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The Peregrine Chick:
Nothing left of Inco plant now but pieces
Jim Moodie / Sudbury Star / 2 April 2019
A pair of peregrine falcons now has an unimpeded view of the sunset. Late last week the last standing sections of an old Inco plant on MR 55 outside Copper Cliff came down, while the flashy raptors looked on from a nearby roost.
“They’re safely on the stack just behind us,” said Dan Gauthier, speaking from an office at the work site. “You see them in the mornings. There’s a couple of them there that come flying and squawking around.” Gauthier, safety coordinator with JMX, the contractor on the demo job, said the falcons like to frequent a security shack on the Vale property and from time to time can be seen chasing off ravens. The birds once inhabited the old kiln building itself, which meant Vale was unable to dismantle it, even though it had sat vacant for years.
The falcons were reintroduced to the Sudbury area in the late 1980s — around the same time the roaster kiln building, part of the ore-recovery plant, was shuttered — and started frequenting the site in the mid-2000s. At the time the birds were considered an endangered species, although their numbers have stabilized enough now in Ontario to earn them the somewhat more reassuring status of “special concern.” That means the species “is not endangered or threatened, but may become threatened or endangered due to a combination of biological characteristics and identified threats,” according to the province.
Eventually the raptors were coaxed out of the abandoned plant by a protected nesting box placed on an adjacent smokestack. “I’m glad they moved out,” said Gauthier, who worked for many years as a miner and subcontractor before joining JMX last year. “Vale wanted to bring the building down in 2005-ish, but they just got the go-ahead in 2017 when the falcons moved out. They built them a fancy box on the stack and they decided, hey, that’s a better house.”
Planning to tear down the structure began over two years ago, with the demo itself beginning in earnest last spring. Unlike a high rise reduced to rubble in one detonation, however, the industrial building had to be taken down in careful steps, said Gauthier. “It’s not the old wrecking-ball days,” he said. “You can’t just blast it. This was an iron ore plant and you don’t want dust from that going in the air or the lake, so you have to do it in sections. The environmental impact could be huge, but we managed to get her down safe.” He said about 30-40 people were working at various times on the project, with some coming from far afield. “We have specialized workers brought in from all over Canada, and even from Africa,” said Gauthier. “We fly in guys who are specialized in this kind of demolition.” Some workers cut steel beams with torches, while others operated excavators with a 120-foot reach. It was essential to keep all the workers safe, noted Gauthier, which also contributed to the measured pace of the project. JMX provides demolition and remediation services across the country, and Gauthier said it has been an interesting experience to work with this company on the Vale contract. “I’ve definitely learned a lot from them,” he said. “Me, I’m a heavy machine operator and a miner, but I’ve never taken down a building before. So just to see the process and be a part of it was great.”
In its day, the ore plant was a significant employer, as well as ahead of its time in pursuing sustainability and emissions reductions, according to Vale. The plant recovered slurry byproducts that would have otherwise lingered in tailings ponds and created new products from waste material. Changes in milling eventually made the operation obsolete, however. “We are now able to extract compounds formerly used in the pyrrhotite (which had previously been sent to the recovery plant), leaving less to remove in subsequent processing,” Vale explained. Gauthier said the abandoned building had been a magnet for some kids and mischief makers, so it was definitely time to remove the hazard and clean up the site. While the structure itself is gone, work remains to make the footprint as tidy and pristine as possible. “It’s not just knock it down and walk away,” said Gauthier. “We process all the material like steel and salvage that, and then we’re doing environmental reclamation of the site.”
At the moment, the roaster kiln building has been reduced to “a million pieces on the ground,” he said. “But we’re going to make it look like there wasn’t a building here when we’re all done.” The smokestack, meanwhile, continues to provide a useful function for the mining company, and it is expected to remain for some time yet. So the falcons shouldn’t have to move again any day soon.
source: https://www.thesudburystar.com/news/local-news/nothing-left-of-inco-plant-now-but-pieces
carly:
Thanks TPC. I just think it's so cool that we know where she is off-season now. Hopefully she stays safe down there :-*
The Peregrine Chick:
Radisson's continuing adventures in San Antonio have their own thread on the U of A Board
http://www.species-at-risk.mb.ca/pefa/forum/index.php/topic,4552.msg105810.html#msg105810
Apologies for not posting a notice here as well!!
TPC
--- Quote from: carly on November 29, 2018, 10:13 ---Actually Radisson is back at her wintering grounds again Dennis...just posted now on Facebook! Happy to see she made it back safely again!
https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/Peregrine-falcon-from-Canada-returns-to-winter-in-13429813.php?fbclid=IwAR1dj_rg-lj0hm-ZvnF1BYCYf0D1F-6pS4ZKzvtH7u2HpdoO3tdXlPDuqb8#photo-15122119
She’s baaack!
Radisson, one of two peregrine falcons who made San Antonio their home last winter — thrilling downtown workers and tourists alike — has been spotted back in the Alamo City in recent weeks.
Attorney John Economidy had just stepped out of the Bexar County Justice Center on Nov. 9 when he heard a sharp cak-cak-cak cutting through the afternoon traffic downtown.
He stopped and scanned the gray sky until he saw the source: a familiar peregrine falcon.
The raptor circled over the River Walk and landed on the sunburst logo of the old Frost National Bank building. A minute later, the falcon was airborne again, touching down on the circular spiral tower atop the 24th floor of the Drury Plaza Hotel.
--- End quote ---
carly:
Actually Radisson is back at her wintering grounds again Dennis...just posted now on Facebook! Happy to see she made it back safely again!
https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/Peregrine-falcon-from-Canada-returns-to-winter-in-13429813.php?fbclid=IwAR1dj_rg-lj0hm-ZvnF1BYCYf0D1F-6pS4ZKzvtH7u2HpdoO3tdXlPDuqb8#photo-15122119
She’s baaack!
Radisson, one of two peregrine falcons who made San Antonio their home last winter — thrilling downtown workers and tourists alike — has been spotted back in the Alamo City in recent weeks.
Attorney John Economidy had just stepped out of the Bexar County Justice Center on Nov. 9 when he heard a sharp cak-cak-cak cutting through the afternoon traffic downtown.
He stopped and scanned the gray sky until he saw the source: a familiar peregrine falcon.
The raptor circled over the River Walk and landed on the sunburst logo of the old Frost National Bank building. A minute later, the falcon was airborne again, touching down on the circular spiral tower atop the 24th floor of the Drury Plaza Hotel.
photosbydennis:
Sorry, now see its old news and on a different thread.
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