CLIMAX MOLYBDENUM COMPANY
HENDERSON MINE AND MILL
Wheeler performed the preliminary and final design of the water handling and tailing facilities at the mill site. This also included contract administration during construction, and construction observation and inspection. In recent years, Wheeler has performed a variety of services for the mine and mill operations, including the following:
The Henderson Mine and Mill is a molybdenum mining operation located in Clear Creek and Grand counties of Colorado. The mine and mill is owned and operated by the Climax Molybdenum Company and it has been in continuous operation since initial start-up in 1976. W. W. Wheeler and Associates, Inc. has been providing civil and water resource engineering services for Henderson since the feasibility level design phase in the 1960s. Facilities designed by Wheeler include three water supply/flood protection reservoirs, tailing delivery and disposal facilities, water diversion and flood bypass structures, many miles of pipelines, pump stations, seepwater collection and return facilities, and more. Working within the framework of Colorado water law, Wheeler has also played a major role in securing a reliable legal water supply for the mining and milling operations. This work has included the acquisition of new water rights, the purchase of existing water rights, water exchange agreements, and water rights transfers.
- Consulting services relating to water rights and water supply planning and management.
- Evaluation and design of tailing basin facilities including crest raise design, tailing delivery facilities, tailing slurry hydraulics, tailing deposition management and planning, as well as water management on the tailing pond.
- Flood and snowmelt hydrology analysis for water bypass and storage facilities.
- Analysis and design of mill water and seepwater return system facilities including pump station and pipeline hydraulic operation.
- Preparation and review of stormwater management plans and design of stormwater facilities.