Commissioning is where mining projects most often lose time and money. Five points owners need to control, from construction verification to ramp-up.
Commissioning is where mining projects most often lose time and money at the very end. Turnover packages are incomplete, punch lists are poorly managed, and the handover from construction to operations is poorly planned.
It is also the stage that decides whether the owner takes possession of a fully functional facility on the agreed date, ready for first production. That outcome is the owner's to protect.
Start at the Beginning of Execution
Commissioning planning does not start in the final weeks of construction. Praetorian sets commissioning requirements at the start of execution and tracks turnover package completion throughout construction, so the handover is planned long before the first system is ready.
That early start shapes five points of control that every owner should hold through the final phase.
1. Construction Verification
Owners need independent assurance that what was built matches the approved design. Construction verification covers inspection plan reviews, hold point witnessing, non-conformance management and as-built verification. It gives the owner objective evidence that construction followed the approved designs, specifications and quality requirements.
2. Mechanical Completion, System by System
Pre-commissioning confirms that each system is mechanically complete: punch lists developed and closed, loops checked, instruments calibrated and equipment aligned. The discipline that matters is working system by system against an approved completion database, so that no system is handed to commissioning until it meets the agreed mechanical completion criteria.
3. Commissioning Under Controlled Conditions
Commissioning introduces process fluids, energizes electrical systems and runs process circuits under controlled conditions. It moves through cold and hot commissioning and performance testing, with vendor representatives on site and issues resolved as they surface. The owner's team coordinates those parties so the path to first production stays protected.
4. Turnover Packages
Turnover is the formal transfer of systems, and finally the complete facility, from the construction and commissioning team to the owner's operations team. A complete turnover package includes as-built drawings, equipment manuals, inspection records, training materials and confirmation that all spares are procured.
Packages that are built up and tracked during construction, rather than assembled at the end, are what allow operations to accept each system with confidence.
5. Ramp-Up to Nameplate Capacity
Handover is not the finish line. Operations still has to take the plant from first production to nameplate capacity. Owner-side support through ramp-up helps the operations team identify and resolve bottlenecks, manage contractor defect rectification and optimize process performance against the design basis.
What This Looks Like on Real Projects
On IAMGOLD's Cote Gold Project, a greenfield gold mine in Ontario, Praetorian provided punch list and turnover supervision and commissioning support across the processing plant and facilities.
At Wesdome's Kiena Mine in Val d'Or, Quebec, Praetorian represented the owner through the design, procurement and construction of a tailings and paste backfill system, coordinating its commissioning deliverables. After completion, Praetorian continued to support further improvements to the paste plant and additional capital projects on site.
On Lydian International's Amulsar Gold Project in Armenia, Praetorian's scope ran from feasibility review through construction management to pre-commissioning and support for operations preparation.
Why the Owner Needs Its Own Team at This Stage
A contractor's project manager is accountable for completing the scope within the contractor's budget and margin. The owner is accountable for a facility that runs, at the right cost, on the right schedule and with the right quality. At handover, those interests are not the same.
An owner's team that has been embedded since early planning knows the project's history, its risks and its commitments, and carries that knowledge into handover. Praetorian structures its teams so that the people who set up the project controls framework during planning are the same people holding contractors accountable through execution.
If your project is approaching commissioning, or is still in planning and you want handover built in from the start, speak with our team about what owner-side commissioning and turnover support would look like for your project. Our services page sets out the full post-construction scope.