Welcome to ENGEX!
Pre-reading Material
About Momentum
“The future of technology, of industry, and of the world’s infrastructure is more than a matter of prediction. It is about finding the right people that turn today’s visions into tomorrow’s reality. This is what we do. We build a sustainable future by putting the very best of the world’s people, resources, and technology in the right place at the right time”
Momentum CEO: Sarah Patterson Tweet
Effects
Thinking about the future, the environment, and social governance is central to our decision-making process. From moving to a carbon-based economy to adopting the latest in green energy technologies our approach means we can take on any challenge the world can offer. We view sustainable resource extraction as the lifeblood of an increasingly globalized population.
Embarking towards a better future
Our engineers connect the world with new technologies and deliver solutions that means our clients are always on the cutting edge. We emulate start-ups while leveraging our ability to rapidly scale up, enabling us to mold industries as they emerge. We use solutions that address problems, from global hunger to a changing climate. Our approach has allowed us to build the most successful energy, mining, and transportation infrastructure on the planet. We pass all of our research and development gains to our clients, adding value to every project, no matter what the goal.
Momentum is a Canadian registered multi-national corporation that provides engineering, procurement, and construction services to various industries including mining, metallurgy, oil and gas, environment and water, infrastructure and clean power. Momentum is the largest construction company, by revenue, in at least a dozen countries. The firm has over 50,000 employees worldwide, with offices in over 50 countries and operations in at least 150. The firm is believed to impact the employment of hundreds of thousands of workers and consultants beyond its own employees base.
Key sectors
According to Momentum’s 2017 annual report, its four key service sectors are infrastructure, mining and metallurgy, oil and gas, and power; each sector offers services that includes design, studies, consultancy, financing, asset management, engineering, construction, procurement and operations and maintenance. Its oil and gas sector includes upstream, midstream, and downstream projects across the lifecycle. Public transportation projects include mass transit and heavy rail systems, highways, bridges, airports and marine facilities, as well as industrial, commercial, cultural and healthcare buildings. Momentum’s most recent projects include European fast rail projects, public transportation refurbishing and upgrading in the State of California, as well as pipeline services and development for Germany. Historically known for successful resource extraction projects, Momentum has an impressive portfolio of active hydroelectric facilities and windmills.
Acquisitions and Partnerships
In 2013, Momentum acquired Irish engineering and construction business Bentz for approximately $2B USD.
In 2017, Momentum acquired its UK rival EB Watsins – a Brigish design, engineering and project management consulting firm, with a $1.9B investment from the Government of Quebec.
In 2018, Momentum successfully emerged from a battle with the Chinese National Offshore Oil Company which engaged in an attempted hostile takeover of Momentum’s North American oil and gas subsidiary CANNORTH. Momentum succeeded through a $3.2B share buyback program which was believed to be bankrolled in part by the Canadian Pension Plan and a number of US based finance companies.
In 2012, Associated Press reported detailed murky affairs which surfaced publicly during the aftermath of the Libyan Arab Spring. According to multiple media agencies Momentum employees were involved in a Libyan bribery and fraud scandal that took place and led to charges in “connection with payments of nearly $48 million” to Libyan public officials. Charges were not proven in court, and to this day, Momentum representatives claim the reports can be blamed on a “hyperactive French press corps” intent on “defaming the company in order to displace Momentum operations in North Africa and Europe”.
Adding to the intrigue were revelations that Momentum was involved in arranging for ‘fixers’ to support the evacuation of Canadian officials from the besieged Canadian embassy located in Palm City, west of Tripoli. Multiple European media agencies report that following the Canadian evacuation, Momentum used this experience to establish an aggressive risk management subsidiary called ‘Eleven24’ which the company has used to shape conditions for successful engineering and development operations in several otherwise hostile countries. Momentum does not acknowledge the existence of this company although Eleven24 personnel have been seen securing Momentum investments in Africa, Southeast Asia, and in Central America.
Investigative journalists believe Momentum intervened as a non-state actor during a border dispute between the states of Guatemala and Belize in 2019. In September 2019, organized crime group Mara Salvatrucha (MS13) was believed to be involved in a separatist movement in the Belize / Guatamala border region of Melchor de Mencos in close proximity to a recently built Momentum hydro electric dam / power generation facility. Mercenaries from Eleven24 intervened and rapidly restored security to the region. The Government of Belize took credit for the operation and Momentum representatives denied any knowledge or involvement in the action. However, interviews with Belizian officials and hydro workers in the aftermath suggested significant involvement from Momentum.
Victor Mine
Victor Mine is a remote fly-in/fly-out mine located in the James Bay Lowlands of Northern Ontario, approximately 90km west of the coastal community of Attawapiskat First Nation. In operation from 2008-2019, Victor was an open pit mine and Ontario’s first diamond mine. The site is now in closure and rehabilitation.
