NAU: The fastest Greenfield mine project in the wo The fastest Greenfield mine project in the world
Jan 20, 2012
With less than year to go to production start in the Northland iron ore mine in Kaunisvaara, there is an incredible level of activity in the mine area. In the space of just a few days, new buildings have appeared and existing ones have been extended at a furious rate.
The mine project itself means an investment of 5,000 million SEK, not counting infrastructure and transport solutions as far as the Port of Narvik . A tight schedule has been set, but it is being held, and the person with the key role in ensuring that construction both keeps to the timetable and meets the quality standards is Göran Arlefalk, manager of the Kaunisvaara project.
”There is no other greenfield (=from scratch) mine project in the world that we know of that has been put together this fast. That makes strict demands on both us as project managers and the contractors who are doing the job. But our own personnel and our contractors are professionals and know their trade," he says.
He sees his role as that of a helicopter pilot who everyday has to think ahead and think back, negotiating obstacles and constantly wondering whether things can be done smarter or cheaper.
It is the first time a mine has been started in Tornedalen - the Torne Valley region of Sweden/Finland. Göran Arlefalk says he feels pride in the project among those working here. And there is an understanding with the contractors that due to the time constraints, there is a need for flexibility from everyone for things to work and work well.
”There's no wait-and-see with any decisions. We have an agreement with our contractors that any question that is put it will be answered within 36 hours," says Göran Arlefalk. “To secure quality in the process, there is a need for stringent documentation and continual follow-up," he emphasises.
He has his workstation in the mine area, not far from the concentrator which is currently being completed. When we drive out in the area, Göran Arlefalk can see that in the past 24 hours alone, the pillars for the truck workshop have been erected. Concreting at the primary crusher is progressing at a good rate, and the so-called Grizzly hopper, which the ore is due to pass before entering the ore stockpiles, is right now being prepared for concreting.
At the same time, overburden stripping is continuing in the area where the Tapuli ore deposits lie. A great deal of peat and till has already been transported away, but it will take three years to completely strip the area destined for extraction.
”Someone has calculated that if we transported these masses to a football stadium, they would cover it 45 km deep,” Göran Arlefalk adds.
He continues to try to describe to us the proportions of this project.
”When we set up the tailings basin where we are going to store waste products from production, a walk round it will be about 10 km long.
By the time production is ready to begin at the end of this year:
• 1.9 million m³ of rock will have been used for roads and buildings.
• 4,000 tonnes of reinforcing iron will have been used
• 60,000 m³ of concrete will have been used (it is hardly surprising that Northland has its own concrete station in the area)
• Over 1,000,000 m³ of water will have been pumped out to enable stripping the Tapuli deposit.
Also as regards human resources, a lot has been happening in the construction area since the turf-cutting ceremony on 20 December 2010. Now at the beginning of January, there are about 30 contractors here, employing more than 350 people. When the construction project is at its most hectic and personnel from Metso are here, the work will involve well over 600 people.
”This, of course, makes higher demands, coordinating more parties and processes. But we are keeping to the timetable, at the same time as, I am happy to say, I have not had to write a single report about significant deviations in quality. That is unusual for a project of this size,” says Göran Arlefalk.
Read more:
https://www.northland.eu/en-us/media/news/the-fastest-greenfield-mine-project-in-the-world