Corrosion Market

We have gained widespread recognition in the FRP industry including the corrosion market with major contracts in Queensland and Western Australia for large (up to 15.5metre x 7.5 metre) copper and nickle processing tanks. According to Norm Watt, BAC’s Managing Director, the Company looked for ways of growing its business when the end of the submarine contract was in sight. “We took a look at where our well established design, engineering and manufacturing skills could be directed in future to grow the business and we came up with the corrosion industry. It’s large and it’s growing, two criteria we were seeking”, he said. The marketing campaign aimed at engineering companies returned dividends when we were awarded a major contract by Ausenco, Engineers and Project Managers of Brisbane, for the design and construction of a set of copper processing tanks for the Great Australian Copper Project at Cloncurry in Queensland’s north west. The company’s successful bid for this project was a big step towards our expansion into the corrosion industry. The Ausenco contract called for the design and fabrication of six 2.4m dia x 2.8m high cylindrical filter feed tanks and three 15m x 5.5m x 1m high rectangular settling tanks. The tanks form three separate slurry processing systems which are part of the copper mine’s solvent extraction plant. The CAWSE Nickel mine in Western Australia presented BAC with another significant challenge. The 10 nickel processing tanks (15 metre x 7 metre) were required to be freestanding structures capable of withstanding wind and earthquake loads while simultaneously tolerating a wide range of pH values from 1 to 10. BAC also manufactured a reusable transport frame capable of delivering 2 tanks at a time which would avoid the transfer of high loads from the truck frame into the tanks during transport.