Tag Archives: mining pumps

Atlas Copco releases latest WEDA D electric submersible dewatering pump

Mining equipment, Mining services, Water management, , , , ,

Atlas Copco Power and Flow has launched a next-generation electric submersible dewatering pump, the WEDA D95, incorporating what it says is state-of-the-art Wear Deflector Technology (WDT).

The robust and reliable pump delivers best-in-class performance over a longer lifetime than comparable pumps in heavily-abrasive environments such as mining, tunnelling and construction, and enables operators to improve their sustainability and productivity, according to the company.

WEDA D95 has a power rating of 37-43 kW and is the latest pump in the WEDA D drainage range to feature the WDT designed to minimise wear and provide consistent performance over a longer operating life. Features such as a high chrome wear resistant impeller combined with solid-redirecting auxiliary vanes contribute towards its exceptional performance, Atlas Copco says. The pump also features re-adjustable hydraulics, which allow it to be simply realigned to compensate for any wear, thus prolonging its life. All these elements have a significant positive impact on the overall operational productivity, meaning users can achieve a lower total cost of ownership.

Bart Duijvelaar, Product Marketing Manager – Submersible pumps at Atlas Copco Power and Flow, said: “There are often many suspended solids in harsh applications which can cause excessive abrasion and wear to the internal workings of the pump. At Atlas Copco, we are driven by innovation, and so we have taken the fundamental design of the drainage pump back to the drawing board. We have optimised the hydraulic design using Computational Fluid Dynamics and applied 21st century manufacturing techniques combined with decades of experience to produce this new long-lasting and reliable pump.”

The pump has also been built with maintenance and serviceability front of mind. The design allows users to carry out inspection and maintenance on site themselves and reduce downtime and associated costs. For example, the mechanical seal is a unique stainless-steel single cartridge, rather than many separate components, and so it is easy to replace in one piece, according to the company.

The WEDA D95 also features external oil inspection screws. Operators can access the screws to check the quality of the oil and the health status of the seal without having to dismantle the whole pump. This makes preventive maintenance easy so users can detect problems before they lead to failure, according to the company. Overall, with the ease of service, it is possible to readjust the pump to the original performance without changing many parts, aiding sustainability.

Additionally, the pumps in the D range are available with various accessories including different types of discharge connections, pump rafts and zinc anodes to provide extra corrosion resistance.

Weir Minerals offers up slurry pumping advice with updated Warman handbook

Environmental, Mining equipment, Mining services, Water management, , , , , ,

Weir Minerals, manufacturer of the Warman® slurry pump, has released the latest edition of its Warman Slurry Pumping Handbook, with the sixth edition, the company says, featuring detailed engineering data required for most slurry pumping applications.

Drawing on decades of Weir Minerals’ in-house expertise in engineering and slurry pumping technology, the new handbook has updated reference material based on new learnings, improved understanding and technological developments within the mining industry, Weir Minerals says. The handbook aims to empower engineers to achieve optimal performance from their Warman slurry pumps.

An increased global focus on the environment, energy consumption and water conservation will influence slurry pump design and considerations – making this latest handbook an essential tool for all current and future pump engineers, the company added.

Marcus Lane, Director, Slurry Pumping Technology Group, said: “Pumping slurry has many challenges and I’m excited to publish our latest handbook, packed with fundamental theory, application advice, standard practices and latest Warman learnings from the field; all aimed to help our customers, present and future, deliver with excellence.”

Weir Minerals says it is looking to shape the next generation of smart, efficient and sustainable solutions with cutting-edge science and innovation. The handbook includes over 140 pages of detailed information, including performance charts, impeller design, part configuration, assembly and slurry considerations – supported by accurate technical renders and specifications.

John McNulty, Vice President Global Engineering & Technology, said: “The high quality of the reference material in this essential resource reflects the leading status of the Warman slurry pumps. As the industry leader, we have a responsibility to develop our future engineers; we will make the latest version of the Warman Slurry Pumping Handbook available not only to our customers, but also to the leading schools worldwide, so they can learn from the best in the industry.”

As part of Weir Minerals’ commitment to investing in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education and developing the next generation of engineers, copies of this resource will be gifted to the leading mining and engineering educational facilities around the world, including the winner of the 2022 Warman Design & Build competition, Deakin University in Australia.

Thompson Pump looks for central US growth with Kirby-Smith Machinery partnership

Equipment maintenance, Mining equipment, Mining services, Water management, , , ,

Thompson Pump and Manufacturing Company says it has expanded its distribution in the central United States thanks to a new partnership with Kirby-Smith Machinery, Inc.

