vale invests in better, newer and cleaner operations in ontario

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PUBLICATION MAIL AGREEMENT #40934510 Vale invests in better, newer and cleaner operations in Ontario Green mining: The amazing shrinking footprint Rio Tinto collaborates with CEMI on $10 million centre Diamond developments glow brightly at the ‘Ring of Fire’ Shining Tree: An important part of Ontario’s mining boom Announcing the International Laboratory of Mining Geophysics

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Vale invests in better, newer and cleaner operations in Ontario

Green mining: The amazing shrinking footprint

Rio Tinto collaborates with CEMI on $10 million centre

Diamond developments glow brightly at the ‘Ring of Fire’

Shining Tree: An important part of Ontario’s mining boom

Announcing the International Laboratory of Mining Geophysics

30 Ontario Mineral Exploration Review Spring 2011

The mining industry world-wide has more than its fair share ofchallenges today – from stringent environmental and regulatorypressures to an urgent need to improve operational costs, produc-tivity and safety, all while having to mine deeper than ever before.

Aware of these challenges, BESTECH, one of Canada’s leadingproviders of engineering, automation, software development andenergy management services, has been developing a novel solutionto address these challenges in mines for years. Their team ofexperts have perfected a multi-faceted solution called NRG1-ECO(Energy Consumption Optimization) that helps mining compa-nies gain better control of their processes, energy usage, equip-ment, safety and energy costs. NRG1-ECO combines hardware and soft-ware to manage virtually every pieceof automated equipment in a mine.

“It’s a complete energy manage-ment system that can be applied toprocesses such as compressors, pumpsand any other systems in a mine that could benefit from a reduc-tion in energy consumption,” says Trang Tran, BESTECH’s manag-er, research and development.

This is especially true with respect to a mine’s ventilation systemthat usually operates at peak capacity 100 per cent of the time.NRG1-ECO’s VOD (Ventilation-On-Demand) module enables themine to instantly control the ventilation system’s air flow to whenand where it is needed. This allows a mine to reduce its ventilation

costs by as much as 30 per cent – which represents significant sav-ings, given that ventilation costs make up almost 50 per cent of amine’s energy costs.

COLLABORATIONWhen BESTECH was developing the technology, it formed a

consortium of industry experts and organizations to establish bestpractices and standards of excellence. The consortium membersinclude organizations such as the Centre for Mining Excellence(CEMI) as well as mining giants Vale and Xstrata Nickel. This year,the technology was installed at Vale’s Coleman Mine and Xstrata

Nickel’s Fraser Mine, both inSudbury, Ontario, Canada.

“We worked together withBESTECH on what was needed inthe industry and they’ve completedthe development of a Ventilation-On-Demand management tool for

us,” says Cheryl Allen, chief engineer – ventilation, Vale Mines MillTechnical Services, Canadian Operation. “BESTECH designed asystem that can be tailored to suit the needs of each mine.”

NRG1-ECO was developed with an open architecture so that itwill work with technology already in use at any mine. Integrationis at the core of NRG1-ECO and its ability to incorporate with newor existing mine infrastructure offers mines, old or new, theopportunity to realize significant savings as well.

Vale and Xstrata commission energy management solution that can save mines millions in energy costs

A WELL-ORIENTED DRILLING PROGRAM.

FORDIA SUDBURY T 705.566.2444 TF 1.877.221.2252 WWW.FORDIA.COM

a new core orientation system now available for rental.

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NRG1-ECO® was developed with an openarchitecture so that it will work with

technology already in use at any mine.

31Ontario Mineral Exploration Review Spring 2011

BESTECH’s NRG1-ECO Solution

In addition, the BESTECH team offers mines assistance withenergy-efficiency grants and rebate applications for both the initialsite assessments and commissioning of NRG1-ECO. “Energygrants and rebates help our customer’s get on the fast track to ener-gy savings, increasing productivity and employee engagement,”says Dan Dumais, BESTECH’s energy specialist. “We work withour clients to provide all the necessary system training for NRG1-ECO stakeholders at a mine. A comprehensive education andemployee awareness system is also available to ensure the sustaineduse of NRG1-ECO in their mine.”

CONTROL STRATEGIES OPTIMIZE ENERGY SAVINGS, VENTILATION AND AIRFLOW

NRG1-ECO includes five control strategies. “The programmingparameters for the control systems are based on the needs of eachmine site and designed according to their specifications,” says Tran.“Each mine site has its own protocol, and our team customizestheir system to reflect that and maximize energy savings for theclient.”

One of the first control strategies that mines utilize is the Time-Of-Day scheduling, where windows of opportunities exist betweenshift changes, holidays and other regular set times to controldevices. Ventilation technicians preset the execution of batches,based on the mine’s planned activities per day, week, or month.NRG1-ECO can control the devices by scheduling an automaticreduction that allows the system to reduce energy consumption.

“The second control strategy is the Real-Time control. Thisallows mine personnel to turn devices on and off in real time, either

through a web-based user interface or through human-machineinterface screens that sit in the control room,” says Tran.

The third control strategy is the Event-Based control, allowingthe site to configure the NRG1-ECO system to automatically reactto events such as a fire or a high carbon monoxide level. When thesystem detects an event, it knows the actions that need to takeplace. Those events are often safety ones and can also includesomething such as a vent door being left open by mistake.

