After over a decade in service, Eagle Mine started experiencing drastic water management issues, with unreliable water pressures  hindering operations, disrupting productivity and increasing risk. Eagle Mine partnered with Victaulic to evaluate, design, install and commission custom Pressure Reducing Valve (PRV) stations that permanently solved the problem and saved the mine owner 6,000 gallons of water daily.

Eagle Mine is an underground nickel and copper mine in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Owned by Lundin Mining, the mine’s surface facilities span roughly 130 acres. Over its lifetime, Eagle Mine is expected to produce 440 million pounds of nickel, 429 million pounds of nickel, 429 million pounds of copper and trace amounts of other minerals.

Eagle Mine’s legacy system design used multiple direct acting pressure reducing valves (DPRVs) in sequence at different mine levels. While sequential DPRV designs are common in decline mines, they can create a negative domino effect where adjusting one valve sends shock waves through an entire network. At low demand times, pressure spiked, while peak demand periods starved critical mining equipment of steady water flow. The process water system also did not use pressure gauges or flow meters to help Eagle Mine’s team determine pressure levels and flow rates, leaving crews without means to understand operating conditions at critical equipment.

Victaulic’s team discovered that Eagle Mine’s water management system was working against itself during a comprehensive engineering analysis, leading Victaulic to recommend a full system redesign with strategically positioned PRV stations that would work in harmony with each other. Victaulic designed a PRV station with fixed ratio valve technology to provide consistent pressure as needed at every mine level. Before approving a final design, Victaulic created multiple 3D model renderings for Eagle Mine to select the ideal configuration for its upgraded system. As Eagle Mine’s engineering team revised requirements, Victaulic adapted each station design in real time.

Eagle Mine approved 16 custom-fabricated PRV stations, each engineered with redundancy to ensure uninterrupted service. The Victaulic-designed PRV stations allow maintenance teams to isolate and service individual components without shutting down water flow to critical areas. The new Victaulic PRV station functioned without a need for precise inlet and outlet pressures, completely eliminating the valve-hunting behavior that had plagued operations previously. Half of the PRV stations incorporated galvanized pipe construction to combat the corrosive underground environment, ensuring its reliability for the remainder of the mine’s operational life.

Once the design was finalized, Victaulic managed the procurement, fabrication and site coordination for the 16 PRV stations, ensuring on-time delivery by shipping the stations in skids so they could be installed immediately. As Eagle Mine entered installation and commissioning stages, Victaulic supported quality control measures, both on site, and by organizing training sessions for Eagle Mine’s installation and maintenance crews to build their confidence working with the advanced PRV systems. The hands-on sessions covered startup procedures, shutdown protocols and troubleshooting techniques.

The Victaulic solution delivered an immediate, measurable impact when the PRV stations went live in 2024. The stabilized pressure system eliminated water waste and allowed maintenance crews to optimize pump operations, saving Eagle Mine 6,000 gallons of water daily. Perhaps more importantly, the system hasn’t required any substantial adjustments since going online, a track record that matters deeply in an environment where equipment failures can mean substantial costs from shut down operations.