Wittenoom Asbestos Mine & Town Closure

Stage 1

The Wittenoom Township is a small town located at the mouth of the Wittenoom Gorge in Western Australia.The town was established in 1947 to house the asbestos mine workers and soon developed with good shopping facilities, hotel, bank, hospital, cinemas, racetrack and supported a population of 1,500. At its peak Wittenoom was the largest town in the northwest of Western Australia.

The project involved:

• The demolition of 220 asbestos contaminated buildings; including a hotel, bank, hospital, cinemas, racetrack and residential housing 
• The demolition took place whilst the town remained occupied with approximately 20 residents and public facilities
• The removal and stabilisation of 60,000 cubic metres of debris and soil grossly contaminated with crocidolite asbestos mine tailings and raw asbestos fibers
• The excavation and capping of a purpose built and engineered landfill constructed 10km from the town centre
• All personnel involved with the project were equipped with full protective clothing and respirators for the duration of the project
• Specially designed earthmoving equipment and vehicle air conditioning systems were manufactured to protect operators from asbestos exposure.
• Special demolition techniques were utilised for the township demolition to minimise dust separation
• Air sampling was carried out for the duration of the project and McMahon Services completed this enormous  task within the safety standards required by Australian and Western Australian Government statutory regulations

Stage 2

McMahon Services undertook the demolition and removal of contaminated plant and equipment from the world renowned Blue Asbestos Mine at Wittenoom in the Pilbara region. Wittenoom is a small town located at the mouth of the Wittenoom Gorge, on the northern escarpment of the Hamersley Range. Prospector Lang Hancock commenced mining blue asbestos in 1943. The operation was later taken over by CSR subsidiary, Australian Blue Asbestos.

At its peak Wittenoom was the largest town in the northwest with a population of 1,500. The asbestos was bagged at the mine and then trucked to Roebourne and Port Sampson for loading onto ships. The mine was once described as the most polluted place in Australia.

McMahon Services were selected for the contract due to their expertise in the safe control of airborne Asbestos dust which involved the unique modification of plant and machinery cabins to prevent contamination entering the operators space including:

• Mechanical modifications to ensure cabins were airtight
• This included seal replacement and design changes
• Air conditioning fan and filter modifications
• Cabins fitted with HEPA filtered positive pressure fans
• An extensive air monitoring sampling programme
• Other techniques used to avoid dust separation included the use of specialised HEPA filtered industrial vacuum extractor systems and the use of truck mounted robotic water cannons and spray equipment to soak and saturate work zones prior and during remediation works