Fortis is renowned throughout the world as experts in mine hoist roping and conveyances. We have proudly offered our services and consulted for mines half way across the world. Whether it be the Oyu Tolgoi mine in Mongolia or the Kabul gold mine in Africa. You can expect Fortis to offer every service from procedure development, design and supply to install and replacement services. Fortis has a unique industry advantage by having it’s sister company Northern Strands supplying all the necessary mine shaft wire rope and attachments.

Procedure Development

• Mine Hoist Conveyance Replacement
• Mine Hoist Rope Change/Rope-Up
• Preventative Maintenance Planning
• Engineered Lift plan development

Installation/Replacement Services

• Mine Hoist Conveyance Replacement
• Mine Hoist Rope Change/Rope-Up
• Friction/Drum Hoist and Sheave
• Hoist Rope Tensioning (Stage Hoists, Drum Hoists, Blair Hoists, Emergency Hoists, etc.)

Equipment Supply and Selection Support

• Mine Hoist Conveyance Replacement Mine Hoist Rope Change/Rope-Up

Design and Supply

• Mine Hoist Rope Attachment
• Custom Mine Hoist Rope Change/Rope-Up Equipment

Support Services

• Shaft/Hoist Commissioning
• Project Engineering
• General Project Management and Consulting
• Mine Shaft/Hoist Rope-related Emergency Response
• Mine Hoist Rope/Conveyance Troubleshooting
• Mine Shaft Accident Remediation
• Hoist/Shaft Decommissioning

RELATED WORK HISTORY – Procedure Development & Consulting

Hatch Ltd. – Mosaic Esterhazy K3 – South Shaft Rope-Up Consulting

Fortis is currently providing consultation services for Mosaic Esterhazy K3 South Shaft Rope-Up. The project scope entails consulting to EPCM contractor Hatch Ltd. in development of the Mosaic Esterhazy K3 South Shaft Rope-Up Procedure for competitive bid and execution. Inclusive of equipment selection, rope-up methodology, safe work procedures, preliminary schedule, budgetary cost estimate, and pre-work/commissioning requirement overview.

Kibali Gold (Democratic Republic of the Congo) – Guide Rope Replacement Procedure Development

Fortis has recently been engaged by Kibali Gold in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to travel to their site, complete an assessment and walk-through, and develop a detailed guide rope replacement procedure including equipment requirements, procedure steps, sequence sketches, and safe work procedures. Fortis has completed the on-site visit and is currently in the stages of the detailed procedure and drawing development.

BHP (DMC Mining Services) – Jansen Mine Site – Rope Consulting

Fortis provides consulting and technical field services to DMC Mining Services as a subcontractor to BHP at their Jansen Mine site. Fortis personnel provide technical oversight and support for rope end cuts, rope sample preparation, and socketing on site.

Hatch Ltd. – Mosaic Esterhazy K3 – North Shaft Rope-Up Procedure Development

In 2016, Fortis consulted to EPCM contractor Hatch Ltd. to develop the Mosaic Esterhazy K3 North Shaft Rope-Up Procedure for competitive bid and execution. Inclusive of equipment selection, rope-up methodology, safe work procedures, preliminary schedule, budgetary cost estimate, and pre-work/commissioning requirement overview.

RELATED WORK HISTORY – Rope Changes

Nutrien Vanscoy Potash Operations – Head Rope Change

In the spring of 2019, Nutrien contracted Fortis to assist in replacing all six (6) head ropes on the ground mounted hoist in their production shaft. The method to complete this rope change was to use a Timberland puller tensioner (bullwheel) at surface to install the new head ropes from surface.

Nutrien Cory – No.2 Guide Rope & Cheeseweight Replacement
Nutrien Cory – No.1 Guide Rope & Pendant Rod Replacement

In August of 2018, Fortis was contracted by Nutrien Potash Cory Division to complete the planning and execution of both the No.2 shaft guide rope and cheeseweight replacement and the No.1 shaft guide rope and cheeseweight pendant rod replacement. For both projects Fortis’ scope included supply of manpower and equipment to support the execution of the work.

Mosaic Esterhazy K3 (AMC) – North Shaft Hoist Rope Replacement
Mosaic Esterhazy K3 (AMC) – South Shaft Hoist Rope Replacement

In May of 2018, Fortis was contracted by Associated Mining Construction (AMC) as a subcontractor at Mosaic Esterhazy K3 to complete the replacement of the north shaft hoist ropes. Fortis’ scope included the supply of manpower and equipment (bullwheel tensioner, reeling machines, and pneumatic tuggers) to perform the work. Fortis was also responsible for development of the Inspection and Test Plan (ITP) and Quality Turnover Package for the scope of work.