The fourth control strategy is Environmental Monitoring.NRG1-ECO includes instruments underground that measure dif-ferent environmental parameters, such as high levels of carbon ornitrogen oxide and the temperature and airflow in a certain area.“Based on real-time data collected, the system can control or reis-sue air flow requirements for the current real-time environmentalneeds,” says Tran.

“The fifth control strategy is Tagging. NRG1-ECO integrateswith industry tagging systems, monitors and adjusts air flow in

BESTECH has formed a consortium of industry experts and organizations that will supportBESTECH in establishing the industry best practices and standards of excellence for NRG1-ECO.Consortium members include organizations such as the Centre for Mining Excellence (CEMI) andinternational mine site technology providers. Mining giants Vale and Xstrata Nickel are consor-tium members and have the NRG1-ECO technology installed in their Coleman and Fraser mines.

The Intelligent Zone ControllerTM (IZC) is the brains of the underground

network and one of the components of the NRG1-ECO® system.

32 Ontario Mineral Exploration Review Spring 2011

real-time, and responds to incoming sen-sor data as well as the location of taggedmine personnel and equipment. It thenadjusts ventilation to meet their needs,”says Tran.

The Intelligent Zone ControllerTM

(IZC) is the brains of the undergroundnetwork and one of the components ofthe NRG1-ECO system. It increases thesystem responsiveness as data can beanalyzed and processed internally, anddoes not have to be transmitted to sur-face for a decision making. In the case ofan interruption in communication withthe controls above ground, the IZC canexecute commands to the devices tooperate in fail-safe mode.

BETTER INFORMATION,BETTER DECISIONS

NRG1-ECO also stores all the data itprocesses for its real-time monitoring.The system provides mine intelligenceregarding device performance, adher-ence to established systems and process-es and offers effective analysis of a mine’sKPI. “If you are monitoring your pro -cesses then you can make informed deci-sions,” says Allen of Vale. “With theNRG1-ECO system, you have bettermonitoring and control and that allowsyou to make decisions, helps your man-agement make better decisions, and

BESTECH’s NRG1-ECO Solution

NRG1-ECO 3D Viewer — Zones within the NRG1-ECO System are displayed in the 3D Viewer using customizable colours.Devices are shown in their true geographical positions.

NRG1-ECO 3D Viewer Zone Designer – The 3D viewer offers the ability to intuitively design and edit mine models as well as NRG1-ECOZone definitions.

Left to right: Marc Boudreau, BESTECH president & CEO; Sarah Paajanen, BESTECH project manager; and Cheryl Allen, Vale chiefventilation engineer/project manager. PHOTO PROVIDED BY VALE.

BESTECH’s new technology

is attractingworld-wide

attention from other mining

giants, including North America’sfastest-growing

senior gold producer, Goldcorp Inc.

33Ontario Mineral Exploration Review Spring 2011

Guy Faubert, BESTECH electrician (left), and Paul Huffels, BESTECH safety supervisor, installing a rack-mounted IZC on the 4550 levelat Vale’s Coleman Mine. The Intelligent Zone ControllerTM (IZC) is the brains of the underground network and one of the componentsof the NRG1-ECO system.

NRG1-ECO Web Based HMI — The Web Based HMI allows remote access to standard process control HMI. Shown here is a VFD Fanunder cascading closed loop PID control.

BESTECH’s NRG1-ECO Solution

helps the people working day-to-daywith the systems understand their envi-ronment. If you’re continually measur-ing, you should also be able to be contin-uously improving what you’re doing.”

BESTECH’s new technology is attract-ing world-wide attention from othermining giants, including North Amer -ica’s fastest-growing senior gold produc-er, Goldcorp Inc. “We looked at two dif-ferent systems. It seemed BESTECH wasoffering a complete package fromground up,” says Imola Götz, chief engi-neer, Hoyle Pond Mine, Goldcorp.

“We’re hoping to go ahead withNRG1-ECO in a two-stage approach.First, have the system up and running ontwo levels in the Hoyle Pond Mine inTimmins and if that proves to be satisfac-tory, then we will expand it to the rest ofthe mine.”

NRG1-ECO’s ability to be customizedto meet the needs of each of their minesseems to be the difference for Goldcorp.They can adapt NRG1-ECO’s controlstrategies to leverage the highest returnfor each mine site.

Mines of the future will no doubt begoing deeper, resulting in higher costsfor infrastructure, ventilation and ener-gy. How mines address these future chal-lenges will separate them from the rest ofthe mining industry.

Founded in 1995, BESTECH was createdto address the need for system integrationand industrial automation. By developinga very specialized skill set, BESTECHquickly gained recognition as a leader inindustrial automation, engineering, soft-ware development and environmentalmonitoring. With over a decade of sus-tainable growth, BESTECH developed itsstrong industry expertise, by respondingand developing innovative technologiesthat help companies in mining, pulp andpaper, forestry, oil and gas, manufactur-ing, municipal and commercial industriesinternationally en hance their productivi-ty, profitability and safety. FollowBESTECH on Linked In.www.bestech.com.

NRG1-ECO Configuration Utility — The web-based configuration utility allowsthe user to design and edit the interconnectivity of system components. Suchcomponents include IZCs, IDIs, AQIs and other instrumentation.