The Pit Boat

Butte America, the home of CHD is also home to one of the largest copper mines in the world. In the early 1980’s mining ceased in the Berkeley Pit and pumps were deactivated leaving a mining pit filling with water. 40 years of water have filled the pit. Now part of the largest EPA superfund site the water within the pit needs bi-annual sampling and profiling at the deepest point.

The Berkeley Pit Boat was developed to remotely sample and profile the pit up to 200m in depth. Custom electronics were developed to manage the reels and sampler as well as long range communication to relay the information back to the operator. Since 2017 the boat has completed over 6 successful deployments.

Berkeley Pit Boat Returning from a successful sampling excursion

This project was funded by Montana Resources Inc. and ARCO to satisfy the bi-annual sampling requirements for the Berkeley Pit.

This is not a unique problem and other pits in the world are in need of this kind of sampling without direct human contact. If you have need of this kind of application please contact us.