Water Transport Between Dams

Installation of a Drainage System between Dams in a Copper Mine.

Case Study Nº

77 Customer

CODELCO – El Teniente Mine

Chile

2019

Working Conditions

Extreme temperatures -10° to 40°C / 14° to 104°F

Pexgol Pipes

Pexgol 160 mm (6”), class 15

Application

Dewatering

Lenght

5600 m / 18372.7 ft

The Challenge

Cooperación del Cobre de Chile (CODELCO) required transporting water from the Barahona dam to a specific sector of the Caletones smelter, located south of the dam. The line was due to be installed in less than 10 weeks.

The distance of the route, in addition to other works being carried out on site and the vehicular flow, made it critical that the pipeline needed to be installed in the shortest time possible.

Pexgol Solution

The client made an economic evaluation, considering the installation time of the HDPE versus PE-X pipes from Pexgol. Pexgol was finally chosen.

The delivery format in coil of long lengths, allowed the totality of meters to be delivered in only 10 coils.
Installation was exceptionally fast. The uncoiling allowed up to 6 drums per day to be released, the sections to be located in their final location and subsequently joined with the relevant couplings, within 6 days.

As for the accessories, 9 electrofusion couplings were used.
The final experience was very satisfying.