Gladstone Dredging Company,
Servicing Central Queensland
Designed & Built in Perth
Eliminate Downtime
Advanced underwater positioning technology
Operation in corrosive and extreme pH environments (pH 1 to pH 14)
Save Time & Money
A Dredging Company Built for Gladstone’s Industry
Gladstone isn’t a town that sits next to industry, it runs on it. Between the alumina refineries at Boyne Smelters and Queensland Alumina, the processing operations at Rio Tinto Yarwun, and the LNG terminals on Curtis Island, this is one of the most concentrated industrial precincts in the country, and every one of those operations depends on process ponds, tanks and water assets that quietly lose capacity to sediment over time.
Dredge Robotics is a Gladstone dredging company delivering mine dredging and industrial dredging services without ever draining the asset or sending a person inside it. We also support mine site dredging further out across Central Queensland’s mining operations, giving Gladstone’s industrial base and the broader region a single dredging services partner that already understands the conditions here.
The Real Cost of Draining a Refinery Pond
The traditional approach to pond and tank maintenance hasn’t changed in decades: drain the asset, isolate it, sometimes cut into it, then send people or machinery in. It’s slow, expensive, and it puts people inside a confined, contaminated space to do it.
Our model removes each of those costs in turn:
- The asset never goes offline: Dredging and mine dewatering happen while the asset stays in production, not around a shutdown window.
- Your water stays where it is: A closed-loop process means no drain-down, which matters in refining and processing operations where water volumes are significant to replace.
- No one enters the asset: Removing human entry eliminates the highest-risk activity in this category of work, particularly relevant in caustic, high-pH refinery environments.
- We understand industrial-scale operations: Gladstone’s refineries and processing plants run continuously. We plan our mobilisation and delivery around that reality, not the other way around.
Our Services Across Gladstone’s Industrial Precinct
Lined pond dredging: Liner-safe clearing of sediment and sludge from process ponds, evaporation ponds and turkey’s nests, engineered to protect HDPE and PVC linings even in caustic or low-visibility water.
Mine site dredging: Tailings ponds, slurry and process tanks maintained for Central Queensland mining operators without disrupting production schedules.
Process and storage tank cleaning: Online desludging of process and storage tanks at refineries and processing plants, removing compacted material with no interruption to service delivery.
Cooling tower maintenance: Sediment cleared from cooling towers to recover thermal performance across Gladstone’s continuous-process industrial operations.
Mine dewatering: GPS-guided desludging and dewatering of process ponds, tailings dams and retention basins for mine site operations across Central Queensland, all while operations continue.
Internationally recognised certifications and accreditations.
LINED PONDS
LINED PONDS
Lined ponds may be common, however, the delicate nature of the lining can add challenges to dredging the traditional way. See how robotic dredging in Australia can restore your HDPE, LLDPE and PVC lined ponds with zero risk of damage, even with minimal visibility.
TANKS
TANKS
Maintaining process and storage tanks is essential, but often requires shutting down operation to do so. Not with Dredge Robotics. We have revolutionised cleaning and inspecting tanks without shutting down your mining, manufacturing or other operations. Learn how.
WASTEWATER DESLUDGING
WASTEWATER DESLUDGING
Using online robotic dredging technology with pinpoint GPS tracking, we can desludge and clean wastewater ponds, raceways, digesters, oxidation ditches and sediment tanks without stopping operations or requiring entry from divers or your team. Explore more.
CHEMICAL PONDS
CHEMICAL PONDS
Our dredging contractors in Australia can operate our online robotics in highly corrosive and extreme pH environments (pH 1 to pH14), allowing you a safer, more efficient and cost-effective method of cleaning and inspecting chemical tanks.
Zero Entry Isn’t a Slogan, It’s the Safety Standard.
Removing personnel from confined, contaminated industrial water environments eliminates the highest-risk activity in this category of work outright, particularly in the caustic and high-pH conditions common to refining and alumina processing.
CASE STUDIES
Environments like Gladstone’s, caustic, high-throughput and running non-stop, are exactly where robotic dredging proves its worth. Our case studies show real results delivered in conditions just as demanding, without a single shutdown.
Behind the Technology & Innovation
Caustic liquor, high-pH tailings, hypersaline water: Gladstone’s industrial water assets aren’t gentle environments to work in. Our custom-designed, patented dredging technology was built to handle exactly these conditions. Learn more about how it works.
Get in Touch
Find out how you can save time and money with our online robotic dredging solutions.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Gladstone facilities and industries do you service?
We provide dredging services to Gladstone’s refining, processing and export operations, including the alumina, aluminium and LNG sectors, as well as mine site dredging support for mining operations further out across Central Queensland.
Can you dredge a process pond without shutting the plant down?
Yes. Because our robots operate inside the asset while it stays full and in service, there’s no drain-down and no shutdown required.
Will robotic dredging damage my pond liner?
No. Liner protection is engineered into the system end to end: trackless drives, torsion limiting, and a sensor suite that maintains precise control in nil-visibility water. We clear sediment back to bare liner without compromising it.
How do you handle mobilising to a remote Pilbara site?
Our systems are built to operate in corrosive and extreme pH environments, which is standard in alumina refining and processing. It’s part of the conditions the equipment was designed around, not an exception we work around.