SURPLUS WIRE FROM MINING AND MUNICIPAL OPERATIONS

Mine power, trailing cable and plant work

Mining cable is built for abuse: heavier jacketing, a ground check conductor, and voltage ratings from 2kV up to 8kV and beyond. Trailing cable comes off a machine when the jacket is damaged or an inspection says so, and the removed length is often several hundred feet of round jacketed cable on a steel reel that will not fit in a pickup bed. Measure the drum diameter if the wrap is tight and the footage cannot be read.

Surface operations also use ordinary industrial stock: type G and SHD for portable power, tray cable, THHN in conduit around the plant, and grounding conductor run in every direction. Reels come back to the shop with the tag wired to the flange, and that tag is the first thing to photograph before the reel goes to the back of the shed. A ground check conductor is worth naming separately from the power conductors.

Water, wastewater and city distribution

Municipal work turns over a narrow set of items. Submersible pump cable, control cable for a lift station, URD for a street or service replacement, and THWN-2 inside a treatment building. When a pump is pulled, the drop cable often comes with it and the spare reel stays on the shelf for years, still banded and still carrying its footage tag. Drop cable comes in #10 through 2/0, flat or round, and both get left behind.

Cities also accumulate partial reels from contractor closeouts. A street project finishes with a few hundred feet of URD on a drum, and the contractor leaves it with the city instead of hauling it back. Those reels are usually well documented, because the tag and the purchase record both survive, and the length on the tag is often close to the truth. If the tag is missing, the invoice in the city file will usually carry the footage.

Warehouse overstock and outbound freight

A distribution center holding wire is holding somebody's cancelled order. Pallet racking full of cartons, reels on the floor under a mezzanine, spools of communication cable in a cage. The material is usually intact and the paperwork is usually gone, which leaves the labels on the cartons and the print on the jacket doing all of the work. If the receiving clerk still has the count on file, that saves measuring anything.

That is workable. Count the cartons, read the labels, and photograph a representative reel from the side so the flange diameter and the wrap are visible. From a warehouse, loading is simple: dock, forklift and a carrier that already runs the lane. Give the pallet dimensions and an approximate weight and the freight question mostly answers itself. We arrange the pickup once the access is confirmed.

Which wire and cable shows up

• Mine trailing cable with ground check
• Type G and SHD portable power cable
• Submersible pump cable
• Lift station control cable
• URD for street and service replacement
• THHN and THWN-2 in plant conduit
• Tray cable and TC-ER
• Bare copper grounding

How surplus accumulates in this sector

• An inspection retires a trailing cable run that still has length on it.
• A pump change leaves the old drop cable coiled in the shop.
• A street project closes out with a partial drum of URD that the city keeps.
• A treatment plant upgrade leaves control cable in sealed cartons.
• A warehouse expansion is cut back and the overstock never gets issued.
• A contractor changes direct burial spec and the old reel is orphaned.