Mining and Infrastructure
Services to the mining industry include the following:
- Surveillance inspections as required by Dams Safety Committee.
- Haul road design.
- Stacker reclaimer foundations.
- Stockpile and spoil dump stability.
- Pit wall stability.
- Tailings management and emplacement design.
- Highwall stability assessment.
- Rail loop investigation.
- Stability of underground workings.
- Groundwater modelling and control.
- Excavatability.
- Rehabilitation of open cut mines.
Sample Projects:
- Tailings dam design at United Colliery.
- Foundations for conveyor and transfer towers at Ulan Colliery.
- Ravensworth – haul road, bridge, and conveyor investigation and stabilisation of rail loop cut.
- Warkworth – highwall and dragline dump stability along with development of design charts.
- Oceanic Coal – 200 m deep by 4.5 m diameter ventilation shaft.
- Powercoal – investigation and design of drift access.
- Bayswater Colliery and Mount Arthur Coal – highwall stability auditing, in pit dump design, and risk management training.
- Mt Arthur Coal – material testing and haul road design.
Mine slope stability
RCA provides mine slope stability services to the coal mining industry in NSW. Services provided include the following:
- Preparation of slope stability management plans.
- Regular pit slope stability reviews involving hazard identification and risk assessment.
- Pit slope design including rock walls and spoil piles.
- Investigation of rock and spoil failures and recommendations for remedial/recovery works.
Software includes:
- Galena, Phase2 7.0, SlopeW, DIPS and RocFall.
RCA has expertise with slope management tools including the following:
- Slope stability radar.
- Extensometers.
- Inclinometers.
- Vibrating Wire Piezometers.
RCA recognises that management of slope instability risk and the appropriate design of spoil piles and rock walls are fundamental to a successful mining operation. RCA has developed extensive experience in the control of stability risk in open cut mines and can provide practical and reliable advice to assist mining operations.
Slope Stability Risk Assesment
RCA provides comprehensive slope risk assessment services to the Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) and Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC), involving identification of slope hazards (eg, rockfall or mud slide), assessed risk to road or rail users and recommendations for control and maintenance measures to reduce slope risk.
Recent projects completed for the RTA include the following:
- Assessment of over 500 sites within the Sydney metropolitan area.
- Great Western Highway (Parramatta to Lithgow) involving over 100 sites.
ARTC requires annual slope stability risk reviews and RCA regularly inspects the following lines:
- Main South Line (Campbelltown to Melbourne).
- North Coast Line (Newcastle to QLD border).
- Hunter Valley Lines.
Residential Developments
RCA services all geotechnical facets of both large and small residential developments. From planning to construction RCA services include the following:
- Terrain assessment and urban capability assessment to assist the client with rezoning applications and concept layout.
- Detailed geotechnical investigations for Development Applications including site classification, pavement design and earthworks specification.
- Input into the design phase including review and certification of plans, construction advice, testing and inspection.
- Provision of summary reports of construction.
Other services include the following:
- Development guidelines.
- Water and sewer pipelines.
- Assessment of damaged houses.
- Design of retaining structures.
Commercial/Industrial
RCA is a specialist in redevelopment of industrial sites with extensive experience on sites including the following:
- Steel River, Newcastle.
- Kooragang Island, Newcastle.
- BHP Closure Site, Newcastle.
- Honeysuckle Rail Yards.
- Pasminco, Cockle Creek.
- Goninans, Broadmeadow and Landsowne.
- Boral Quarries at Meadowbank and Greystanes.
Solutions for these sites have included design of low permeability caps, dynamic compaction to provide deep compaction, piling and provision of deep engineered fills.
Commercial developments include the following:
- High rise commercial/residential projects.
- Tourist developments – golf courses, resorts, leisure centres and sport facilities.
- Shopping centres.
- Newcastle Airport Terminal Extension and parking facilities.
Industrial developments include the following:
- Wire rope works and One Steel extensions.
- Redevelopment of Pasminco, Cockle Creek.
- Extensions at Goninans, Broadmeadow and Landsdowne.
- Redevelopment of BHP Lands including Steel River, BHP Closure Area and Kooragang Island.
Port and Wharf Projects
RCA provides specialist services for investigation and design for port and wharf related engineering activities, including the following:
- Piling investigation design.
- Wharfs and marine structures.
- Sheet pile walls.
- Retaining walls.
- Revetments/shoreline stabilisation.
Roads, Rails and Pavements
RCA has extensive experience with investigation, design and construction supervision for road and rail projects. Services include the following:
- Mapping and terrain evaluation.
- Geotechnical investigation for road and rail design including route evaluation, concept design, detailed design and DCM.
- Foundation investigation for bridges, culverts, retaining walls, arches and reinforced earth walls.
- Pavement design for local roads, highways, airfields and heavy duty pavements.
- Cut and fill batter stability assessment and design.
- Material evaluation.
- Pavement rehabilitation.
- Embankment stability and construction on soft soils including surcharging and provision of wick drains.
- Construction monitoring.
- Instrumentation.
Recent Pacific Highway Upgrade projects have included – Sapphire to Woolgoolga, Karuah-Bulahdelah Stages 2 and 3, Ballina Bypass, Brunswick to Yelgun and Taree to Coopernook Pacific.
RCA has undertaken numerous bridge investigations for Councils including Newcastle, Dungog, Taree, Singleton, Ballina, Kempsey, Port Stephens and Cessnock.
RCA specialises in rail track formation assessment. Geotechnical investigations for proposed rail track reconstructions are undertaken to determine the cause of poor track performance and to design remedial works. Poor track performance is generally caused by poor drainage and/or an inadequate formation thickness. Areas of poor track performance require constant maintenance with high associated costs. RCA is able to quickly determine the cause of the poor track performance which is critical to the design of appropriate remedial works to improve long-term track performance and therefore reduce ongoing maintenance costs.
WATER INFRASTRUCTURE AND MANAGEMENT
- Route evaluation for water/sewer pipelines.
- Pumping stations and waste water treatment works.
- Dams (including Chichester, Coepolly, Karuah and Drayton).
- Dewatering of excavations and groundwater modelling.
- On site effluent disposal.
- Infiltration of stormwater.
- Water sensitive urban design.
- Reservoir management.