When it comes to a mining facility, storage is a key factor in maintaining production. Large cylindrical silos are one of the most common type of infrastructure for storage–stowing bulk material.

A western US mining facility had multiple signs of widespread deterioration on a pack of 11 concrete silos. To prevent any safety hazards, the silos were not being used to store materials to their full capacity. This greatly impacted the production levels of the silos and the facility overall.

STRUCTURAL TECHNOLOGIES worked with their licensed contractor, STRUCTURAL, to implement a turnkey Investigate-Design-Build (IDB) repair approach. Starting with the design, STRUCTURAL TECHNOLOGIES engineered a solution with special attention to constructability concerns like phasing, shoring, coordinating with Owner operations, and safety strategies. The final design allowed a phased repair approach to keep adjacent silos to those being repaired in operation, eliminating major loss of production and revenue.

STRUCTURAL completed both full-depth and partial-depth wall and roof repairs. This was followed by installing STRUCTURAL TECHNOLOGIES’ ElectroTechCP^TM Impressed Current Cathodic Protection (ICCP) System. This allowed the Owner to avoid full replacement of the silos and ensured the prevention of corrosion in the future. Four silos have been fully repaired with plans to phase out the repairs of the remaining silos.