So I went to Mexico for a few days (work-related). The project is for the Minera Penasquito near Mazapil, Zacatecas. We are designing the fire protection systems for a couple warehouses, the mine truck shop, and some rock crusher equipment. I normally design systems for schools, churches, office buildings, etc. - so needless to say going to the mine was a bit of a change for me. Humbling is a good word.
The site was just huge - as was the equipment, buildings, machinery, etc. - Check out this picture of me standing next to one of the mine trucks.
Those be 14' diameter tires there - $500k a piece if you want to purchase one. I think they'll drop the price for set of four to $1.75M - so.
I had to get up to the top of the mine truck shop to verify the dimension between the top of the crane to the bottom of the structural beams. The shop is a cool 70' tall, and I had to have one of those harness things cause I was walking out on the crane's catwalk to get the dimension. I tried hard to act calm, meanwhile my heart was just pounding like crazy. The other guy that I was with at the site took my picture when I was on top of the crane but he hasn't emailed it to me yet - I'll post it once I get it from him - unless you can see the tears - then I'll just claim that the picture got deleted somehow.
One of the other things I had to do was perform a couple flow tests (for determining the available pressure and flow for the fire sprinklers). Here is a shot of me getting a pitot pressure of 38 PSI from the 4.5'' pumper outlet - that ends up being about 3,000 GPM - most water I have ever flowed. Pretty cool - I know, I am a dork... but look - water!
It was a pretty cool trip - and amazing for me to see the scale of these mines. Here is a panoramic I took of the site - it doesn't show all of the site, but it gives you an idea.
-Buzz