In February 2018, Fortis completed the same scope of work for the south shaft hoist ropes. 

RELATED WORK HISTORY – Conveyance Replacements

Mosaic Colonsay – No.2 Shaft Conveyance Replacement

During their 2019 summer shutdown, Mosaic contracted Fortis to complete the removal and replacement of their service cage. As Mosaic uses a tower mounted Koepe hoist in the service shaft, the method to replace the service cage was to chair the balance ropes at collar level as well as chairing and jacking the head ropes at the deflection sheave floor. An air tugger with multi-part line was then used to remove the old service cage and install the new one.

Genesis Alkali – Green River Wyoming – No.4 Shaft Skip Replacement

In October of 2018, Fortis was contracted by Genesis Alkali (formerly Tronox Alkali Corp.) to remove and replace one of the two skips at the No.4 shaft, which consists of a ground mounted hoist. In order to remove and replace the skip both the balance ropes needed to be chaired at collar level as well as banking the head ropes in the headframe. A reeving winch and mobile crane were used to remove and install the skip on surface. Once the new skip was installed, the balance ropes and head ropes were reattached. The scope of work also consisted of commissioning the skip. This encompassed trial runs in the shaft to confirm clearances, entry and stop points in the dump and loading pocket as well as tensioning of the head ropes.

Agrium Vanscoy Potash Operations – Skip Change Out

In the summer of 2012, Agrium Vanscoy Operations contracted Fortis to complete their production shaft skip change out. The scope of work was to remove the two existing 30-ton skips and replace them with two sacrificial 30-ton skips. The execution plan for this project included banking the existing head and balance ropes in the shaft to complete the removal and install of the skips. Fortis supplied the winches and all rigging that were used to remove and replace the skips. This project was completed safely and successfully within Agrium's summer shutdown.

In 2017, Fortis replaced the Skip Buckets for Agrium Vanscoy Operations. Including removal of both buckets, refurbishment of the east bucket, install of the new west bucket and re-install of the refurbished east bucket.

RELATED WORK HISTORY – Rope-Up and Conveyance Installations

Jacobs Engineering Group – Oyu Tolgoi (Mongolia) – Shaft No.2 Rope-Up

Fortis has recently completed the successful rope-up of the production and service hoists at Shaft No.2 of the Oyu Tolgoi Mine Site in Mongolia, which was completed ahead of schedule and under budget. The No.2 shaft consists of two tower mounted Koepe hoists, which were roped up utilizing Siemag Tecberg multi-rope friction winch and Clamping Lifting Device (CLD).

Hatch Ltd. – Mosaic Esterhazy K3 – North Shaft Rope-Up

In early March of 2019 Fortis had completed execution and commissioning of the Mosaic Esterhazy K3 North Shaft Rope-Up; including supply of engineering, manpower, and equipment. The project entailed rope-up of a Siemag-Tecberg Blair Hoist and installation of an FLSmidth Service Cage in the service compartment. As well as rope-up of a Siemag-Tecberg Koepe Hoist and installation of two 60T production skips in the production compartment.

PCS Scissors Creek – Rope-Up & Cage/Counterweight Installation

The scope of this project was to rope-up the new Koepe hoist at the Scissors Creek mine site. As this shaft was a bare shaft, the scope of work included the installation of all new guide ropes, balance ropes and head ropes along with the installation of a new cage and counterweight. One of PCS’s 65,000 lbs. stage winches that was used in the sinking of the shaft was utilized as the primary winch to pull up the new ropes from the potash level. As the underground work area was accessed by going underground at shaft #2, followed by a 45-minute commute to the work area, staggered crew start times were utilized to have work being completed 24 hours per day. Fortis supplied all other equipment related to the project which included but not limited to hydraulic reeling machines, mobile reel handler unit, any and all rigging as well as a tractor trailer unit for the installation of the cage. The PCS Scissors Creek Project was successfully completed within the scheduled time in late fall of 2015.

RELATED WORK HISTORY – Shaft Conversions with Structural Component

PCS Rocanville – No.2 Shaft De-Rope, Shaft Steel Installation, Rope-Up and Production Skip Installation

In 2016 Fortis was contracted by PCS Rocanville to supply manpower and equipment to remove the existing mine hoist ropes, replace existing shaft bottom steel and tie in to new shaft tower structure (as part of the conversion from a mine service shaft to mine production shaft), install new production shaft hoist ropes, and install and commission new 50 Ton production skips.

