On the road to Jimblebar

After 15 months and 100,000 hours worked, our HASHI 3-4 project team at BHP’s Jimblebar Mine in the Pilbara region of WA successfully and safely completed the 1.4 kilometre haul road which links the Hashimoto mine deposits to existing infrastructure. 

This road is an important haul route for BHP as it is the only access to these mining areas east of the Jimblebar Creek.  

The road surface needed to be split into heavy vehicle and light vehicle sections, separated by a safety bund, with 1.8m high windrows, which are commonly used on mine sites as a barrier system to prevent vehicles from running off roads. In addition, the project included installing a combination of precast concrete block and rock boulder delineation, rock armour and 1,696m of steel pipe culverts, as well as 265,000m3 of fill.  

The project, which is located on a low-lying flood plain in close proximity to the Jimblebar Creek, had some challenges, including the team having to navigate the wet season and COVID impacting personnel. 

Our Operations Manager, David Mangano, commended the team for overcoming the challenges of the project and for maintaining an exceptional safety record throughout the project. 

“With the haul road crossing Jimblebar Creek and a major floodway, the project was certainly impacted by Mother Nature, but the team did well to work through it,” he said. 

“We should be really proud of ourselves for maintaining zero recordable injuries and zero lost time injuries for the duration of the project – a great end result for our team and our customer.” 

Check out the short video below of the new haulage road: 

Project Fast Facts: 

• Personnel– peaked at 45 
• Workhours- 109,841 
• Fuel consumption – 820,576 litres 
• Involved 265,000 m3 of fill, including screening 54,000 m3 of pavement materials