Case Studies

SW Soil-Bentonite Slurry Wall Installation Fort McMurray, AB, Canada

Project Summary

As a part of the new South Tailing Pond at the Suncor mine, a slurry cutoff wall was constructed to help isolate the mine from a nearby wetlands and Athabasca river. Groundwater from the mine was otherwise collected in wells and reused at the mine. It was estimated that the cutoff wall would not only protect the sensitive artic environment, but save Suncor tens of millions of dollars in wells and pumping costs over the lifetime of the mine.

Geo-Solutions teamed with the owner, engineer, and a local mining contractor to build the cutoff wall. The wall was a Soil-Bentonite (SB) slurry cutoff wall.

For the construction effort, Geo-Solutions provided technical assistance services including specialty equipment and bentonite materials. Specialty equipment included a long stick and long boom (capable of digging maximum 25m deep) for a 120 ton excavator (Hitachi 1200), bentonite slurry mixing plant, and a clamshell bucket. Geo-Solutions also was responsible for contractor quality control of the work.

This project was one of the first large SB slurry walls ever constructed through the muskeg (a type of peat) that is common in northern Canada. The work platform was actually constructed in the winter to permit access over the muskeg. In the spring, the construction team started the slurry wall, with only limited warm weather available in the schedule.

The slurry wall was constructed with a mixture of site soils, borrow clay and bentonite in order to provide a permeability of less than 1 x 10-7 cm/sec. Geo-Solutions and the project team were challenged by the difficulties of the remote location, availability of supplies and the muskeg, but finished the project in 2008.

Slurry Wall Dimensions: : SB wall: 20,000 sm, 910mm wide, maximum depth of 36 m.

Geo-Solutions Can Help

To download, read, and learn more about the various slurry wall sample specs and technical papers we offer online here at Geo-Solutions.com, click on the links below or to your left:

• Slurry Wall Sample Specs– Geo-Solutions provides slurry wall sample specs which can be modified for real world use on your project. Download sample specification for Slurry Wall Construction.

• Slurry Wall Technical Papers – Browse our library of Slurry Wall Technical Papers.

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