In February 2004 Hatch, in joint venture with Stantec, was awarded the engineering, procurement, project and construction management (EPCM), and commissioning for Nickel Rim South, a C$925-million exploration project on the northeast edge of the Sudbury basin.
Hatch and Stantec also worked on the prefeasibility and feasibility studies through 2003.
Hatch and its joint venture partner provided engineering, procurement, and construction management services for the Nickel Rim South mine project.
The project’s scope included the development of surface infrastructure, a ventilation and secondary access shaft sunk to 1,685m, and a production shaft sunk to 1,750m. The project includes underground infrastructure, 11 km of lateral-mine access drifts and 105 km of diamond-drilling to prove ore-body geometry, mineral grades and tonnage.
The mine was developed for a 1.25-million tonne per annum (Mtpa) production rate. The infrastructure is designed to accommodate ore and waste extraction rates of up to 1.3 Mtpa.
The Hatch project team ramped up to full strength with a 75-person team managing five design groups and up to 15 contracting firms on site simultaneously. Site preparation, services and development of electrical systems were completed in 2004, shaft sinking was completed in 2007 and lateral development and underground construction was completed in 2010.
The Nickel Rim South project established a new technology benchmark for all future mines by deploying the latest advances in controls and communications, including comprehensive Wi-Fi communications for surface and underground phone, data, asset and personnel tracking.
The project achieved more than 5.7 million work-hours without a lost-time incident.
”The project has been an outstanding success with a world-class safety record, below budget costs and outstanding schedule performance.”
— Marc Boissonneault, Vice President, Sudbury Operations, Xstrata Nickel
