Corrosion is a widely known asset defect across many industries. Corrosion directly introduces organisational risk by negatively impacting asset integrity and thus reducing asset service life, increasing maintenance costs, undermining safety and creating unplanned outages. Within the potash mining industry specifically, corrosion is significant due to the nature of the commodity and the processing conditions: in the past, corrosion failures have been associated with catastrophic and deadly equipment failures. However, it is not something that asset owners need to simply ‘live with’. This paper will introduce a best practice corrosion management program (CMP) framework, which was developed in-line with familiar Asset Management standards (e.g. ISO 55000). These best practices were taken from other industries (notably oil and gas) and adapted for the mining sector and applied to the design of a Saskatchewan potash mine. This approach was novel in the sector and was used to proactively and systemically reduce corrosion risks for the project, enhance asset integrity planning and create long-term benefits for the operations team. The objectives of the paper are to share the key components of the framework used, describe the benefits and to underscore the importance of ensuring corrosion considerations early in project design. It will describe the practical actions that were taken in the engineering design to identify and reduce corrosion risk and discuss how these learnings were then taken into the operational readiness development for the plant by embedding knowledge and best practices into the Asset Integrity Management program.
Presenters:
Zoe Coull, CEO, ICE Dragon Corrosion
As a professional engineer Zoë spent her early career working on becoming a technical expert in her specialised field. She completed her bachelor’s degree in Materials Science and Engineering at Imperial College, a Masters degree in Corrosion Engineering at the University of Manchester and later earning her PhD from the University of Toronto. This rigorous education drives her thesis-based, thoughtful, and hard-work approach to her career and has given her the confidence to tackle all kinds of challenges. She has presented at numerous conferences, published in high-quality scientific journals and been a speaker at many industry events. She is also a regular invited speaker for student corrosion courses across Canada; Calgary, McMaster, Western, Toronto. Her expertise and specialization in materials and corrosion have influenced the design and rehabilitation of a wide variety of assets across the globe. As well as technical mastery, Zoë strongly believes in the necessity of blending engineering training with leadership skills, defining leadership as the ability to work to create positive change by motivating and inspiring those around her. She is a member of teaching faculty at Troost ILEAD, a facility for Engineering Leadership at the University of Toronto. Empowering young engineers has become increasingly important as she moves through her career. As founder and CEO of ICE Dragon Corrosion Inc. (est. 2016), Zoë has had the expansive opportunity to put her own leadership ability to the test. Zoë set-up ICE Dragon to reimagine how the mining industry deals with the significant business risks caused by asset degradation. A core of the business for Zoë is the mentorship of engineers both within her team and on the client side.
Amit S. Aulakh, M.Sc., P.Eng., Consultant
Bio:
Syed Ali Debaj Jaffry – M.A.Sc., P.Eng, PMP, Six Sigma Yellow Belt, Discipline Lead – Civil/Structural/Architectural BHP
Bio: With over 25 years of experience in the Oil & Gas and Mining industry as a Structural P.Eng, Syed Jaffry completed his bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering at UET Lahore, and Master of Applied Sciences degree in Civil Engineering at University of Toronto. He also obtained a certification in Project Management from University of Calgary and a Six Sigma Yellow Belt designation from Bechtel/Bantrel. He also holds a PMP status. His areas of expertise include civil/structural engineering, continous improvement, design and field engineering, problem solving and integrative leadership. He has various structural publications to his name in journals and conferences. He has work experiences in organizations including SNC Lavalin, Bantrel, Bechtel, Imperial Oil, and BHP on projects such as Suncor Coker, Shell Scotford, Kearl Oil Sands, and Jansen Potash. As a founder of Debaj Tech Inc, he has expanded his skills to wooden structures as well. Syed strongly believes in processes and procedures coupled with strong change management and continous improvement as a path to successful execution of projects. Syed has been working with BHP on the Jansen Potash mining project for the last 6 years providing technical assurance on the engineering designs related to Civil/Structural/Architectural scopes.
Syed loves to stay engaged in his local community and is a voluntary teaching faculty member at Wali Ul Asr Learning Institute inspiring high school graduates to peruse engineering career paths.
Muan Wei, Director of Operations, ICE Dragon Corrosion Inc
Bio: