EBA's
Water and Marine Group (Hayco) saw the culmination of a 15-year
project this November with the successful installation of
the deep-sea tailing placement (DSTP) pipeline at Simberi
Island, Papua New Guinea.
Hayco has been involved with the project from feasibility level studies and environmental modelling for DSTP permitting, to preliminary and detailed design of the pipeline, and finally construction supervision. Dr. Jim Stronach and Lillian Zaremba of Hayco travelled to Papua New Guinea in November 2007 to observe the installation of the pipeline (contracted to VanDive Marine Consultants of Vancouver).
The pipeline is 528 m long, with its terminus at a depth
of 130 m. The 800 mm diameter HDPE pipe is ballasted against
waves and currents using concrete blocks. The pipe transports
a slurry of mine tailings that has been pre-diluted with
seawater in a mixtank. Production of gold and operation
of the DSTP system is scheduled to begin in January 2008.
This page was last updated on: 1/2/2008 6:01:10 PM