Getting temporary structures to work

The isolated and remote highlands of Papua New Guinea (an island nation north of Australia), house potential oil reserves open to exploration, but only a helicopter can get people and materials from ports to mining camps. Building permanent structures for camps isn’t an option; mobility is a must for exploration. An Australian company, Universal Fabric Structures (UFS) of Kingscliff, New South Wales, finds solutions for this market, moving its pre-engineered tensile fabric structures to work in out-of-the-way locations.

The mining camp in Papua New Guinea, which has both rainy and extremely dry weather conditions, used UFS’s curved Rapid-Span container-mounted structures to provide a dry and mold-free cover over housing blocks. A larger Alu-Span structure with an anodized alloy frame covers recreation areas for mining personnel. The Rapid-Span tensioned structures come with UV-resistant, 100-percent waterproof, high-density lightweight polyethylene or PVC covers, while the Alu-Span uses premium Ferrari PVC membrane.

In another remote mining location in Western Australia, a UFS Rapid-Span structure mounted to shipping containers created a large, temporary vehicle quarantine and fumigation area. Options for the Rapid-Span include specialized fabrics, doors, windows, lighting, air-tight negative pressure environments and HVAC systems.