UMA Supports Settling Quartz Mine Crusher with HDPR Injection
Spruce Pine, North Carolina
A North Carolina Quartz mine was experiencing settlement beneath the rock crushing hopper structure. The hopper equipment is made of steel with a bin, crusher, and steel substructure, and weighs roughly 100 tons. Trucks frequently dump 50 tons of material into the hopper at a time, processing nearly 30 truckloads with roughly 1,500 tons of material per day. UMA’s HDPR Injection process was required to support the foundation of the crusher that had been experiencing ongoing signs of settlement .
In addition to supporting heavy equipment, we found that the slab was roughly three feet thick when drilling to place injection tubing. Materials beneath the slab had characteristics of micaceous rock and debris underlain by a softer layer of material, which made drilling with our typical hammer drill very difficult.
We performed UMA Deep Injections (UDI) and treated the soil to a depth of roughly 12 feet beneath the slab to mitigate future settlement. Ultimately, we drilled all locations with a rock drill and immediately placed injection tubing in the hole to prevent soils from caving in. We injected nearly 17,000 pounds of material across a treatment area of 772 square feet.
Once UMA Deep Injections were completed, we recommended performing post soil tests at the site to evaluate future settlement in the area. This was challenging since the testing equipment could not push through the rock fragments. We had to essentially drill pilot holes until we reached the soil below the fill blast rock. Post soil testing results predicted that future settlement will be less than 0.25 inches for the slab beneath the crusher. UMA Deep Injections proved to be an effective solution to an ongoing settlement issue.
