T he construction and commis sioning of Agnico Eagle s Meadowbank mine the g old miner s f i rst f o r a y int o the F ar N o rth w as an educational experienc e with a st eep learning curve Logistical oper ational and human r esour c e chal leng es t est ed the compan y s ing enuity and t aught it a lot of les sons about how t o bring a mine int o pr oduction and k eep it oper ating les sons that Agnico Eagle applied t o Meliadine it s second mine in Canada s Low Ar ctic T hose learning s ext ended t o the powerplant as well Mead owbank s heat r e covery s y st em using by pr oduct thermal ener gy fr om electricity pr oducing g ener at ors t o heat oper ations work ed well in theory but not so much in pr actic e Mostly people design as if the g enset s ar e g oing t o be running full st eam super hot wher eas we know that in g ener al they alw ays run a bit lower t o k eep some r eserve and mak e sur e ther e ar e no black out s said Nicholas Allen a mechanical engineer at BB A T he engineering f irm w as br ought in t o optimiz e the plant between 2012 and 201 4 As soon as y ou g o off of that perf ect oper ation it s not eff icient at all But g e t ting the most out of heat r e covery s y st ems is crucial in Nuna vut wher e Agnico Eagle r elies on diesel f or all of it s ener gy on sit e W e ha ve other mines in southern Quebec and mor e down south in other countries A t those mines we r e thinking about ener gy optimiz ation but we t a k e it t o another level in Nuna vut said Eric L a voie an electrical engineer with Agnico Eagle who work ed closely with Allen on the design of the plant at Meliadine which w as commis sioned in N o vember 2018 the mine beg an commer cial pr oduction in May 2019 In Nuna vut we r e counting every kilow a t t that is a v ailable and we r e saying O kay what can we do with that ener gy 30 CIM Magazine V ol 15 No 3 T aking heat Highef ficiency gensets fuel flexibility and smart loadshedding help cut diesel needs at Agnico Eagle s Meliadine cogeneration plant By Herb Mathisen Five 56megawatt highefficiency Wartsila generators provide power to Agnico Eagles Meliadine mine in Nunavut Heat recovere d from the generator engine exhaust is circulated through the mine site providing heat to surface buildings and underground operations connected to the ho twater loop Photo courtesy of Nicholas Allen