Resolution Copper Shaft No. 10 Cooling System
Features & Highlights
- Fast track design with complicated schedule
- High performance refrigeration system
- Bulk air fans, chillers and condensed cooling towers
- Large diameter Victaulic pipe
Project Overview
As Resolution Copper Mining (RCM) constructed the No. 10 Shaft, they encountered a unique condition over 7,000 feet underground. The air temperature exceeded MSHA safety standards for human occupation. RCM had to move fast to provide a solution to cool the underground mine so that the team could continue the underground construction. To meet the schedule and budget, RCM developed a plan for a fast track design-bid-build project. They needed a proven industrial contractor to take on the risks and complications of the schedule. Sundt was chosen to be the contractor to construct a state-of-the-art high-performance refrigeration system to meet the challenges of a 7,000-foot-deep shaft with rock temperatures reaching 170 degrees.
The project included installing three York refrigeration chillers, three banks of condensed cooling towers, 2,000 linear feet of four-part insulated 28-inch Victaulic pipeline, a full glycol cooling system and tank farm, a 72-inch bulk air cooling fan, a concrete portal shroud, four 750 horsepower in line cooling pumps, a complete upgrade to the electrical distribution system, and a complex instrumentation and controls system to run the plant. The work was completed on an active mining site without interrupting any mine site activities.