Mining Workforce Camp, FIFO Village & Modular Site Office HVAC Ductwork Guide — Pilbara, Bowen Basin, Goldfields, Roxby Downs

Why a mining workforce camp is its own HVAC category

A modern Australian mining workforce accommodation camp is not a single building under a single classification. It is a small town with a population of 200 to 3,500 workers cycling on rosters of 8/6, 2/1, 4/1 or even-time, sitting somewhere between 200 km and 1,400 km from the nearest regional centre, with its own dorm blocks, mess hall, commercial kitchen, walk-in cold rooms, recreation precinct, gym, theatre, wet and dry mess, laundry block, drying room, first aid and medical, camp management offices, security gatehouse, boot wash, workshop, genset power station, fuel storage compound, water treatment plant, sewage treatment plant, communications hut, helipad and — in the bigger Pilbara villages — a fly-in airport terminal. Every one of those buildings sits under a different NCC classification, attracts a different AS 1668.2 ventilation calculation, and uses a different duct material specification.

The Australian mining workforce accommodation sector is large by world standards and almost entirely modular. The Pilbara iron ore camps alone bed somewhere north of 30,000 workers on rotation between BHP's Mount Whaleback Newman, Yandi, Mining Area C, South Flank and Eastern Ridge sites; Rio Tinto's Tom Price, Paraburdoo, Yandicoogina, Hope Downs, Brockman, West Angelas and Channar sites; Fortescue Metals Group's Cloudbreak, Christmas Creek, Solomon and Iron Bridge sites; and Hancock Prospecting's Roy Hill operation. The Bowen Basin coal camps cover the BHP Mitsubishi Alliance Goonyella, Saraji, Peak Downs and Norwich Park villages; Glencore's Newlands, Collinsville and Oaky Creek; Anglo American's Dawson, Foxleigh and Capcoal; Yancoal's Moolarben, HVO and Stratford; Whitehaven's Maules Creek, Narrabri and Tarrawonga; Coronado Global's Curragh, Pacific and Buchanan; and Stanmore Resources' Eagle Downs, Poitrel and Millennium. The Goldfields, Murchison and Eastern Goldfields gold camps cover Northern Star Resources, Evolution Mining, Regis Resources, Gold Fields St Ives, Granny Smith and Agnew, AngloGold Ashanti Sunrise Dam, and the operations of KCGM at Kalgoorlie. Lithium and nickel camps cover Mineral Resources at Mt Marion and Wodgina, Pilbara Minerals at Pilgangoora, IGO at Nova and Greenbushes, and BHP Nickel West at Kwinana, Mt Keith and Leinster. The uranium and copper-uranium sector adds BHP Olympic Dam at Roxby Downs and Heathgate Resources at Beverley and Honeymoon.

Every one of those camps is operated day-to-day not by the mining major but by a specialist remote workforce services contractor — ESS Compass Group (the largest by bed count), Sodexo Australia, Spotless Group (now Downer-owned), Civeo with its Mount Isa, Karratha, Pilbara and Bowen Basin village portfolio, ATCO Structures and Logistics across Brisbane, Perth and Mount Isa, Aramark Australia and BESIX. The camp infrastructure itself is manufactured almost entirely off-site as relocatable modular buildings by Ausco Modular at Pinkenba in Queensland, ATCO Structures + Logistics, BSI Group, McGrath Built Smart Modular, Hutchinson Modular, Easy Move Cabins, PD Building Group in New South Wales and EZE Group at the Civmec yard in Henderson WA, then trucked to site on the rail-and-road network and craned onto piers.

The HVAC ductwork that goes inside these buildings is therefore manufactured under two distinct logistics frames. The dorm, office, recreation and admin duct ships flat-pack inside the modules from the modular builder's factory, fabricated by the builder's in-house duct shop or by a specialist subcontractor working to the builder's drawings. The commercial kitchen, walk-in cold room, freezer, laundry, drying room and genset compound duct is typically fabricated separately and trucked to site as a package, either trim-fitted into a kitchen module at the modular factory or installed in situ after the modules are seated on piers. The standards that govern the duct — NCC, AS 1668.1, AS 1668.2, AS 4254, AS 4117, AS 1530.4, AS 1851, AS 1530.4, AS/NZS 60079, AS 1940, AS 4564, AS 5601, AS 3000 and AS/NZS 3008 — are the same as for any Australian Class 3, 5, 6 or 9b building, but the geometry, the durability requirement and the remote-site supply chain are all materially different.

This guide walks through the camp building-by-building, anchors every recommendation to the relevant Australian Standard, and closes with the SBKJ machine configuration that an Australian duct contractor needs to fabricate the package on time and within the contract margin.

Regulatory backbone — NCC, AS 1668, AS 4117 and the workplace exposure standards

Every Australian mining workforce camp inherits the same regulatory stack regardless of state or commodity. The Australian Building Codes Board administers the National Construction Code. The Australian Building Codes Board and Standards Australia jointly maintain the AS 1668 series. Safe Work Australia publishes the Workplace Exposure Standards for Airborne Contaminants. The state mining safety regulator (NSW Resources Regulator, Resources Safety & Health Queensland, DEMIRS in Western Australia, ETSA in South Australia and the Northern Territory equivalent) administers the underlying mining safety legislation. The Mining Industry Workforce Association (MIWA), the Australian Resources and Energy Employer Association (AREEA) and the Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) publish industry guidance on top.

The codes and standards that matter for a workforce camp HVAC ductwork specification:

• NCC Volume One, classifications across the camp. Class 3 dorm blocks (residential building for unrelated persons, hostel and motel equivalent), Class 5 camp management offices, Class 6 mess hall and commercial kitchen, Class 9b recreation, gym, theatre, wet mess and assembly buildings, Class 8 workshop and laundry plant, Class 10b non-habitable buildings for the genset compound, fuel storage and water treatment plant.
• AS 1668.1. The use of ventilation and air-conditioning in buildings, fire and smoke control. The smoke management baseline for the mess hall, recreation and any Class 9b assembly buildings above the NCC trigger thresholds.
• AS 1668.2. Mechanical ventilation for acceptable indoor air quality. The per-occupancy outdoor air rate calculation that drives the supply ductwork sizing in every conditioned space on the camp.
• AS 4254.1 and AS 4254.2. Ductwork construction specification. AS 4254.1 for flexible duct, AS 4254.2 for rigid sheet metal duct. Every supply, return and exhaust duct on the camp is fabricated to AS 4254 unless explicitly substituted with welded stainless or non-ferrous specification.
• AS 4117. Portable office buildings. The construction standard for AS 4117 transportable office buildings, dongas, lunch rooms and ablution blocks used across mining and construction sites. AS 4117 governs the structural envelope and the integration of services including HVAC.
• AS 1530.4. Methods for fire tests on building materials, components and structures — the fire-rated duct and damper specification.
• AS 1851. Routine service of fire protection systems and equipment. Annual fire damper inspection and certification.
• AS 1657. Fixed platforms, walkways, stairways and ladders. Applies to plant room access and rooftop equipment access in any of the camp's mechanical buildings.
• AS 1742. Manual of uniform traffic control devices. Applies to loading dock and yard signage for the camp's logistics flow.
• AS 1746. Confined space monitoring — applies to plant rooms, ductwork access for cleaning, and septic and water treatment access.
• AS 3580. Methods for sampling and analysis of ambient air. Boundary air quality monitoring for any camp adjacent to active mining where dust load is a planning condition.
• AS/NZS 60079. Explosive atmospheres. Zone classification for the genset compound, fuel storage, helipad refuelling and any LPG-supplied kitchen or generator.
• AS 1940. Storage and handling of flammable and combustible liquids. Bulk diesel and aviation fuel.
• AS 4564. General requirements for gas supply. LPG supply to the camp kitchen and any gas-fired heating.
• AS 5601. Gas installations. The installation standard for the LPG distribution from bulk tank to consumption point.
• AS 3000. Electrical installations. The wiring rules that govern every camp building.
• AS/NZS 3008. Electrical installations — selection of cables.
• AS 4836. Health and safety in welding and allied processes — applies to the camp workshop if welding is performed on site, and to the fabrication of any stainless or welded duct on the SBSF-1525 Stitchwelder.
• AS 4801. Occupational health and safety management systems.
• AS 4360. Risk management — superseded by AS/NZS ISO 31000 but still referenced in older site safety management plans.
• AS 1428. Design for access and mobility. Disability access provisions across the camp, particularly in the mess hall, recreation building, gatehouse and first aid.
• ASHRAE Standard 62.1. Ventilation for acceptable indoor air quality. Reference standard used by international operators (BHP, Rio Tinto, FMG, Newcrest, AngloGold Ashanti) alongside AS 1668.2 — when the two diverge, design to the more stringent.

