A NEW by-pass road was officially approved by the Mineral Resources Authority (MRA) recently for traffic use within the Kurumbukari special mining lease area in Usino-Bundi district after it was constructed by the Ramu NiCo Management (MCC) Limited.
The new by-pass road according to country’s first nickel/cobalt developer is another milestone for the Ramu NiCo Project in Madang province.
According to Ramu NiuC (MCC), a compliance inspection by MRA in the third quarter of 2018, the KBK Mine was required to adopt an engineering solution to solve the problem non-mining vehicles crossing the mine site. The company and the KBK Mine attached great importance and quickly deployed corrective measures to ensure the mine’s compliance operation abidingly and steadily.
The new road was planned in an area where the mountain is steep and trees are so tall and dense that the GPS signal cannot be covered and the geotechnical surveyors cannot place the measurement lines. In order to ensure the safe and efficient completion of the construction of the road, the KBK Mine arranged for highly skilled and proficient personnel, and deployed the best condition and latest excavator to build the most complex section of the road.
MCC stated that in the process of gradually advancing the road, the construction team temporarily increase the Bailey bridge, refuge line, road fence and other complex works, because of the risk of landslide as the mountain slope is too steep and the challenge of constructing steps on top of cliffs and it is difficult to store dumped materials on the side of the ditch to construct the retaining wall. After two and a half years of unremitting efforts of the construction team and the company’s coordinated deployment and support of funds, personnel and technology, a wide and flat new road was presented in front of the general public, which was transformed from a primitive jungle.
The by-pass road is about 4.5kms long and connects the entrance checkpoints at both ends of the KBK Mine. After the road is completed and put into use, villagers in the communities around the mine do not need to pass through the mine site to enter and exit the relocation village, which not only meets the travel needs of residents, but also effectively eliminates the safety hazards on mine site.