Company Profile: Hunter Valley Operations is owned by both Yancoal and Glencore who operates the HVO North and south open cut coal mines north of Singleton. Its 1,200 plus strong workforce mines some of the world’s highest quality thermal coal as well as metallurgical coal. HVO is proposing to extend its operations to 2050.
I found myself in a structural integrity / plant Maintenace team were tasked with maintaining the coal wash plant at HVO South our team included fabricators, fitters, structural engineers and mechanical engineers.
My role was to produce like for like structural replacement components which involved taking 3-D point could scans and turning them into structural fabrication drawings and drawing sets.
The role itself I found a little boring basically replacing what was existing or had corroded way over time what I did find interesting is how strong steel is and the forces a steel beam can carry with a high level of corrosion which is common in a coal was environment. In many cases there was a Skelton of a beam remaining and yet it still had the capability to carry a load.
The role itself I found a little boring basically replacing what was existing or had corroded way over time what I did find interesting is how strong steel is and the forces a steel beam can carry with a high level of corrosion which is common in a coal was environment. In many cases there was a Skelton of a beam remaining and yet it still had the capability to carry a load.
In terms of leadership there was little to no leadership it was a small team the engineering side or personal development was understand what a large load small piece of steel can carry. On the team side of things, it was really a closed shop a group of employees that had worked together for a number of years or it was not a welcoming environment.
For more information on Hunter Valley Operations (hvo.com.au)