With this new partnership, Kirby-Smith, a distributor of heavy construction equipment in the central USA, will be selling, servicing and renting Thompson Pump’s products throughout Oklahoma and north and west Texas within markets like governmental sales, oil & gas, construction, mining and industrial, Thompson Pump said.

The company said: “In this region, terrain and geography can be tricky. Thompson Pump’s more than 50 years of experience in manufacturing pumps and operating its own rental branch locations has helped it to build heavy-duty, portable pumps that hold up to the rigours of the area.”

Combined with Kirby-Smith’s service in the territory for more than 40 years, Thompson Pump’s National Sales Manager, Pat Broderick, says this partnership is a natural fit.

“We are very excited about this partnership as it brings Thompson Pump’s products and name recognition to a region with plenty of competitors,” Broderick said. “Kirby-Smith is one of the premier equipment dealers in the central US and the continuity of products and services it provides to this market is key to our growth in the area.”

Kirby-Smith’s General Manager, Industrial Equipment, Sam Schneider, said: “Partnering with a company like Thompson Pump, which is known throughout the industries for its reliability, support and value, allows us to expand our reach and connect with customers in an entirely new way.”

Kirby-Smith Machinery is a full-service dealer serving the construction, mining and industrial markets since 1983. Headquartered in Oklahoma City, the company has branch locations in cities such as Tulsa, McAlester, Kansas City, St. Louis, Dallas, Fort Worth, Abilene, Amarillo, Odessa, Lubbock and Waco.

Babylon expands mine water management activities with RWG acquisition

Environmental, Mining equipment, Mining mergers and acquisitions, Mining services, Water management, , , , , ,

Babylon Pump and Power says it has executed a business asset acquisition agreement to acquire the operational assets of Resource Water Group (RWG) for A$3 million ($2.1 million) in a transaction that it hopes will result in more early-stage project engagement with mining companies.

Established in 2011 and based in Canning Vale, Western Australia, RWG provides bore field test pumping equipment and related data collection services as well as a range of water management disciplines to the mining industry. These services are critical to water users across the resources sector as they develop water management strategies in line with their environmental obligations and operational requirements, it says.

Back in June prior to the announced acquisition, Babylon said it was planning on expanding its mine water management activities.

Under the business acquisition agreement, Babylon will acquire the operational assets (independently valued at over A$2 million), goodwill, contracts and intellectual property of RWG. RWG’s founder, Frank Ashe, has entered a services contract and will become a member of the group’s senior executive. Three other RWG employees will also commence employment with Babylon.

Babylon Managing Director, Michael Shelby, said: “This is an exciting and well-priced acquisition for Babylon which will significantly expand our water management activities. The acquisition broadens our offering to new and existing clients, brings in additional technology and business development capability whilst complementing our existing business.

“RWG’s test pumping services are considered an early-stage project engagement service and have consequently led to relationships with a range of well recognised global and Australian mining companies including BHP, Rio Tinto, FMG, Roy Hill and Newcrest Mining. We expect that these relationships will also facilitate rental opportunities for our specialist pump rental assets, supporting the Company’s renewed strategic focus on multi-disciplined water management equipment and services.”

Babylon will move into new, purpose-built premises around November of this year and RWG will co-locate its assets and operations into the new facility.

RWG’s Ashe said: “This is an exciting time to be joining forces with Babylon as it builds into a diversified water services business. I am looking forward to joining the team and contributing to strategic growth initiatives and capitalising on RWG’s network of relationships.”

Watson-Marlow breaks ground on new US facility

Mineral processing, Mining equipment, Mining services, Water management, , ,

Watson-Marlow has announced the ground breaking of its new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Devens, Massachusetts, in the US.

A celebration ceremony was held on November 18 at the new facility, which will be dedicated to Watson-Marlow’s range of industry leading products, including peristaltic pumps, tubing, fluid path solutions and BioPure components.

The Devens 14,000 sq.m facility will be close to the life sciences hub in the Cambridge/Boston area, with the site incorporating a suite of eight ISO14644-1 Class 7 cleanrooms, warehousing and offices, with space for two further cleanrooms within the initial footprint.

With segregated cleanroom and non-cleanroom production capabilities, Watson-Marlow’s new facility will strengthen the support the company provides to customers in the region across its core sectors of pharmaceutical and biotechnology, medical diagnostics and process industries, the company said.

“The new US facility is an important milestone in the Watson-Marlow company history and marks a significant commitment to serving our customers in the Americas region,” Andrew Mines, Watson-Marlow Managing Director, said. “This exciting development is bringing us closer to our customers whose purpose is to help the world around us, from advancing cell and gene therapies through to ensuring people have access to clean drinking water. Together we will continue to develop market-leading fluid management solutions to engineer a more sustainable future.”

