MINING PUMPS
pump. When the valve closes, the seal against
the lip-ring on the low suction bottom prevents
the water from flushing out and emptying the
hose.
The Milli pump excels in applications where
reliability and easy handling are essential. It is
built to handle contaminated water, pH 5-8, and
water containing relatively abrasive solids up to a
size of 5 mm.
MHWirth pumps for hydraulic ore
hoisting
Wirth™ slurry pumps by MHWirth are used for
various heavy duty applications in the mining
industry, such as mine dewatering, autoclave and
digester feeding, and transport of tailings and
concentrates. A highlight in MHWirth’s pump
applications is the world’s first hydraulic ore
hoisting operation at both the
McArthur River and Cigar Lake
mines in Saskatchewan,
Canada. The Canadian
company Cameco
is using four
Wirth™ TPM
piston
diaphragm
pumps for the
hydraulic ore hoisting
application at its uranium operations. Uranium
ore is crushed underground, mixed with water
and pumped to the surface as slurry where it is
subjected to further processing.
Elsewhere, in South Australia, DPM piston
diaphragm pumps by MHWirth have proven their
efficiency as an energy and water-saving solution
for large-scale tailings transport. With a
particularly high capacity of more than 700
m³/hr, MHWirth’s DPM is one of the largest
pumps in the field.
Pulsation free backfill pumping
The mining industry has recognised the
advantages of high density backfill or ‘paste’,
which is typically pumped with a hydraulically
driven piston pump. However, due to the
discontinuous flow of this type of pump, pressure
pulsations can occur in the discharge line. Erik
Vlot, Product Manager Slurry Transportation at
Weir Minerals Netherlands BV comments:
“Pressure pulsations are an undesired
phenomenon in pumping installations for a
number of reasons that include damage to the
pumping system, piping and supports; disturbing
noise levels; and even safety risks for operators
and maintenance personnel.”
Weir Minerals has an advanced solution
referred to as the VZ Pulsation Free system on its
GEHO ® piston pumps, which it says will prevent
virtually any pressure pulsations from occurring,
rather than merely reducing the already existing
pulsations. “Ideally the best way of dealing with
the phenomenon of pressure pulsations is to
prevent them from being generated in the first
place. This can be achieved by creating a
constant discharge fl