Refurbishing and Recommissioning of a gold mining mill
Eldorado Gold produces gold and base metals and made its first investment in Canada in 2017 by purchasing Integra Gold and the Lamaque underground gold project. The Triangle gold deposit is a new orebody which forms the basis of the Lamaque mine. Triangle is located just 2.5 km south of the historic Lamaque and Sigma mines, which are also on the property. These mining facilities have been modernized several times, the most recent dating back to the early 2000s. The Sigma mine is now mined out but the existing Sigma mill has been refurbished and is currently being used to process the ore extracted from the Triangle deposit.
Client: Eldorado Gold
Location: Val-d’Or, Québec
OUR EXPERTS’ SOLUTIONS
After being involved in the feasibility study, our experts developed an operational readiness and commissioning plan for the Sigma mill that included upgrading most of the existing mechanical equipment and preparing a detailed commissioning strategy.
Additionally, our experts modernized the concentrator’s power distribution and the mine’s electrical engineering along with the plant’s control system. They also recabled all instrumentation and control systems. It was a very complex project given the outdated installations and very short lead times.
- Participate in feasibility studies to re-start the mill
- Integrate the study’s capital costs
- Manage overall project (monitor schedule, control costs, provide monthly reports, etc.)
- Manage an operational readiness and commissioning plan
- Procure and purchase new equipment
- Perform electrical engineering for the Triangle mine and the Sigma mill
- Perform instrumentation and control engineering for the Sigma mill
- Perform piping engineering for the Sigma mill’s existing process
- Prepare functional descriptions required to program the control system
- Participate in upgrading most existing mechanical equipment
- Perform pre-operational verifications by a dedicated team of about ten people using BBA’s SIIP application to track non-conformities
- Provide commissioning support for the Sigma mill by the Eldorado Gold operation team.
IN THE WORDS OF OUR CLIENT…
“BBA’s approach of quickly guiding and supporting the project team was a key factor in successfully restarting the mine.”
Shane Williams, Senior Vice-President, Capital Projects and Greece & Quebec Operations
IN NUMBERS*
- Current life-of-mine estimated at 7 years
- Production estimated at an average of 117,000 oz of gold per year
- Average grade of 7 g per tonne gold
*Based on PFS published in March 2018.