Image: MBP Bauxite Project: First long-distance bauxite ore slurry pipeline

Minerals & Metals2 min read

MBP Bauxite Project: First long-distance bauxite ore slurry pipeline

Location
Brazil
Client
Mineracao Bauxita Paragominas
Timeframe
2004 - to present

Ausenco collaborated with Mineracao Bauxita Paragominas (MBP) to design and demonstrate the feasibility of the world’s first bauxite ore slurry pipeline at their Miltonia mine project in Brazil. Overcoming challenges our client faced in earlier testing, our pipeline team was able to develop an operable solution, enabling MBP to proceed with the project.

The challenge

The MBP Miltonia mine is an 8 million tons per year (Mtpy) bauxite mine located in Pará state in northern Brazil, with expansion plans to reach 13 Mtpy. MBP approached Ausenco to help them engineer and build a 244 km bauxite ore slurry pipeline from the mine site to the Alunorte aluminum plant terminal facilities in Barcarena on an Amazon estuary near Belem. Building roads to truck the ore to the terminal raised significant political challenges, as the route would have passed through a culturally sensitive indigenous area and constructing a rail line proved prohibitively expensive. While a slurry pipeline was the preferred solution, early pipeline testing undertaken by MBP engineers showed frequent plugging that would have made the project unfeasible.

The better way

Ausenco engineers brought years of pipeline experience to the challenge of creating what would be the world’s first bauxite slurry pipeline. With extensive slurry hydraulic knowledge and experience with the valves, pumps and other equipment required, plus the testing methodologies that would prove the pipeline’s feasibility, our engineers were able to revisit the challenge and find a workable solution.

Our engineering lab tests showed that a 24-inch outside diameter pipe would provide optimal results at specific slurry concentrations and pumping velocities. After pre-feasibility and feasibility studies were finished, Ausenco completed the basic and detailed engineering for the entire pipeline operation. The design used a single pumping station located at the beneficiation plant, with a second intermediate pump station to be installed as production increased. The pipeline operation included four pressure monitoring stations along the route, a fiber optic telecommunications system, and the use of Pipeline Advisor™ for leak detection and process optimization. Our engineers also provided detailed engineering for the pipeline terminal tankage facilities and assisted in filter selection at the filter plant.

An added consideration in the geographical layout of the pipeline was the decision to take an alternate route that avoided crossing through an area set aside for ethnic groups.

The outcome

Ausenco’s slurry pipeline engineering experience and lab testing results showed that a world’s-first bauxite slurry pipeline was possible at the Miltonia mine, with our teams providing specific engineering and operational specifications. The feasibility of this solution allowed MBP to move forward with project development, creating an operating asset they were able to later sell to the current owner Hydro. Ausenco teams continue to be involved in the operation by evaluating pipe abrasion numbers that set maintenance and pipe replacement schedules, and then supervising the implementation.