Hall Contracting was engaged to carry out the dredging of the Darwin Marine Base approach channel, swing basin and berth. The project involved dredging of nearly 700,000m3 of siltstone with a UCS <7 MPa, and Hall was to utilise its CSD Eastern Aurora to undertake the reclamation. However soon after commencement of the works, it became apparent that the excavation included massive amounts of sandstone with a UCS 15 to 40 MPa and a very large quartz reef with strengths exceeding 60 MPa.
Hall successfully used the Eastern Aurora to remove most of the sandstone. To remove very hard sandstone and quartz reef, Hall engaged the BHD Gungner, a 300T machine owned by RN Dredging, to pre-rip the material before the Eastern Aurora pumped it ashore. Despite all obstacles, the team persevered and successfully completed the project.
