Sheffield heavy engineering specialist DavyMarkham has successfully completed a £10m international mining project.
The company designed, manufactured and delivered three complete mine hoists to Canadian company HudBay Minerals, which is developing an underground copper, gold and zinc mine in rural Manitoba.
DavyMarkham won the £8m contract to supply three hoists which consist of a 16ft diameter double-drum production hoist, capable of hoisting a 16t payload from a depth of 1,000m, a 14ft diameter double-drum service hoist, with a payload capacity of 12t, and an 8ft diameter single-drum auxiliary hoist. The equipment was designed specifically to meet HudBay Minerals’ shaft sinking and final duty requirements.
The mechanical equipment for the three hoists was fabricated, machined and assembled at DavyMarkham’s workshop in Sheffield, before being packed and secured for shipping.
It was then delivered in 24 containers, weighing a combined 470t, to the Lalor Mine Project site, approximately 130 miles east of the nearest city, Flin Flon,
The company also won a £2m contract for the installation and commission of all the equipment onsite. A team of engineers from Sheffield travelled to the location in Canada, where temperatures fall below -30°C, to assist with the six-month installation process, which was recently completed.
DavyMarkham’s Lalor project manager Steve Henson said, "This was challenging work of a kind which few other companies would have been able to deliver.
"The hoists travelled by sea to Montreal, some 1,400 miles away from their final destination, before being carried by train to Winnipeg and then trucked to the mine in the small town of Snow Lake. Members of the DavyMarkham team then went on site to ensure the successful installation of the hoists was competed.
"This was a truly international project involving suppliers in Europe and South America and electrical sub-contractors ABB Canada, and it further demonstrates DavyMarkham’s growing reputation within the global mining market."
The Lalor Mine Project is DavyMarkham’s latest work in Canada. In 2011, DavyMarkham secured a £10m contract to supply drum hoists to the Goldcorp Éléonore Project in northern Quebec.