Outokumpu Technology has installed a fresh water recovery plant to optimize environmental benefits on turnkey basis at BHPB’s Finucane Island facilities at Port Hedland in Western Australia. Outokumpu Technology’s turnkey package comprised of design and all mechanical and structural works for a 15m Supaflo high rate thickener, feed trommel, flocculant mixing plant, clarified water storage tank and more than 1.6km of pipe work and associated valving. Designed to cope with fluctuating feed rates that change from minute to minute, the system screens process water and filters solids, then removes the thickened tailings, before routing the process water to the clarified water storage tank for re-circulation throughout the plant. Tailings, meanwhile, are carried by the pipe work system to the plant’s tailings dam. The plant, incorporating Supaflo high rate thickening technology, is integral to the plant expansion, which forms part of BHP Billion’s rapid growth project No3, which will increase annual iron ore sales capacity by 20 million tonnes.
