Fort à la Corne, Saskatchewan
2005
A concrete bulkhead was constructed near the face of one of the Star Diamond mine drifts in order to stop a 500-600 GPM water inflow into the underground mine. ECO assisted its client with the design of the plug and the grouting under flow conditions. During construction, ECO’s staff supervised and directed the implementation of the bulkhead design and subsequent backfill, contact and consolidation grouting activities. Water was channeled through a number of large and small pipes, which was made possible through the use of water reactive polyurethane grout installed via injectable tubes and polyurethane-sandcrete. As part of the bulkhead construction, approximately 60 cubic meters of balanced, water repellent regular cement based grout were injected chasing the water back into the water bearing formation behind and in front of the concrete plug to stop the inflow. A final contact grouting program to permanently seal all inflows into the mine was also implemented with hydrophobic polyurethane to further reduce the hydraulic conductivity around the plug.
Client: Thyssen Mining Contracting Company (Regina, Saskatchewan)