Cameco Cigar Lake – Shaft Furnishing, Conveyance Install and Rope Installation

In 2012/2013 Fortis was contracted by DMC Mining to execute the furnishing of the No.2 shaft at the Cameco Cigar Lake mine. This large-scale project included the pouring of a 480m concrete divider wall, installation of shaft services such as electrical cable, water lines, high pressure slurry lines as well steel sets and ridged guides in the shaft. Along with the furnishing scope of work, was to remove the existing Galloway system in the shaft and replace it with a service cage and counterweight for Cameco’s day to day operations. This scope included the replacement of ropes on the double drum hoist along with the installation of a service cage and counterweight.

RELATED WORK HISTORY – De-Rope, Rope-Up & Conveyance Installation

Tronox Alkali – Green River Wyoming No.4 Shaft Rope and Skip Replacement

In May of 2017, Fortis was contracted by Tronox Alkali Corp. in Wyoming to complete a head rope replacement and skip replacement in their No.4 shaft during a long wall shutdown. Phase one of this project was to remove the four existing head ropes from their ground mounted hoist. This consisted of chairing the three balance ropes at the collar level on surface as well as banking the existing skip in the headframe. A surface winch was used to lower the old ropes underground. A reeling machine was set up at the mining level to simultaneously reel the ropes up onto empty reels. Once all old ropes were removed from the shaft, the upper tails were removed from around the ground mounted hoist. Phase two was to remove the existing skip from the headframe. The surface winch along with a mobile crane were used to remove the skip from the headframe. The new skip was installed using the same method as removal. Phase three consisted of the installation of the four new head ropes. These ropes were raised up from underground using the surface winch to hoist them up. Once the new head ropes were installed, the balance ropes were reconnected, and the new skip was made operational. The project was completed within the scheduled shutdown period.

Agrium Vanscoy Potash Operations (AMC) – De-rope, Rope-Up & Skip Change Out

In the summer of 2014 Fortis was subcontracted by Associated Mining Construction (AMC) to complete the rope installation phase of Agrium’s production shafts new hoist system install. The first phase of the scope of work for this project was to de-rope the existing balance ropes and head ropes from the Koepe hoist as well as remove the existing 30-ton skips. This was in preparation for the rope-up of the new six rope ground mounted hoist. Once the hoist was de-roped, Fortis then assisted in the removal of the koepe hoist from the headframe. To start the second phase of the project Fortis repositioned the guide ropes and cheeseweights in the shaft to accommodate the new larger 50 ton skips. Balance ropes were installed followed by the installation of the six head ropes. For this project Fortis supplied a 40,000 lbs. winch that served several functions on the project. Fortis is proud to have safely and successfully completed this project in Jan of 2015 for the Vault Project and Agrium Vanscoy.

PCS Cory – Rope-Up and Skip Change Out

In the summer of 2010, Fortis was contracted by PCS Cory to complete their rope-up and skip change out during their summer shutdown. The first phase of the scope of work included removing the existing balance ropes and head ropes and the removal of the existing 30 ton skips in the production shaft. Once de-rope was complete, the second phase of work included the install of new balance ropes, head ropes and the install of 2 new 50 ton skips. The winches and all rigging that were required for the project were supplied by Fortis. The banking beams that were necessary for the balance ropes were also engineered and fabricated by Fortis. This project was completed safely and successfully in the scheduled shutdown period.

RELATED WORK HISTORY – Additional Projects

• Agrium Head Rope Replacement – 2011
• Mosaic K2 Head Rope Replacement Consultation – 2013
• Mosaic Colonsay Guide Rope Replacement – 2013
• PCS Lanigan Cage and Counterweight Replacement – 2013
• PCS Cory Guide Rope Replacement – 2015
• Mosaic K2 Guide Rope and Head Rope Replacement Consultation – 2015
• Mosaic K2 Head Rope Replacement Consultation – 2016
• Mosaic Colonsay Counterweight Replacement – 2016
• Mosaic Colonsay Guide Rope Changes – 2019
• Mosaic Colonsay Balance Rope Changes – 2020
• Nutrien Vanscoy Balance Rope Changes – Ongoing
• Nutrien Vanscoy Guide Rope Changes – Ongoing