The church steeple is not an illusion. Far from being in the middle of nowhere, the open-pit mine in Malartic, Quebec, is literally built on what used to be a residential neighbourhood in this town of 3,700 people.
An area that was once lined with modest homes now expects to see proven and probable reserves of 10.7 million ounces of gold during its current estimated mine life of at least 16 years. Investment in construction and development at Canadian Malartic, located about 500 kilometres northwest of Montreal, has already reached nearly $1.1 billion. “This is one of the biggest gold mines in the world right now,” says François Vézina, mine manager at Osisko Canadian Malartic. “The potential is incredible.”

But the mine’s lucrative potential would not have been possible if Osisko had not been able to move some 700 people who were living on the site. Fortunately, almost all the residents agreed to be relocated to a new subdivision in the town, especially since Osisko came up with a novel plan: instead of just buying the homes and tearing them down, it would move the homes to a new site.
Cash and demolitions would have been simple, fast and cheap, but it wouldn’t have been sustainable, says Denis Cimon, general manager of Osisko Canadian Malartic. Malartic’s population was decreasing rapidly and that strategy would have resulted in so many departures that it could have been the town’s death knell. “Osisko said, No, we’re going to do things differently.” By moving the homes – and often renovating them as well – it meant that “at the end of the day, people were back in their homes.”

Not all the homes could be moved because of structural problems, so Osisko built 20 brand new ones. Out of 205 homes, 130 ended up being moved. Families also received compensation for relocation costs. During the peak moving period in 2007, Osisko was moving three homes a day, three times a week, in a two-kilometre convoy that snaked along the town’s main road.

As if that weren’t enough, Osisko also had to rebuild a primary school, long-term care facility, cultural centre and daycare – none of which could be moved. The result? The primary school is the top-notch primary school in the province, Cimon says. “We’re pretty proud of it.” Built with local wood, it features interactive boards and laboratories in all classrooms and computer-controlled lighting. “The principal says for the first time in his life he’s hearing from teachers who want to come and teach here.” Osisko is now investing $150,000 in interactive boards in the local high school as well, because the students who graduate from the primary school are used to better things.

While authorities warned Osisko that 20 percent of the residents of the long-term care facility could die because they were so attached to their old environment, nothing happened. “We brought their families here to help them adapt to the new environment, and everything worked pretty well,” Cimon says.
With the move of the residents successfully completed, Osisko could set its sights on building the huge open-pit mine, some 1.5 kilometres in length. It held its official opening in late May. But the fact the mine is located in a town continues to create a host of challenges for Osisko and its suppliers.

With a town close by, the technical problems are incredible,” Vézina says. Blasting, for example, has to be done with consideration paid to the town. “We’re not used to that in open-pit.” Instead of drilling 12-inch holes, Osisko is only drilling 8.5 inches, because it is limited in the amount of explosives it can detonate per detonation. The mine is only allowed to blast twice a day – between 11 and 11:30 a.m. and 3 and 3:30 p.m., when the population is either at work, at school or going about their daily business. And it can’t blast under certain wind conditions.

For the drilling, Osisko is using QXR920 Cubex drill rigs equipped with Sandvik’s consumable tooling. Thanks to a new distribution deal between Sandvik and Cubex, the mine can purchase both the machines and the tooling from Sandvik. The drills are being used in the development phase to make holes in the bedrock which can then be filled with explosives, so that Osisko can reach the ore at the site.

Aside from providing the tooling – bits, hammers, rods – Sandvik is now distributing the Cubex drills as well, thanks to a global distribution and intellectual property rights deal that Sandvik recently signed with Cubex.
Given the restrictions it faces in having a town nearby, Osisko has to drill smaller holes on the site than is usually the case for open-pit mining. And because the holes are small, many more than usual are needed to maintain productivity, Vézina says.

Fortunately, he notes, Sandvik has been testing new bits with special carbides that may be setting records “and are probably going to revolutionize the drilling industry.” An Osisko driller recently drilled 350 metres in a 12-hour shift by drilling 31 holes in with one bit. “This is quite incredible,” Vézina says. “We never dreamed of having that performance.” The performance far surpassed Osisko’s objective of 225 to 250 metres of drilling in one day.

By drilling that amount in one shift without changing bits, “you’re gaining the time it usually takes to change the bit,” Vézina says. “It’s making a huge difference not just on performance but on cost as well.”
To fulfil the constant need for drilling consumables and service on-site, Sandvik is opening a container shop at the mine to regrind and repair the hammers and bits. “For the size of the contract, it’s a necessity,” says Dany Gaudreault, customer representative for Sandvik based in Val d’Or, Quebec. When it’s in full production, there will be 12 technicians in the shop, which will operate around the clock, he says.

Aside from providing drilling consumables and delivering them to the drills, technicians will provide training to Osisko operators and mechanics and help with preventive maintenance. Sandvik will aim to hire as many of the 12 on-site employees as possible from Malartic, which will go a long way towards fulfilling Osisko’s wish to hire local.

Vézina says the deal with Sandvik springs from a lesson he has learned the hard way, that mining equipment is only as good as the service you’re going to get. “You can have the best car in the world, but if you’re not able to get parts for the mechanic to repair it, it’s still broken. Service has a huge impact. I wanted something turnkey.”

Osisko is also turning to Sandvik to reduce the noise emanating from the site, to respect residents’ sensibilities. To reduce the sound levels generated by the drills, engineers are looking at the muffler for the motor and other areas where there may be sound reduction opportunities. “The Cubex is generating 121 decibels, but we’d love to go to about 115,” Vézina says. “It doesn’t sound like much, but it’s a huge difference.”
Osisko also approached Sandvik for a solution to reduce the annoying sound that is made when rock is loaded into Caterpillar 240-tonne trucks. “I said to Dany, ‘We need it as soon as possible. We’re generating too much noise,’” Vézina says. Sandvik came up with a rubber liner that serves as a shock absorber when the rock is loaded. “We pushed on Sandvik and they succeeded in delivering it in a short amount of time.” (See sidebar for additional information.)

“We’re putting a little bit of pressure on Sandvik,” Vézina says. “But suppliers know that everybody has to be more environmentally friendly, make less noise and be more fuel-efficient. Having suppliers that are taking that step with us is a success story.”

Osisko is working on several other noise abatement measures. For example, when trucks go into reverse, the “beep-beep” sound has been reduced by using white noise – a lower-frequency sound that is more directional. As a result, if you’re standing on the side of the truck you’re not going to hear it. And at night, the “beep-beep” has been eliminated altogether and replaced with blue lights. In addition, water cannons, fog cannons and even snow cannons in winter are constantly being deployed to reduce dust levels in the town.

While the mining industry is generally conservative, “we’re pushing the latest technology,” Vézina says. “It’s a brand new mine, and we want it to be as efficient as possible. If it doesn’t exist, we’re going to develop it.”

 Danny Kucharsky