INNOVATION July-August 2013

Diavik Wind Farm Addition Diavik Diamond Mines, in a joint venture with Rio Tinto and Harry Winston, has successfully installed four ENERCON 2.3MW wind tur- bines on their site located on Lac de Gras in the Northwest Territories. This is the first large-scale wind turbine farm located in the North- west Territories of Canada. The mine relies on diesel for all of its energy needs, and with the incorporation of the wind farm a reduction in diesel consumption of about 4 million litres a year is anticipated. This also reduces their total greenhouse emissions. Orbis Engineering Field Services was retained by Diavik for electrical engineering services which included commissioning and integration of the wind farm into the power distribution system as a whole. This project was completed in September of 2012. Many people at Orbis were involved in the project, including Azim Vira, P.Eng., and Amin Kassam, P.Eng.

Mount Milligan Waste Management Facility The Mt. Milligan copper-gold mine is currently under construction in north Central BC, located between Fort St. James and Mackenzie. A key aspect of its successful permitting was the Knight Piésold design for a single integrated water and waste management facility. A unique feature of this design involves constructing the tailing embankment primarily with mine waste rock which reduces the overall footprint of the mine de- velopment by eliminating the need for external waste dumps for mine waste rock and overburden. It will provide environmentally secure storage for both tail- ings and waste rock and will fully integrate with surface water management objectives during both operations

and closure. Construction of the processing plant, transmission line, tailing embankment and associated seepage collection and recycle ponds, roads, water diversions, and pumps and pipeworks is underway and on schedule. Commercial production at Mt. Milligan is scheduled to commence in the fourth quarter of 2013. 

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