Milestone for African mine project

The Guinea Alumina Corporation (GAC) bauxite mine project in the Boké region of Guinea, Africa recently achieved a construction milestone when the project team safely set the car dumper facility’s 408 tonne rotating assembly into its final location.

Fluor is providing engineering and program management services on the project, which encompasses a 10.8 million-metric-tonne-per-year bauxite mine, a dedicated export terminal in Port Kamsar and rail and other infrastructure upgrades.

The car dumper facility is critical to the mine’s logistics and operations. Bauxite is transported from the mine to the Port Kamsar site by rail, where it is then shipped to customers. At the port, the car dumper facility unloads bauxite from the rail wagons, with the rotating assembly playing a critical part.

It is reported that it took three days, multiple self-propelled modular transporters and two 680 tonne cranes to complete the milestone.

The final lift required special preparations in order to hoist the 408 tonne assembly over the car dumper facility’s walls and into its final location. A 200-person team, representing 14 different countries and contractors, completed the lift.

“This milestone was achieved due to the collective efforts between the GAC and Fluor project teams,” said Troy Gilson, Fluor’s project director. “It demonstrates the importance of having a strong relationship built around teamwork and trust. This critical milestone was executed safely after six months of detailed planning.”

The project is expected to complete in 2019.