CIL wins acid plant contract for Noranda’s Horne smelter

Chemetics International, a division of cil Inc. of Toronto, has beaten out two other major engineering companies in the hotly contested bid for a major construction project in Rouyn-Noranda, Que.

Noranda Minerals has awarded a $64.5-million contract to Chemetics which is now responsible for the engineering, procurement, construction and start-up of a sulphuric acid plant at the company’s big, 960,000-tonne-per-year copper smelter there.

“The Chemetics proposal is responsive to our technical requirements, it is cost competitive and contains the highest proportion of Canadian, Quebec and regional content,” project director R.G. Metka says.

Several other contracts will be issued over the coming months for the construction of sulphuric acid storage reservoirs, acid railcar loading facilities and a weak acid treatment plant which are currently at the engineering phase.

The total cost of the project, designed to reduce the amount of acid-rain-causing sulphur dioxide emissions from the smelter, is estimated to cost in the order of $125 million. The federal and provincial governments are providing two- thirds of the project funding through a repayable interest-bearing contribution while Noranda will pay the remaining third of the installation costs.

Noranda’s Horne Division is the largest industry in Rouyn-Noranda, employing 1,200 people. The total number of construction workers on the acid plant site is expected to peak sometime this year at about 260 people.

“Noranda has been and continues to be committed to a cleaner environment and this project will enable the Horne smelter to meet the mandatory environmental guidelines established by Ottawa,” Metka says. The Horne smelter supports several small mines in the area.

Engineering and procurement activities will begin immediately and on-site construction is scheduled to begin early in the second quarter. The start-up and testing of equipment is scheduled to begin in the third quarter of 1989, with the plant being handed over to Noranda early in the fourth quarter of 1989.

Mitsui of Japan and Fenco Engineers of Toronto competed with cil for the contract.