Location: 52° 49’ 15” latitude, 83° 53’ 00” longitude, approximately 90 kilometres west of the First Nation community of Attawapiskat in northeastern Ontario
Mine Area: Victor kimberlite has a surface area of 15 hectares
Overview
Victor Mine is located in the James Bay Lowlands of northern Ontario, approximately 90 km west of the coastal community of Attawapiskat First Nation. It is Ontario’s first diamond mine and the second in Canada for De Beers.
The Victor Mine was an open-pit mine and is one of 18 kimberlite pipes discovered on the property, 16 of which are diamondiferous.
Construction of the Victor Mine began in February 2006 after receiving all necessary approvals from provincial and federal governments.
Approximately $1 billion was spent on construction of the mine, with approximately C$167 million spent with Aboriginal businesses or joint venture partners.
It is also estimated that De Beers will contribute C$6.7 billion cumulative GDP impact for all of Ontario during the life of the Victor Mine.
The Victor Mine reached commercial production in 2008 (six months ahead of schedule) and the Official Mine Opening took place in July 2008. The mine completed mining operations in March 2019 and processing of ore ended in June 2019. The mine is now in the formal closure phase.
In October 2009, the Victor Mine was voted “Mine of the Year” by the readers of the international trade publication Mining Magazine.
Construction of the mine was essentially complete by the end of 2007 and the first kimberlite was processed in December of that year to begin commissioning of the processing plant. The mine ceased operations in the first quarter of 2019 and decommissioning has started in accordance with the field Closure Plan. As of the end of 2019, the warehouse, workshop, offices and explosives storage facility had been demolished. The remaining components present at the VDM were in various stages of decommissioning and reclamation at the end of 2019 and included the following:
Open pit (began filling with water);
Muskeg, mine rock and overburden stockpiles for the disposal of mine pit materials (completed; reclamation process started);
Well field, mine dewatering system, including the pipeline discharge arrangement to the Attawapiskat River and associated water discharge facilities;
Open Pit Phase 1 Mine Water Settling Pond, and associated Northeast Fen (NEF) water treatment system;
Mill building, crusher building, ancillary buildings, and electrical substation;
Fine Processed Kimberlite Containment (PKC) facility (Cell 1 and Cell 2) and water treatment facility (formerly the Central Quarry [CQ]), including the completion of all Cell 1 dam raises (3) for the fine PKC facility storage and water treatment operations, and construction of the final raise of the Cell 2 fine PKC facility containment dikes;
Coarse PK and low grade ore stockpiles (processing ceased and stockpile have reached the final size);
Site road network, permanent airstrip, and freight yard;
Permanent 224-person operations camp and recreational complex (with some construction-phase dormitories retained for contractors and visitors). The recreation complex requires a significant reinvestment.
Potable water and sewage treatment facilities, including a potable water supply well;
Fuel tank farm;
Standby emergency power generators;
On site power distribution systems;
Waste management systems – incinerator, bioremediation area and non-hazardous waste landfill;
Aggregate pits (a sand pit located approximately 16 km west of the mine site), and the South Quarry (SQ) limestone quarry south of the mine open pit – developed previously but neither in operation as of the end of 2019 but retained for contingency purposes;
A regional network of groundwater monitoring wells and river flow monitoring stations;
Attawapiskat River water intake and discharge facilities and associated water lines, to supply water for pit flooding, potable water, and water for creek and river flow supplementation;
South Granny Creek diversion;
Nayshkootayaow River flow supplementation water supply system; and
Granny Creek flow supplementation system.
Mine site activities carried out in 2019 consisted of:
Demolition of various site infrastructure (the warehouse, workshop, offices and explosives storage facility)
Continued development of the open pit and associated ore extraction until operations ceased in April of 2019;
Open pit dewatering until operations ceased in April of 2019;
Kimberlite ore processing and the discharge / disposal of processing wastes (fine and coarse PK) until operations ceased in April of 2020;
Use of Cell 2 of the fine PKC facility;
Ongoing stockpiling of open pit wastes (limestone waste rock) until operations ceased in April of 2019;
Transport operations (air, winter road and on-site all-season roads);
General site activities related to camp operations including potable water supply and domestic sewage treatment;
Water line systems operations associated with open pit dewatering, ore processing, potable water supply, and creek and river flow supplementation;
Ongoing waste management;
Progressive reclamation of various facilities; and
Environmental monitoring.
By the end of 2019, the open pit had a maximum depth of approximately 160 m below ground surface in the eastern kimberlite pipe, and the western kimberlite open pipe / pit segment was developed to a maximum depth of approximately 240 m. The footprint of the open pit remained at approximately 86 ha. The average total groundwater dewatering rate in 2019 prior to the start of pumping shut down on February 18, 2019 was 65,600 m3 /d. The average combined pumping rate from February 27 to March 21, 2019 was 46,900 m3 /day and from March 27, 2019 to just prior to the start of the shutdown of the last wells on April 9 was 38,200 m3 /day. Major construction activities undertaken in 2019 were related to the start of demolition.
