Mine cooling water tank rapid repair
IND was contracted to repair a mine site’s badly corroded and leaking cooling water steel tank during an extremely tight shutdown period.
We were contracted to inspect and repair critical through wall defects on a cooling water tank that supplies water to the site’s largest grinding mill. The tank was noticeably leaking into the ground below but being an essential part of the mine’s grinding mill operation, the tank had not being taken offline for internal inspection for many years. During a tight three shift shutdown (36 hours), IND was able to enter the tank, identify severe corrosion areas, abrasive blast target areas and bond 5mm steel plates to the through wall defects using Belzona 1111.
This solution was proposed due to its extremely quick speed of application and curing, as under the climatic conditions of the Australian desert, the Belzona 1111 was cured and ready for immersion only one hour after application.
Inspection
Whilst repairing the floor, IND technicians were also able to inspect, rebuild and recoat the entry manhole’s inside inner lip which was significantly corroded causing it to lose it’s original structural strength and shape.
Surface Preparation
Following an abrasive blasting process to remove corrosion and restore the surface to a clean, bare steel state, IND efficiently and effectively reconstructed the manhole using Belzona 1111 metal filler, eliminating the need for time consuming welding procedures.
Plate Bonding & manway reconstruction
Each large defect was patched to return the steel tank floor’s structural integrity. IND pre-manufactured 5mm thick plates of mild steel.
Epoxy Topcoat
The newly restored surface, now possessing renewed structural integrity, was meticulously sanded smooth and sealed with a two coat application of Interzone 954. This multistep approach ensured the prevention of future leaks and corrosion.
Less than six hours after completing the second coat of Interzone 954, the tank was resealed and refilling commenced. The tank was back to full operational use in less than 36 hours from our first access.