The workplace exposure standards from Safe Work Australia that drive the engineering controls inside the camp HVAC ductwork specification:

• Diesel particulate matter (EC). 0.1 mg/m³ as an 8-hour time-weighted average. The controlling pollutant in the genset compound, the helipad refuelling area and any camp located within close range of active haul truck operations.
• Carbon monoxide. 30 ppm TWA, 200 ppm peak. Genset combustion product, fuel-handling area and emergency.
• Nitrogen dioxide. 3 ppm TWA, 5 ppm STEL. Genset combustion product.
• Respirable crystalline silica. 0.05 mg/m³ TWA. Applies to any camp adjacent to active mining with dust load reaching boundary air, and to the boot wash and decontamination area where mine PPE is washed down.
• R32 and R410A refrigerant. Manufacturer-published exposure limits for the inverter split systems serving the dorm rooms. Leak detection on every plant room and dorm corridor under AS/NZS 5149.
• Carbon dioxide. 5000 ppm TWA. The marker for overcrowded dorm and crib room ventilation, and the basis for demand-controlled ventilation at the mess hall and recreation building.

Layered on top of all of the above is the relevant state WorkSafe code for site sheds, lunchrooms and ablution blocks, and the Aboriginal Heritage Act in NT, WA, SA and QLD for any remote camp located on or adjacent to land subject to native title or registered heritage. The HVAC ductwork specification does not directly engage with native title — but the access road and the construction sequence for the camp does, and a Traditional Owner agreement can drive a one-year shift in delivery date for the duct package.

Camp typology — Pilbara iron ore versus Bowen Basin coal versus Goldfields versus Roxby Downs

The Australian mining workforce camp comes in several distinct sub-types that affect the HVAC ductwork specification in non-trivial ways. The differences are climate, scale, distance from the nearest population centre and the operator's preferred services contractor.

Pilbara iron ore (WA). Karratha, Tom Price, Newman, Paraburdoo, Cloudbreak, Christmas Creek, Solomon, Iron Bridge and Roy Hill villages sit in a hot, arid to semi-arid climate with summer dry-bulb peaks above 45 degrees C, occasional cyclone-driven wet season events from December to April, and chloride loading from the sea air on the coastal villages (Cape Lambert, Wickham, Port Hedland). The dominant HVAC architecture is direct expansion R32 split system per dorm room, with a mess hall and recreation building served by central rooftop packaged DX units. Duct material is galvanised G300 Z275 for most of the camp, with 316L stainless on the coastal-exposed exhaust and the kitchen grease duct, and dedicated solar shading or insulation on any duct running through unconditioned roof voids. The Pilbara villages are also where Fleetwood Building Solutions (previously Searipple at Karratha) built the volume of the modular accommodation supply over the last 25 years.

Bowen Basin coal (QLD). Goonyella Riverside, Saraji, Peak Downs, Norwich Park, Newlands, Collinsville, Oaky Creek, Dawson, Foxleigh, Capcoal, Moolarben, Curragh, Eagle Downs, Poitrel and Millennium camps sit in a hot, semi-arid to sub-tropical climate with summer wet-season humidity that drives the latent cooling load above the sensible load for several months a year. Pittsburgh seam machines and gorelocker duct joints are common, the kitchen grease duct loading is similar to Pilbara, and the boot wash and decontamination handling differs because of black coal dust rather than red iron ore. Bowen Basin camps also tend to be slightly closer to regional centres (Mackay, Emerald, Moranbah) which marginally shortens the logistics lead time on duct supply.

Goldfields and Murchison (WA). Kalgoorlie KCGM, Sunrise Dam, Granny Smith, Agnew, Carosue Dam, Duketon, Mt Magnet and Mt Keith camps sit in a hot, arid climate with very low humidity, large diurnal temperature swings and a relatively low cyclone risk compared to the Pilbara. The Goldfields are also the most established mining camp region in Australia, with mature supply chains out of Perth and Kalgoorlie. Galvanised duct dominates with limited stainless requirement except in the kitchen and any wet processing.

Roxby Downs and the SA copper-uranium belt. BHP Olympic Dam at Roxby Downs is the dominant camp, with Beverley and Honeymoon (Heathgate Resources) in the uranium sub-segment. Olympic Dam is unusual in that the workforce is housed in a permanent town (Roxby Downs) rather than a fly-in camp, which shifts the HVAC envelope toward conventional NCC Class 1 and Class 2 residential plus Class 5 office rather than the relocatable Class 3 dorm format. The HVAC ductwork still complies with AS 1668.2 and AS 4254, but the architecture is closer to a regional town than a remote camp.

NSW Hunter Valley coal. HVO (Hunter Valley Operations), Mt Arthur, Mount Pleasant and Bengalla coal camps cover the NSW coal sector. The climate is mild temperate with all four seasons distinct, the camps are smaller than Pilbara or Bowen Basin equivalents, and the workforce is more often DIDO (drive-in, drive-out) than FIFO because the camps sit within 2 to 3 hours of Newcastle, Maitland and the Sydney basin. The HVAC ductwork specification is closer to a regional NSW hotel than a remote-site camp.

NT and remote SA gold and base metals. Tanami, Granites, Callie and the Tennant Creek sub-region cover the NT gold and copper-uranium camps. The climate is hot and arid in winter, hot and humid through the wet season, and the logistics distance from Darwin or Alice Springs is the dominant operational constraint. Galvanised duct dominates with stainless in the kitchen and on any moist exhaust path. Aboriginal Heritage Act consultation is non-trivial across most NT and remote SA sites.

The HVAC ductwork specification for the building-by-building walk-through that follows is written to the worst-case envelope — a Pilbara or Bowen Basin camp with coastal chloride exposure, full commercial kitchen and recreation buildings, and a remote genset compound. Any departure from worst case (mild Hunter Valley climate, no coastal exposure, no on-site genset) reduces the duct material premium and the smoke management scope but does not change the overall design logic.

Single-person and shared dorm rooms — the donga at scale

The dorm room is the volume backbone of every mining workforce camp. A single-person donga room is typically 3.0 m by 6.0 m (18 m squared at 2.4 m ceiling height, 43.2 m cubed) or 3.5 m by 7.0 m (24.5 m squared at 2.4 m ceiling height, 58.8 m cubed) in the larger Pilbara villages. A shared two-bed donga room is 3.5 m by 7.0 m or 4.0 m by 8.0 m with twin singles separated by a part-height privacy wall. The dorm block itself is typically 12 to 24 rooms in a single linear or U-shaped configuration, served by a central corridor with shared ensuite or in-room ensuite depending on the operator's standard. Ausco Modular, ATCO, BSI, McGrath Built Smart, Hutchinson, Easy Move, PD Building and EZE Group all build dorm modules to a broadly similar transport-height envelope (3.5 m maximum overall height for road transport without an oversize permit, which translates to a 2.4 m internal ceiling and a 200 to 300 mm ceiling void for services).

The HVAC architecture for the dorm room:

• Indoor split system unit. A 2.5 kW R32 inverter split system per single-person room or a 3.5 kW R32 inverter split per two-bed room. Wall-mounted or ceiling-cassette depending on the operator's standard. The indoor unit delivers 100 to 200 L/s of supply air at a face velocity below 3 m/s to maintain NC-30 inside the room. Sound power rating of the indoor unit is the controlling acoustic parameter — most current-generation inverter splits achieve 25 to 30 dB(A) at low fan speed.
• Fresh air at 5 L/s per person. AS 1668.2 sleeping accommodation rate. Introduced through a transfer grille from the corridor where a dedicated outdoor air system delivers tempered, dehumidified fresh air at a base 5 L/s per room. The DOAS is a centralised packaged unit serving the whole dorm block, with the supply duct sized at 200 L/s per 40 rooms (50 m² per dorm block module on average, two modules per typical building wing).
• Bathroom and ensuite exhaust. 25 L/s per WC and 25 L/s per shower under AS 1668.2. Ducted in 304 stainless to a roof-mounted high-velocity exhaust fan, with the dorm room providing makeup air through the door undercut and the corridor. The exhaust fan runs continuously on humidistat or occupancy sensor.
• Anti-condensation. Every duct exposed to ambient temperature outside the conditioned envelope (mainly the corridor DOAS supply where it crosses the unconditioned roof void) is insulated with 25 mm minimum mineral wool plus vapour-tight outer wrap. The Pilbara summer dew point can reach 28 degrees C in the wet season, which means uninsulated supply duct condenses water onto the dorm ceiling in 48 hours of operation.
• Acoustic target NC-30. For sleeping comfort during day shift after night-shift work, the acoustic target inside the dorm room is NC-30 measured at the bed head. This requires the split system indoor unit at low fan speed, lined supply duct on any DOAS branch entering the room, and door seals on the corridor side.