Production at the new facility will replicate that of Watson-Marlow’s European sites, ensuring continued product quality for customers, by using the same raw materials, components, processes and work instructions. Completion of the facility is due in late 2022, with the first products due to be shipped from the site late in the December quarter.

PumpEng brings new patented submersible pump to US mining market

Mineral processing, Mining equipment, Water management, , ,

PumpEng introduced new patented submersible pump technology at the recent MINExpo 2021 event in Las Vegas, with the pump already breaking records at mine sites in Australia, the company says.

The introduction of the all-metal JetGuard to the US mining industry follows a slew of mine site deployments.

Jet Guard has several unique features that protect the internal pump parts from shotcrete fibres in wastewater, according to the company, with test sites reporting fewer breakdowns, lower repair costs and longer service life.

“The JetGuard pump is breaking records at Australian mine sites with maintenance managers reporting improvement over lost time between failures up 400%,” the company said. “For underground production crews, longer pump life frees up maintenance staff for other work and improves safety by reducing maintenance events.”

The most important element is the reduction in production delay caused by pump failures, according to the company.

JetGuard is available for the US market in 480 V, 15 horsepower (11.2 kW) with 30 hp coming soon, PumpEng said.

ALROSA looks to ABEL HM pumps for filter press feeding

Diamond mining, Mine operation news, Mining equipment, Mining services, Water management, , , , , , , , ,

Piston diaphragm pumps from ABEL are helping Russia’s ALROSA with its filtration process at one of its diamond mines in the country.

In Spring 2021, ABEL received an order for the delivery of six of these piston diaphragm pumps, HM pumps, following an initial HM pump order in 2020. This inaugural pump was delivered to ALROSA in February 2020 as replacement for a centrifugal pump previously used for filter press feeding. At the beginning of August, the ABEL pump was commissioned at the diamond producer’s plant. The dewatering result (higher solids content, shorter filtration time) was so convincing that ALROSA decided to feed all filter presses in this plant with the pumps, ABEL said.

The latest delivery is being facilitated by ABEL’s official distributor in Russia, SibComplectService.

ABEL’s HM pumps are available as single- or double-acting versions. They come with a high flow rate, reliable function and particularly low operating and maintenance costs, the company says.

In addition to filter press feeding, the hydraulic diaphragm pumps are also used for sludge transport, spray dryer feeding, rotary kiln feeding, autoclave feeding, and sealing/rinsing water supply, among other applications.

Watson-Marlow Fluid Technology Group releases Bredel heavy-duty hose pumps

Comminution of minerals, Environmental, Mineral processing, Mining equipment, Mining services, Water management, , ,

Watson-Marlow Fluid Technology Group (WMFTG) has released a new peristaltic design of Bredel hose pumps that, the company says, can handle viscous slurries, grit-filled sludge corrosive acids and other challenging materials.

These qualities of the Bredel heavy-duty hose pumps make them ideal for the most demanding mining applications, according to the company.

“Unlike diaphragm, rotary lobe, and PC pumps, the peristaltic design of Bredel hose pumps contains no moving parts that come into contact with the product, and no seals, ball-checks, diaphragms, glands, immersed rotors, stators or pistons to leak, clog, corrode or replace,” it said. “Bredel hose pumps also obviate the need for ancillary equipment such as dry run protection, seal water flush systems and in-line check valves. A simple hose change takes only minutes and can be performed in-situ without special tools or skilled personnel.”

The low maintenance peristaltic design offers a low total cost of ownership, WMFTG claims. As the fluid is safely contained within the hose or tube, operation and maintenance personnel and the environment are protected from unwanted spillages or exposure to chemicals.

Bredel hose pumps are dry-running and self-priming, and allow no slippage, for true positive displacement to provide accurate and repeatable metering, the company says. Only Bredel industrial hose pumps provide this level of engineering expertise for their drives, according to WMFTG.

The pumped fluid is completely contained in a long-life hose, protecting operation and maintenance personnel and the environment from unwanted spillages or exposure to chemicals. Flow is entirely independent of suction and discharge conditions.

Every Bredel hose is precision machined to ensure flow stability and pump performance in tough fluid handling applications, the company added.

These industrial pumps achieve flow rates up to 475 gallons per minute (1,798 litres/min), transferring up to 80% solids in suspension.

Tronox boosts mineral sands dredging process with help of IPR-supplied SlurrySucker

Comminution of minerals, Industrial minerals, Mineral processing, Mining equipment, Mining safety, Mining services, Water management, , , , , , , , ,

Following a successful one-week trial, heavy minerals company Tronox Mineral Sands has taken delivery of a SlurrySucker dredging unit from Integrated Pump Rental.

The SlurrySucker will remove sand from the process dams near the Tronox mining operation on South Africa’s West Coast. This installation enhances the safety and efficiency of the dredging process, which previously had to be carried out manually by a team of underwater divers, IPR said.

