DHHI’s manufacturing capacity has helped Hancock Prospecting reduce risk at its mine sites.
Roy Hill is Hancock Prospecting’s majority owned multi-billion-dollar mega iron ore mine, one of the largest in Australia.
Supporting this mine is a 344km-long heavy haul railway system, along with purpose-built port facilities.
More than a decade ago, when the project was looking to ramp up production, a feasibility study was conducted to find a supplier for balanced machinery.
Hancock Prospecting chief executive officer, projects, Sanjiv Manchanda, told ABHR that Roy Hill had consciously aggregated its purchase orders and contracts to a larger value.
“Our project delivery strategy was to consolidate procurement and contracting into large packages to minimise interfaces,” he said.
“We wanted to pick the contractors and suppliers that were capable of managing these interfaces among themselves, rather than making us have to manage that risk.
“It also reduced the add-on costs that we might incur from needing to manage external suppliers – instead of having inspectors at 10 locations, you only need to have them at one. It made the logistics of delivering a project relatively simple.”
As part of a competitive tender process, Roy Hill found a company that could act as a single source for the entire suite of balanced machines – from stackers, and shiploaders, to reclaimers, and car dumpers.
While other suppliers could provide most of the machines, DHHI was one of the few that had the capacity to provide the full range.
DHHI is a specialist when it comes to manufacturing heavy machinery. Each year, the company produces around 600,000 tonnes of structural and mechanical equipment from its facilities in China.
Manchanda said DHHI’s capacity to engineer and fabricate the equipment gave Roy Hill greater certainty that a quality product would be delivered on time.
“DHHI’s shop floor capacity is fairly large and unique in that regard,” he said. “The size of equipment they can manufacture ranges from the smallest of the small to the largest of the large, with vertical integration for sub-componentry.
“Because of this supply chain, DHHI reduces delivery risk, interface risk, and management risk.
“Their engineering capability is also very good. They’re always open to learning. These machines needed to comply with Australian standards, adhering to specific design criteria, and if there was anything that they didn’t know, they stood out in how they applied themselves to acquire that knowledge.”
DHHI’s project teams in Australia and China work closely with each other. The company’s Australian engineers support the quality control, documentation, and localisation processes, ensuring the manufacturing powerhouse is providing equipment that is fit for purpose. While the company’s main products in the Australian market are balanced machines, its offerings are exceptionally diverse.
For example, DHHI was a critical part of Hancock Prospecting’s Wet High Intensity Magnetic Separator (WHIMS) project.
The plant used magnets to recover high grade, ultra-fine iron ore from the tailings that would have otherwise ended up as waste.
Manchanda said DHHI played a very different role in the project, taking over the early preliminary design and developing a cost effective iron ore recovery process design, supplying the structural steel and modules required for the plant.
“There was a lot of other process equipment which they don’t manufacture,” he said. “But they aggregated the equipment from other suppliers and modularised everything on their shop floor.”
“The equipment was tested and then shipped as combined modules. They then undertook site supervision to make sure it all came together well.”
DHHI’s flexibility allowed it to reduce the amount of risk in the project overall. The modular design of the equipment meant that less personnel and cranes were required on site, reducing potential hazards.
Manchanda said the aim for project managers in the Pilbara is to reduce as many site-based man hours as possible.
“In remote places in Western Australia, the logistics and accommodation of having a large workforce is always to be avoided,” he said.
“The ability to test the equipment off site means that if you find a problem, you can fix it at the source, rather than finding out that something doesn’t work when it arrives in Australia.”
Following on from the success of the design, delivery and performance of the Roy Hill WHIMS plant, DHHI has retained and imbedded the skills of that project team into the Perth and Dalian based teams providing a gateway for Australian miners to access the depth of knowledge and experience DHHI has within the Chinese mining environment of single sourced process design technology, modularised fabrication and delivery.
Long-term partnership
To provide Australian miners like Hancock Prospecting with the best support possible, DHHI has expanded its local presence in WA.
The company’s project execution office in Osborne Park, Perth, has undergone significant expansion, in both balanced machine and materials handling and concentrator plant design and delivery. From here, DHHI’s team of balanced machine engineers and aftermarket personnel can support customers for the whole lifecycle of their assets, while the processing plant teams have been able to provide in-depth EPC style studies to Australian miners.
Manchanda said DHHI’s local support is vital for fast response times. If a technician is required, they can get on the next charter plane up to the site as soon as possible, without needing to deal with international customs and visas.
“DHHI has the people and resources that are familiar with the equipment, staff, and supply chain,” he said.
“Support from the original equipment manufacturer is crucial for any plant that requires a certain reliability and availability. There’s a high level of confidence and trust between the two companies. Both parties have invested a lot into the relationship at various levels of the respective organisations.
“We know that if there’s anything wrong, we can reach out to them and know we will be supported with a timely and appropriate response.”
