Flood Immunity, Marandoo Mine Site

Marandoo mine site is an iron ore open pit mine owned and operated by RioTino in the Pilbara. The mine site is situated on the upstream side of the heritage listed Karijini National Park which requires all operations to be undertaken under strict environmental requirements.
In order to protect the mine against flooding Kirsty was responsible for: designing flood diversion drains and overland flow management including, concept design, drainage design, earthworks design, immunity assessments, rainfall runoff assessments, culvert design, client approval, cost benefit analysis and flood risk assessments.
Throughout the project the project team worked successfully with the following Authorities for design input and approvals: Marandoo's Safety Team, RioTinto Pilbara Iron's Environment team, Marandoo Mining Team, Telstra, Power and Water Corporation (WA), EPA (WA) and Department of Environment (WA).

Key Project Achievements:

• Study and concept design completed on time, to budget and to a high quality.
   
• Concept approved by the Western Australian Environmental Protection Authority.
   
• Mine protection provided with 1 in 20 year flood immunity.
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Project Learnings:

• Development of good quality relationships in remote areas can save time on the number of site visits and provide smooth delivery of the information and data.
   
• By undertaking a sufficiently detailed survey a high qualify hydraulic assessment could be undertaken.