“The pumping capacity of the dredging unit will ensure optimal operation of Tronox’s dams which need to be kept at the required storage volumes at all times,” Ruaan Venter, Rental Development Manager at Integrated Pump Rental, said.

The dredging unit will assist Tronox in regularly cleaning sediment from its process dams, reducing the risk of pump blockage or failure. This solution aims to provide rapid results on a cost-effective basis, while the remote operation raises safety levels, the company added.

To withstand the corrosive effects of salt water, the SlurrySucker has been equipped with a stainless steel casing as well as stainless steel components including wear plates and impellers. The units were manufactured at Integrated Pump Rental’s facility in Jet Park, Johannesburg, South Africa.

The SlurrySucker dredging unit comprises a floating barge with an electric hoist operated from the side of the dam. This ensures a high level of safety with the barge being operated remotely, including the lifting and lowering of the pump. At Tronox, the SlurrySucker is designed to pump 150 cu.m/h of sediment – with a solids content of 50% – back to the thickener in the plant.

“The electrically-driven unit also makes sure that there is no risk of contaminating the water in the dams with diesel or oil leakage,” Venter says. The compact unit is easy to transport between the dams requiring dredging, making for optimal usage of the equipment.

With its local manufacturing capability and technical support offering, Integrated Pump Rental says it is well equipped to maintain the SlurrySucker out of its Johannesburg facility.

Harte Gold goes with the Watson-Marlow flow at Sugar Zone

Comminution of minerals, Equipment maintenance, Mine operation news, Mineral processing, Mining equipment, Precious metals, Water management, , , , , , , , , , ,

Harte Gold’s wholly-owned Sugar Zone Mine in Ontario, Canada, is now benefiting from the adoption of Qdos and APEX peristaltic pumps from Watson-Marlow Fluid Technology Group (WMFTG).

Having deployed the pumps in two important applications, the Sugar Zone team are now enjoying far better flow rate efficiency, along with significant reductions in both maintenance requirements and downtime, according to WMFTG, with the miner subsequently looking to invest further in the company’s pumping technology.

The Sugar Zone Mine entered commercial production in 2019 and has an anticipated operating life of around 13 years at current output levels. Producing 60,000-65,000 oz/y of gold at a 800 t/d throughput rate, a mine expansion study is currently in progress to support a 1,200 t/d rate.

In the reagents room, Harte Gold operates eight diaphragm pumps on a 24/7 basis. However, issues over insufficient process efficiency, the amount of maintenance time needed to replace diaphragms and the potential for leaks prompted the company to look at alternative solutions.

Harte Gold invited WMFTG to trial its Qdos 30 chemical metering pump. For a period of one month, the mining company compared the Qdos with an existing electric diaphragm pump dosing flotation reagents such as potassium amyl xanthate (PAX).

With a flow rate for PAX of 100-300 ml/min, the Qdos 30 significantly outperformed the diaphragm pump on flow rate efficiency, according to WMFTG. Although the dosage rates were adjusted as required before and during the trial, the Qdos outputs were noticeably more consistent in comparison with the existing pump, bringing potential for process optimisation.

ReNu peristaltic pump head technology is at the core of the Qdos pump and is key to its success at Harte Gold, WMFTG says. ReNu ensures accurate and repeatable chemical dosing and, thanks to its contained design with integral leak detection, reduces wastage and eliminates any potential for operator exposure to chemicals.

In addition, Harte Gold personnel confirmed both operations and maintenance were trouble-free during the trial runs. Indeed, there were favourable reports of the colour TFT display, which shows both flow and speed, while the maintenance team was in full support of the single, no tools ReNu pump head replacement.

Such was the success of the trial that Harte Gold is now looking to gradually phase-out all eight of its existing diaphragm pumps in the reagents room over the coming few months. Although control of the first Qdos 30 on site is manual, the company will adopt 4-20 mA I/O moving forward, according to WMFTG. Harte Gold is also planning to replace diaphragm pumps with Qdos models on the water treatment side of its business.

In another area of its operations, Harte Gold has replaced an existing peristaltic pump (not Watson-Marlow) with an APEX 35 in a 24/7 application. Here, the pump transfers thickened gravity concentrate from a gold decanting tank to a shaker table. However, the company found itself replacing hoses every week in its existing peristaltic pump.

The company already had an APEX 35 in operation so thought the same model would provide a good solution for the thickened gravity concentrate. Instead of the one week hose life previously achieved, the APEX 35 with NR hose lasted for 12 weeks, reducing both maintenance and downtime in this critical application. Now, only four hoses are required per year, rather than 52, equating to a 1,200%-plus gain in maintenance intervals, the company said.