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Underground Mine Dewatering

Installation Of Pexgol Hanging Pipes In Underground Mine

Case Study Nº

45

Customer

Codelco Chuquicamata
Chile

|

2017

Working Conditions

Extreme temperatures -10° to 40°C

Pexgol Pipes

Pexgol 250 Class 19 (SDR 9)

Application

Mine Dewatering

Lenght

1400 meters

Categories

Installation Of Pexgol Hanging Pipes In Underground Mine

The Challenge

The Chuquicamata mine needed to draw water at the lowest levels of the mine in order to keep it functioning. Commonly HDPE was used for this task, but the client this time required a fast and economical installation; two things that are not possible with this type of material.

Pexgol Solution

When this problem arose, the engineering company NBI (Grupo Astaldi), which was in charge of the project, decided to install Pexgol pipes to carry out the drainage.

The pipeline was connected with mechanical couplings to an existing HDPE pipe, which was then hung at 3 meters high with mining bolt supports.
The same activity carried out by HDPE pipes used sections of 12 meters, with mechanical couplings joints, which have greater potential for faults in the line. Thanks to the flexibility and capacity of the Pexgol pipes to be delivered in long stretches, the installation took considerably less time.

PEXGOL VS HDPE PIPELINE PERFORMANCE SUMMARY BY NBI

Pexgol pipe installation performance (200 meter sections):

UnitsQuantityTime (h)Effective Time (h)
Positioning
(from the floor to the support)
m2001616
Alignment (15° slope)m20055
Connections (between pipes)un277
Jointsun277
Total Hours3535
Total Days1.53

 

Performance of HDPE pipe installation (12 meter sections) with Victaulic joints:

UnitsQuantityTime (h)Effective Time (h)
Positioning
(from the floor to the support)
m1222
Alignment (15° slope)m1222
Connections (between pipes)un266
Jointsun244
Total Hours (12 m)1414
Total Hours (200 m)238238
Total Days(200 m)1020

 

Differential Pexgol vs HDPE pipes by NBI

  • The assembly performance of Pexgol pipe is at least 7 times higher than HDPE in operations inside an underground mine.
  • The pipe can be dragged (2 to 5 km) into the mine without suffering any damage.
  • The flexibility of the Pexgol pipe, allows the assembly in the walls of the tunnel, 3 meters above ground level. It is much easier and faster, because it can adapt to the irregularities of an underground mine.
  • Pexgol possesses greater operational reliability when reducing connections.

Uncoiling Process:

Installation:

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