Ok Tedi Gold Mine
Supporting continued mine production since the 1980s
Since the early 1980s, KCB has been involved in the design and construction monitoring of tailings and waste rock storage facilities at the Ok Tedi mine – a copper-gold open pit mine located in the remote Star Mountains of Western Province, Papua New Guinea. KCB also designed the Ok Menga 50 MW hydropower plant to supply the mine site and local communities with electricity.
“KCB’s involvement has resulted in more energized, enthusiastic and capable team members and an increase in general morale, the end result of which is a team that competently meet OTML’s CSR objectives.”
Challenges
- Over 60% of mine area in active landslide terrain
- More than 10 m of annual rainfall
- Mine located in a seismically-active area
- High pyrite tailings
- High cost of diesel power supply
- Upgrade mine power supply from diesel to run-of-river hydropower
Solutions
- Located tailings storage (dredged sand) at Bige site, away from landslide-prone terrain
- Constructed tailings dam with hydraulic fill which can be placed in wet weather
- Submerge pyrite tailings in tailings storage area
- Completed feasibility study of a hydropower plant on the Ok Menga River
- Completed final design of a 50 MW hydropower plant consisting of a diversion weir and intake, power tunnel, powerhouse and transmission line
- Construction monitoring and commissioning of the Ok Menga run-of-river hydropower plant
Successes
- Bige site has stored about 20 M tonnes of tailings per year since 1998
- Ok Menga hydropower plant commissioned in 1988
Paper:
Brand, K., M.J. Ind, M. Ridd, M. Thompson and L. Murray. 2015. “Evolution of the Bige Stockpile Closure Design for the Ok Tedi Mine,” in Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Mine Closure, 1-3 June 2015. Vancouver, B.C.
