Olympic Dam

Economical evaluation

Hydrometallurgy

Australia

Evaluation of a potential extension of an existing facility in a remote location, carried out in cooperation with one of the largest EPS contractors. Even at this early stage, strong standardization requirements were defined by the customer.

Although the project was executed at a single location, different parts of the plant—depending on the process scope—were subcontracted to multiple EPS contractors. This led to varying approaches to scope definition within the same project, driven by the strong and well-established internal cultures of the different EPS contractors.

CAPEX estimation and pre-design activities were carried out in parallel by several competing contractors. This allowed the end customer to identify and compare the strengths of each party involved in the project. Already at the economic evaluation stage, the pre-design was developed with the objective of maximizing pre-assembly, including equipment structures, for off-site fabrication. This requirement arose due to the remote location of the project site.