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:

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.