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NPI — NexSource Power Inc.
Industries · Mining

Mining power generation for sites the grid does not reach.

Prime power for processing, redundant sets for the dewatering and ventilation that cannot stop, and modular capacity that grows with the mine plan — on natural gas where there is gas, and diesel where there is not. Mining generator rentals go out to remote properties across Alberta from our Red Deer yard, with field service on call 24/7.

What runs on it

A mine is six loads, and two of them cannot stop.

A remote mine power supply is planned by separating what can ride through an outage from what cannot. Water and air come first; everything else is planned around them.

Cannot stop

Dewatering

Pit and underground pumps that cannot stop for long without water gaining on the workings. The load that most often justifies a second set on standby beside the first.

Cannot stop

Ventilation

Fans that keep air moving underground run around the clock, and losing them stops work below. Sized with redundancy from the start, not added after an outage.

Crushing and processing

Crushers, screens, mills and conveyors — large motors started under load. The generator is sized for the start of the biggest motor, not only the running total.

Shops and maintenance

Heavy-equipment shops, wash bays, compressors and welding — steady daytime loads that are easy to undersize when they share a set with processing.

Camp and offices

Accommodation, kitchens, dry and site offices on a remote property, usually on their own set so a process trip does not put the camp in the dark.

Lighting and heat

Light towers for night shifts in the pit and flameless heaters for winter maintenance — each on its own engine, off the site generator.

Running a camp on the property? See remote camp power for the kitchen, water and dorm loads, a spare set on line, and fuel storage.

Prime power

A power plant that grows with the mine plan.

A mine's load rarely stands still. Several paralleled sets suit it better than one large machine: capacity arrives in blocks as the operation expands, and no single unit is ever the whole site.

Add capacity as the pit deepens

Parallel-capable sets join the ones already running, so a larger pump or a new circuit is a delivery rather than a redesign of the power plant.

Service one unit, not the mine

With one more set than the load needs, any unit can come offline for maintenance while the rest carry the site. The same arrangement is what keeps dewatering running through a fault.

Keep lightly loaded sets healthy

NPI Series packages carry a breaker reserved for a load bank, so a set running well below its rating can be worked properly without taking the site off power.

Two paralleled NPI generator packages cabled into distribution equipment
Across the life of a mine

From the first drill camp to the last shutdown.

01

Exploration

Drill programs and small camps a long way from anything. Compact sets that move with the rigs, fuel storage to stretch deliveries, and light for shift changes.

02

Development

Site works, the first infrastructure and the construction of the plant. Temporary power sized phase by phase, with distribution to reach a site that keeps changing shape.

03

Production

Prime power where the grid does not reach, or bridge power while a utility connection is built. Paralleled capacity with redundancy for the loads that cannot stop.

04

Shutdowns and outages

Planned maintenance on the mine's own power system, or cover when it fails. Rental sets carry the critical loads while the permanent equipment is worked on.

Fuel is the other half of a remote site's power plan: natural gas and propane sets where there is gas, and diesel generators with bulk fuel storage where there is not.

On rent now

Mining generator rentals, largest first.

The largest generators on rent today, read live from inventory. For a mine site, the bigger units and anything that parallels are usually where the conversation starts.

13 smaller sets are also on rent: see every natural gas and propane generator and every diesel generator in the rental fleet.

Around the generators: power distribution, load banks and standby with automatic transfer. For work across the province, see generator rentals across Alberta.

Mining power questions

What mine operators ask first.

What size generator does a mine site need?

It is built up from the loads rather than picked from a range: the dewatering pumps, ventilation fans, the largest motor in processing and how it starts, the shops and the camp. Send the equipment list with motor sizes and starting methods, and the package — often several paralleled sets rather than one large one — is sized against it.

Can generators power a mine for years, not just weeks?

Yes. Prime-rated sets run as the site's power plant where there is no grid, for as long as the operation needs. Over a long term the questions become fuel supply, service intervals and whether to rent or own; rent-to-own is available on parts of the fleet, so a long rental can end in ownership.

How do you keep dewatering and ventilation running?

By not leaving them on a single machine. Critical loads are usually carried by paralleled sets with one more unit than the load needs, or by a dedicated standby set behind a transfer switch. Whether that arrangement meets the mine's own requirements for those systems is for the mine's engineer to confirm — send what they specify.

Should a mine run on diesel or natural gas?

Where a gas line or reliable gas supply reaches the property, natural gas or propane sets remove fuel hauling from a long, expensive supply chain. Where it does not, diesel with bulk fuel storage is the usual answer. Many sites use both: gas for the steady base load and diesel for mobile or temporary work.

Do you meet contractor prequalification for mine sites?

NexSource Power holds COR and ISNetworld registration, which most mine operators ask for before a supplier comes on site. If the property uses another prequalification system, say which when you enquire.

What happens if a set faults on a remote mine site?

Field service answers 24/7, every day of the year, and units are dispatched from our Red Deer yard. On a remote property the better protection is designing for it: a redundant unit on the critical loads means a fault is a service call, not a stoppage.

Send the load list and the mine plan.

The equipment that has to run, which of it cannot stop, the fuel on or near the property and how the load is expected to grow. The quote comes back in writing with the sets, the redundancy and the distribution laid out.