Skip to main content

Canadian air

Compressors from Atlas Copco are proving highly useful in highly diverse applications, on a bridge project and a quarry in Canada. Water ingress over 30 years has damaged a road bridge in Quebec City, Canada, deteriorating the concrete and breaking down the rubber expansion joints at both ends of the 150m long structure. City highway authority, Transportes Quebec, awarded local contracting company Inter-Structures the contract to replace the deteriorated concrete and fit new membrane seals. The bridge, clos
February 8, 2012 Read time: 3 mins
Compressors from 161 Atlas Copco are proving highly useful in highly diverse applications, on a bridge project and a quarry in Canada. Water ingress over 30 years has damaged a road bridge in Quebec City, Canada, deteriorating the concrete and breaking down the rubber expansion joints at both ends of the 150m long structure. City highway authority, Transportes Quebec, awarded local contracting company Inter-Structures the contract to replace the deteriorated concrete and fit new membrane seals. The bridge, close to the St Lawrence river and Quebec City, links highway 440 West and the Boulevard de Chutes to provide access to a residential area and the renown Montmorency park and waterfall.

To ensure access to the damaged seals across the full width of the bridge, the contractor has removed more than 300mm x 200mm x 200mm on each of the nine beams at both ends of the bridge and the 200mm thick concrete slab; relying on two Atlas Copco XAS185 air compressors, including a recently delivered unit on rental from Equipment LAV.

On the Inter-Structures project, both XAS 185 portable air compressors are supplying a free air delivery of 89litres/s at 7bars to each provide compressed air for three breakers.

Meanwhile a newly formed Canadian quarry drill and blast contractor, Forexplo, has taken delivery of a second Atlas Copco XRVS 1000 CD6 air compressor.

Formed at the beginning of the year, 2455 Forexplo has established itself as a drill and blast specialist in Canada's Quebec Province. A key factor in meeting the production targets, is the on-demand high pressure air provided by the two Atlas Copco compressors for two large drill rigs. The firm now has drill and blast contracts with Beauval for the quarries in Valleyfield, Ange Gardien, some 55km south of Montreal and Herbertville on Lac St Jean. The XRVS 1000, rated at 25bars, is powered by a 178 Caterpillar C13 diesel and is said to be highly economical on fuel.

The Ange Gardien quarry was acquired by Beauval in in 1981 and has reserves for at least another 25 years, featuring micritic limestone and a black argillaceous slate. The site has three bench levels along the lkm long quarry andis Forexplo are drilling and blasting 8-12m deep bench heights. Depending on Beauval's requirements, Forexplo is typically drilling 56 holes for a blast to provide some 20,000tonnes. Using Atlas Copco standard or Speedbit 140mm bits, Forexplo is drilling up to 30m/h.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Rockmore International adds ROK 250, DTH hammer to its range
    January 6, 2017
    Rockmore International is adding the ROK 250, a new 2inch class down-the-hole (DTH) hammer to its range at ConExpo-Con/Agg. The new addition to the broad range of Rockmore's high performance DTH hammer line is a breakthrough for DTH drilling technology, claims the company. “The ROK 250 model is considered to be the first 2inch class DTH hammer ever developed to operate under high air pressure levels up to 350psi (24bar) and beyond. With a 2.6inch (66mm) wear sleeve diameter, the ROK 250 is designed to dr
  • Mexico: underwater tunnel in Latin America
    May 8, 2015
    Mexico will benefit from an important new underwater tunnel - Mauro Nogarin writes. The city of Coatzacoalcos is located at the mouth of the river of the same name, in the Gulf of Mexico, 302km from the city of Salina Cruz, Oaxaca, in the east end of trans-isthmian corridor and at the southern end of Veracruz State. The city is seeing a key development as currently construction is 85% completed on the first immersed tube, underwater tunnel in Latin America. The reasons why experts chose this type of tunne
  • Tunnels and bridges, improving Argentina's major road link
    May 2, 2012
    A road improvement plus tunnel and bridge building contract in an area once inhabited by dinosaurs in northern Argentina, is a small but key part of an ambitious project to complete a road that will eventually link the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of Latin America - Adriana Potts reports. Remote, rough and spectacular are words that come to mind when describing the mountains of Ischigualasto in Argentina's northern province of San Juan This is the only place in the world where an undisturbed sequence of rock
  • Tunnels and bridges, improving Argentina's major road link
    April 24, 2012
    A road improvement plus tunnel and bridge building contract in an area once inhabited by dinosaurs in northern Argentina, is a small but key part of an ambitious project to complete a road that will eventually link the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of Latin America - Adriana Potts reports. Remote, rough and spectacular are words that come to mind when describing the mountains of Ischigualasto in Argentina's northern province of San Juan This is the only place in the world where an undisturbed sequence of rock