Red Dog Mine Tailings Dam Raise Stage VII, IX, and X Slurry Wall

With an important dam raise hinging on the timely completion of this project, our team safely completed each phase of this slurry wall project in only five weeks, on time and under budget.

Located only 90 miles north of the Arctic Circle in Northern Alaska, the Red Dog Mine is one of the largest lead and zinc mines in the world. Its remote location and climate presented challenges not seen in typical slurry wall projects executed in the lower 48 states, including the need to access the site by barge or plane.  Our custom long reach excavation equipment and slurry batch plant were transported via barge out of Seattle to the Port of Red Dog, an approximate three-week journey, then transported over 50 miles by truck to the mine facility.  All personnel were mobilized by charter flights out of Anchorage to the private airfield located at the mine and were housed in onsite man camp facilities.

Because of the area’s limited construction season and schedule for construction of the tailings dam raise, each phase of the slurry wall had to be completed in a strict five-week time frame.  Despite challenges surrounding the schedule and difficult site access, our team successfully completed each project on time and under budget, preventing delays to the overall main tailings dam raise.

The embankment and wing wall of the Red Dog main tailings dam was raised 10 feet from its current elevation. The slurry wall was installed as part of the raise, with each phase extending approximately 700 linear feet from the south end of the existing slurry wall, also previously installed by our team, to provide seepage control.

Over the combined three phases of the project, we constructed over 60,000 square feet of slurry wall, excavating through permafrost and weathered shale, as well as protecting and excavating around existing utilities at the site.