Browns Oxide

Compass Resources engaged Altus to undertake the full design of their Copper, Nickel and Cobalt plant south of Darwin. Altus is responsible for the mechanical, electrical and instrumentation design, along with supervision of the civil and structural design of the plant. The total budget of the project is $150 million. The first of its kind in Australia, the RIP plant of the refinery has been designed for an operational period of only five years but without any compromise to design integrity and safety. Plant production capacity is 10,000 tonnes of copper, 1000 tonnes of cobalt and 750 tonnes of Nickel per annum.

Altus has undertaken the design of:

• The general layout of the plant,
• Acid Leach tanks, pipes, pumps, hoppers, platforms and access bridge,
• Pipes, pumps, hoppers, access platforms and bridges in the CCD area,
• RIP tanks, Elution Columns, Equipment pipes, pumps, hoppers, platforms and access bridge,
• Nickel/Cobalt Precipitation area tanks, pipes, pumps, hoppers, platforms and access bridge,
• Iron Precipitation tanks, pipes, pumps, hoppers, platforms and access bridge,
• Electrowinning area general arrangement, pipes, pumps and access platforms and bridges,
• Plant Process control, valving and equipment safety isolation,
• Full plant HAZOP and safety review,
• Plant electrical distribution and
• Plant ancillary and services.