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Optimization efforts result in reduced energy use at Victor Mine

18 Jul 2016

Ongoing work to drive down costs at De Beers Victor Mine in northern Ontario is paying dividends on the balance sheet and improving the operation’s environmental performance.

The Victor team realized an impressive 678,000 litre reduction in diesel use at the mine in 2015 compared to 2014, equivalent to eliminating about 1,800 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions made by 383 average passenger vehicles.

“Our job is to continually look for new ideas to reduce the amount of power and diesel we consume on the mine site,” explained George Shields, Electrical Engineering Superintendent at Victor.

The biggest diesel saving came from changes to the process plant heating system, originally designed to draw in fresh air from the outside. Plant air quality tests showed that the mine could reduce the volume of outside air and increase the amount of recirculated inside plant air, eliminating the need to use 350,000 litres of diesel in 2015. Camp heating demand was also driven down by educating employees and providing duvets for all the dorms.

Targeted fuel consumption training for haul truck drivers, improved scheduling and spacing of trucks to reduce idle time saw diesel consumption by the mining fleet fall even though actual hauling distances increased in 2015 as the pit went deeper. A substantial six per cent reduction in diesel consumption by the loaders used to load the haul trucks resulted from changing the teeth on the buckets, along with some procedure improvements.

The Victor team has also reduced the mine’s power draw on the Ontario grid by about 2,500 MWhrs thanks to changes made at the mine’s electrical substation.

What’s next? Installing vents to allow gases trapped in groundwater pumped from around the pit has increased pumping efficiency, saving the equivalent of an additional dewatering well. A single well costs about $3 million to build, not counting the electricity costs to power the pump. Dewatering wells surround the Victor pit to keep naturally-occurring ground water from flowing in.