Ames crews in southeast Arizona are building a solution handling system to support the operation of a new leach pad for a mining operation. The project includes earthwork for pipe beds, underground and overland piping, and concrete structures.
Crews began the 15-month project in March 2024 by building four corridors. To meet the schedule, work on the corridors occurred simultaneously. This required preplanning and exceptional communication between the Ames survey and civil team and the liner subcontractor. When corridor construction was far enough along, the project team began installing more than 100,000 linear feet of HDPE and stainless-steel pipe, fittings, and values.
As corridor and pipe installation proceeded, crews began work on the concrete structures for a future pump station. This stage included 6-barrel and 3-barrel cast-in-place box culverts. The original plans had the project owner providing the box culverts to Ames for installation, but through value engineering, Ames proposed cast-in-place concrete, saving the client money.
“The drawings for this project might look straightforward: build some corridors, install piping, concrete structures, and very small electrical work,” says Project Manager Mike McGilton. “But this project has had its share of challenges, starting with estimating. The estimating team, led by Chief Estimator Scott Effing, had six days to bid the project, with 900 bid items.”
When the client needed to accelerate the schedule so that the concrete structures would be complete by the end of 2024, Ames added a third concrete crew. “With the proper planning and procurement of rebar and steel embeds and hard work from our civil and concrete crews, Ames was able to complete concrete structures on December 20,” Mike says.
Mike notes that Ames crews have worked more than 135,000 hours on the project with no lost time or recordable incidents.
“Ames is only as good as its people, and to make this project as successful as it is, Ames had a great group of field workers performing the day-in and day-out hard work that will make this project a success,” Mike says.