IAMGOLD – Cote Mine Electrical Commissioning

Project Summary

Our team provided comprehensive commissioning services for the high-voltage (14.4 kV and 13.8 kV), medium-voltage (4.16 kV), and low-voltage (600 V and 347 V) equipment. The scope of work included:

• Visual inspections of disconnect switches, transformers, switchgear, MCCs, grounding equipment, and bus systems to confirm compliance with installation standards, grounding practices, and mechanical integrity.
• Transformer diagnostic testing including insulation resistance, winding resistance, power factor, sweep frequency response (SFRA), exciting current, and transformer turns ratio (TTR)
• Neutral Grounding Resistor (NGR) testing including resistance measurements, insulation resistance testing, relay setup (SE-330 and DSP), and full functional verification of ground fault detection systems.
• Protection and control system verification, including secondary injection testing of all relays, validation of logic schemes, trip/close functionality, alarm signaling, and ABB RIO600 remote I/O module functional testing.
• Switchgear and breaker testing including insulation resistance, contact resistance, high-potential tests, mechanical/electrical functional checks, vacuum bottle integrity, contact timing, and verification of interlocks.
• Primary injection testing to validate CT/VT circuits and verify correct metering and protective device behavior at the final control devices.
• Instrument transformer testing (CTs and PTs), including polarity checks, insulation resistance, winding resistance, ratio verification, saturation, and excitation current testing.
• Control wiring and communications testing, including point-to-point verification, auxiliary power checks, secondary injection from terminal blocks, and proper integration of digital metering and arc-flash detection systems.
• Transformer oil sampling and analysis to assess dielectric strength (D877), dissolved gas analysis (DGA – ASTM D3612), and water content (ASTM D1533) before and after energization.