Field Management, Engineering and Project Control for NEWMONT Gold Argentina, Cerro Negro project
Newmont Gold Argentina is developing several expansion projects at its Cerro Negro gold mine in the Province of Santa Cruz, Argentina, located approximately 60 km from the city of Perito Moreno. Furthermore, Cerro Negro has three high-grade underground operating mines, Eureka, Mariana Central and Mariana Norte, and two underground deposits being currently developed, Emilia and San Marcos.
SAXUM is presently carrying out engineering, consultancy and on-site services for Cerro Negro related to the development of different projects in several locations, being the East District (ED) one of them.
The ED Project has been categorized as a new development area involving general facilities, mining auxiliary services and infrastructure site work. Therefore, SAXUM’s scope of work includes the engineering designs related to Mechanical, Civil, Structural, Electrical, Instrumentation and Control disciplines, with the target of an early stage Capital.
SAXUM has been also already performed the engineering design drawings and technical specification packages for the San Marcos Portal and is now involved in the Bajo Negro and Silica Cap locations. For these projects, SAXUM is currently developing full basic and detail engineering, with sufficient details to be able to complete in successive steps the procurement, contracting and construction phases of the different facilities included in the project by SAXUM Engineered Solutions.
In parallel to the engineering designs, SAXUM is providing on-site Project Control Services and Field Support for the NEWMONT projects in Cerro Negro, working together with the owner’s staff aiming at planning and monitoring the construction execution through an accurate work schedule. SAXUM is also developing Infrastructure analysis, featuring mining and services access roads and platforms, integrating drones altimetry survey, satellite photos and 3D model optimization.
Trade-off Study for the Front Loader Truck Shop building for BARRICK Gold, Veladero Mine, San Juan Argentina
SAXUM has performed for the company Minera Andina del Sol S.R.L. (Barrick Gold Argentina) a trade-off study to propose and comparatively evaluate alternative designs for the front loader truck shop that is required for the Veladero gold mine located on the western side of the province of San Juan, Argentina. Veladero is the largest gold mine operation of Barrick Gold in Argentina.
The Conceptual Engineering designs by SAXUM for the different alternatives of the truck shop for the purpose of the trade-off analysis included the layout, general arrangements and preliminary bid of material estimate for each alternative. Based on these designs and evaluations, the trade-off study was performed to determine the optimal alternative solutions based on price and technical efficiency regarding front loaders displacement and maintenance operations. Once the optimal alternative identified, SAXUM presented the results of the trade-off study to BARRICK and, after having its agreement, a deeper analysis was performed to estimate the Capital Expenditure related to this alternative. In this technical assistance, all different engineering departments were involved at SAXUM to define the different possible alternatives for the design of the front loader truck shop, on the one side, and to determine with the highest possible accuracy the optimal alternative, on the other hand.
A Final Report was issued by SAXUM with all details, designs and analysis performed for the purpose of the Trade-off Study for evaluating the optimal design solution for the Front Loader Truck Shop building. The report included conclusive remarks and clear recommendations based on cost and efficiency evaluations.
Some of the items that have been considered by SAXUM in this analysis are:
• Possibility of exceeding equipment above the roof level, to minimize the free height inside the building.
• Location of the truck shop concerning the process areas and the direction of prevailing winds.
• Dimensions of the teams involved.
• Accessibility and transport of the equipment, considering the diversity of auxiliary equipment that intervenes in the different maintenance areas to be carried out (Cranes, Hydro-cranes, Manipulators, auto-lifts, etc.)
• Access to auxiliary services (water, air, electricity).
Engineering services for Raw Mill project of CalPortland in Mojave, US, for FLSmidth
SAXUM through its company in the USA is developing civil, structural and electrical engineering designs for the raw mill grinding system project of CalPortland in Mojave, CA, USA. In this project, SAXUM’s client is FLSmidth which has trust in our capabilities and experience in similar designs for the cement industry to assist them in the development of this challenging project of CalPortland.
The project is developed in a full 3D environment from the basic engineering level up to the detail and shop detail engineering designs. One relevant aspect of this project is the dynamic characterization of the soils to appropriate designs of the foundation systems of dynamic equipment. Based on SAXUM extensive experience in this field, full 3D mathematical models of the foundation systems involving surrounding soils were developed by our engineering team. Then, numerical analyses of the resulting spectral properties of the foundation systems were performed by SAXUM aimed at reaching the most appropriate designs with regards to resonance effect mitigation during equipment operations.
For this project and related to the engineering designs under SAXUM’s responsibility, our scope of work includes the professional engineer stamping and sign off by registered professionals.
SAXUM Site Supervision & Quality Assurance Services for Capitol Aggregates
SAXUM’s staff of professionals is composed by highly experienced engineers and designers with proven capabilities to attend the multidisciplinary technical complexities involved in the development of projects of the mineral processing industries, including during their procurement, construction, commissioning and start-up phases. These capacities and experience allow us to effectively attend to all the technical aspects involved in SAXUM projects, in particular to quality assurance and compatibility between the work on-site and the design documents.
This is currently being demonstrated at the cement plant of Capitol Aggregates, San Antonio, Texas/USA, related to the new Cement Mill Project. Thereby, SAXUM has firstly provided civil and structural engineering designs and currently is performing on-site support for quality assurance as well as to attend the Request for Information (RFI) during construction/erection works. This project is aimed at providing a new material handling system and the new cement vertical mill provided by FLSmith.
The on-site scope of work by SAXUM involved the support and advice to achieve the maximum efficiency in the construction/erection phase and perfect understanding of the requirements defined by the mechanical equipment supplier. The concrete foundation block of the vertical mill involved 1,280 CY of concrete. Its construction has required special technological provisions for the concrete pouring and the finishing phase grouting.
Scope of work by SAXUM on-site involved the following:
• Advice and check of supply of Concrete and equipment
• Inspection and Checking
• Quality assurance regarding compatibility with design documents
• Labor
• Method of Placement
• Method of Curing
SAXUM’s Cement Project Lead Civil/Structural Engineer: Verónica Buncuga
Since 2014, Ms Verónica Buncuga is SAXUM’s Cement Project Lead Civil/Structural Engineer. Verónica is based in SAXUM’s headquarters in the city of San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina. She graduated as a Civil Engineer at the National University of Rosario and has extensive and relevant experience in the cement and mining industry.
Verónica has extensive experience in coordinating civil/structural engineering teams for the development of projects related to industrial facilities. She is an experienced engineer in the design of steel and concrete structures, extensive knowledge of national and international standards, technical assistance in civil works and on-site assistance in building projects.
As the leader of the civil/structural department of the company, Verónica specializes in the design and dimensioning of atypical structures such as mills, silos, large buildings, such as PHT or storages.
She is also in charge of the monitoring and technical solution of Requests for Information from the Structural Assembly Company. Verónica participated in multiple projects in Argentina, the United States, Egypt, Ecuador, Colombia, Bolivia, among other South American countries, holding an essential role during their execution to ensure their quality and development, , simultaneously supporting a strategy of continuous improvement on the processes of the company.
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