When Mackay-based GROUP Senior Mechanical Engineer Chris Grant was called down to Cobar in Central New South Wales to retrieve a disassembled gold concentration plant, the last thing on his mind was South America.

Mr Grant said GROUP’s initial role was to support another contractor in the preparation of a complete scope of work so they could price the transport, labour and materials to refurbish the equipment in Newcastle.

“We were also hired to identify the plant equipment and its function,” Mr Grant said.

“Proprietary items, pumps, motors, feeders, etc were to be serviced so the client, Troy Resources, received everything on the dock ready for shipping to Argentina.”

Because GROUP delivered a comprehensive scope after just three days on site and two days follow up from the office, they were invited back to Cobar to find the mill and crusher plant steelwork, identify it, place it on drawings, colour-code and tag it for transportation and reassembly in Argentina.

“Due to the volume of steel and the unfortunate quality of the marking plan drawings, we spent about three weeks working on this real life mecano set in Cobar, which is about three hours west of Dubbo,” Chris said.

“At the time, that’s as far as we thought we would travel for this project.”

But so impressed was Troy Resources with the speed at which GROUP established order among the scattered beams, columns and bracing spread across paddocks that they requested GROUP to travel to Argentina to finish the task of reassembly.

“Troy Resources placed an order for GROUP to go to Argentina for four weeks, primarily to assemble the mill steel,” Mr Grant said.

“We responded within two weeks notice.”

In Argentina, GROUP was provided with an interpreter and a team of 20 local workers and once again completed more than was expected, which led to an extension of time to assist with other critical tasks.

“Due to the fact we progressed ahead of schedule, we were also asked to assemble the crusher plant, which breaks up the rocks before they enter the mill,” Mr Grant said.

“We began this concurrently, which kept the assigned work crew busy when tasks or cranes were limited in the mill area.”

Back at the Mackay office, GROUP was also commissioned to design the installation of a rock breaker over the crusher.

“The constant snowball effect leading to more work was a result from the excellent synergy between GROUP and Troy Resources, who were extremely professional and great to work with,” he said.