Permafrost and cold regions engineering have been core competencies at BGC since the company was founded. BGC provides geotechnical, geological, mining and permafrost engineering services for northern and cold regions resource extraction and infrastructure developments. BGC has been involved with initial assessment and planning aspects, design, construction, operations, closure and regulatory review of the following types of projects:

Open pit and underground mines
Tailings and mine waste facilities
Highways and roads
Airstrips
Landfills
Dams and water diversion structures
Pipelines
Industrial and commercial foundation systems

These projects have been undertaken in various cold region terrains, including both discontinuous and continuous permafrost, permafrost with significant ground ice and offshore permafrost.

In addition to the obvious harsh climates experienced in cold regions, northern and permafrost engineering requires that designers be cognizant of the remoteness of sites, the limited construction and shipping seasons (by southern standards) and the robustness required for these locations.

BGC staff members are appropriately experienced in providing the following northern engineering and permafrost design services for your projects:

Characterization, Assessment and Planning

Periglacial geomorphology, engineering geology and terrain mapping.
Granular resources assessments including the potential for ground ice.
Routing and siting studies for various facilities.
Drilling and sampling of permafrost ground, including use of chilled brine,
CRREL barrels and recovery of frozen samples.
Assessment of ground ice content in permafrost soil and bedrock.
Thermistor installation and monitoring for permafrost characterization.
Packer testing and permeability assessment in discontinuous permafrost and talik zones.
Permafrost slope stability assessments including the effect of global warming.

Design

Geothermal analysis and design.
Open pit and underground mine rock mechanics in cold regions and permafrost areas.
Tailings dam design and seepage assessment on permafrost terrain.
Retaining dike design for open pit mining.
Foundation design on permafrost soils and bedrock
Risk assessment of tailings dams and frozen slopes.
Assessment of global warming as design criteria.
Transportation infrastructure (roads, highways, airstrips, etc.) on northern terrain.
Slope retaining structures and slope stability assessments allowing for the presence of permafrost.
Cold regions implications for acid generation potential.

Construction

Assessment of cold climate compaction requirements.
Preparation of quantities and costing (including indirect costs for remote sites).
Preparation of construction drawings and specifications.
Construction monitoring for foundation installation and dam construction.
Quality control /quality assurance.
Preparation of as-built reports
Contract and/or construction management.

Operations and Closure

Annual safety and performance assessments of mine waste facilities and tailings dams on permafrost.
Use of permafrost aggradation in the closure of tailings and mine waste facilities.
Assessment of tailings dusting issues and control methods.
Geotechnical assessments of open pit slopes and underground openings in permafrost regimes.
Geotechnical and permafrost monitoring and instrumentation, including remote access of
monitoring data.
Mining engineering, pit planning and dewatering in cold regions.