DavyMarkham have recently supplied hoisting equipment for two new shafts at the Nickel Rim South underground deposit definition project, at Sudbury, Ontario. The customer, Falconbridge of Toronto, is the third largest producer of refined nickel in the world and earlier this year announced a $550 million exploration programme at Nickel Rim South, with production expected to start in 2008.

This entailed the supply of a new 5500mm (18ft) diameter, main shaft production hoist, a 4600mm (15ft) multi-rope service hoist, two new 3100mm (10ft) auxiliary hoists, one for the main shaft and the other for the adjacent egress shaft, and the refurbishment and testing of an existing 4600mm (15ft) hoist for shaft sinking duties. The proposed mine depth is 1800 metres (5900ft), with the future option of increasing this to 2300 metres (7500ft), and the hoists were sized accordingly and engineered for operating on a round-the-clock basis.

The contract involved upgrading an existing 4.88m diameter double drum hoist to a 5.79m diameter configuration with twin motor drive arrangement, at a total cost of £1.2 million. DavyMarkham forerunner, Kvaerner Markham, had previously supplied the original hoist, mechanically refurbishing an ex-British Coal winder back in 1995, and has an ongoing relationship with Agnico-Eagle that proved beneficial to both parties.

DavyMarkham fabricated the forward components for two Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs) used on the final phase of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL). They were built for Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd, the global manufacturer of heavy machinery, transportation equipment and industrial goods, and were deployed by tunnelling contractors Nishimatsu / Cementation / Skanska JV on the 7.5km section between Stratford and St Pancras.

The massive 8.11m diameter fabrications, comprising cutterheads, bulkheads, 11.3m long shields and tailskin, formed the forward components of the two Kawasaki TBMs. Each of these machines weighed a total of 1100 tonnes, including back-up trailers, of which 760 tonnes is accounted for by the TBM section itself and a total of 390 tonnes were fabricated and supplied by DavyMarkham.