Off-site Transmission Lines No off-site transmission line installation or decommissioning work was undertaken in 2019. All offsite transmission line installation work was completed in 2009. Ownership of the transmission line constructed by De Beers from the Otter Rapids generating station to Moosonee was formally transferred to the provincial utility operator Hydro One Networks Inc. (HONI) in September 2015, following the completion of brushing of the right-of-way. That line is now part of the provincial electrical grid, improving reliability of the electrical supply for communities on the James Bay coast. The portion of transmission line from the community of Attawapiskat to the VDM will be dismantled per the Closure Plan Amendment #4 filed with the Ministry of Energy, Northern Development and Mines.
Off-site winter road activities carried out during 2019 included the following:
• Annual re-establishment and maintenance of the James Bay Coastal Winter Road by the Kimesskanemenow Corporation; and •
Annual re-establishment of the James Bay Winter Road Extension, and the Moosonee transfer station and truck staging area, to facilitate the off-loading, storage and transfer of materials to and from the Ontario Northland Railway system and the James Bay Winter Road truck carriers.
The winter road network for the mine site was constructed, maintained and managed as described in the CSR. Unlike previous years, there has been no South Winter Road constructed from Attawapiskat to the VDM site since 2017.
The major environmental permitting to allow for mine site construction, operation and servicing, was completed by 2008. Permitting completed in 2019 was related to the VDM entering into the decommissioning phase of the Project and included:
An amendment to Environmental Compliance Approval #6084-6T6Q4P (replaced by 5743-BGRHQ3) and #1352-6N6LRW (permit number remains the same) for the addition of the Demolition Landfill (cell 2);
An Environmental Compliance Approval application to allow for the sewage treatment plant pipeline to be rerouted around the process plant (application submitted);
A Permit to Take Water application pump water from the Attawapiskat River to the open pit to aid in pit filling (application submitted);
A Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry Work Permit for modification of water intake from Attawapiskat River to increase water taking capacity; and
A Fisheries and Oceans Canada Request for Project Review for work related to water taken from the Attawapiskat River to aid in pit filling.
Tab ContentEnvironmental monitoring systems and programs that were either continued into the current reporting period (2019) from prior years, or established and operated during 2019, are described in Section 3.
Business, employment and training efforts were focused primarily on the community of Attawapiskat, and to a lesser extent on TTN, KFN, FAFN and MCFN. The value of contracts awarded to FN companies and joint ventures in the year 2019 was $23.3 million bringing the cumulative total since the start of VDM operations to $545.7 million, or $745.2 million since the start of construction. There was no James Bay Winter Road to the Victor Site in 2019. Actual revenues generated by the various FN from these contracts are not known as De Beers is not privy to the Joint Venture agreement terms. Employment of local residents has to date been very successful as shown in Table 1.
The need for training and academic upgrading continued into 2019 to ensure FN employment participation in the Mine. Training continued in 2019 and on average, 3 FN members were employed as trainees in various positions. Prior training initiatives are documented in earlier annual FUPA Reports.
Attawapiskat First Nation
Attawapiskat First Nation
Attawapiskat River / Attawapiskat First Nation
Financials
Consolidated Statement of Financial Position
(Expressed in Canadian Dollars)
Plans
In 2014, the Government of Canada received a proposal from China’s state-owned Resources National Corporation (CRNC) for the development of transportation, energy, and mining infrastructure to commercialize the Ring of Fire.
The proposal was comprehensive. However, in general the company proposed the expansion of existing transportation corridors in Northern Ontario and the establishment of a new transportation corridor (rail and road) directly to the Ring of Fire.
In exchange for the development of all necessary infrastructures, the CRNC would be offered exclusive rights to mine the Ring of Fire for a period of ten years in exchange for a defined royalty.
Alternatively, the Governments of Canada and Ontario are now considering a past proposal submitted by a consortium of mining companies, led by Momentum to develop the ‘Victor Mine Route’. This option sees regional development occurring by phase and includes outbound shipping of natural resources via James Bay.
In phase one of the development plan, Momentum proposes to re-establish and develop Victor Mine based on the DeBeers ‘VMEP’ (Victor Mine Expansion Plan) while concurrently developing local infrastructure focusing on the Fort Albany and Attawapiskat areas. Light commercial shipping and maritime transport would be developed based on current infrastructure in Fort Albany.
In phase two, roads would be established along the Attawapiskat River to enable access to the Ring of Fire. Relative to the CRNC proposal, Momentum’s option ensures the primary beneficiaries of the financial development of the Ring of Fire would first go to residents and the Canadian maritime shipping sector. This would reduce the need for the creation of new infrastructure through sensitive muskeg regions directed from the more southern portions of Ontario.
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