SNC-Lavalin (Montreal, Canada; www.snclavalin.com) has been awarded an engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) contract from NEXA Resources for the Aripuanã polymetallic project in the state of Mato Grosso, in the Central-West of Brazil.
SNC-Lavalin will deliver EPCM services for the project out of its Belo Horizonte office in Brazil, and will include all operations required for copper, zinc and lead ore processing, including crushing, grinding, flotation, thickening, filtration and storage of concentrates and tailings, as well as load out of the final concentrated products and all related surface infrastructure. The mandate also includes waste backfill, mine ventilation and mine dewatering. The project will also rely on data-centric engineering for development and design, and the use of immersive technologies for training operations personnel. Work has begun and is slated for completion by the beginning of 2021.
The Aripuanã Project is an underground polymetallic mine and concentrate processing facility to extract zinc, copper and lead, and features underground mining to reduce the visual aspect of the mine and the suppression of vegetation in the area, low water usage, environmentally-friendly water treatment technologies (wetlands), and the recovery of the water used on the project. Once completed, it will have an anticipated mine life of 13 years and a processing capacity of 1.8 metric tons of ore per year.