Well Drainage at Mining Dam

Installation of a Drainage System between a Well and a Mining Dam.

Case Study Nº

78 Customer

CODELCO – El Teniente Mine

Chile

2019

Working Conditions

Extreme temperatures -5° to 35°C / 25° to 95°F

Pexgol Pipes

Pexgol 250 mm (10”), class 15

Application

Dewatering

Lenght

1620 m / 5314 ft

The Challenge

The administration of the Carén reservoir, in the commune of Alhué (Chile), receives tailings from the El Teniente mine.

The western retaining wall of the reservoir needed to be widened by at least 30 meters. In order to do that a well had to be drained that was formed by leaks from the wall at its base. The extracted water had to be returned to the dam.
Also, the drainage work had to be done in just 20 days.

Pexgol Solution

The customer finally opted for Pexgol, despite the higher cost per meter, because the final cost of the installation, that only took one week, was widely offset against the installation of HDPE pipe that would have taken about a month and a half.

The advantage of Pexgol, in this solution, lies in the supply format in coils of long lengths, which made it possible to streamline its layout in the field, with no more than a dozen couplings, thus reducing assembly time.

In addition to the quick installation, technical assistance from the local team (Crosspipe Systems) was carried out with great agility and efficiency.
A total of 11 electrofusion fittings were installed.