While performing a challenging equipment upgrade at a gold and copper mine, Sundt used building information modeling (BIM) in an innovative way, coupled with detailed scheduling, to complete the mining construction project early without sacrificing safety or quality.
The mine’s fine crushing circuit (consisting of four secondary crushers and ten tertiary crushers) required a complete upgrade from the original wet dust collection system dating back to the 1960s to a modern and more efficient dry dust collection system. Sundt’s task was to replace one secondary and six tertiary crushers, five tertiary single screens, one double-deck scalping screen and one double-deck secondary screen and tie the new equipment into the existing system.
The team started with old drawings from 1964 and used BIM to create a video that modeled the process down to the tiniest details. Even the size of their trucks was worked into the video to make sure they could navigate the tight spaces and demonstrate to the client how specific tasks would be performed. It was also used as an orientation video to show crews the various safety risks and other issues to beware of.
“As far as I know, none of our competitors are doing this,” said Sundt Area Manager Clint Sundt. “Sundt is way out in front with this technology.”
Each of the project’s two phases was completed a month ahead of schedule, and with shorter planned shutdowns. But the biggest achievement was the project’s safety record: there were no recordable incidents throughout the entire project, which totaled 158,658 man hours.