The duct count per dorm room is small — typically one 100 by 100 mm DOAS branch on supply, one 150 by 150 mm bathroom exhaust branch, and the refrigerant pipework for the split system (which is not duct but counts against the same ceiling void allocation). The duct count per dorm block of 24 rooms is 24 supply branches plus 24 exhaust branches plus the corridor supply riser plus the bathroom exhaust riser. The riser duct is rectangular galvanised at 600 by 200 mm typical, fabricated on the SBAL-V auto duct line. The branch duct is round spiral at 100 to 150 mm diameter, fabricated on a Gorelocker, Pittsburgh seam or spiral former depending on the contractor's machine pool.

The dorm block duct package for a typical 24-room block totals around 320 linear metres of duct — 240 linear metres of round branch, 60 linear metres of rectangular riser and 20 linear metres of rectangular plant room connection. The total weight comes in at 1.4 to 1.8 tonnes of galvanised plus stainless mix. A 1,200-bed camp with 50 dorm blocks therefore needs roughly 80 to 90 tonnes of dorm duct, fabricated in around 12 to 16 weeks on a single SBAL-V auto duct line running a single shift, comfortably inside the modular building manufacturer's typical 18-month camp construction window.

Bathroom and ensuite — stainless extract at 25 L/s per fixture

The bathroom and ensuite is the highest-loading per-unit-area space on the camp. AS 1668.2 requires 25 L/s per WC and 25 L/s per shower head, running continuously or on occupancy sensing. A typical FIFO ensuite has one WC plus one shower, which is 50 L/s of extract per ensuite. A 24-room dorm block with in-room ensuites is therefore 1,200 L/s of extract air, ducted to a roof-mounted high-velocity exhaust fan through a stainless riser.

The case for stainless on the bathroom extract is durability, not capital cost. Galvanised duct in a continuously humid environment with chlorinated water aerosols, ammonia from urinals, hair and soap residue in the extract air, lasts 4 to 7 years before the longitudinal seam perforates at the lock. Grade 304 stainless lasts 20 to 25 years in the same environment. Grade 316L stainless lasts 30+ years in the coastal C5-M Pilbara chloride exposure zones (Karratha, Cape Lambert, Wickham, Port Hedland). The 15 to 20 per cent material premium on stainless versus galvanised is recovered inside the first replacement cycle, and the operator avoids the cost of replacing duct inside an occupied dorm block on rotation.

The bathroom extract duct specification:

• Material. Grade 304 stainless minimum, grade 316L for coastal Pilbara sites within 10 km of the ocean.
• Gauge. 0.8 mm for branches up to 300 mm, 1.0 mm for risers above 300 mm, all to AS 4254.2.
• Seam. Pittsburgh or button-punch snaplock for galvanised equivalent — but on stainless, SBKJ recommends continuously welded longitudinal seams on the SBSF-1525 Stitchwelder for the larger riser sections (above 400 mm). The smaller branches can run snap-lock or Pittsburgh on the same coil.
• Joints. TDF flange with EPDM gasket rated for humid exposure. No drive cleat or slip joint on stainless extract.
• Slope. Continuous fall back to a condensate drain at the low point of the riser. The condensate drain is a 25 mm copper tail-piece on a stainless flange with a tundish discharge to a tundish trap and onward to the camp grey water system.
• Insulation. Minimum 25 mm mineral wool with vapour-tight outer wrap, applied to every duct outside the conditioned envelope to prevent external condensation.
• Fan. Roof-mounted high-velocity centrifugal fan rated for continuous duty in humid air, with stainless impeller and housing. Static pressure 250 to 400 Pa at design flow.

The fabrication economics make this duct a natural fit for the SBKJ SBAL-V auto duct line on the rectangular extract riser sections and the SBSF-1525 Stitchwelder on the welded portions where the duct passes above the dorm ceiling and into the roof plenum. The SBSF-1525 takes 304 and 316L stainless coil up to 1.5 m wide and delivers continuously welded longitudinal seams at 0.5 to 1.5 mm thickness. See our welding methods guide for the seam-quality benchmark.

Mess hall and commercial kitchen — NFPA 96 grease duct plus tempered makeup air

The mess hall is the single most occupant-dense space on the camp. A 600-cover dining hall serving three meal periods per day pushes peak occupancy to 200 to 300 people per sitting at meal time, with the bulk of the population transiting through the space in three 30 to 45 minute peaks. The HVAC system has to handle the peak ventilation and thermal load without dragging the average operating cost to a level that drives the operator's KPI off-target.

The mess hall ventilation specification:

• AS 1668.2 outdoor air rate. 10 L/s per person at design occupancy. A 300-cover peak dining hall therefore needs 3,000 L/s of fresh air. The HVAC consultant typically applies a demand-controlled ventilation strategy with CO2 sensors driving the supply rate between 30 per cent at empty and 100 per cent at peak occupancy.
• Acoustic target NC-35. Comfortable speech privacy at the dining table without driving the supply duct sizing to the point where the room becomes noisy. Lined duct on the supply branch entering the room, and lined plenum at the fan discharge.
• Diffuser layout. Linear slot diffusers along the perimeter walls, or four-way ceiling diffusers on a regular grid, sized for throw to mid-room without dumping cold air on the diners directly below.
• Return air. Through-grilles at high level back to the rooftop packaged DX unit, or through the kitchen via the kitchen's makeup-air balance (the dining hall is at slight positive pressure to the kitchen, which pulls dining hall return air through the servery into the kitchen extract).

The commercial kitchen behind the mess hall is the most code-loaded HVAC zone on the camp. The kitchen handles meal preparation for 200 to 600 covers three times per day, with a typical equipment line of 4 to 8 char-broilers and gas ranges, 4 to 6 induction or gas wok burners, 2 to 4 deep fryers, 4 to 6 combi ovens, a bain-marie servery and 2 to 4 walk-in cold rooms and freezers behind the kitchen. The kitchen exhaust specification follows AS 1668.2 commercial cooking clauses and the United States NFPA 96 (Standard for Ventilation Control and Fire Protection of Commercial Cooking Operations), which is adopted in Australia as the de facto standard for kitchen grease duct construction.

The kitchen exhaust specification:

• Hood capture velocity. 80 to 125 fpm (0.4 to 0.65 m/s) at the cooking line, measured at the hood face plane between the hood lip and the cooking surface. The capture velocity drives the hood exhaust volume, which for a typical 8 m mining camp kitchen line is 4,000 to 6,500 L/s at the hood.
• Grease duct. 1.2 mm minimum 304 stainless for the duct from the hood to the rooftop fan. Continuously welded liquid-tight longitudinal seams. No mechanical lock seam (Pittsburgh, snaplock, gorelocker) is permitted on grease duct — only continuous weld. SBKJ supplies this duct on the SBSF-1525 Stitchwelder.
• Slope. 1 in 50 minimum back to the hood. No horizontal traps. No condensate trap on the duct itself — the grease draining off the hood collects in the hood's purpose-designed grease tray.
• Cleanout doors. At 3.5 m maximum spacing along the run, at every change of direction (any bend, tee or transition), and at the fan inlet. Bolted access doors with high-temperature gaskets rated for 200 degrees C continuous.
• Separation. 450 mm minimum separation from other ducts and combustible building materials, or AS 1530.4 fire-rated wrap with 60 minute integrity rating. The separation can be reduced where the duct is sleeved in a fire-rated shaft.
• Fan. Roof-mounted upblast or centrifugal grease fan rated for 200 degrees C continuous, with stainless impeller and housing, grease cup and drain on the discharge side, and intrinsically safe motor controls.
• Discharge. Vertical discharge at 3 m minimum above the highest roof point within 15 m, away from any outdoor air intake by 5 m minimum.

The makeup-air system that balances the kitchen exhaust has its own specification:

• Volume. 80 per cent of exhaust volume through a dedicated tempered, filtered makeup-air unit. The remaining 20 per cent is drawn from the dining hall to maintain slight kitchen negative pressure (around 5 to 10 Pa) so cooking odours and grease don't migrate into the dining area.
• Tempering. Heated to 18 degrees C minimum in winter, cooled to 22 degrees C maximum in summer, dehumidified to 12 g/kg maximum in tropical and sub-tropical conditions. The makeup-air unit is a packaged DX or chilled water unit sized at 4,000 to 6,000 L/s for a typical mining camp kitchen.
• Plenum. 304 stainless plenum from the makeup-air unit discharge to the kitchen drop diffusers. Galvanised is permissible upstream of the plenum entry to the kitchen, but the kitchen-side plenum is stainless to handle steam and grease aerosol drift. SBKJ supplies this plenum on the SBSF-1525 Stitchwelder.
• Diffuser layout. Linear slot diffusers along the kitchen perimeter discharging downward and inward to push fresh air over the cooking line at low velocity (1 to 1.5 m/s at the diffuser face). The makeup-air drop sits between the dining hall and the cooking line, providing a tempered air curtain that the cooks work in.

The bain-marie and servery zone has its own ventilation provision — moist heat extract over the servery line at 6 to 8 ACH, ducted in 304 stainless to the same rooftop fan as the cooking exhaust. The kitchen prep area at the back of house runs general kitchen ventilation at 8 to 10 ACH with galvanised supply and return.

