McLanahan Ships Modular Thickeners To Asia Pacific Mining Operation
In 2017, McLanahan was approached to offer solutions for a tailings issue at a mining operation in the Asia Pacific region.
Working collaboratively with the site operations team, McLanahan performed a series of settling and filtration tests to the customer’s requirements. Testing was performed both at site and back in McLanahan's test labs in New South Wales, Australia. Once the settling and filtration tests had been completed, the customer committed to the investment of a full-scale tailings dewatering plant to replace the on-site pilot plant.
McLanahan Elevated High-Rate Thickeners can be preassmbled to minimize shipping and assembly costs.
The first stage of the dry stack tailings solution included the design and supply of two 38m stainless steel Elevated High-Rate Thickeners, designed and engineered in-house by the McLanahan engineering team.
Multiple options for project logistics and execution were considered, ranging from supplying the tanks in two halves to delivery of the tanks in smaller pieces with extensive site welding. Working with the customer's team and considering the site location, climatic conditions and freight costs, McLanahan shipped the large, preassembled tank pieces by barge from a seaside fabrication facility.
The Thickeners were manufactured and underwent a trial assembly in 2019 in preparation for their journey to site in 2020.