Outage Surveys — Mackay

TL;DR: An outage survey is precision dimensional control delivered inside the fixed window when a Bowen Basin coal handling and preparation plant (CHPP), terminal or processing line is taken offline for maintenance. Because a CHPP shut runs to 48-72 hours and every lost hour bleeds production, a shutdown survey in Mackay has to be planned to the hour, executed to sub-millimetre tolerances and kept off the critical path. Industrial Spatial Solutions delivers outage survey support to mines at Moranbah, Dysart and Blackwater and to the Hay Point and Dalrymple Bay terminals — establishing control before the area is congested and reporting results before reassembly begins.

Key takeaways

• A shutdown survey in Mackay is scoped to a specific, time-bound Bowen Basin maintenance window — a CHPP overhaul, conveyor or screen change-out, stacker-reclaimer reline, or terminal shiploader shut — where the asset earns nothing until it restarts.
• ISS achieves ±0.3-1.0 mm rotating-equipment alignment, ±0.02-0.05 mm coaxiality on couplings, and 2-6 mm at 50 m laser-scan accuracy using Leica MS60 MultiStation, TS16 total stations, RTC360 scanners and FARO trackers, all calibrated to ISO 17025.
• The work splits into pre-outage baseline capture, in-outage alignment and fit-check, and post-outage as-built verification before recommissioning — with critical results reported on the spot, never held for the formal report.
• BHP Mitsubishi Alliance, Anglo American and Stanmore Resources run CHPPs across the basin, and the world's largest coal export facility sits 20 km north of Mackay — all generating recurring outage survey demand.
• Queensland faces the most severe surveyor shortage in Australia, so booking specialist outage capacity 4-6 weeks out is what protects your window.

Outage surveys in the Bowen Basin

The Bowen Basin runs on scheduled shutdowns. Across the 31 active coal mines in the Isaac region and the export chain feeding through Mackay, every CHPP, overland conveyor and shiploader is taken offline on a planned cycle so that crushers, screens, cyclones, pulleys and structural steel can be rebuilt. Those windows are short and expensive. A major CHPP overhaul typically runs 48 to 72 hours; a generating or terminal asset can be down longer, but the economics are identical — the asset earns nothing until it restarts, and the maintenance team needs independent measurement to prove each step is correct before the next one starts.

A shutdown survey Mackay operators rely on is not a routine alignment job that happens to fall during a shut. The defining constraint is the window. Methodology, crew size, instrument selection and reporting cadence are all chosen to fit the schedule, not the other way round. ISS establishes a stable measurement reference — a survey control network that survives scaffolding, crane movements and demolition for the whole outage — then measures equipment positions against that reference before disassembly, during rebuild and after completion. The same control lets us compare as-found against as-left and feed verified geometry straight into the recommissioning sign-off.

This is a Mackay and Bowen Basin delivery of our broader outage survey service, tuned to coal-handling environments and the Queensland regulatory regime.

Key point: The most common cause of survey-driven outage overrun is not measurement error — it is scope discovered too late. Treating the surveyor as a day-of call-out rather than a planned, scheduled resource almost guarantees lost hours waiting for control, access or line of sight.

Where outage surveys run around Mackay

The survey-dependent shutdown work in this region clusters in two places: the mine-site CHPPs inland, and the coal terminals on the coast.

Mine coal handling and preparation plants

Every operating mine in the basin runs a CHPP — among the most mechanically dense industrial facilities in Australia, with dozens of conveyors, crushers, screens, dense-medium cyclones, centrifuges and flotation cells packed into a tight footprint. These are the primary outage survey sites:

During a CHPP shut, ISS measures in sequence with the mechanical crew: dimensional verification after a crusher or screen is stripped, alignment setting as drives and pulleys are rebuilt, fit-check and clearance survey before a replacement module is lifted, and level/flatness on cleaned foundations and baseplates while they are still accessible. Reflectorless and tracker measurement keep technicians clear of live lifting.

Hay Point and Dalrymple Bay coal terminals

Twenty kilometres north of Mackay, the Hay Point and Dalrymple Bay terminals form the world's largest coal export facility, with combined capacity exceeding 180 million tonnes per annum and Capesize vessels up to 230 m berthing to load. Terminal shutdowns put survey on the critical path for stacker-reclaimer relines — rail-mounted machines spanning 60+ metres requiring precise rail and structural alignment — shiploader maintenance, berth and wharf structural checks, and overland conveyor corridor work where belt drift and roller misalignment are set right inside the window.

Method and equipment for the window

Outage survey equipment has to be accurate, portable, fast to deploy and tolerant of coal dust, heat and vibration. ISS selects the instrument to the task and the schedule, not by default.

