Tag Archives: Qdos 30

Grinding Solutions leveraging Watson-Marlow pumps for Cornish Lithium testing

Comminution of minerals, Energy minerals, Mining equipment, Mining services, , , , , ,

Watson-Marlow Fluid Technology Group (WMFTG) says Grinding Solutions, a metallurgical laboratory and consultancy service, is using a 500 series peristaltic pump from WMFTG as part of a new pilot plant for Cornish Lithium’s project in the southwest of England.

The pump features six pump heads to dose reagents into all six streams of the flotation process simultaneously.

As part of the same pilot plant, the company is also using a Qdos metering pump from WMFTG to dose flocculant into settling tanks.

Grinding Solutions has taken advantage of pumps from WMFTG for many years as part of bench testing operations, but the move to pilot scale operations is a first-time venture for this progressive company, WMFTG said.

After successful bench testing, Grinding Solutions is now undertaking pilot plant testing for Cornish Lithium, helping the company to develop a process to extract lithium from micas.

Pilot-scale operations enable Grinding Solution to confirm bench test results, build confidence and generate concentrate which Cornish Lithium can use for further testing, according to the pump maker. The pilot plant will also help its client to verify processes, understand costs and minimise risks.

“We’ve been working with Cornish Lithium for a couple of years now,” Jon Rumbles, Project Metallurgist at Grinding Solutions, said. “Steadily, we’ve progressed from bench-based mineral processing and testing, to a pilot plant. Rather than processing tens of kilograms, we’re now processing hundreds of kilograms.”

Grinding Solutions crushes, mills and separates the mineral into different size fractions, processing it to generate a lithium concentrate. Vital to the success of the pilot plant is the accurate dosing/pumping of materials.

Through the pilot plant’s flotation stage, there is a need to dose reagent (collector and thickener) at a constant addition rate. Here, the company takes advantage of a Watson-Marlow 530SN peristaltic pump with six 313 pump heads.

“The use of six pump heads means we can use a single pump to dose all six streams through the rougher and scavenger as part of the flotation process, which is very efficient,” Rumbles said.

In addition, the company is leveraging the benefits of a Qdos 30 metering pump from WMFTG for dosing flocculant into settling tanks at a rate of 10-15 ml/min. The flocculant allows for better settling, permitting quicker extraction of the water ready for recirculation back through the system, according to WMFTG.

“We’ve been using Watson-Marlow pumps for years, for both dosing and slurry transfer,” Rumbles said. “They are really easy to calibrate, while their wide ranging flow rate capabilities are invaluable. We have a number of 500 series pumps on site for reagent dosing, plus the Qdos 30. A couple of the 500 series pumps are fitted with larger pump heads for slurry transfer, while some of our 600 pump series models are linked to density meters. In fact, to facilitate automatic adjustment, we’re now looking at using the 4-20 mA input for even more control from live meters.”

As well as dosing viscous reagents, Grinding Solutions uses its Watson-Marlow pumps to dose sulphuric acid, which helps the system maintain a pH of 2-3.

“By using peristaltic pumps from Watson-Marlow, we’ve not had to think about issues like strong acidity and high viscosity,” Rumbles said. “As the pump heads are self-contained, we can change a reagent – and a pump head – without having to worry about damage to pump parts or cross contamination. In addition, we get accurate dosing and continuous flow from Watson-Marlow pumps, with no reliability issues whatsoever.”

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.