In October of 2018, Roe Painting, Inc. was fortunate enough to be selected to complete a concrete coating project for the Jerritt Canyon Gold Mine just outside of Elko, Nevada. Our satellite office and crew of painters in Elko, Nevada allows us to service the mining industry in Northern Nevada and all along the I-80 corridor from Reno, Nevada to Wells, Nevada. Our willingness to travel to remote locations and having MSHA certified employees has been a big part of our growth with this type of work. We were awarded the project by Linkan Engineering, the General Contractor who was contracted to build a new water treatment & refining area. Linkan Engineering specializes in providing water solutions to industry and communities and has offices in Elko, Nevada and Golden, Colorado. They also work globally for the mining and mineral industry, which is being challenged to manage their water resources with an eye on sustainability.
Our part in this large-scale project was to provide a concrete coating, flooring epoxy to their exterior Tank Farm that can contain a solution that was up to 98% sulfuric acid. For those of you who don’t know what a Tank Farm is, it’s basically a cement enclosure where large tanks of various chemical are stored, and it is designed in such a way that if a tank leaks, the chemicals can be contained and kept from getting into the surrounding environment. They can be inside a structure or completely exposed outside, like this one was.
The most important aspect of this type of painting or coating is choosing the proper coating materials to do the job for the chemicals you are trying to contain and the environment they are in. The proper coatings in this case came from Gulf Coast Paint Mfg., Inc. and was supplied by Miller Paint. All the materials were “two-component”, industrial coatings that require proper mixing and application for them do what they are designed to do. The first coat was a moisture wicking primer designed to drive any residual moisture in the concrete away from the surface so that it won’t interfere with the additional coats. Then, a high build epoxy mastic was applied to build mil thickness and provide durability. Finally, a coat of Novalac epoxy was applied. This is the coat that is specifically engineered to hold up to sulfuric acid.
We were happy to have this opportunity and we finished the project on-time and within budget. Not always an easy thing to do, considering the specialized application of the coatings and the potential for things to go sideways when working with these types of products.
