Kearl Consolidated Civil Works

Graham’s scope of civil work includes Large Soil Handling (~5M BCM), Pit Development (~2M BCM) and Water Management and Dewatering activities. Large Soil Handling includes soil windrowing of salvaged soils, loading and hauling of soils, and soil stockpile relocation and management. Most soil salvage activities occur in the fall and winter to avoid bird nesting activities and to utilize frozen conditions for easier access and soil preservation.

Pit Development scope includes polishing pond construction, ditch development and reclamation soil stockpile development. The polishing ponds are unlined excavations that include inlet/outlet ditch systems, spillway excavation, erosion control, and outlet structure installation. Early pit development includes several surface and shallow drainage ditches designed to collect and direct surface water to the polishing pond. These ditches are between 2-5m deep in through both overburden and muskeg.

Most of the water management activities will occur in the fall and winter seasons avoiding bird nesting activities and optimizing on prevailing freezing conditions. This will help expand the existing CODA – Stage 4 / East area, as well as facilitate dewatering of the South Pit Mine area. The activities include general earthworks, water management, culvert installation, upgrading of access roads (CODA Pond 2) and installation of pump skid, amongst other scopes.