Project Overview
PND provided engineering design and field services for construction of an OPEN CELL SHEET PILE™ (OCSP™) ore dock and ship-loader pile and conveyor system foundations at Milne Port. Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation’s Mary River Mine on Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada, is one of the northernmost mines in the world. It has among the richest iron ore deposits ever discovered, consisting of nine-plus high-grade iron ore deposits that can be mined, crushed, and screened into marketable products. To support development of the open-pit iron ore mine, PND designed a new OCSP ore dock and loading facilities to allow loading of ore carriers during the open-water season at Milne Port that are expected to ship 3.5 million tons per annum of high-grade iron ore.
The ore dock provides moorage to accommodate vessels up to Post-Panamax size and acted as a material offloading facility during construction to unload the 165-foot-tall ship loader and conveyor system. The marine structures were designed to withstand the heavy ice loads that occur yearly at Milne Port.
Our Role
- Arctic Engineering: designed the world’s northernmost OCSP dock in a water depth of approximately 65 feet in a heavy sea ice environment
- Coastal Engineering: analyzed metocean data such as wind, waves, currents and water levels, and designed shore protection along a causeway with 6-ton armor rock from a local quarry, sized to resist ice and wave action
- Structural Engineering: designed on-shore mooring points and deep foundations for the ship-loader pile and conveyor system, including steel adfreeze piles and steel and concrete pile caps
- Construction Support Services: provided construction observation services for the project with one to three engineers on-site full-time for 12 months
Design for North America’s Deepest, Northernmost Arctic Port
The Baffinland Iron Mines Ore Dock is located in Milne Inlet on the north side of Baffin Island at approximately 72 degrees latitude. The first phase of this project featured an OCSP dock and ship loader with the capability to load iron at 6,000 metric tons per hour during the summer shipping season. The total depth of water at the dock face provides berthing for up to 100,000 metric ton bulk carriers with up to 15 meters draft, making it the deepest arctic port in North America. Baffinland Iron Mines owns and operates the Mary River Project, a world-class iron ore deposit with an average ore grade of 67%. PND provided waterfront design services for the $40 million dock and ship loader foundations under a design-build contract with Ruskin Construction. PND’s innovative design and accelerated construction schedule saved approximately half of the proposed construction budget.
Thanks to PND’s innovative dock design, the Mary River Mine’s high-quality iron ore is loaded onto bulk carrier ships with expediency every summer and travels across the Atlantic Ocean for use by steel makers in continental Europe.
Feet Deep
PND designed the dock in a water depth of almost 20 meters
Tons per Annum
PND’s dock design will support the shipment of millions of tons of high-grade iron ore per year
