INNOVATION July-August 2016

2015 ❖ 2016 Project Highlights

Valley Copper mine in south–central BC. The upper 255 metres of the east wall comprise a thick sequence of glacial overburden soils containing intervals of low-shear-strength clays and silts. Two large (1.7- and 6-million-tonne) waste rock buttresses were required to maintain slope stability using slot cut and fill mining methods. A network of 70 active dewatering wells and 26 one-metre-diameter passive vertical drains was commissioned to control groundwater levels. Calibrated numerical models were used to forecast pore pressures and ground displacements to define slope-monitoring thresholds for safe operating conditions. Completion of Phase 8 mining, to a final depth of 570 metres on the east wall, is scheduled for late-2016. APEGBC members, Piteau Associates (designers): Nick Rose, P.Eng., and Andrew Holmes, P.Eng.; Teck Highland Valley Copper Mine: Sebastien Fortin, P.Eng.; Mathieu Veillette, P.Eng. Kamloops Pump Station Upgrade The Kamloops pump upgrade project’s goal was to replace 63-year- old, multi-stage crude-oil pumps with new centrifugal pumps in a new building. Work started in late-2014, and was mostly completed by December 2015. Four parallel, across-the-line pumps were replaced with two new, single-stage series pumps driven by 5000-horsepower motors and variable-frequency drives. The project’s design focus was to increase reliability at this critical station. The new pump station was built next to the existing station and was successfully commissioned within a 48-hour period. APEGBC member, Greaves Project Solutions: Tom Greaves, P.Eng.; Golder Associates (environmental/geotechnical); Tetra Tech, Inc. (engineering)

P hoto : M itch C heek

Stabilising the Valley Pit East Wall, Teck Highland Valley Copper Mine Piteau Associates designed the Phase 8 expansion at the Teck Highland

High-efficiency Evaporation System Supports Heavy Oil Recovery Process Development A.H. Lundberg Systems Limited, Vancouver, BC, designed and supplied a new high-efficiency evaporation system to the Japan Canada Oil Sands Limited (JACOS) demonstration facility at the Hangingstone heavy oil recovery plant, near Fort McMurray, Alberta. The system includes a falling film evaporator driven by three mechanical vapour re-compressors (MVR) arranged in parallel. The system was successfully started up and commissioned in July 2015. The installation purifies the blow down of the boilers providing steam to

JACOS’s steam-assisted gravity drainage heavy oil field. Because this facility is used for process-development purposes, the system was designed to operate with extensive capacity changes to the feed rate beyond the requirements or capabilities of a conventional MVR-driven evaporation system. APEGBC members, A.H. Lundberg Systems Limited: Allan Jensen, P.Eng., Bruce Der, P.Eng., Greg Geub, P.Eng.

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