Scope of Work
The Turquoise Ridge Mine needed to increase ventilation flow volume for the expansion of the underground mine. The additional ventilation requirement increased the upcast air quantity in the #1 Shaft from 400,000 cfm to 800,000 cfm. Barrick accomplished this with the installation of parallel fans, two (2) operational and one (1) stand-by, side-by-side, surface exhaust fans located at the #1 Shaft collar.
The functionality of this surface exhaust system required the headframe to be enclosed, which would be affixed to the lower portion of the #1 Shaft headframe. GRES (formerly HEA) completed the preliminary structural analysis that determined the head frame structure could be retrofitted with a plenum (siding) for negative pressurization. A Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) study was performed to establish and design for the expected air losses at the turn.
GRES provided detailed engineering to retrofit the existing head frame with a new plenum. The project required the shaft collar to be modified as part of the plenum, a smooth transition from round to square while turning 90 degrees, access to allow the man cage to pass through the plenum, and the relocation of the personnel access via an airlock to allow for shaft access and man cage loading/unloading. In addition, the shaft's emergency egress status needed to be maintained throughout the entire construction process.
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