FSANZ Food Standards Code 3.2.2 (Food Safety Practices and General Requirements) and 3.2.3 (Food Premises and Equipment) apply to the kitchen layout and the duct hygiene. The duct internals must be cleanable through the cleanout doors at the spacing called out above, and the operator (ESS Compass, Sodexo, Spotless, Civeo, ATCO, Aramark or BESIX) typically schedules monthly kitchen hood cleaning and quarterly duct inspection on a maintenance contract. See our commercial kitchen exhaust HVAC duct guide for the full fabrication specification.

Walk-in cold room, freezer and dry store

Every camp kitchen serving 200+ covers has a walk-in cold room for food storage at 0 to 4 degrees C, a walk-in freezer for frozen meat and dairy at minus 18 degrees C, and a dry store at 18 to 22 degrees C. The cold rooms are typically prefabricated insulated panel units delivered as a kit and assembled on a concrete pad inside the kitchen building, with their own refrigeration plant (R32 or R134a depending on the capacity and the operator's refrigerant standard).

The HVAC ductwork interface to the cold rooms is minimal because the cold rooms are sealed refrigerated enclosures with their own evaporator coil and condenser plant. The ductwork inside the cold room is limited to:

• Air circulation duct above the evaporator coil. Stainless steel insulated duct distributing the cold air across the cold room, sized to maintain 1 m/s face velocity at the discharge grille.
• Defrost drain duct. Insulated PVC or stainless from the evaporator drain pan to the floor drain, with heat trace on the line where it passes through the freezer zone (otherwise the defrost water freezes in the drain).
• Condenser air path. The condenser is typically located on the kitchen roof or in an adjacent plant room, with the refrigerant pipework running between the evaporator and condenser. The condenser air path is open atmosphere — no duct.

The cold storage duct, where present, is stainless on the air side (galvanised would condense water continuously and rust through inside 12 months) and PVC or stainless on the drain side. See our cold storage and cold chain HVAC duct guide for the full specification.

The dry store at 18 to 22 degrees C is conditioned by a small DX split system (5 to 10 kW) with galvanised supply duct, sized to handle the sensible load of the lighting, the residual outdoor air infiltration through the door, and the latent load from any vegetable storage if the dry store doubles as a fruit and vegetable holding area. The duct count is small — typically one supply riser and one return grille per dry store.

Crib room, smoko and 24/7 staggered occupancy

The crib room (Australian English for the break room, lunch room, smoko room — the space where shift workers take their meal breaks) is one of the most demanding ventilation zones on a mining camp because the occupancy is staggered around the clock and the peaks are short and sharp. A typical crib room on a 600-worker site serves 100 to 150 workers per shift change, with 4 shift changes per 24-hour day, meaning the room is in heavy use for 4 hours out of every 24 and empty for the remaining 20.

The HVAC specification:

• AS 1668.2 outdoor air rate. 10 to 15 L/s per person at peak occupancy. The 15 L/s figure is appropriate where the crib room is also used as a tea-room with a microwave bank, kettle and toaster line — the heating appliances drive elevated CO2 and water vapour generation.
• Demand-controlled ventilation. CO2 sensors at the worker breathing height drive the supply rate between 20 per cent at empty and 100 per cent at peak. The CO2 setpoint is typically 1,000 to 1,200 ppm based on the AS 1668.2 indoor air quality target.
• Acoustic target NC-35. Conversation is the main acoustic load — supply duct lined where it enters the room, lined plenum at the fan discharge.
• Refrigerator and microwave heat load. 4 to 8 refrigerators plus 4 to 8 microwaves and toasters generate 4 to 8 kW of sensible heat. The cooling load on the rooftop packaged unit has to handle this on top of the occupancy load.
• Tea and coffee station extract. Local extract over the kettle and toaster line at 100 to 200 L/s, ducted to the building's general exhaust riser.

The crib room duct is rectangular galvanised on the supply side and stainless on any moist exhaust path over the tea and coffee station. The duct count is small but the demand-controlled ventilation strategy requires precision diffuser balancing during commissioning.

Recreation precinct — gym, theatre, library, games room

The recreation precinct is what separates a tolerable camp from one workers will sign up for a second rotation at. A typical 1,000-bed Pilbara village has a 600 to 1,000 m² recreation building containing a gym, theatre or cinema, library, games room with pool tables and dart boards, and an internet cafe. The gym is the highest-load zone, the theatre is the most acoustically sensitive, and the internet cafe needs reliable server cooling.

The gym ventilation specification:

• AS 1668.2 outdoor air rate. 15 L/s per person at peak occupancy. A 200 m² gym at 0.3 person/m² peak occupancy needs 900 L/s of fresh air.
• Acoustic target NC-40. Cardio equipment is the dominant background noise — the HVAC contribution can be relatively high.
• Humidity control. Latent cooling load is significant — sweat evaporation from 50 to 60 workers on cardio equipment is around 5 to 8 kW of latent load. The rooftop packaged DX unit needs to be sized for the latent load and have a hot gas reheat option if the sensible load drops in the cooler months.
• Equipment cooling. Treadmills and elliptical machines generate motor heat that contributes to the sensible load — 200 to 300 W per machine continuous during use.

The theatre or cinema ventilation specification:

• AS 1668.2 outdoor air rate. 10 L/s per person at peak occupancy. A 100-seat theatre needs 1,000 L/s of fresh air at full house.
• Acoustic target NC-25. The strictest acoustic target on the camp. Lined supply duct, lined plenum at the fan discharge, attenuator immediately downstream of the fan, low-velocity slot diffusers at 1.5 to 2 m/s face velocity.
• Demand-controlled ventilation. CO2 sensor at the rear of the theatre drives the supply rate between 20 per cent at empty and 100 per cent at full house.
• Heat recovery. Sensible and latent heat recovery on the exhaust to the fresh air supply, sized for 60 per cent recovery efficiency.

The library and games room ventilation are conventional — 10 L/s per person fresh air, NC-35 acoustic target, galvanised duct on the rectangular supply and return.

The internet cafe and computer room ventilation is closer to a small server room — clean, redundant cooling for the workstations and any local network gear, with a precision DX or split system sized for the IT load. Galvanised duct, NC-35 acoustic, and CO2 sensing on the supply to maintain fresh air at 5 L/s per person.

The wet mess (where the operator allows alcohol service) and dry mess (alcohol-free) are conditioned by a rooftop packaged DX unit at 10 L/s per person, with NC-35 acoustic, lined supply duct entering the room, and galvanised duct throughout. Smoking shelters are outdoor structures with minor mechanical ventilation only (typically a 200 to 500 L/s wall-mounted exhaust fan keyed to a smoke detector for nuisance smoke clearance). Indoor smoking has been banned at every Australian mining workforce camp for at least 15 years.

Laundry block, drying room and wet weather PPE

The camp laundry block is one of the higher-load mechanical service buildings on the site. A 1,000-bed village runs through 8,000 to 12,000 sets of work clothes per week, plus bedding, plus the kitchen and BOH linen. The laundry plant is typically 6 to 10 commercial washing machines (50 to 100 kg drum capacity each) and 6 to 10 commercial tumble dryers (50 to 100 kg drum capacity each), often gas-fired for thermal efficiency. The HVAC ductwork inside the laundry has to handle the moist exhaust from the dryers and the general thermal load from the washing line.

The dryer exhaust specification follows NFPA 90A (Standard for the Installation of Air-Conditioning and Ventilating Systems) for the lint accumulation control, and AS 4254 for the duct fabrication:

• Material. Grade 304 stainless minimum, 316L for coastal exposure. Galvanised is not permissible on commercial dryer exhaust because the gauge required for lint accumulation rigidity drives the cost above stainless anyway.
• Gauge. 0.7 mm minimum, 1.0 mm for the riser sections.
• Seam. Pittsburgh or button-punch snaplock for galvanised equivalent — but stainless dryer exhaust is typically Pittsburgh seam on the SBKJ Gorelocker, with welded longitudinal seams on the larger riser sections from the SBSF-1525 Stitchwelder.
• Geometry. No flexible coupling longer than 600 mm between the dryer and the rigid duct. No horizontal run longer than 7.5 m without an inspection door for lint cleanout. Continuous fall to a lint trap at the low point of any horizontal section.
• Lint trap. Each dryer has an integrated lint trap at the unit. The duct system has a secondary lint trap at the building exit point, with an access door for monthly cleanout.
• Fan. Roof-mounted centrifugal exhaust fan rated for continuous duty in moist air with stainless impeller. Static pressure 250 to 400 Pa.
• Discharge. Vertical discharge clear of any outdoor air intake by 5 m minimum.

