Over the course of several years, BESTECH has been an essential part of the engineering team supporting Glencore’s Onaping Depth project through pre-feasibility, feasibility, and detailed design.

Glencore Sudbury operations were increasing the depth of Onaping Mine to reach newly discovered ore bodies. This necessitated the construction of a new cooling plant.

As part of this improvement project, the power infrastructure required updating and increased capacity. A new 115 kV transmission line, substation and 27.6 kV underground distribution system were required to power the mine infrastructure. BESTECH completed the multi-disciplinary detailed engineering (Power Systems, Civil, Structural) required to bring the project to its issued construction phase.

The newly designed 115 kV line covers extremely rugged terrain and boasts an 1100 ft span across a ravine. Special attention was required to spot structures and guys under difficult design conditions to ensure line constructability—the newly designed 27.6 kV distribution required special clearance considerations for haulage trucks and the fibre optic design.

The scope of work included the following:

New grid connection to Hydro One
New 1.5 km of 115 kV transmission line
Upgrades to 1.5 km of 27.6 kV distribution line
Upgrades to all surface 115 kV to 27.6 kV substations at Craig Mine and Onaping Mine
Review of the current 4.16 kV underground infrastructure to ensure temporary system capacity
Upgrades to existing underground 4.16 kV substations at Craig Mine
New 27.6 kV underground distribution system for Onaping Depth Mine
Over thirty new 27.6kV to 600V underground portable substations for Onaping Depth Mine
Shield wire and vibration damper designs
Demolition and removal package for existing infrastructure
Grounding study
Lightning protection study
Constructability and process hazard reviews
Capital estimate
Permitting and coordination
Technical bid reviews
Construction and commissioning support

Throughout this work, we were an integral part of the Onaping Depth team and clearly demonstrated our ability to collaborate and develop innovative solutions to deliver improvements for our clients. The team’s integrated approach yielded high returns for the client, particularly with our improvement recommendations for the power systems during the feasibility study phase.