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news&views Online degree a first for Australia Aurecon's Paul Muscat wins coveted AW Roberts award Presented by the Australian Society for Bulk Solids Handling (ASBSH), the AW Roberts Award 2012 has recognised Paul Muscat (pictured above) as a young engineer who has made a significant contribution to bulk solids handling in the areas of research, design and/or practice. Since he joined Aurecon in 2001, the company says associate Paul has successfully managed the design of key infrastructure on some of the most significant bulk materials handling projects delivered in Australia during the past decade: the Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal Stage 7 Expansion (DBCT 7X) and the Hay Point Expansion Stage 3 (HPX3). He has also had key roles in the Newcastle Coal Infrastructure Group (NCIG) Stage 2 Terminal project and Port of Fujairah aggregates materials handling system commissioning. John Leech, Aurecon's bulk materials facilities leader, says, "The highly successful 7X project, for which Paul was the leading mechanical engineer for the rail and inloading area, developed a new highcapacity (8,000 tph) dump station design, which has since been replicated at the NCIG terminal in Newcastle and also forms the basis for the soon to be constructed Wiggins Island Coal Terminal." Paul has been praised for regularly demonstrating service to the profession through his ongoing support for the development of upcoming engineers, actively mentoring them to help them achieve Engineers Australia chartered status (CPEng). "I'm really proud of the work we do at Aurecon and honoured to receive this award," Paul says. "It's a reflection of the highly skilled team that I work with and the great opportunities I've had at Aurecon." Remote and regional students wishing to study chemical engineering are able to do so online as of this year, with Charles Darwin University (CDU) now offering bachelor and master degree programs in the discipline. CDU is the first Australian university (and the third in the world) to offer the program online, which shows the institution's commitment to innovation and flexibility in the higher education sector. "It's important that we are able to adapt to market trends and moves in digital technologies by providing options that appeal to today's mobile and flexible student market," says Professor Friso De Boer, Head of the School of Engineering and Information Technology at CDU. According to De Boer, the programs are designed to prepare employees for the mining, gas and energy industries and are an exciting addition to CDU's current programs that are relevant to these sectors, strengthened by the $7-million North Australian Centre for Oil and Gas. "Chemical engineering offers a world of exciting, challenging and well-paid career opportunities and we anticipate that demand for highly skilled and wellinformed chemical engineers will remain strong well into the future," says De Boer (pictured below). Call the tyre doctor As safety and efficiency are important issues for mining and earthmoving operations, tyres and wheels have been in the spotlight recently. The risk of severe injury or death from tyre and/or wheel failure is very high and many mining companies now insist that wheels are NDT tested and tyres are correctly managed by qualified personnel. Emtech Tyres has been in the industry since 1986 and provides total tyre and wheel management and service for all mining and earthmoving equipment. The team at Emtech recommends that rims are tested every 12 months, 5,000 hours or at a new tyre change, whichever comes first – and more regularly in extreme conditions such as underground operations. Don't be fooled by good-looking wheels, as even they have been found to be badly cracked, which means they could explode at any time. As a matter of safety, tyres should be cared for by trained and certified personnel. A range of things can go wrong if the incorrect tyre is fitted to a machine or even if the fitting process is incorrect. For this reason, a lot of sites now employ fully qualified experts from outside companies, such as Emtech, to manage their tyres for them. www.tyredoctor.com.au 54 C M Y CM MY CY CMY K