The Onaping Depth project will be equipped with digital technologies such as real-time remote management, monitoring, and control from surface. Innovative safety systems will be integrated into the operation in addition to mine-wide Wi-Fi communication between employees and from underground to surface.

The battery electric vehicles (EV) to be used at the project will be a more effective system to save energy compared to a diesel-fueled operation. The EVs are expected to minimize the power used for ventilation and refrigeration at the project.

The battery vehicles to be used are the R1700 XE, Caterpillar’s first commercial battery electric load-haul-dump (LHD) vehicle. The LHD is a result of the extensive research and testing conducted on the proof-of-concept R1300 at Sudbury INO underground operation.

Underground mining with bottom-up mining approach supported by a single shaft development will be conducted at the Onaping Depth project.

The project will have a 7.2m diameter production shaft, which will be sunk from the 4025 Level of Craig Mine. The shaft will be approximately1.5km horizontal from the existing Craig shaft.

A fleet of 40t, 14t, and OEM 14T/18T LHD trucks will be used for underground mining operations at Onaping.

The ore mined at Onaping will be processed at the nearby Sudbury mill and smelter, while the existing infrastructure of Craig mine will be used as part of the project.

The Glencore Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations Sudbury Smelter is located in Falconbridge, Ontario.

Process Description
The nickel smelter consists of two parallel fluidized-bed roasters followed by one electric furnace. The off-gases from the roaster are passed through cyclones, followed by a water- quenched cooler and into a set of electrostatic precipitators (ESPs). The cleaned off-gas subsequently goes into the acid plant and finally vented to the main smelter stack. The off- gases from the furnaces and the converters are treated in their own smelter Cottrell ESPs before venting to the main smelter stack. Process gases from the converters, the acid plant and the electric furnaces exhaust through the main smelter stack. In 2008, the exhaust from the Custom Feed Calciner Process was tied ........