The drying room (a separate dedicated room for wet weather work gear — high-vis jackets, rain pants, boots — particularly important in Pilbara cyclone season from December to April and in Queensland and NT wet season) has its own ventilation specification:

• Ventilation rate. 6 to 8 ACH with heated supply air at 30 to 35 degrees C and dehumidified to 50 per cent RH or below. The combination of heat and dry air drives evaporative drying of the wet PPE on a rack within 4 to 6 hours.
• Material. Stainless steel duct (304) on supply and exhaust because of the continuous moist air load.
• Heater. Gas-fired or electric resistance heater on the supply, sized at 20 to 40 kW depending on the room size and the PPE throughput per shift.
• Exhaust. Continuous extract at 6 to 8 ACH to atmosphere, ducted in stainless.

The drying room ventilation is the single highest-energy mechanical service per square metre of room area on the camp. It is therefore a prime candidate for heat recovery — sensible heat from the exhaust to the supply via a plate or rotary heat exchanger — and for demand-controlled operation keyed to a humidity sensor inside the room.

First aid, medical and pharmacy storage

The camp first aid and medical facility serves as the primary response point for any injury or illness on the camp and on the adjacent mine site. The HVAC specification reflects the clinical use:

• AS 1668.2 outdoor air rate. 10 to 12 L/s per person plus dilution for the consultation room workload.
• Acoustic target NC-25. Speech privacy for consultations.
• Filtration. HEPA filtration on the supply, sized at H13 efficiency, to maintain a hygienic environment in the consultation and treatment rooms.
• Medical refrigeration. A purpose-built vaccine and medication fridge at 2 to 8 degrees C, with continuous temperature monitoring and an alarm at the camp manager's office. Refrigerant R134a or R600a depending on the unit. The fridge is plumbed to a dedicated power circuit on the camp's emergency power network (genset or battery UPS), to maintain cold chain through a mains power interruption.
• Decontamination shower. Eyewash and emergency shower for chemical exposure response. Drain to a holding tank for hazmat assessment before release to the camp grey water system.

The medical duct is typically rectangular galvanised on supply and return with HEPA filtration on the supply terminals. Stainless is reserved for the decontamination shower exhaust if the camp's hazmat profile justifies it.

Camp office, gatehouse and security CCTV monitor room

The camp management office handles payroll, IT, HR, occupational health and the day-to-day administration of the workforce. The HVAC specification is conventional NCC Class 5 office:

• AS 1668.2 outdoor air rate. 10 L/s per person.
• Acoustic target NC-35.
• Galvanised duct on supply and return. No special material requirement.
• VAV terminals at meeting rooms. Demand-controlled ventilation keyed to occupancy.

The security gatehouse and CCTV monitor room is the highest-availability building on the camp. The HVAC is sized for 24/7 operation with redundant cooling on the CCTV server gear and the security workstation:

• Redundant cooling. N+1 split system or VRF on the server gear, with cross-over change-over at automatic detection of a unit failure.
• UPS. Mechanical UPS sized for 4 hours minimum, ducted in galvanised on the cooling supply.
• Filtration. F7 filtration on supply to keep dust out of the server gear.

The boot wash and decontamination station (where workers wash mine site PPE before entering the dining hall and dorm blocks) is a wet area handled separately. Local extract over the wash bay at 6 to 8 ACH, stainless duct, ducted to a roof-mounted exhaust fan.

Genset power station — combustion air and radiator discharge

Most remote mining camps generate their own electricity on a diesel genset bank or, increasingly, on a gas turbine fed from a local LPG bulk storage tank. The genset compound is a hazardous area under AS/NZS 60079:

• Zone 1 at the fuel transfer point and day tank vent. Where flammable atmosphere is likely in normal operation. Requires Ex d, Ex i or Ex p certified equipment within the zone.
• Zone 2 around the engine and the bulk fuel tank. Where flammable atmosphere is unlikely in normal operation and only present in fault conditions. Requires Ex nA, Ex nC or Ex tD certified equipment.

The HVAC ductwork strategy:

• Combustion air. Dedicated supply ducted directly to the engine air filter intake from clean atmosphere upstream of any vehicle exhaust, with the duct routed away from the radiator discharge to prevent recirculation. Sized at 1.0 m³/s per MW of installed engine power (typical figure for a turbocharged diesel at sea level — the SBKJ engineering team adjusts for altitude and inlet temperature on a per-genset basis).
• Radiator discharge. Stainless steel or spark-resistant non-ferrous trim plenum from the engine radiator face to atmosphere, sized at 1.2 to 1.5 times the radiator face area to keep face velocity below 5 m/s and minimise backpressure on the cooling system. The plenum is welded longitudinal seams on the SBSF-1525 Stitchwelder, with TDF flange joints sealed with high-temperature gaskets rated for 120 degrees C continuous.
• Day tank extract. Dedicated mechanical exhaust over the day tank and the fuel transfer pump, rated for Zone 1 ignition protection. The fan motor is Ex d certified, the duct is stainless or spark-resistant non-ferrous trim, and the extract discharge is at 3 m minimum above the highest roof point within 15 m.
• General ventilation. 6 to 8 ACH inside the genset hall for thermal control during operation, supplemented by the combustion air intake and the radiator discharge plenum which dominate the airflow in normal running.
• Bulk fuel storage compound. AS 1940 flammable liquids storage. Dedicated vent on the bulk diesel tank, vapour-tight construction, lightning protection per AS/NZS 1768. The vent itself is a piped vent — not a duct system — but the surrounding area ventilation is sized to dilute any fugitive emission to below 25 per cent of LEL.
• LPG supply. AS 4564 and AS 5601 govern the gas supply from the bulk tank to the consumption point (camp kitchen, water heating, gas-fired dryer, any gas-fired genset).

The duct material on the genset compound is the most onerous on the entire camp. The radiator discharge plenum runs at 70 to 90 degrees C with high humidity from the radiator water, the day tank extract handles low-concentration diesel vapour with the possibility of higher concentration in fault conditions, and the combustion air supply has to be clean enough that the engine air filter life is not compromised. SBKJ supplies all three duct streams from the SBSF-1525 Stitchwelder in 304 stainless or, where the spark-resistant requirement is binding (typically the day tank extract), in non-ferrous trim with welded longitudinal seams.

Mine truck refuelling, helipad and aviation interface

Many larger Australian mining camps integrate a worker fly-in airport terminal or at least a helipad for emergency response. Hope Downs, Cloudbreak, Cape Lambert, Yandi and Karratha all have fly-in airports adjacent to or integrated with the worker accommodation village. The HVAC envelope on the airport terminal is closer to a regional public assembly building than a mining camp.

• AS 1668.2 outdoor air rate. 10 L/s per person for the public lounge and check-in area.
• Acoustic target NC-35 to NC-40.
• Material. Galvanised duct on supply and return, with stainless on any coastal-exposed exhaust.

The helipad fuelling area for emergency response (medivac aircraft, mine site supply helicopters) is a hazardous area on the helipad apron during refuelling — Zone 1 within a 1 m radius of the fuel transfer point and Zone 2 within 3 m. The HVAC envelope is minimal because the helipad is outdoor — but any covered refuelling shed has dedicated mechanical exhaust at the fuel transfer face, ducted in stainless or non-ferrous trim, rated for Zone 1 ignition protection.

The mine truck refuelling forecourt at the workshop is similarly hazardous classified — Zone 1 at the nozzle, Zone 2 within 4 m. Dedicated mechanical exhaust at the nozzle face and the workshop ventilation specification per our auto dealership and service centre HVAC duct guide.

Water treatment and sewage treatment plant

Remote camps treat their own water (typically reverse osmosis from a desalination bore or a regional water main, supplemented by rainwater capture where available) and their own sewage (typically on a packaged plant with biological treatment to Class A or Class B effluent before release to a leach field or evaporation pond). Both plants have minor mechanical extract requirements:

• RO and water treatment plant. Minor extract from the chlorine dosing area and the chemical storage room, sized at 4 to 6 ACH. Stainless duct because of the chlorine exposure.
• Sewage treatment plant. Methane vent on the primary digester (a piped vent, not a duct system), odour scrubber on the headworks intake, dedicated mechanical extract over the screen and grit chamber. Ducted in stainless to an activated carbon or biofilter odour scrubber before atmospheric discharge.
• Communications hut. Satellite, microwave and Iridium gear cooling — clean redundant cooling with F7 filtration, sized for 5 to 15 kW of IT load depending on the camp's communications infrastructure. Galvanised duct on supply and return.

The sewage treatment plant odour scrubber is one of the few duct streams on the camp where the duct interior is exposed to corrosive gas (hydrogen sulphide from anaerobic digestion). 316L stainless is the material baseline, with welded longitudinal seams on the SBSF-1525 Stitchwelder, and the duct itself is part of the AS 1668.2 special ventilation envelope.

