Pan American Silver

The Client

Pan American Silver Corporation is a Canadian mining company with extensive operations in Latin America. The company owns mines and other projects in Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina. It is one of the world’s biggest miners of silver, in addition to gold, zinc, lead and copper. Pan American Silver was founded in April 1994 and was listed on Nasdaq in 1995. The company currently operates six mines, including Morococha.

Risks & Consequences

Fire incidents in Mining Operations are linked to combustible or flammable liquids, electrical hazards and combustible dust. Fire inside a Machinery Workshop can easily spread throughout the mine, endangering the lives of miners and other personnel, as well as cause severe damage to assets and operations. Harsh conditions and remoteness of the mining operations make these events extremely hazardous for any mining corporation. These fires, although rare occurrences, if and when they do take place, they can have catastrophic results.

The Task

Design, install and commission a dependable automatic fire suppression system for three Machinery Workshops inside the Morococha mine - one of the largest silver reserves in the world located 4500 meters above sea level. The Workshops utilize expensive, critical equipment. To safeguard them and the people working half a kilometer below the earth’s surface, the issue of a fire risk needs to be addressed. This requires a compact, modular and effective solution capable of suppressing fires, while significantly reducing the risk of collateral damage.

Why FirePro?

FirePro solutions are dependable, effective and can protect from multiple classes of fire. Their modularity and compactness make them easily transportable through tight spaces which is an important and decisive issue for the mining industry. Furthermore, the 15-year product lifespan, the certified ambient operating temperature (of as low as -54⁰C) and other traits differentiate FirePro from other technologies. Additionally, FirePro will not contaminate the site upon activation. Overall, the exceptional quality and the significant attributes including ecofriendly-ness, have established FirePro as a game-changing player in the fight against fire in mining industry operations.

Results of Implementation

The fire protection engineers selected the FirePro solution since it combined all the operational and technical parameters required for this mission critical project. DEAL engineers designed and installed the system according to NFPA and local authorities’ requirements. The fire protection specialists carried out the installation, employing all the necessary safety precautions. DEAL currently protects with the ever ready to activate bespoke FirePro automatic fire suppression systems, the Machinery Workshops of this extremely important national asset.