Ranger Mine Rehabilitation Project

Energy Resources of Australia (ERA)

ERA is part of the Rio Tinto Group, and this project sees us work on site with operational teams from ERA, Veolia, and Bechtel.

Instalec Group has an established and experienced team working on the Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) Rehabilitation Project at Ranger Mine.  Located near the remote community of Jabiru in the Northern Territory, this is one of the biggest mining closure sites in the world. 

Environmental Context and Scope

Adjacent to World and National Heritage sites and Aboriginal land, the mine is subject to some of the world’s strictest environmental protection regulations.  From an electrical services perspective, we undertake construction and installation projects on the mine’s infrastructure that help convert contaminated wastewater to water suitable for environmental release.  This forms part of the rehabilitation activities being undertaken by ERA.

Project Overview

The project requires the Instalec Group team to undertake the supply, installation, commissioning, testing and maintenance of a range of electrical assets (High Voltage, Low Voltage, Extra Low Voltage), and electrical instrumentation and control systems.  A broad range of assets are involved, from electrical supply feeds, water treatment plants, tailings transfer systems, power generators, flow metres, pumping system installations and refurbishments to motor installations, brine concentrator plant upgrades and the electrical aspects of the Osmoflo Brine Squeezer (OBS).  Associated with these projects are minor civil construction, refrigeration, building refurbishment and management of fabrication works.  Projects delivered by Instalec Group range in cost from $10,000 to $5M.

Safety and Technical Excellence

Our team is responsible for identifying hazards, ensuring isolations and controls are in place to manage safety and technical risks, testing and commissioning to ensure assets are operational, and identifying improvement works. 

The team at Instalec Group (and previously as JLB Contracting) have provided project, maintenance and installation work under a specialist services and multidisciplinary maintenance contract at Ranger Mine since 2012.  As a result, our team has an in-depth knowledge of the mine’s infrastructure and familiarity with ERA/Rio Tinto systems.  This can include health and safety work procedures, cardinal site safety rules, permits and isolation requirements along with project documentation requirements, including Inspection and Test Reports (ITRs) for a range of assets on site.

Operational Complexity

Being an active production site whilst undergoing decommissioning and rehabilitation adds complexity.  Our team works closely with the site operators to manage mining specific risks and technical challenges.  This means we aim to keep the plant running whilst work is done. We map out the timing of stages and develop work methodologies to safely deliver the work within required shutdown windows and effectively control hazards so that the assets can be online and treating wastewater as intended.

Our overriding priority is ensuring everyone goes home safely, every day.  On this project we apply our expertise, technical capability, safe work methodologies, qualifications, training, inductions, and safety equipment to ensure we can implement and deliver on what we say we will do. 

We have a proven track record in the safe delivery of works at Ranger Mine hazardous areas, managing the risks and technical challenges presented by the operational context and interfaces of mining operations.  Our team consistently receives positive feedback from ERA Project Managers and Electrical Superintendents for safe and productive work.

Community Commitment

Our team travels to this remote location and rotates through rosters whilst living on site.  This means we can effectively and efficiently plan with the operators on site the construction and installation projects to hit key milestones and outcomes for the rehabilitation of Ranger Mine.

We also undertake minor civil construction, refrigeration, and management of fabrication works to complement the specialist electrical services we provide at Ranger.  This sees our team operating our excavators or hydro excavation/vacuum truck to dig trenches to lay electrical and fibre optic cable around existing infrastructure.  We also construct buildings, such as the Tailings Storage Facility, that protect assets from the weather and unauthorised access which is important given the hazard High Voltage electricity presents. 

The carpenters and trades assistants in our team are also helping deliver the Jabiru Housing Rectification Package of works.  This building refurbishment program includes air conditioner installations, kitchens, bathrooms, cabinetry, tiling and plastering.  These works see mine industry workforce housing that is no longer required, refurbished for transition to Jabiru Kabolkmakmen.  This facilitates social and economic development for Jabiru, Kakadu, and West Arnhem communities.  Our team is proud to play a part in creating this positive legacy for the local community.