Modular site office building and AS 4117 portable building integration

The modular site office is the smaller cousin of the workforce accommodation camp. A construction site office, a project field office, a remote exploration camp, a contractor's site shed and a mining administration donga are all built to AS 4117 portable building specification. The HVAC ductwork has to integrate with the AS 4117 module envelope:

• Module envelope. Typically 3.0 m wide by 6.0 m long by 3.0 m overall height for road transport without an oversize permit. Internal ceiling 2.4 m, ceiling void 200 to 300 mm for services.
• Low-profile duct. Rectangular duct fits within the ceiling void at 100 to 200 mm depth — typical sizing 400 by 150 mm or 600 by 150 mm. SBKJ supplies low-profile rectangular duct down to 100 mm depth on the SBAL-V auto duct line for this application.
• Flexible flanged connections. At every shipping interface where the duct crosses a module joint, a flexible flanged connection accommodates the relative movement between modules during transport and during seating on the piers.
• Union joints. On any rigid duct that crosses a module joint, the duct is split at the module line with a union joint or a slip joint sealed with mastic on the upstream face.
• Inverter split system. 2.5 to 5 kW R32 inverter split per module, with the indoor unit ceiling-mounted or wall-mounted and the outdoor unit on a rear-of-module bracket. Refrigerant pipework runs in the same ceiling void as the duct.

The Ausco Modular factory at Pinkenba in Queensland, the ATCO Structures and Logistics yards in Brisbane and Perth and Mount Isa, the BSI Group, McGrath Built Smart Modular, Hutchinson Modular, Easy Move Cabins, the PD Building Group in New South Wales and the EZE Group at the Civmec yard in Henderson WA all build to similar module envelopes. The duct that ships inside the modules is typically fabricated by the modular builder's in-house duct shop or by a specialist subcontractor working to the builder's drawings, on an SBKJ SBAL-V auto duct line or equivalent. See our modular and prefab construction factory HVAC duct guide for the full duct shop configuration.

Construction site shed and contractor donga ventilation

The construction site shed is the smaller cousin of the modular site office. A typical construction project (the building of a new mine processing plant, a new rail line, a new port facility) has dozens of site sheds on a temporary lay-down — contractor lunchrooms, supervisor offices, training rooms, first aid bays, ablution blocks, storage sheds. AS 4117 governs the structural envelope, the relevant state WorkSafe code governs the use, and AS 1668.2 governs the ventilation.

The HVAC envelope is typically minimal:

• Inverter split system. One 2.5 to 5 kW R32 inverter split per 18 to 36 m² shed.
• Outdoor air. 5 to 10 L/s per person through a wall-mounted heat recovery ventilator or a passive intake on the wall.
• Bathroom extract. Where the shed contains an ablution block, 25 L/s per WC and 25 L/s per shower under AS 1668.2.
• Material. Galvanised duct throughout, with stainless on any ablution extract.

The construction site shed duct package is the smallest per-building duct quantity on any project — a typical 6 m by 3 m shed needs around 8 to 12 linear metres of duct in total, including the split system flex run and any ablution extract. The duct is fabricated by the modular builder or by a local fabricator on an SBKJ SBAL-V or SBAL-III line.

Cyclone, dust storm and Pilbara wet season — duct in extreme conditions

The Pilbara wet season from December to April brings tropical cyclones, monsoonal rain and dust storms in close succession. The camps at Karratha, Port Hedland, Wickham, Cape Lambert, Cloudbreak, Christmas Creek and Roy Hill are designed to Region D cyclonic wind classification under AS/NZS 1170.2, with wind speeds up to 70 m/s ULS. The HVAC ductwork has to survive both the wind loading on the rooftop equipment and the wet-season humidity inside the duct.

The duct specification adjustments for cyclonic regions:

• Rooftop equipment tie-down. Every rooftop fan, plenum and roof penetration is tied down to engineering certification for Region D wind loading. The duct connection to the rooftop equipment is rigid flanged with bolted connection — no slip joint or self-locking joint that could shake loose in cyclonic wind.
• Outdoor intake louvre. AS 4740 weather louvre with rain defeat for cyclonic horizontal rain. The intake louvre is sized for low face velocity (1.5 to 2.0 m/s) to prevent water carry-over into the supply duct.
• Outdoor air intake position. Above the predicted flood level for the camp's design flood event, and away from the prevailing wind direction during cyclone events.
• Drainage on every horizontal duct run. Continuous fall to a low-point drain on every duct outside the conditioned envelope, to clear any water that infiltrates during cyclonic horizontal rain.

The Bowen Basin and NT wet season is less extreme on wind but similar on rain and humidity. The Goldfields and SA arid sites have lower wet-season exposure but higher dust storm risk — the outdoor air intake should incorporate a 90 per cent efficient pre-filter at the louvre face to keep red iron ore or coal dust out of the supply duct.

Duct material selection — galvanised, 304, 316L and spark-resistant non-ferrous trim

The duct material specification across a mining workforce camp follows a clear logic anchored to AS 4254 and the specific zone durability requirement:

• Galvanised steel G300 Z275 to AS 4254. Dorm room supply and return, office supply and return, recreation building supply and return, theatre supply and return, dry mess and wet mess supply and return, camp store supply and return, mess hall dining supply and return. 60 to 70 per cent of the duct by weight on a typical camp.
• Grade 304 stainless steel to AS 4254. Commercial kitchen grease duct (welded), commercial kitchen makeup-air plenum, bathroom and ensuite extract, laundry dryer exhaust, drying room supply and exhaust, walk-in cold room air circulation, walk-in freezer air circulation, cold storage drain duct, genset radiator discharge plenum, sewage treatment plant odour extract. 25 to 35 per cent of the duct by weight.
• Grade 316L stainless steel. Coastal Pilbara C5-M exposure (Karratha, Cape Lambert, Wickham, Port Hedland, Cloudbreak), pool hall ducting if the camp has a wet area pool building (Tom Price BHP, Karratha BHP). 5 to 10 per cent of the duct by weight.
• Spark-resistant non-ferrous trim or 304 stainless. Genset day tank extract, fuel transfer pump extract, helipad refuelling enclosure (if covered), mine truck refuelling forecourt enclosure. Small percentage of duct by weight but high specification value.

The SBAL-V auto duct line takes galvanised and 304 stainless coil interchangeably with a coil swap. The contractor runs a galvanised shift on the dorm, office and recreation duct, swaps to stainless coil at the line, recalibrates the form rolls (which the SBKJ PLC handles automatically on coil entry), and runs the kitchen, laundry and cold storage duct on the same line. The 316L stainless is run on the same line with a second coil swap. The spark-resistant non-ferrous trim is fabricated as a one-off batch on the SBSF-1525 Stitchwelder. See our galvanised versus stainless steel duct guide for the material decision matrix.

Operator and services contractor handover — ESS Compass, Sodexo, Spotless, Civeo, ATCO

The day-to-day operation of every Australian mining workforce camp is contracted to a specialist remote workforce services provider. The duct contractor's handover sequence at camp commissioning includes a brand-specific SOP package handed to the operator's hard services team:

• ESS Compass Group. The largest operator by bed count in Australia. ESS runs to the global Compass Group standards plus their Australian field overlay. The duct hygiene SOP requires monthly kitchen hood cleaning, quarterly duct inspection on accessible cleanout doors, and annual fire damper inspection to AS 1851.
• Sodexo Australia. Runs to the Sodexo global hard services standards plus the Australian Mining field manual. Similar duct hygiene cadence to ESS Compass.
• Spotless Group (Downer-owned). Spotless was acquired by Downer ASX:DOW and runs to the Spotless legacy standards plus Downer's integrated facility services overlay.
• Civeo (ASX:CVEO). Houston-listed pure-play remote workforce accommodation operator with Mount Isa, Karratha, Pilbara and Bowen Basin village portfolio. Civeo operates the duct hygiene SOP at a higher cadence than the smaller operators (typically fortnightly kitchen hood cleaning and monthly duct inspection).
• ATCO Structures and Logistics. Brisbane, Perth and Mount Isa offices. ATCO is both a modular builder and an operator on several camps, which means the duct contractor's handover often closes a vertical loop — the duct contractor delivers duct to the ATCO modular factory, which delivers the camp to ATCO operations, which then operates the duct on the ATCO hard services schedule.
• Aramark Australia. Aramark covers a portion of the Australian mining camp portfolio, particularly in QLD and NSW. Standard duct hygiene SOP.
• BESIX. European-headquartered contractor with Australian camp operations alongside construction projects.

The handover documentation from the duct contractor to the operator typically includes the AS 1668.2 commissioning certificate, the duct as-built drawings keyed to the modular building manufacturer's module envelope, the fire damper schedule for the AS 1851 routine service register, the kitchen hood cleaning schedule keyed to the FSANZ 3.2.2 inspection cycle, the cold storage duct hygiene schedule, the genset compound hazardous area dossier and the operator's brand SOP overlay. The handover is itself a deliverable on the duct contract and is typically scheduled at month 16 to 18 of the camp construction window.

