Dewatering at Marandoo

Located 109 kilometres northeast of Paraburdoo in the Pilbara region of Western Australia is Rio Tinto’s Marandoo Mine.  

In August 2021 Monadelphous was awarded a contract for the Marandoo Dewatering Sump Project, with anticipated project completion in October 2022. 

Operations Manager David Mangano said that the team were able to offer the customer a turnkey solution, executing all civil, structural, mechanical, piping, electrical and instrumentation works inhouse.  

“This was our first dewatering project under the customer’s Sustaining Capital Panel and it is a really important scope of work for the Marandoo Mine,” he said.  

“It involved the supply and install of dewatering infrastructure which includes but is not limited to: turkeys nest; sediment ponds; 31km of HDPE piping; pump station; overhead powerlines; transformer; substation; telemetry system; testing and commissioning.” 

(In case you are wondering what a turkey’s nest is, it is not a place for a large bird to rest but a small earth dam adjacent to, and higher than, a larger earth dam, where water is fed through gravity). 

As the project nears completion, the team continue to maintain their focus on delivering the safe way which has sustained an excellent safety record with no recordable injuries. 

David said that the team faced some challenges during the project but were able to work closely with the customer to provide efficient solutions. 

“Our piping route was originally planned to be installed through a heritage creek. We worked with the customer to address this by rerouting the piping away from this area, ensuring the heritage creek was not affected,” he said.  

Dewatering is an important part of mining and occurs when a mine extends below the groundwater table. It is fundamental in allowing the mine to continue operating. In this case the dewatering project was undertaken to avoid further impacts to mining operations. 

Great work to the team at Marandoo for their work so far on this project.