A large copper mine, located in Arizona, is poised to be the second largest underground copper mine in the world, second only to the Rio Tinto Escondido mine in Chile.
Sprung was called upon to supply a large copper mine with various Sprung tensioned membrane structures as a solution for housing the equipment for the winch and hoist mining system traditionally held within a steel building. The 40’ wide x 48’ long Sprung structure, which was initially used as an on-site warehouse for long lead items, was crane-lifted in place as the winch house. A separate 80’ wide x 158’ long structure was erected to cover the hoist house and the electrical building on the property.
Sprung was selected as the building of choice due in part to Sprung’s unique crane-liftable features, an engineered relocatable design, speed of delivery, and immediate construction. The flexibility of the Sprung structure design made Sprung the right choice for this mine, which has a capacity to sink 10 shafts some 7,000 feet and leapfrog the structures from shaft to shaft.