SBKJ machine configuration for a mining camp duct contractor

For an Australian contractor or modular builder running an in-house duct shop to supply mining workforce camps, FIFO villages, construction site sheds and modular site office buildings, the SBKJ baseline configuration:

• SBKJ SBAL-V auto duct production line. The primary rectangular duct line. Galvanised G300 Z275 and 304 stainless coil capability. Forms rectangular duct from 200 mm to 1,500 mm wide on a single pass with TDF flange edges integrated. Coil thickness 0.5 to 1.2 mm galvanised, 0.5 to 1.0 mm stainless. Average single-shift output 800 to 1,200 linear metres of branch and trunk duct depending on the size mix. This is the workhorse for dorm, office, recreation, mess hall and bathroom riser duct. See the SBAL-V product page for the full specification and the machine line-up for the configuration options. See also our SBAL-V versus SBAL-III comparison for the entry-level versus production-grade decision.
• SBKJ SBSF-1525 Stitchwelder. The continuously welded stainless duct line. Forms 304 and 316L stainless duct from 200 mm to 1,500 mm wide with continuously welded longitudinal seams. Coil thickness 0.5 to 1.5 mm. Used for commercial kitchen grease duct, makeup-air plenum, genset radiator discharge plenum, sewage treatment plant odour extract and any duct stream where mechanical lock seam construction is not permissible.
• SBKJ Gorelocker. The mechanical lock seam machine for round and rectangular duct. Used for bathroom riser branches, dryer exhaust branches, dorm split system flexible duct connection collars and general round duct fabrication.
• SBKJ Pittsburgh seam machine. The Pittsburgh lock seam machine for the rectangular duct sections that are not run on the SBAL-V auto line — typically smaller branches, transitions and fittings.
• SBKJ Bending Machine. The press brake for duct fittings, transitions and special-shape components. Forms the geometry that doesn't come off the auto duct line.

The capital cost of the configuration above is in the range of AUD 380K to AUD 650K depending on the exact line specification and the spare-parts and training package. The total cost of ownership over a 15-year horizon, accounting for the duct production it supports, sits comfortably inside the cost of outsourced duct supply for a contractor of any scale serving the Australian mining camp sector. See our HVAC duct production line TCO guide for the financial framework.

Procurement and commissioning — the mining camp build sequence

A new Australian mining workforce camp typically follows a 12 to 24 month construction sequence from concept to first occupancy. The HVAC ductwork procurement and commissioning sits inside that sequence:

1. Months 0 to 3 — Concept and master plan. Camp layout, building count, bed count, services count. NCC classification matrix across the camp's buildings. AS 1668.2 ventilation rate calculation by the consulting mechanical engineer.
2. Months 3 to 6 — Detailed mechanical design. Duct layout, sizing, pressure class assignment, material specification. Tender documentation issued. Modular building manufacturer selected (Ausco, ATCO, BSI, McGrath, Hutchinson, Easy Move, PD Building or EZE Group) and the module envelope confirmed.
3. Months 6 to 9 — Duct machinery procurement. If the duct contractor is running an in-house duct shop, this is the window for SBKJ machine procurement. SBAL-V and SBSF-1525 lead time is 8 to 14 weeks from order to factory acceptance test. See our HVAC duct machine buyer's checklist.
4. Months 9 to 14 — Duct fabrication and modular building manufacture. In-house duct production runs in parallel with the modular building manufacturer's module construction. The duct ships flat-pack into the modules at the modular factory, where it is installed as part of the module fit-out before the module is sealed for transport.
5. Months 14 to 18 — Module transport and camp assembly. Modules transported to the camp site by road and craned onto piers. Duct continuity restored at module joints, central plant connected, plant room duct installed in situ.
6. Months 18 to 21 — Commissioning and first occupancy. AS 1668.2 ventilation balance, AS 1668.1 smoke management verification, fire damper testing to AS 1851, kitchen hood cleaning to FSANZ 3.2.2, genset compound hazardous area certification, operator brand SOP overlay. First worker rotation occupancy.
7. Months 21 to 24 — Optimisation and warranty. Demand-controlled ventilation tuning, energy optimisation, warranty period rectifications.

The duct machinery procurement window at month 6 to 9 is the leverage point. A duct contractor who orders an SBKJ auto duct line at month 6 has the line commissioned by month 9 and can fabricate the camp's duct in time for installation at month 14. A contractor who waits until month 9 to consider the duct production approach is forced into outsourced supply with a 6 to 10 week lead time on each batch, which is typically more expensive on landed cost and constrains the design flexibility on duct fittings.

Energy and decarbonisation — solar, demand control and heat recovery

The Australian mining sector is one of the largest single energy consumers in the country, and the workforce accommodation camps are a non-trivial slice of the operator's scope 1 and 2 emissions. The HVAC system across a 1,000-bed Pilbara camp typically consumes 1,200 to 1,800 MWh per year of electrical energy, depending on the climate and the occupancy profile. The decarbonisation playbook:

• Rooftop solar at every camp building. A 1,000-bed camp roof area is typically 8,000 to 12,000 m² of usable roof, which translates to a 1.5 to 2.5 MW rooftop solar opportunity. The solar generation profile aligns well with the camp daytime HVAC load.
• Battery energy storage. Pairing the rooftop solar with a 4 to 8 MWh battery energy storage system covers the evening peak load and reduces the genset run time, with a payback period of 5 to 8 years depending on the diesel price and the carbon price.
• Demand-controlled ventilation everywhere. CO2 sensors in every occupied zone, VOC sensors in any chemical-handling zone, humidity sensors in every wet zone. The supply and exhaust airflow ramps in real time against the actual occupancy load rather than the design load.
• Heat recovery on every exhaust. Sensible and latent heat recovery exchangers on the dorm bathroom extract, the laundry dryer exhaust, the drying room exhaust and the kitchen hood exhaust. Typical recovery 60 to 75 per cent of available sensible heat.
• Heat pump water heating. Replacing gas-fired or electric resistance water heating with heat pump water heating, with the heat pump evaporator drawing residual heat from the bathroom extract or the laundry extract.
• Variable speed drive on every fan. Fixed-speed fan operation is the largest single waste of HVAC energy in a camp.
• Electrified plant. Heat pump rather than gas boiler on the air handler heating coil, removing the LPG input from the HVAC system. The genset bank still runs on diesel for the time being, but the camp HVAC moves to grid-electric or solar-electric.

The duct design contributes to the decarbonisation outcome by minimising pressure drop and leakage. SBKJ duct manufactured to P1 supply class and P3 exhaust class meets AS 4254 leakage targets, and the integrated TDF flange on the SBAL-V line minimises field-applied sealant — which is typically the largest contributor to long-term duct leakage.

Common procurement mistakes in mining camp HVAC ductwork

The SBKJ engineering team has supported duct contractors and modular builders supplying Australian mining workforce camps for over a decade. The recurring procurement mistakes:

• Treating the camp as a generic accommodation project. A mining camp is not a hotel and not a residential project. The dorm room is Class 3, the mess hall is Class 6, the recreation is Class 9b, the workshop is Class 8, the genset is Class 10b in a hazardous area. Each classification attracts a different ductwork specification.
• Galvanised duct on the bathroom extract. The single most common premature duct failure on a mining camp. Galvanised lasts 4 to 7 years in continuous humid air with chlorinated water aerosols. Stainless lasts 20+ years. The 15 to 20 per cent material premium is recovered inside the first replacement cycle.
• Under-specifying the kitchen grease duct. AS 1668.2 commercial cooking clauses and NFPA 96 are non-negotiable. 1.2 mm stainless, continuously welded liquid-tight seams, 1 in 50 slope, cleanout at 3.5 m. Cutting corners here is a fire risk and a code violation.
• Ignoring the genset hazardous area classification. AS/NZS 60079 zoning of the genset compound, fuel storage and helipad refuelling is mandatory. Ex-rated equipment, spark-resistant or stainless duct, and a hazardous area dossier handed to the operator at commissioning.
• Standard-profile duct in a low-profile module ceiling void. A 250 mm deep duct doesn't fit in a 200 mm ceiling void. AS 4117 module geometry drives low-profile rectangular duct down to 100 mm depth, which the SBAL-V handles natively but a generic duct line may not.
• No flexible flanged connection at module joints. Modules move relative to each other during transport and during seating on piers. Rigid duct across a module joint cracks at the joint. Flexible flanged connections at every shipping interface.
• Outsourced duct supply on a remote-site project. The landed cost of outsourced duct supply to a Pilbara or Bowen Basin camp is typically 30 to 50 per cent above in-house production by the modular builder or the duct contractor. The capital cost of the SBKJ machine line is paid back inside the first camp build.
• No spare-parts continuity plan. The duct machinery is a 15-year asset. Without a 10-year parts continuity guarantee from the supplier, the duct shop is one PLC fault away from a six-month downtime. SBKJ commits in writing to 10-year parts continuity on every machine.

