Ledcor CMI performs roadbuilding, site development, mine construction, mining, utility and foundation projects.

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Numerous construction companies are flocking to the Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada region to take advantage of the projects extruding oil from the Alberta oil sands. But few have the breadth of resources and experience at their disposal like Ledcor CMI Ltd.

Ledcor CMI is the civil, mining and infrastructure division of the Ledcor Group of Cos. Ledcor CMI handles the parent company’s roadbuilding, site development, mine construction, mining, utility and foundation projects.

Quentin Huillery, vice president of oil and gas client operations, explains notwithstanding other Ledcor divisions, Ledcor CMI’s oil and gas division has been in the Fort McMurray region for about three years, but Ledcor CMI had targeted work in the region for many years before breaking ground there.

The company’s first major client in the region was Petro-Canada and the Fort Hills Energy Corp. In 2005, Ledcor CMI’s mining and earthworks contract included site development, construction of haul roads, an ore stockpile pad, fine tailings impoundments, coarse tailings disposal area and the ultimate removal of all necessary mine pit overburden. This was followed by a steady state ore supply to the demonstration processing plant. 

“We started up their pit to feed oil sands to their pilot plant,” Huillery says. “Once we were established, it allowed the opportunity to build the base of resources to expand from and offer our services to other clients.”

Ledcor CMI operates a fleet of 200 to 4000 series excavators and trucks from 25- to 150-ton capacities. Ledcor CMI is also experienced in operating and maintaining large mining fleets that include hydraulic and electric shovels with up to 44-yard buckets and 100- to 240-ton haul trucks.

Ledcor CMI is the general partner of Ledcor Foundations LP, which operates in western Canada providing specialty foundation construction services in support of the heavy industrial, transportation and commercial sectors.  The services of the foundation group include drilled shafts, continuous flight auger piles, secant piles, driven piles and earth retention structures.  

The group uses a fleet of late model Soilmec drills for drilled shaft construction with diameters ranging from 400 to 3,050 millimeters to depths up to 77 meters.
 

Additionally, Ledcor Foundations maintains an extensive fleet of diesel and hydraulic hammers mounted with fixed leads to cranes ranging in size from 70- to 150-ton capacity, which provides the capability to drive piles up to 900 millimeters in diameter.

Old Techniques, New Region
Although it is a new market for his company, Huillery says the type of construction required for the Alberta oil sands is standard heavy civil and infrastructure work. The difference between Ledcor CMI and the competition, however, is the manpower, services and equipment available throughout the Ledcor Group.

“We have a number of competitors in the area offering similar services but the benefit with Ledcor is one-stop shopping,” Huillery says. “We can offer the full spectrum of construction services by integrating the services of our other divisions.

“Since everyone is struggling with human resources, it is easier for owners to give one company a footprint and let them take care of everything in that footprint,” Huillery adds. “We bring the capability to help with heavy civil and infrastructure construction, but we also do foundations work.”

In addition, Ledcor CMI regularly calls on its other divisions’ capabilities in pipeline and industrial construction, industrial maintenance and highway construction. The company has also worked through public and private partnerships where it will also finance the work, but it is not something it has used in the Fort McMurray area to date.

Oil Sands Experience
Ledcor CMI has built up its resume since that first pit project for Petro-Canada. In 2006, the company started the Albian Sands Expansion I project for Shell Canada Energy.

This project, which is still in progress, originally included muskeg removal, site drainage and primary grading at Jackpine Mine in Fort McMurray. The company says the initial success achieved in this initial scope of work led to several other opportunities, including construction of haul and access roads, crusher slot excavation, storage tank bases, staging areas, deep underground utilities, aggregate processing and detailed site grading.

Ledcor CMI also provided bored and driven pile foundations to several installations on site. “Throughout this project, Ledcor CMI has been able to meet the expanding requirements of the client,” the company says.

The company also worked for Husky Energy on the Husky Sunrise project in Fort McMurray from August 2007 through March 2008. The scope of work included muskeg removal, drainage ditching and the construction of a rerouted portion of the Canterra Road. In addition, Ledcor CMI will be constructing a bridge at the Husky Sunrise site early this summer.

About Ledcor
The Ledcor Group of Cos. consists of more than 1,500 office staff and 3,000 field employees who provide general construction and construction management services to clients throughout the United States and Canada. Ledcor’s four core components are industrial and fabrication, building construction, pipeline and civil, mining and infrastructure.

Ledcor was founded as an earthmoving contractor in 1947 to provide services in the Edmonton area. One of the company’s first projects was to prepare the access road and well-site location for Imperial Oil’s discovery at Ledcu, according to Ledcor.

“Ledcor grew from an earthmoving contractor to a civil contractor building highways, dams and carrying out rock blasting and excavation, utility construction and, in the early 1970s, into pipeline construction,” the company adds.

In the 1980s, the company began expanding geographically, as well as into other construction operations. Ledcor expanded throughout the western United States and Canada by opening offices in Seattle; Reno, Nev.; Vancouver, British Columbia; Toronto and Calgary, Alberta. The company also created seven new divisions: civil, utilities, mining, telecommunications, pipeline, industrial and building construction.

The ’90s saw Ledcor grow into the general contractor, construction manager and design build delivery methods. The company says today it is one of the largest open shop contractors in the western United States and the fourth largest contractor and largest open shop contractor in Canada.

Safety First
Ledcor says nothing is more important to the company than workplace safety. Ledcor has initiatives such as its Think Safety, Work Safely programs, training, vigilance and awareness that makes up its safety first culture, it says.

“We continually measure our success but ultimately, the best measure is that each and every employee returns home at the end of the day, safely,” Ledcor adds.

Each year, Ledcor recognizes individuals, divisions and offices that show exemplary safety practices, it says. The project supervisors are commended on their safety performance at the annual Safety Awards Ceremony.

Ledcor also gives out the William F. Lede Safety Award, named after the company’s founderl