Everything freezes in the Arctic. Oil pipelines are heated to keep the oil flowing.

Wild guessing won't really answer the questions you have in mind. My suggestion is as follows

1 - Find out what size of pipe and thickness you have in mind and ask the cost from a Supplier. Double that for fabrication and transpost, and double or treble that again for labour and weather condtions.

2 - Get some idea of what size pumps you may need, and how many pumping stations - talk to Georgian Iron Works (GIW) or other slurry pump manufacturers. Ask if they have done any Actic Surry Pumping, and if they think it is practical. If not you are the pioneer mate.

3 - Do some research on oil pipelines - how long was the run, what size of line, and the capital cost of the project. This information can be found in Engineering Magazines, and on the Internet. That will give you an Order of Cost. Divide by the length quoted, and you will have a fair guess of what you may have to face.

4 - Then sketch a map of where in Canada or Alaska is your minesite, and which port you want to get to. Then talk to a fiendly Construction Contractor and ask him to give you a feasibility assessment and conceptual cost.

By then you will be in a much better position to know what questions to ask to take the matter further. ■

The Canadian oil sands use hydrotransport in the Ft. McMurray region of Albert. This is near the artic circle where the ambient temp. gets down to -55C. The pipes are all heat traced. This is not as cold as the upper artic. Both Syncrude Canada Ltd., Suncor, and others use this technology.

Syncrude produces about 500,000 barrels a day of oil. The oil sand has about 10% oil in the sand. Thus, the pipeline must transport about 5 million barrels per day.

Google "hydrotransport oil sands".

Talk to University of Alberta. They conduct research for many oil sands projects. ■

Greetings

Perhaps we can be of assistance. I am with Weir Pumps Canada(Warman, Geho). Located in wintry Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Canada, we know Cold!! 5 minutes from us is Canada's authority on Hydro Transport. SRC. They worked extensively with Syncrude Canada and others to prove out the use Hydro Transport. They offer a knowledgable staff and modern Hydro Transport lab facility where your application can be tested.

Please feel free to contact us at

(306)-955-1797(ask for Terry or Al)

Email algoodmundson@yahoo.com ■

Could I kindly ask those of you with iron ore experience what the probable state (solid, slurry, mixed) of iron of slurry (salt water) may be that is in a closed tank in 60 meters of water, and after 25 years in the tank - warm water conditions? The iron ore slurry was used as heavy ballast instead of water. We need to decomission the tank and do not know if such material would normally oxidize and form a solid material that cannot be pumped out. The bolume is over 500 tons.

Thank you in advance for any input or references that may help us make a preliminary determination of the probable state of the iron ore slurry today.

Mark ■

Originally Posted by gpeter

Two questions:

1) For slurry pipelines (iron ore) in the range of 200-400km what would be a typical capital cost per km. I'm looking for a very rough estimate.

2) Can long distance slurry pipelines operate in arctic conditions? or do they freeze.

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An estimate for this is not really possible simply due to the unknown terrain and required work for the pipeline as far as bedding it and concrete for mounting pipe fittings and elbows as well as welding costs, pumping stations power lines, surge arrestors to stop shock waves of pumping water any possible non toxic anti-freeze if used, pollution control equipment treatment plants for slurry water, floatation thickeners to collect the iron ore slurry and separate the polluting elements like hydraulic oil and diesel fuel, sludge and greases, transportation of pipe and equipment living quarters and facilities for pipeline building crews, staffing for pipeline repair and maintenance and breakdowns where a PCP system does not require any of the above after installation.

Is this the Mary River project you are talking about?

Several problems:

you will need high carbon content thick wall pipe above .283 thickness.

You will need pipeline pig launching and recieving stations in many places to clean the pipe of silt build ups which will require extensive shut down times.

If it is not buried it will most likely freeze especially if it is shut down with low water as well unless it is insulated.

The pipeline will have huge amounts of siltation and may have a lot of plugging. I am waiting to see how badly the iron ore pipeline works in Australia that is yet to be built as it will suffer from the same problems except freezing.

You will need many pumping stations to keep everything moving continually to avoid a freeze plug and the weight of the iron ore and water slurry is the enemy as well as gravity.

The problem of expansion of the liquid and breaking the piping is a nasty proposition

as well if their is no way to continually have video of every section and or pressure sensors whichh can fail or provide incorrect readings-meaning ok pressure with a pipe that is broken and leaking.

I did an extensive estimate for a twin tube Pneumatic Capsule Pipeline for the Mary River iron ore site and a estimate for twin tube system for a potential iron mine site in Equatorial Guinea eliminating the need for a triple track railway system which proved mathematically and physically how economical the PCP is versus rail as one employee would be the required staffing for a two pipe PCP system per shift for the mary river project and the iron ore mine being investigated in Equatorial Guinea and eliminating the need for a hopper car fleet and operating around the clock at a very low operating cost per ton.

A PCP system in use siince 1983 transporting 2 million tons of limestone ore has a BTU/ton mile rate of 1 and highway trucks have a BTU/ton mile rating of one hundred.

Success,

lzaharis ■