OPINACA MINE - PILE HEADS CONCEPTION FOR CONVEYORS

Description

Building  of  deep  foundations  for  the  installation  of  conveyors at  the  Opinaca  gold  extraction  mine  at James  Bay.  Due  to  the  mine  location,  transportation  costs  of  concrete  for  conventional  foundations  is quite  high for this  project.  Thus,  instead  of  using a  conventional approach for foundation  design, a cost effective solution was developed. B.E.S. suggested the use of  drilled piles anchored into the rock. B.E.S. designed the steel pile head. One of the particularities of this project is the design of the pile heads details allowing for appropriate adjustment and sufficient precision for the conveyor installation tolerances.