Getting There is Half the Battle


This 12-m-diameter thickener tank was built at a factory in Port Darwin, Northern Territory,
Australia, and transported in one piece 230 km over public highways to the Ranger uranium
mine for installation.
FLSmidth Minerals was recently faced with the challenge of fabricating and delivering a 12-m-diameter leach feed thickener tank to Energy Resources of Australia’s Ranger uranium mine in Australia’s Northern Territory.

Normally a thickener is built, lined and commissioned on site. However, FLSmidth Minerals had another idea. Why not build the tank in Darwin, NT, and deliver it in one piece? The thickener was subsequently constructed by EC & E Pty. Ltd. at Berrimah, near Port Darwin. A natural rubber lining was installed by Linatex while the tank was at the factory.

Delivery to the mine required a crane, a semi-hauler trailer and a 230-km trip on a public highway. After an eight-hour drive the thickener was delivered and installed in under four hours, according to the company, with the rubber-lined mechanicals, bridge and drive bolted in place and ready for connection to the processing plant.

As featured in Womp 08 Vol 2 - www.womp-int.com