This past weekend was the 48th Annual Emergency Response / Mine Rescue Skills Competition at Praireland Park in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. This competition brings Mine Rescue crews in from all across Saskatchewan. 18 teams take part in the skill competition. All of the teams spend countless hours training for mine emergency scenarios. At the skill competition, the teams compete in variety of events that mimic emergency situations that could occur in a mine.
Fortis' Health and Safety Manager Terry Zerbin was a volunteer and coordinator at this years event. Terry was lucky enough to be interviewed by Global News Saskatoon http://globalnews.ca/video/2742530/rescue-competition-tests-miners-emergency-response
Terry was not the only one to volunteer from Fortis. A number of Fortis employees showed their support for the SMA and the skill competition by volunteering their time.
Our sister company Northern Strands' had one of their Trainers, Cassenna Parmeter, also judging this years Mine Rescue Skills Competition. Cassenna Parmeter is a well known Safety Trainer in Saskatchewan and has judged numerous Mine Rescue Skills Competitions across Canada throughout her career.
Did you know that Northern Strands offers numerous mine safety courses? http://www.northernstrands.com/training.aspx
Not only was this event fun to watch, it showed the importance of having skilled emergency personnel ready in case of a mine emergency.
Here are some great pictures of the Mine Rescue Skills Competition:


Fortis is proud to support the Saskatchewan Mining Association and the Mine Rescue Skill Competition by becoming a major sponsor of this year's event. Fortis strongly believes in supporting the Saskatchewan Mining Association and it's mission to “Represent and support a safe, responsible and growing Saskatchewan mining industry.”
Fortis Mining Engineering and Manufacturing, "Is Your Partner in Providing Mining Solutions."
Visit our website to learn more about Fortis http://www.fortiscorporation.com/
Historically at Fortis we have excelled at handling challenging mining projects. Here is another great example of a past project successfully completed by Fortis Mining Engineering and Manufacturing for Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, Lanigan Division.
In July of 2011, Fortis was contracted to install six 25kV Feeder Cables in
the Service Shaft. Fortis successfully completed the installation of three
cables in 2011 and the remaining three in July 2012. Fortis utilizes a cross
head with integrated camera to guide the cable down the shaft to the lower
drift level at the bottom of the shaft. The cross head is assembled in the
shaft on top of the skip or cage. Camera provides live video of the cable being
lowered down the shaft. Fortis is using a load cell to monitor the weight at
the sheave.

Fortis has worked with many of the local potash mines in Saskatchewan.
Mining companies Fortis has completed work for Include:
Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, Lanigan division mine
Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, Cory division mine
Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, Allan division mine
Cameco Corporation, Cigar Lake mine
BHP Billiton, Jansen Mine
Mosaic Company, Colonsay Mine
To learn more about past and present mining projects Fortis has completed, visit our mining projects webpage.
Fortis, "Your partner in providing mining solutions."
We are proudly Saskatoon, Saskatchewan owned and operated.
Fortis is becoming well know as among the mining industry for designing and fabricating specialized equipment for mines across Saskatchewan, North America and the world.
Fortis was commissioned to install power
distribution cables down two 8” boreholes 500 + Meters deep. These cables feed an
underground substation in a mine. We designed specialized equipment to
accomplish this task. One of the items required was a sheave stand. The cable
bending radius’s had to be carefully accommodated. Also a suspended load capability
of 30,000 lbs had to be incorporated into the equipment design. As a result
Fortis designed and built a wire rope sheave stand assembly to perform the task.
See picture below. The job went very well, it was completed safely and ahead of
schedule.

Fortis continues to provide innovative solutions for technical challenges in the Mining industry.
Visit our Mining Projects Webpage for more examples great examples of recent projects Fortis has successfully completed in the Mining industry.
Fortis is proudly Saskatoon, Saskatchewan owned and operated.