Coffey says it will be one of the few providers in the world that can offer specialist services highly sought after by the mining, oil and gas, and infrastructure sectors.
Coffey?s rock-testing capabilities can be applied to quarries, infrastructure, tunnelling, oil and gas, and mining projects, with analysis possible on samples from anywhere in the world.
The new laboratory offers three main areas of expertise:
- Measuring the physical and mechanical properties of rocks for tunnel and mine design.
- Characterising the abrasiveness of solid and fragmented rocks and soils as it affects the difficulty of dredging, trenching and soft-ground tunnelling in these materials, and the extent of machinery wear.
- Characterising rocks to predict the performance of rock excavating machinery.
Test results will help clients achieve more accurate understanding of the materials, loadings, appropriate excavation methods and timing, geotechnical and design requirements and project construction costs.
Michael Renehan, the group executive of Coffey?s materials testing business Coffey Information, explained that ultimately the testing aims to reduce the risk of error in engineering calculations and projects.
?This is one of the few laboratories in the world to have this type of abrasivity testing and analysis for dredging, trenching, mining and soft tunnelling projects. It is Australia?s only lab that provides excavatability characterisation,? he said.
Delighted to have Associate Professor Bamford join the team, Renehan explained the exponential benefits of the partnership. ?He [Bamford] is an internationally recognised expert so we can complement his technical skills and leadership with a large network of resources, and methodologies for best practice turnaround times in testing.?
Associate Professor Bamford agreed. ?I joined Coffey Information because of the reputation for quality services, the scale of resources and technical support within,? he said.
For more than 44 years geological engineering expert Bamford has been lecturing, performing research and managing a rock-testing laboratory at the University of Melbourne. He has spent a lifetime comparing geotechnical tests developed in different countries and by different manufacturers of rock excavating equipment, testing to predict the performance of rock excavating machinery in different types of rock.
Source: Coffey International