Case study perspective — what a 1,000-bed Pilbara camp looks like in duct terms

To make the numbers concrete, here is a worked example of a hypothetical 1,000-bed Pilbara iron ore workforce accommodation village. The numbers are illustrative rather than project-specific but they sit comfortably in the band of what our engineers see across the Australian sector.

The camp contains 42 dorm blocks of 24 rooms each (1,008 single-person dorm rooms total), a 600-cover mess hall with full commercial kitchen, a 1,000 m² recreation building (gym, theatre, library, games room, internet cafe, wet mess, dry mess), a 200 m² camp management office building, a 100 m² first aid and medical block, a 400 m² laundry block with drying room, a 50 m² gatehouse and CCTV monitor room, a 200 m² boot wash and decontamination block, a 2 MW genset power station with adjacent bulk diesel compound, an RO water treatment plant, a packaged sewage treatment plant, a communications hut and a helipad with associated refuelling enclosure. Total roof area across the camp is approximately 9,500 m². Total installed cooling capacity is approximately 6,500 kW. Total installed supply air at design is approximately 95,000 L/s. Total installed exhaust air at design is approximately 35,000 L/s.

The duct stock to deliver that installation breaks down approximately as follows: 3,200 linear metres of rectangular galvanised supply duct between 200 mm and 1,200 mm, 1,800 linear metres of rectangular galvanised return duct between 400 mm and 1,500 mm, 1,400 linear metres of round galvanised branch duct between 100 mm and 250 mm for dorm room supply and corridor DOAS, 800 linear metres of rectangular 304 stainless extract duct for bathroom and ensuite, 200 linear metres of welded 304 stainless grease duct for the kitchen hood and rooftop fan run, 150 linear metres of welded 304 stainless makeup-air plenum for the kitchen, 120 linear metres of welded 304 stainless dryer exhaust for the laundry, 80 linear metres of welded 304 stainless drying room supply and exhaust, 60 linear metres of welded 304 stainless cold room and freezer air circulation duct, 100 linear metres of welded 304 stainless genset radiator discharge plenum, 60 linear metres of welded 316L stainless coastal-exposed exhaust, 40 linear metres of spark-resistant non-ferrous trim or 304 stainless for genset day tank and fuel transfer extract, and a balance of fittings, transitions and dampers. Total duct weight comes in at around 78 to 92 tonnes depending on the gauge mix.

Producing that duct stock on an SBKJ SBAL-V plus SBSF-1525 plus Gorelocker plus Pittsburgh seam configuration is an 18 to 24 week task with a single-shift dedicated crew. Outsourcing it on the open market is typically a 30 to 40 week supply chain with significant scheduling risk against the camp commissioning date. The in-house production option is faster, lower landed cost, and gives the duct contractor full flexibility on fitting geometry, change orders and corrections during installation. The SBKJ line is paid back inside the first camp build.

Operator and maintainer training — the people side

The HVAC ductwork inside a mining workforce camp is a 25-year asset and the duct machinery that produces it is a 15-year asset. The people who operate both need training that sticks, and SBKJ structures the training in a way that aligns with how Australian duct contractors and modular builders actually staff their duct shops.

• SBAL-V auto duct line operator training. 16 hours over two days on the production floor. Coil loading, line setup, PLC interaction, quality check at the discharge, common fault diagnosis and recovery. English language standard.
• SBSF-1525 Stitchwelder operator training. 12 hours over two days. Welding parameter setup, stainless seam quality benchmark, kitchen grease duct specification, makeup-air plenum specification, NDT verification.
• Maintenance training. 8 hours on the second day. Preventive maintenance schedule, lubrication points, hydraulic system inspection, tooling regrind, sensor replacement, PLC software backup.
• Commissioning report. Written report signed by the SBKJ commissioning engineer, listing every test run, every measured output and every adjustment. Becomes the baseline reference document for the duct shop's quality system.
• Camp HVAC commissioning support. SBKJ engineers are available on a paid consulting basis to support the camp HVAC commissioning against AS 1668.2 design intent. This is in addition to the duct machinery commissioning and is typically engaged by builders who do not have a deep in-house HVAC engineering function.

How SBKJ supports mining workforce camp duct fabrication

SBKJ's product line is purpose-built for HVAC duct contractors and the in-house duct shops of modular builders supplying the Australian mining workforce accommodation sector. The capabilities relevant to a mining camp project:

• SBAL-V auto duct line. The workhorse rectangular duct line. Galvanised G300 Z275 and 304 stainless coil capability, 200 mm to 1,500 mm width, P1 to P3 pressure class, integrated TDF flange. Average single-shift output 800 to 1,200 linear metres. See the SBAL-V product page.
• SBSF-1525 Stitchwelder. Continuously welded stainless duct for commercial kitchen grease, makeup-air plenum, dryer exhaust, drying room, cold room air circulation, genset radiator discharge plenum, sewage treatment plant odour extract and any other welded stainless duct on the camp.
• SBKJ Gorelocker and Pittsburgh seam machines. Round and rectangular branch duct for dorm bathroom, dryer exhaust and general round duct fabrication.
• SBKJ Bending Machine. Press brake for duct fittings, transitions and special-shape components.
• Australia office in Box Hill North, Victoria. English-speaking after-sales, on-shore spare parts inventory for SBAL-V and SBSF lines, engineer-led commissioning support.
• 10-year parts continuity guarantee. In writing on every order.
• Engineer-led 12-hour reply. All technical questions answered by an SBKJ mechanical engineer within 12 hours, not by a salesperson.
• ARBS 2026 exhibitor. SBKJ and Australia Ducting Pty Ltd will be exhibiting at the Air Conditioning, Refrigeration and Building Services exhibition in Sydney in 2026 — the major sector trade event for Australian HVAC machinery and ductwork.

Talk to an SBKJ engineer about your mining camp duct package →

FAQ

What ventilation rate does AS 1668.2 require for a single-person FIFO dorm room?

AS 1668.2 requires 5 L/s of outdoor air per person for sleeping accommodation. A single-person 3.0 m by 6.0 m donga room at one occupant therefore needs 5 L/s of fresh air at design occupancy. The room is conditioned by a 2.5 kW R32 inverter split system delivering 100 to 150 L/s of supply air via the indoor unit. Fresh air is introduced through a transfer grille from a corridor-mounted dedicated outdoor air system or by a wall-mounted heat recovery ventilator.

Which NCC classification applies to a typical mining workforce accommodation camp?

A mining workforce accommodation camp is classified by building element. The dorm blocks are Class 3 (hostel and motel equivalent), the mess hall and commercial kitchen are Class 6, the recreation and gym and theatre and wet mess and assembly buildings are Class 9b, the camp management offices are Class 5, the workshop and laundry plant are Class 8, and the genset compound and fuel storage are Class 10b. The HVAC ductwork has to satisfy NCC clauses for every classification on the same site.

Does a mining camp commercial kitchen need stainless duct?

Yes. The kitchen exhaust hood, grease duct and makeup-air plenum are specified to AS 1668.2 commercial cooking clauses and NFPA 96. Grease duct is 1.2 mm minimum stainless 304, continuously welded liquid-tight longitudinal seams, sloped 1 in 50 back to the hood, with cleanout doors at 3.5 m maximum spacing. SBKJ supplies welded stainless grease duct on the SBSF-1525 Stitchwelder and galvanised makeup-air plenum on the SBAL-V auto duct line.

How do you ventilate a remote mining camp genset compound?

A remote mining camp genset compound is a hazardous area under AS/NZS 60079, typically Zone 2 around the engine and Zone 1 at the fuel handling face. Dedicated combustion air supply ducted directly to the engine intake from clean atmosphere, radiator discharge plenum at 1.2 to 1.5 times radiator face area in 304 stainless or spark-resistant non-ferrous trim, and dedicated extract over the day tank and fuel transfer pump rated for Zone 1 ignition protection.

What duct standard applies to a transportable site office or donga?

AS 4117 governs the manufacture of portable buildings used as site offices, lunch rooms, ablution blocks and dongas. The HVAC ductwork inside an AS 4117 portable building still complies with AS 4254 for sheet metal duct construction and AS 1668.2 for ventilation rate, but the duct geometry has to accommodate the relocatable nature — flexible flanged connections at every shipping interface, low-profile rectangular duct down to 100 mm depth, and union joints on any rigid duct that crosses a module joint.

Which SBKJ machine configuration suits a mining camp duct contractor?

The baseline configuration is the SBAL-V auto duct production line for galvanised supply, return and dorm extract duct, the SBSF-1525 Stitchwelder for stainless commercial kitchen grease duct and radiator discharge plenum on the genset compound, and a Gorelocker or Pittsburgh seam machine for round and rectangular branch duct. The SBAL-V takes galvanised and 304 stainless coil interchangeably with a coil swap.