Conveyor modules into a live plant, Mount Isa
Three conveyor modules placed inside an operating processing plant during a scheduled 12 hour shutdown.
The constraint
Modules landed between existing structures with 1.9 m of clearance either side.
No crawler crane could be walked into the plant without dismantling a pipe rack.
Every additional shutdown hour carried a six-figure production cost.
The lift
- Load weight
- 3,180 kg
- Aircraft
- Black Hawk UH-60
- Line length
- 60 m
- Crew
- 9
- Exclusion zone
- 90 m
- Lift cycles
- 3
01A joint plan was written with the site's shutdown team, including a dedicated radio channel and a permit-to-fly.
02Modules were flown from the ROM pad laydown, one at a time, with plant isolated beneath the flight path.
03Load cell telemetry was monitored live so the pilot could trim to within 200 kg of the target before commit.
04All three modules landed and pinned inside the shutdown window.
The numbers
- Time on site
- 4.8 hrs
- Flight time
- 1.6 hrs
- Crane alternative
- 6 days · $184,000 + extended shutdown
- Road closures
- 0
On site
Flight record
Long line operations, Black Hawk UH-60, Processing plant, Mount Isa.
Client record
“The shutdown window was the whole project. They hit it with hours to spare and nothing was dismantled to get in.”