Bulk-Store Structures Inc.

Manufacturers of Prefabricated Bulk Material Storage and Conveying Systems

Industrial Uses

Although Bulk-Store Structures’ domes originally were designed to store highway sand and salt for winter road maintenance, it was soon discovered that any granular product which formed a pile was ideally suited to our dome and barrel building construction.

The low cost, speed of construction, adaptability of design for both storage and material handling requirements, the huge clear spans within both our regular domes and barrel buildings as well as the additional benefit of a non-corrosive structure have combined together to allow us to produce some of the most efficient, cost effective industrial handling facilities in North America.

Over the years we have designed, engineered, and/or constructed hundreds of facilities for industrial use. Any product which forms a pile can be covered with a Dome! Listed below are a few examples of industrial facilities Bulk-Store has contributed to:

	Westcane Sugar		Noranda Mining
	Oshawa Harbour		Sifto Canada Inc.
	Nutrite		Elevation Drawing

	WESTCANE SUGAR in Oshawa Ontario has a 150’ x 400’ barrel building which it uses for the storage of refined sugar. Constructed 1980.
(interior view)
The OSHAWA HARBOUR COMMISSION requested the erection of four (4) - 136’ diameter domes at the Port of Oshawa, Ontario. The facility was used for the storage of powdered cement and had a specialized conveying system to suit its requirements. The construction was completed in 1987.
	SIFTO CANADA INC. in Goderich Ontario needed a building to hold 34,000 tonnes of Rock Salt. Bulk-Store Structures erected a 150’ x 226’ barrel building on a 14’-0 wall. The construction was completed in September 1994. The dome is fed by a tripper conveyor utilizing the free span interior of the barrel building and requiring no additional supports. The product is reclaimed via underground tunnels.
On behalf of HYDRO AGRI CANADA of the Norsk Hydro Group of Companies (formerly NUTRITE INC.) Bulk-Store constructed two arrays. Array 1 consisted of nine (9) - 142' Diameter Domes and one (1) - 33' metre Diameter Dome on 8'-0 foundation walls. Array 2 consisted of seven (7) - 124' Diameter Domes on 12'-0 foundation walls. Site location is the Chemport Terminal, Contrecoeur, Quebec, Canada. These two arrays were constructed 1988 - 1994. New construction is ongoing.
Bulk-Store Structures Inc. completed a new Concentrate Handling System for NORANDA MINING AND EXPLORATION of Belledune New Brunswick in 1996. The construction consisted of an array of seven (7) Bulk-Store Structures domes. The domes are fed by a radial stacker and emptied via a reclaim system. Since the array was completed, Noranda Mining and Exploration ordered and had completed a further two Bulk-Store domes separate from the array to be utilized in the storage of Lead and Zinc concentrate.

The following article is duplicated with permission - NORANDA Mining and Exploration Inc.
New Brunswick Divisions Magazine May 1997

Concentrates never see the light of day

The new $17 million concentrate handling facility at Belledune is an environmentally ideal system where zinc, lead and bulk is never exposed to the open air.
To really appreciate the planning and engineering work that went into the new concentrate handling facility in Belledune, you should fly over it.
From a bird's eye view, as in the picture at right, you can see how simple the plant would be to operate, and, thereby, marvel at the engineering handiwork that makes it so.
The 15-acre site of storage domes, covered conveyor systems, and loading/unloading facilities is an environmentally ideal material handling facility. In fact, lead, zinc and bulk concentrates arriving at Belledune "never see the light of day", as Glenn LeBlanc, the project manager says. Once the covered rail cars arrive, they're unloaded indoors. From the unloading building, concentrates are distributed by covered conveyors to enclosed domes until being shipped overseas, or to the smelter in covered trucks.
...by rail, truck or the shipyard
Rail cars drop their loads through the bottom discharging hopper cars, or are unloaded by backhoe in the unloading building. Trucks coming from Heath Steele also dump into the hopper. The concentrates are conveyed to the drive and take-up building which transfers the material to a stacker conveyor. This stacker conveyor rides on a set of wheels over a circular track, which enables the conveyor to discharge into any of seven domes through openings in the roof of each building.
What they call a reclaim conveyor system will load ships with zinc or bulk concentrates. The covered conveyor which delivers concentrates to ships at the dock, passes under the domes, and is fed by hoppers built into the floor of the zinc and bulk domes.
To unload ships, the reclaim conveyor is put in reverse. This conveyor also extends past the zinc and bulk dome to the railcar unloading building. From here, concentrate from incoming ships can be dispersed via the stacker conveyor to any of the domes, as though it had arrived by rail or truck.
Brunswick's engineering team included Glenn LeBlanc, Floyd Shaw, John Murphy, Stephen Bass and Clem Hartery. The $17 million project took 18 months to complete, and construction was contracted almost entirely to local firms, as were the purchase of supplies to build it.
The concentrate handling facility is believed to be one of the most modern and environmentally efficient in the world. It allows us to unload as deliveries arrive, store concentrates until needed, and disperse the material at 2,000 tonnes per hour with little, if any, interference by weather conditions.

 Duplicated with permission - NORANDA Mining and Exploration Inc.
New Brunswick Divisions Magazine May 1997

As industrial products vary greatly, we have not included a capacity chart for your use but hope instead that you will fill out the quotation form and allow our engineering department to give you information which is specific to your situation and product. If you would prefer to talk to an engineer feel free to call us at (519) 833-9681 Monday through Friday 8:30a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time.

For more general design and costing information on Bulk-Store Structures domes and barrel buildings, return to the Home Page.