• Robotic total station and MultiStation — the Leica TS16 (±1 mm + 1.5 ppm, 1" angle) and Leica MS60 MultiStation handle control, alignment and set-out. The MS60 combines angle, distance and scanning in one instrument, which matters when setup time is the constraint, and Automatic Target Recognition allows remote operation that keeps the surveyor out of exclusion zones around active lifts.
• 3D laser scanning — the Leica RTC360 captures dense point clouds at 2-6 mm at 50 m with a full setup under two minutes. It is the fastest route to comprehensive as-built capture of a CHPP — pipework, structural steel, transfer chutes and clearance envelopes recorded in hours, not days — and the method of choice for fit-check of replacement modules and clash detection on tie-in work. See our 3D laser scanning in Mackay page for the full coal-handling application.
• Laser tracker — for the tightest alignment work, such as girth-gear and pinion sets, large bearing bores and machined seating faces, a FARO laser tracker delivers ±0.015-0.025 mm at typical working ranges, where a total station's accuracy is insufficient.

Key point: Scanning and total-station work are complementary on an outage. The scanner captures the whole condition for as-built and fit-check; the total station and tracker deliver the sub-millimetre alignment numbers the mechanical team signs against. Using one where the other belongs either wastes window time or undershoots the tolerance.

Accuracy and standards

Outage survey accuracy is matched to the engineering tolerance of the task, then verified against the relevant standard.

All instruments are calibrated to ISO 17025 and measurements are traceable to national standards; ISS provides measurement uncertainty statements with alignment deliverables. Where the work touches structural or crane geometry — common on terminal stacker-reclaimers and CHPP gantries — results are assessed against AS 1418.18 for crane runways and AS 4100 for steel structures, with OEM tolerances applied where they are tighter than the code. UAV work over stockpiles and laydown areas during a shut is flown under CASA RePL/ReOC rules. The work is delivered inside the framework of Queensland's Coal Mining Safety and Health Regulation, which governs mine plans, survey pickup and certified records across every basin operation.

Why ISS for outage work in Mackay

ISS treats the outage window as the project constraint and engineers the survey around it. We lock scope 4-6 weeks out, establish control before the area is congested, and schedule attendance against the work list so measurement is ready the moment an area is — never before, never after. Our surveyors hold current Queensland underground mine certifications, confined space, working-at-heights and site-specific inductions for major Bowen Basin operations, and we carry redundant instrumentation so a single equipment failure never stops the line.

Because we are independent of any OEM, we align and verify crushers, screens, conveyors and drive trains from any manufacturer using consistent methodology, and we deliver data in your preferred formats — DWG, DXF, 12d Model, Surpac, Deswik, E57 or RCP — so it drops straight into your asset and mine-planning systems. Set against a CHPP shut where every lost hour bleeds production, the entire survey program is recovered the moment it prevents one re-lift or one schedule slip. Queensland faces the most severe surveyor shortage in Australia, so the operators who protect their windows are the ones who book specialist outage capacity early rather than chasing a generalist firm on the day.

Frequently asked questions

How is a shutdown survey in Mackay different from a routine alignment job?

The difference is the window. A routine alignment can be measured whenever the equipment is free; a shutdown survey Mackay operators need has to be sequenced against a 48-72 hour CHPP work list so measurement is delivered the moment an area is ready and never holds up the next activity. Methodology, crew size and reporting cadence are all built around the schedule, and critical results — anything a lift or coupling decision depends on — are reported verbally and in writing on the spot.

Can ISS work a Bowen Basin CHPP shut without extending the window?

Yes, and that is the whole point. Well-planned outage survey work runs parallel to mechanical activity and stays off the critical path. We establish control before the area is congested, capture as-found geometry while the plant is still running or immediately after stop, and report each alignment and fit-check as the activity completes. Overruns come from late scope and missing control, both of which planning eliminates.

What outage and terminal assets do you cover around Mackay?

CHPP crushers, screens, cyclones, centrifuges, conveyors and drive trains at mine sites across Moranbah, Dysart, Middlemount, Blackwater and the wider Isaac region, plus stacker-reclaimers, shiploaders, berth structures and overland conveyors at the Hay Point and Dalrymple Bay terminals. We also support transfer stations, rail receival and laydown set-out during the same shut.

When should we book an outage survey?

Four to six weeks before the shut date. That allows scope definition against the outage work list, a pre-outage site visit to confirm access and line of sight, safety documentation and crew scheduling. Late bookings risk unavailable crews, rushed methodology and lost window hours — and in a state with Australia's tightest surveyor supply, lead time is the difference between cover and no cover.

Talk to ISS before your next shut

If you have a CHPP overhaul, conveyor change-out, stacker-reclaimer reline or terminal shutdown coming up in the Bowen Basin, scope the survey early. Call 0407 057 015 to speak with a surveyor who understands coal-handling outages, and we will scope methodology, schedule, safety requirements and deliverables against your window — then provide a fixed-price quote. Outage windows do not wait, and planning is what keeps the survey protecting your shut rather than derailing it.