Powertrunk wins TETRA contract for remote gold mine

PowerTrunk has been awarded the contract to deploy a digital TETRA land mobile radio system in support of operations at Agnico Eagle Mines’ (AEM) Meadowbank gold mine in Canada’s northernmost Nunavut region, 170 km south of the Arctic Circle.

The remote mine depends on annual warm-weather sealift from Hudson Bay for transportation of the bulk of supplies and heavy equipment. A small airstrip and all-weather roads are also used for transporting employees who work on a fly-in, fly-out basis.

“Having a TETRA system at Meadowbank will greatly improve the security of our workers as well as simplify the maintenance and management of the radio system,” said Philip Quessy, Eng, general IT supervisor, AEM. “We agreed to work with PowerTrunk because we believe that they have the expertise and efficient team to manage this kind of project, and that their products are designed to meet the challenges of our harsh Arctic environment.”

The contract followed a recommendation from BBA, a Canadian consulting engineering firm, which was contracted by Agnico Eagle to conduct a feasibility study and to define the requirements of a new radio system for another AEM exploratory gold mine located in the same region.

The PowerTrunk TETRA system at Meadowbank will consist of two site base stations operating in the UHF frequency band and include several PowerTrunk HTT-500 portable and MDT-400 mobile radios which will be used to support the open pit mine operations and related logistical activities.

“As part of the feasibility study for the project, BBA recommended PowerTrunk’s TETRA technology because its multiple functionalities meet Agnico Eagle’s needs. Due to the timing of the projects, this recommendation was applied to Meadowbank first,” said Gilles Leonard, telecom, IT and networking systems architecture expert at BBA.

 “We are very happy and proud to have been first recommended by BBA, a highly respected firm in the market, and then selected by Agnico Eagle to meet their new communication needs at Meadowbank,” said David Torres, PowerTrunk vice president of sales, Canada. “This award continues to cement PowerTrunk’s position as the leader for TETRA deployments in North America.”