Geotube®

Industrial Applications - Coal Mine - USA

This coal mine undertook the dredging and dewatering of it's slurry pond utilizing an 8" swinging ladder dredge and Geotube® dewatering containers.
In order to maximize utilization of the three bag fields, a stacked pyramid of four layers of Geotube® containers was designed. A manifold system along with a polymer tank and pumps, was implemented to manage the flowrate of 400m³/hr to multiple containers at once. The dredge was initially operated on a 24hr basis with two 12hr shifts per day.

A crew of five to six men managed the containers and operated the dredge. The first layer of containers was filled from one side to the other allowing the next level of containers to be placed on top.
This process continued until the desired level of four layers was reached. A second bag field was constructed prior to the completion of the first. This provided two workable layout areas for continuous operation, eliminating downtime for the dredge and providing time for the containers to drain. A total of three bag fields were constructed during this project.
Eventually the bags were covered with earth then topsoil. All of the bag fields were very stable and no problems were encountered during the covering operation. Once reclamation was complete the entire field was mulched and seeded.