|
| |
Precision Drilling &
Blasting |
Abitibi
Consolidated |
| Abitibi Consolidated owns and operates a
papermill near Snowflake, Arizona. Built in the early
1960's this papermill processed wood into pulp and manufactured
paper for use nationwide.
The paper mill changed ownership from its original
builders. As the years progressed, more emphasis has been
placed on recycling of paper rather than the manufacture of
new. The United States Government subsidizes recycling to
a large degree in order to preserve our forests and
woodlands. |
 |
|
|
Abitibi Consolidated recently took over ownership of
the Snowflake Plant and part of the terms of the sale was that the plant
would be operated as a 100% recycled paper mill. All of the
equipment inside the plant that processed raw wood products into paper
had to be removed. |
 |
Louisiana Chemical Dismantling was
contracted to remove this portion of the Abitibi Consolidated
Paper mill and has been working inside the operational plant for
several months. Part of the scope of work was to demolish
and remove some large reinforced concrete rotary kiln
foundations. These foundations were located inside the
operational facility and had to be removed without disturbing
any of the surrounding manufacturing processes within the
plant. Some of the operational plant equipment was
so close that the foundations had to be "Demolished in
Place." |
|
|
Louisiana Chemical Dismantling contracted with Dykon Blasting to
assist them with the tricky explosive demolition of these concrete
foundations. Dykon Blasting arrived onsite on October 2, 2000 and
began preparing the foundations for explosive demolition. |
| Blasting is not an everyday occurrence within
an operational manufacturing facility. Coordination of the
demolition and routine plant activities had to be arranged so
that both operations could be unaffected by the activities of
the other. Safety was the top priority. The
foundations would have to be covered for the blasting to protect
nearby lives and property within the plant. Personnel
working inside the plant had to be made aware of the impending
blasts and the work zone around the foundations had to be
barricaded off to prevent access of people into the blast area
while the demolition work was taking place. |
 |
|
|
The drilling of the blast holes into all eight of the concrete
foundations for placement of the explosives took three days to
finish. On the fourth day, the number 5 foundation was
blasted. A foundation within the center of the eight was
chosen to blast first because it was surrounded by the rest and by doing
so, Dykon took advantage of the additional protection provided by the
other foundations which would be demolished later.
|
 |
All eight foundations were loaded,
covered and shot in three days. The entire project took 6
days to complete. No blasting project like this one can be
successful without the cooperation and teamwork of everybody
involved. Louisiana Chemical Dismantling and the Abitibi
Plant personnel worked exhaustively with us towards that end and
we appreciated their efforts greatly. It's an
awesome sight to behold when everybody works together to get the
job done and this project was a perfect example of
that. A world of thanks goes out from Dykon to
Louisiana Chemical Dismantling and Abitibi Consolidated for
their professional cooperation on the successful completion of
the explosive demolition of the reinforced concrete piers inside
the Snowflake Paper mill. |
|
|
|
See our Online
Photo Album of the project |
See video
clips of the blasting |
|
Louisiana Chemical Dismantling Co., Inc.
24 27th Street
Kenner, Louisiana 70062
(504) 464-0770 |
Abitibi Consolidated
Snowflake Division
P.O. Box 128
Snowflake, Arizona 85937
(520) 536-9347 |
|
|
