Late in 2002, Canadian nickel giant, Inco Limited, approached several local companies for proposals to build and operate a lime slaking facility in the Sudbury area that would be capable of providing the large volume of lime slurry required for their local operations.  Two local businessmen, Mike Carriere, president of Carriere Industrial Supply, and Milad Mansour, president of the Mansour Mining Group, rose to meet this challenge.   The task was a major undertaking, involving extensive research into what type of slaker would be the most suitable for this application. Since Inco’s lime slurry demand was extremely variable and their future requirements were not fully established, the slaker and plant design had to be very flexible. It had to be able to operate economically at lower demand periods, but still capable of producing enough product to meet seasonal peak demands as well.

After much consideration, it was determined that a Vertimill™ Lime Slaking System would be the ideal candidate for this installation. There were currently no similar installations in Canada, so company representatives toured the USA to gather information on this fairly unique concept in lime slaking.  A detailed proposal was prepared and presented to Inco representatives in March of 2003 and, after much deliberation, Sudbury Lime was awarded a long term contract.

Modifications to the original design concept were made to facilitate the relocation of the plant closer to Inco’s major lime consumer, the Copper Cliff Waste Water Treatment Plant, where lime slurry could be pumped directly from the plant into their storage tank.  The plant was designed to be operated virtually unmanned by the implementation of sophisticated monitoring instrumentation and controls.

Construction of the facility began in October of 2003 and was completed by July of 2004 to coincide with the completion of Inco’s new Weak Acid Treatment Plant, which is part of their huge Fluid Bed Roaster (FBR) project.

Sudbury Lime contracted PCE Sales & Engineering and Dascan Industrial Controls, both Toronto based firms, to supply the detail engineering and equipment supply for the plant.

Construction of the plant was completed by CM & D Contracting (site preparation), TESC Contracting (Structural, Mechanical) and Walden Electric (Electrical), all local companies.