Tropicana Gold Project
Client
Lycopodium Minerals Tropicana Joint Venture (AngloGold Ashanti Australia and Independence Group)Location
Western Australia, AustraliaHighlights
- 224 km unsealed access road design
- Stormwater management
- Aerodrome design for passenger jet aircraft
- Construction supervision QA/QC, including provision of soils testing laboratory
Project Overview
The Tropicana Gold Project is located in the Goldfields region of Western Australia, approximately 400 km northeast of the Kalgoorlie-Boulder. It is comprised of open pit mines, process plant, tailings storage facility (TSF), all-weather airstrip, access roads, stormwater diversion channels, and accommodation village.
Project Role
Knight Piésold was engaged to provide specialist engineering support for:
- Design of a 224-km-long, 9-m-wide unsealed site access road, including bridges, culverts, and surface water management.
- Design and construction of the project’s airstrip based on the Fokker 100 jet‑engine passenger aircraft. A 2.58-km-long airstrip was constructed consisting of a 2.1-km-long, 30-m-wide bitumen sealed runway and sealed taxiway.
- Groundwater investigation along the access road for road construction purposes. Work included groundwater drilling and pumping test investigation.
- Geotechnical investigation and settlement analysis for the site process plant.
- Construction supervision, QA/QC management, and testing services for site access road, aerodrome, TSF, internal site roads, and surface water management.
- TSF design and site investigation to applicable guidelines, including specific client environmental requirements.
- Ongoing TSF operational support, including technical audits and QA/QC supervision of raise construction and integrated waste landform development.