Resource Infrastructure group offers diverse scope of services

Northland Power Chips Facility at Beaver Cove

Associated Engineering’s services to the resource sector have come a long way since we secured the design of the company’s first forestry bridge assignment in 1984. From a small group, including Structural Engineers David Harvey and Dale Harrison, later joined by Structural Engineer, Martin Jobke, the group has expanded significantly. Today, the Resource Infrastructure Group in BC has a staff of 18 structural engineers, technologists, technicians, and administrators. The group is supported by our multi-discipline team of transportation, structural, water resources, infrastructure, process, mechanical, and electrical engineers and technologists across Canada. We offer a broad range of services to the resource sector, from surveys, site assessments, planning, and feasibility studies to hydrologic and hydraulic assessments, design, cost esti- mates, tendering, contract administration, inspections, condition assessment, and asset management. Our projects include roads, bridges, airports, dryland sorts, log dumps, industrial site development, as well as a variety of marine structures such as ferry terminals and docking facilities.

Legacy of Innovation
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Associated Engineering designed hundreds of kilometres of access road and thousands of forestry bridges across BC, many of which were in remote, difficult-to-access areas. On some of the structures, such as the Nass River Bridge, we worked with contractors to develop innovative design and construction schemes to cross steep ravines with limited site access. Designs also had to consider large vehicle live loads, hydrology and hydraulics, fatigue, constructability, and geotechnical constraints.

Led by David Harvey, the Associated Engineering team developed unique solutions, such as our portable bridge designs, which have now become standards for the forest industry. To improve productivity and cost-effectiveness, Associated Engineering developed standard bridge components, such as precast concrete deck panels, ballast walls, and footings which have also become the standard for resource bridges in BC.

Based on our success in BC, we recently worked with the Ministry of Natural Resources in Ontario to incorporate these features into resource bridges in Northern Ontario.

Diversification of Services
Our team has adapted our expertise in forestry infrastructure and now works with clients in various resource sectors including oil and gas, mining, marine, and hydroelectric. Our range of services extends beyond site access and bridge engineering to feasibility studies, transportation studies for roads, airports, and marine ports, industrial site development, asset management, and multi-discipline engineering services for a variety of industrial facilities.

Multi-Discipline Engineering Services
Practice Leader and Senior Technologist Ray Korpela points to Northland Power’s Chips Facility in BC as an example of the multi-discipline services that we provide. Ray says, “We prepared the overall site design of the Northland Power Chips Facility. The project included civil design for the chipper building, barge loading, conveyor supports, retaining walls, drainage facilities, and weigh scale foundations.” Hans Wolf, Project Manager in our Edmonton office, advises, “The services we provide to our industrial clients take advantage of Associated Engineering’s broad scope of services and multi-discipline expertise. For example, our assignment for MEG Energy at Christina Lake involves development of an airfield, site development, water and wastewater infrastructure, bridge inspections, and camp site development.” MEG Energy is developing a SAGD oil sands extraction operation near Christina Lake in the Athabasca region of northeast Alberta.

Transportation Planning and IPP Projects
Julien Henley, who manages the Resources Infrastructure Group in Burnaby, advises, “Some of the exciting projects today involve trans- portation planning for remote mines and run-of-river hydroelectric projects for independent power producers (IPP). These projects draw upon our extensive knowledge in developing remote transportation infrastructure.”

Ray Korpela, who is a specialist in resource infrastructure planning, has been working with consultant, Collings Johnston, to complete a feasibility study and conceptual design of 160 kilometres of access road and more than 90 stream crossings for Northern Dynasty Mines Inc.

The road will provide access to Northern Dynasty’s Pebble Mine project. The project involves identifying route alignments and developing bridge concepts for this important mineral site development in southwest Alaska.

Ray also led the development of the Transportation Feasibility Study for the heavy haul road and port facilities for Casino Mines located 300 kilometres northwest of Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory.

Toba Bridge - part of access to Toba and Montrose Hydroelectric project

The Transportation Feasibility Study is part of the Pre-feasibility Study for the Casino copper-gold-molybdenum deposit to determine if the mine can be economically developed.

We recently successfully completed the design of ten access bridges, varying in length from 20 metres to 100 metres, for the East Toba and Montrose Hydroelectric Project for Plutonic Power Corporation. A green energy company, Plutonic Power is currently developing a suite of run-of-river hydroelectric projects in BC. The 196 Megawatt East Toba and Montrose renewable energy facilities are currently under construction in a remote area northeast of Powell River, BC. Julien Henley, who is the Project Manager, advises, “The assignment involved working closely with the contractor, Peter Kiewit Sons, to ensure that the bridges could be built using the equipment available on the site. Our design also had to address the issue that all bridge components would need to be barged in.” The crossing designs provided practical and economical bridges which will be used throughout the life of these two green energy facilities.

Following on the success of this project, we are currently providing similar services to Cloudworks Energy’s Upper Stave River Hydroelectric Project, a run-of-river project in the Upper Stave Region in BC.

Asset Management
Asset management is an important part of Associated Engineering’s business today. We provide comprehensive services including inspection of bridges, culverts, retaining walls, roads, lighting, and other lineal infrastructure; identification of deficiencies; risk assessment; development and prioritization of an action plan for repairs and remediation; and analysis and design of recommended improvements. Associated Engineering has developed a web-based, geographical information system (GIS) database to store asset inventories, inspection forms, photos, maps, cost estimates, financial forecasts, construction costs, and repair histories. Using our soft- ware, asset information can be easily searched, retrieved, and viewed. An added advantage, the system can be easily modified to meet individual client requirements.

Ray Korpela is actively involved in bridge inventory and asset management for a number of clients including BC Timber Sales, Public Works Canada, Parks Canada, Ministry of Forests, and BC Hydro. Ray advises, “On the Parks Canada project, we are complet- ing inspections of 100 trail bridges throughout Western Canada. For this project, we are making use of asset management systems that we developed to track and report the data collected from the hundreds of bridges that we inspect annually.”

Our vision for the future
Today the Resource Infrastructure Group is larger, more diverse, and progressively expanding their services and geographic markets. With many new skills, effective project management, and good market opportunities, Associated Engineering’ s Resource Infrastructure Group has a promising future. “Looking to the future,” says Julien, “I envision this group being the leader in providing infrastructure planning, design, construction, and asset management services for the forestry, mining, oil and gas, and run-of-river power sectors.”

For more information on our services, contact Julien Henley at henleyj@ae.ca