Everyday Heroes: Meet Finning's service ... - Finning Canada

oads to nowhere: Summer aerial viewsof portages, such as this one, look like roadscut randomly across deserted islandsEasy does it: A curve on approach to aportage helps redirect the under-ice waveput into play to keep the laneways smoothand snow-free. Snow piling up on the iceroad can be a real hazard, compromising icethickness and strength. Many of Nuna’s offhighwayplow trucks are likewise poweredwith Cat engines.Meet Tony Mecir, Finning’s mining accountmanager, whose job it is to look afterthe provision and maintenance of Cat equipmentfor De Beers and Tahera mine sites andNuna Logistics. When ice road constructionswings into high-gear in mid-January, Meciris on his toes to ensure the 150-person crew,stationed at three camps along the route, isequipped with fully-functioning machinery.If something breaks down, Mecir must dispatcheither a repair crew or, in the worst-casescenario, break down a 100,000-pound Cat toready it for Hercules aircraft transport.“The biggest challenge is having the machinesshipped to very, very remote locationswhere you have no access roads and you havetight time constraints,” Mecir says. “So you’rebasically at the mercy of the airlines, the peoplewho have the Hercs.” And preparing forsuch a dispatch is no small task. One or twomechanics are required to disassemble amachine in Edmonton for transport and asimilar amount of time and man-power isnecessary on the receiving end to put it backtogether again.“When the ice road is not there, it’s theonly way to get this equipment to site,”added Mecir. “It’s not uncommon to spend$50,000 to $100,000 to get a machine intosite, depending on where it’s going.”Breakdowns can range from the mundaneto the unbelievable as frigid temperatures occasionallydip down to -70°C, testing the resolveof the heaviest iron.“You will see raw steel break and crack,grader blades will break, motor grader drawbars will crack and break in half,” says Mecir.No matter the temperature, Mecir and theFinning techs service the equipment.Road building commences from threecamps along the route – Dome Lake, LockhartLake and Lac de Gras – simultaneously.According to Zigarlick, if construction weredone in an end-to-end fashion, it would be72 tracks & treads • Spring 2008 www.finning.ca