Now, that's a big tank
Towering Achievement for Gorf Contracting

After months of work, the employees of Gorf Contracting Ltd. watched as the largest project they ever worked on rolled down the highway to its new home yesterday. Just how big was it? Big enough that the portion of highway between Gorf and Xstrata Copper’s Kidd Met Site had to be closed down and wires literally had to be lifted out of the way.

Since May, 25 Gorf employees and management have been working on fabricating the 50-foot-tall absorbing tower for the met site’s acid plant. Currently the tower has a diameter of more than 17 feet and weighs 68,000 pounds. Once brick is used to line the inside of the tower, it will reach a weight of 280,000 pounds.

“These tanks have a life span of 25-30 years,” said employee Larry Scott. “So we’re replacing the original one that was put up in the late 1980s.”

The lower section of the tower was built with mild steel, while the upper half is made of a stainless steel. Because the tower acts as a sort of filter for the acid plant, the layer of brick inside is needed to maintain the structure. Built under intensive third-party control measures, the tower was built horizontally on powered rollers by the employees of Gorf. Once it arrived on site, it was placed in a vertical position.

While building it was a big deal in itself, moving it was an entirely different story.

Going beyond the need for a police escort, Gorf had to close down the portion of the highway between the new businesses since the transport carrying the tower took up most of the roadway. But it didn’t even end there. Due the to tank’s height, hydro, cable and phone companies were also called in so wires could be lifted allowing the truck to travel underneath. Even when approaching the Dome Mine overpass, the truck only had about five inches to spare.

“This is the biggest unit the company has ever fabricated and shipped all in one piece,” said Scott.

He said the company has worked on other large-scale projects, but never to the height and diameter of this one.

“We had to contract Anderson Haulage from southern Ontario because they had a special trailer that was specially designed for this kind of height and width.”

But when all was said and done, the new absorbing tower arrived safely at its new home, where it will remain for at least the next quarter century.

Source: The Daily Press (Timmins)