall was delivered by the pit dump trucks and pushed in using a combination of CVO and PYBAR dozers. At the same time the PYBAR was working on the new main access road, lifting the existing dump bed by 5m before a new liner system could be installed. A fleet of 9 moxy trucks, excavators and road maintenance plant were required to achieve targets.

HURDLES

Stringent environmental considerations were evident due to an extensive tree clearing at the Eastern end of the proposed wall lift.   The team was working on two projects (dam wall & access road works) concurrently, with the success of the project tightly integrated & dependent upon Cadia operations.  Significant tonnage was required to be removed within tight timeframes.

SOLUTION

Three crews were deployed for this project with a 24/7 operation. Considerable site consultation was undertaken with the Cadia team to ensure environmental considerations were adhered to and that the operations continued smoothly and to time, with the complexity of multiple teams (PYBAR and CVO) working on the same project. Additional equipment was re-deployed from PYBAR’s extensive fleet to keep to time and the maintenance & service team was extended to keep the equipment operating at capacity.

RESULTS

The team received a special mention from the Cadia Environmental team on the professional way the clearing job was undertaken with no direct impact on any endangered or protected wildlife.  There were nil non-conformance reports or reworks recorded for the project, it was delivered on target, within budget and above all safely – LTI free.
 

PYBAR Cadia Valley Operations