The RIX Group

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In 2000, two business partners formed The RIX Group and along with a loyal and highly experienced team were building mobile phone base stations for a new mobile phone network. Who would have thought that this entrepreneurial group of individuals, later returning to the industry they knew so well, would become the major force in civil shotcreting in Australia?

“We then went about doubling the business in 2004 when Greg Douglas brought along his expert team and merged his business with ours , then we became more or less the largest around, expanding into Queensland. We’re now undertaking jobs all over the country managed from our offices in Queensland and New South Wales,” Matthew Hicks, Managing director at The RIX Group says.

“We offer every type of shotcrete solution available and now all of the accompanying work that goes with it.”
Of course, one of The RIX Group’s core industries is mining—spraying shotcrete in areas such as mines and underground tunnels. With this in mind, IRJ speaks with Hicks to talk all things shotcrete and discover more about this key mining-associated activity.

The shotcrete spectrum

In becoming a major player in Australia, part of The RIX Group’s edge is the broad range of shotcrete forms it offers its many varied clients and the lengths the company has gone to in order to do so.

“There’s dry spray, there’s wet spray, architectural finishes and shaft spraying where you spray stabilise shaft walls using tele-remote robots for which we designed and built our own machinery,” Hicks explains.

“Our recent expansion which is pretty much done now was to offer all forms of embankment stabilisation—from removing large boulders in a controlled manner to rock fall meshing to catch fencing, drilling rock bolts and soil nails in remote, limited access or high areas. We now do all of that in-house whereas we used to do just shotcreting.”

By gathering the shotcreting services offered within the company’s four divisions—Shotcrete Solutions, Geotechnical Solutions, Civil construction and mining—The RIX Group is able to offer a spectrum with consistently high standards of project excellence. Its efforts to develop  the machinery, drilling items and associated equipment to deliver these services only further demonstrates the way this company works: If it isn’t available, make it available. The shotcreting and geotechnical division make up one business arm, and Hicks says that the construction division is run by the company’s other partner, Ronan O’Reilly.

“Our construction team have undertaken some quite difficult concrete structures, many underground in tunnels. For the Cross-City Tunnel in Sydney we constructed three sections of arch form—each 50 metres long, all very challenging concrete structures that are actually built above your head,” Hicks says.

“Construction also had to take place whilst allowing the other tunnel construction crews to drive under our arch form. This meant that installation of the rock bolts, the reinforcement cages then moving and securing the arch form itself in each section was complex but all with the added headache of traffic under us.

That was done a few years ago and they’ve since completed many tough projects, more recently 70 metres underground in a large sewage treatment plant.”
For this project The RIX Group pulled apart an excavator lowered it down the shaft, rebuilt it, and then excavated the roof and walls supporting them both with shotcrete and bolts along the way. Finally the floor was removed, all the spoil up taken up and out the shaft, then lowered in and all of the pipes were placed into this large sewer outlet—one of the largest in Sydney—before concreting it all back up to allow the hydro plant to be put installed.

Honing in on mining

In mining, The RIX Group’s part-owned sister company, InCycle Shotcreting, tends to be the business of underground shotcreting whilst RIX takes care of the shaft lining.

“Whilst InCycle are a specialized underground shotcreter, RIX also stabilises large box cuts in coal mines. Our last was 25,000 square metres when our client excavated their box cut to allow them to go underground,” Hicks says.

“We also use our shaft sprayer on ventilation shafts—as mines get deeper they require either new or extensions of their existing vent shafts and tunnels can offer the same opportunity. If they hit poor ground some form of lining is required and so our very fast, economical and safe option is to hang a robot down and, whilst operating from above by remote control and video imaging, we spray fibrcrete to support the ground.”

Another of the company’s mining involvements is rock fall meshing and catch fences, which are provided as and when a mining operation (or other) requires. Other services include the scaling and removal of hazardous geology, rock bolting, rope access and other general needs for shotcrete application. Whilst The RIX Group’s range and ability is clear, it is of course the company’s ethos and ability to grow, construct and create which underpins its progress.

The RIX Group way

The RIX Group’s goal is simple—to offer a highly professional quality contracting business throughout Australasia. There are a lot of different components to the company’s product offering, but Hicks says that a contractor is and has always been what the company is at a base level.
“We want to expand all of our capabilities to offer our clients full project solutions from the list that we offer, from shotcreting to stabilisation to construction and mining solutions, without losing our focus on safety, quality and reliability,” he says.

“A lot of our success today is because of the loyalty of loyal and highly trained employees and    management team, as well as our valued business partners, clients and suppliers.”

In The RIX Group’s 10 year lifespan, the company’s business and capabilities have expanded as has its service and quality. Challenges are opportunities for innovation, designing machinery, enjoying new project requirements and growing staff skill. The versatility of the services offered has allowed the company to explore multi-industry frontiers whilst continually applying high standards of project delivery, safety, quality and expertise. For anyone faced with a challenging project requirement be it shotcreting, stabilisation, civil construction or a mining solution, regardless of size, look no further. If you want the job done right, you want The RIX Group.  

www.therixgroup.com.au