MINING PUMPS
Industrial impellers
Whether dewatering open pits and underground sumps, transporting slurries and tailings, or in various points in the mineral processing circuit, pumps continue to play a crucial role in mining. Paul Moore looks at some product and tech developments
Weir NEXT digital twin technology for WARMAN slurry pumps helps users collect comprehensive metrics to improve and optimise pump performance accurately and in real-time
Just as in other parts of the mining industry, digitalisation is playing an ever more important role in the monitoring and maintenance of critical mining pumps. For decades, Weir has been supplying the market leading WARMAN centrifugal slurry pumps, it says always striving to design and develop solutions to enhance performance and safety on-site.
Today, it has gathered that in-field expertise, along with a wealth of experience, and delivered NEXT – a new intelligent solution for mining equipment. Weir states:“ NEXT is designed to meet your needs as you take your next digital step to optimise your slurry pump’ s capabilities. Gain complete visibility and insight into your centrifugal slurry pump’ s health and performance and realise its full potential for maximum efficiency with NEXT.”
Weir has developed NEXT digital twin technology for WARMAN slurry pumps“ to help you collect all the metrics you need to improve and optimise your pump’ s performance accurately and in real-time – in a way that is safe and accessible 24 / 7 – regardless of your mining location.”
Users can monitor real-time core metrics of their pump’ s key components, with valuable monitoring and diagnostic data transmitted to a user-friendly dashboard.“ With NEXT monitoring solutions, you can receive useful data with a complete fault tracking system around critical areas such as flow rate, density, speed and energy consumption – some of the key measurements you need to ensure your pump performs at its best.”
The list of potential measurements is comprehensive. It includes pump drive and wet-end bearing vibration analysis,
38 with alerts that help prevent unplanned downtime. NEXT offers pump bearing temperature alerts, detecting potential causes of overheating; and pump speed alerts, preventing damage of the pump’ s critical components. Pump gland seal water flow and pressure alerts help to prevent leakage and failures. Finally, users can monitor pump operating hours, including against target hours for efficient maintenance scheduling.
Weir told IM:“ With advanced wear detection technology, NEXT Intelligent Solutions help you improve your slurry pump’ s uptime and extend its lifecycle with NEXT advanced wear detection and predictive monitoring capabilities. Our solution empowers you with actionable insights to support the changes you make in your centrifugal slurry pump’ s operations, helping you save time and money in unnecessary maintenance operations that normally require shutting down your equipment.”
NEXT provides diagnosis of pump wear and other abnormalities as well as predictive monitoring of the remaining useful pump life, even with prompts to make relevant changes to operations to make the best use of the pump. It offers wear assessment and monitoring detection of critical components such as the throatbush and liners; and ensures pump efficiency and reliability, by maximising its function and minimising unplanned downtime – vastly improving maintenance scheduling. It also reduces the need for manual inspections, contributing to improved safety of the people on-site; and helps with the timely scheduling of maintenance.
Importantly, Weir says NEXT digital technology for slurry pumps is inspired and modelled based on the specific features and functionalities of WARMAN centrifugal slurry pumps.“ NEXT technology has been developed with a deep understanding of today’ s common challenges – even the unplanned and unexpected ones. The technical knowledge and expertise we have grown with WARMAN pumps is at the heart of NEXT’ s cutting-edge technology, coming directly from the frontline of mining.”
KSB-GIW continues digital investment for the future
Last November, another global mining pump leader, KSB-GIW Inc, took an important digital offering step when it held a groundbreaking ceremony for a state-ofthe-art IoT and automation lab in Grovetown, Georgia, USA to drive innovation in mining technology.
“ KSB GIW’ s investment in the new lab is an investment in our customers,” said Wolfgang Demmler, head of KSB Mining.“ We are committed to helping customers achieve their objectives, with a key priority being the digitisation of their entire mining process. This lab will be an incubator for technologies that make this objective a reality.”
The lab’ s initial focus will be on enhancing KSB GIW’ s flagship IoT-enabled offerings, GIW SLYsight and GIW RAMSL. GIW SLYsight, a pump wear monitoring solution, uses proprietary sensors to measure real-time wear rates in slurry pump parts. GIW RAMSL is a mechanical system that automates pump adjustments, allowing engineers and maintenance teams to optimise pump performance.
With the new lab, KSB GIW plans to integrate these two technologies, creating a combined solution that provides mining operators with accurate recommendations for pump maintenance while reducing downtime and increasing efficiency.
The IoT and Automation Lab will also offer dedicated space and resources to explore new technologies that improve operational decision-making.
“ This lab represents a significant step forward in providing innovative IoT solutions to the mining industry,” noted Robert Visintainer, KSB GIW Vice President of Engineering.“ With a dedicated space for R & D around IoT and automation, KSB GIW can significantly accelerate its development of these technologies. The goal is to give our customers the ability to maximise uptime and reduce costs.”
KSB GIW says the investment in the IoT and Automation Lab underscores its commitment to remaining at the forefront of mining technology and delivering industryleading solutions in slurry transport.
International Mining | JUNE 2025