Conveyor modules into a live plant, Mount Isa
Nine conveyor module sections placed inside an operating processing plant during a scheduled 12 hour shutdown.
PA-2498 · Processing plant, Mount Isa · 2024-03-08
The constraint
Why this lift needed a helicopter
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
How it was flown
- Load weight
- 760 kg
- Aircraft
- AS350
- Line length
- 60 m
- Crew
- 9
- Exclusion zone
- 90 m
- Lift cycles
- 9
- A joint plan was written with the site's shutdown team, including a dedicated radio channel and a permit-to-fly.
- Modules were flown from the ROM pad laydown, one at a time, with plant isolated beneath the flight path.
- Load cell telemetry was monitored live so the pilot could trim to within 50 kg of the target before commit.
- All nine sections landed and pinned inside the shutdown window.
The numbers
Time, cost and disruption
- Helicopter time on site
- 4.8 hrs
- Flight time
- 1.6 hrs
- Crane alternative
- 6 days · $184,000 + extended shutdown
- Road closures
- 0
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