Kirkland Lake – The skyline of Kirkland Lake changed recently when the 213 foot tall concrete headframe for Kirkland Lake Gold’s new Macassa #4 shaft was slip formed in just 10 days. Another significant event in the #4 shaft construction occurred when the team of Cementation, Tesc, Anmar, Northern Equipment, Niiwin GP, Shaba Testing, Peter Bull, MDB Mining, the Ontario Provincial Police and Kirkland Lake Gold carried out the lift and placement of the shaft sinking Galloway and the equipping deck into the shaft collar through the top of the headframe.

The lift started with the single drop deck that was attached to the bottom of the main Galloway once it was lowered into the #4 shaft. The Galloway, over 100 tons and 85 feet long, had to be lifted over the top of the 213 foot high headframe and lowered blindly into an exact position below surface in the shaft collar. The crane cables were extended 415 feet from the tip of the boom to the final position of the Galloway where the steel work platform was secured to the concrete walls of the shaft. A Liebherr 750 tonne crane was used to carry out the lift. Custom designed rigging was fabricated to ensure evenly distributed weight and a plumb (vertical) load for all three lifts. The lift commenced at approximately 3:00 p.m. and by 7:30 p.m. the Galloway had been secured in the shaft, weight had been transferred, and as Cementation’s Tom Wadey put it, “The Eagle has landed.”

To give you an idea of the scale and uniqueness of the job, when the lift was explained to a veteran crane operator with over 40 years of experience he said “This one should make the cover of Crane Monthly!”

Well done Macassa #4 shaft team and a special thank you to Kirkland Lake Gold for their support making it all possible.

About Cementation:

Cementation is a mine and facilities contracting and engineering company. The Cementation group of companies delivers underground mine development and infrastructure as well as surface material handling and processing facilities solutions for mining projects worldwide. Cementation Canada Inc., Cementation USA Inc., Cementation AG and Merit Consultants International are part of the Murray & Roberts group of companies with operations around the world. For more information on Cementation, visit www.cementation.com .

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For more information, please contact: 

Eric Smith, Executive V.P. Contracting
North Bay t: +1 705 472.3381