M INING

[ i Weir Group digs up multiple mining contracts

Weir reports tha t it has recently ca thodes a year, s t a r t i ng in Zeron 100, the super duplex been a w a r d e d a n u m b e r of p r e s t i g i o u s i n t e r n a t i o n a l min ing deals... • Six group opera t ions based in South America, the US and Eur(~pe worked h a n d - i n - h a n d to ('linch a US$10m deal to supply the Collahuasi mine in Chile, the world's biggest cop- per project present ly unde r con- struction. • Weir Engineer ing Ply, the g roup ' s A u s t r a l i a n company , working with the group's Dutch subsidiary, EnviroTech Pump- systems Netherlands, has also been awarded an A$8m contract to provide equ ipmen t for the Murrin Murrin project in Aus- tralia.

These latest order successes are the largest ever won from the in te rna t iona l min ing indus- try by the group 's combined p u m p m a k i n g opera t ions - Weir Pumps, EnviroTech and Floway.

Weir 's e q u i p m e n t will be used for a wide range of appli- cat ions at Collahuasi, inc luding secondary mill circuit and pro- cess duties, separa t ion of coarse and fine materials, clean l iquid transfer, water feed, reclaiming water at the tai l ings dam, con- c e n t r a t e a n d gene ra l s l u r ry transfer.

The package includes Ash/ Galigher slurry p u m p s and cy- clone clusters, made by Vulco, the group's Chi lean-based com- pany; deep well submers ib le and horizontal process un i t s sup- plied by Weir Pumps; Floway ver t ica l t u r b i n e p u m p s ; and GEtIO pis ton d iaphragm units.

Vulco acted as lead negotia- tor on behalf of group compa- nies. It will rubbe r line pipes for general slurry transfer, unde r a contract awarded by the Van Leeuwenn-INSESA consor t ium (pr ime cont rac tors for pipes, fittings and valves for the ma in customer, Minera Col lahuasi ) and also assist Floway in man- ufactur ing a floating barge for the project.

Collahuasi, located 4500 m above sea level in n o r t h e r n Chile, will p roduce 330 000 tonnes of fine copper concen- t r a t e and 50,000 t o n n e s of

1999. T o t a l i n v e s t m e n t is US$1.7 bill ion shared by Falcon- bridge - Canada (44%) Minorco - South Africa (44%) and Mitsui - J a p a n (12%).

A j o i n t - v e n t u r e c o m p a n y , compris ing Bechtel and Davy I n t e r n a t i o n a l has b e e n ap- po in ted engineer ing, procure- m e n t , c o n s t r u c t i o n a n d m a n a g e m e n t (EPCM) consul- t an t s for the project, and has placed the pumping contracts with Weir.

Ricardo Garib, general man- ager of Vulco, said: "We put together for Minera Collahuasi and Bechtel-Davy a total pack- age t ha t inc luded t r ied and tes ted equ ipmen t at a competi- tive price, with all manufac tur - ing a n d se rv ic ing ac t i v i t i e s being carried out locally. That was exactly what the cus tomer was looking for.

" In par t icu la r , there were two factors which swung the decis ion our way. Firstly, we offered to set up a service centre in the nearby city of Iquique, where the pumps will be over- hauled, the pipes rubber l ined and spare par ts stored. Sec- ondly, the fact tha t Vulco will carry out all assembly in Chile enabled us to offer the most price competi t ive bid and beat s t rong i n t e r n a t i o n a l compet i - tion."

The second contract has been awarded to EnviroTech's p lan t at Venlo in The Netherlands, which will m a n u f a c t u r e s ix GEHO pis ton d isphragm pumps for n ickel au toc lave feed ing dut ies at the Murr in Murr in project in Western Australia.

All six un i t s will feature the latest "dropleg" design, which greatly improves accessibi l i ty for main tenance , and resul ts in savings in civil engineer ing and ins ta l la t ion costs. Murrin Mur- rin is a double "first" for En- viroTech: it is the first autoclave feeding project in Austra l ia to be suppl ied by the company, as well as being its first nickel autoclave feeding contract.

The p u m p s are designed to handle ores at 200°C and their water ends will be made from

s t a in l e s s s teel deve loped by Weir Materials. .Weir-EnviroTech, South Africa, has also been awarded three cont rac ts to supply p u m p i n g e q u i p m e n t to the c o u n t r y ' s min ing and minera ls processing industry. Order values have not been revealed.

The c o m p a n y - ba se d a t Isando, n e a r J o h a n n e s b u r g - will provide the Fairview Mine in Barber ton with seven Weir 9- stage MMD centrifugal pumps for unde rg round dewatering to be instal led on level 62, 42 and 22. The pump ' s reliabili ty and greater flow rate capaci ty is critical to improving the mine ' s productivity.

Barber ton Mines said tha t since the mine is expected to produce gold for the next 100 years, it was crucial to upgrade the pumping facilities as the exist ing systems are not coping with present demands. Critical factors for choosing Weir-Envir- oTech un i t s were the power consumpt ion and overall per- formance of the pumps, as well as local back-up service.

Weir-EnviroTech will supply Namakwa Sands wi th s lur ry p u m p s for the p r i ma r y a nd secondary concent ra t ion plants. The repeat order follows the successful ins ta l l a t ion of 140 pumps dur ing the first phase in 1994. Wei r -Envi roTech is responsible for design, manu- facture and on-si te commission- ing and will supply the pumps complete with electric motors, drives, bases, guards and op- t ional features for specific ap- plications.

Anglo American Corporat ion said the previous slurry pumps had proven reliable and cost effective. As the p u m p s featured rubber - l ined wet ends, which funct ioned wi thout gland seal- ing water, they were ideal for the applicat ion.

W e i r - Env i r oTe c h has also been commiss ioned by JCI to supply a fur ther four GEHO DT 21140-2D hydraulical ly driven posi t ive d i s p l a c e m e n t p u m p s to Western Area Gold Mine. The uni t s will be used to p u m p

WORLD PUMPS JULY 1997 L !

M INING

"st i f f" backfi l l to r e g e n e r a t e s tresses in the hanging wall as quickly as possible, thereby lim- iting closure and stabil ising the shaf t p i l l a r~area . This forms par t of the South Deep project.

The u n i t s c o n s i s t of t he pump , a s e p a r a t e h y d r a u l i c

power pack and an electric con- trol panel. Each pump comprises two hydrau l i c cyl inders , two wear resis tant slurry cylinders, a single slurry transfer tube as well as an intake hopper and swivel cylinders that swing the

are located at anything up to 250 m above the backfill prepara t ion plant.

Contact: The Weir Group plc, 149 Newlands Road, Cathcart, Glas- gow G44 4EX, UK, Tel: +44 141

t ransfer tube. The mining areas 637 7111; Fax: + 4 4 141 637 2221 .

[ ] S ingle suc t ion s u b m e r s i b l e p u m p s for dewater ing in m i n e s

Water is ever present in the mining industry. Even in work- ing mines, there is so much w a t e r t h a t the v o l u m e t h a t needs to be removed is often

IDP's P leuger range of submers ib le pumps and motors.

greater than tha t of the minera l t h a t is being ex t r ac t ed . For example , for every ton of coal extracted, about 6m of water needs to be removed from a mine.

As an i l l u s t r a t i o n , in an opencas t coal mine in Germany, the opera to r ex t rac t s approxi- mate ly 100m tons of coal per year. For this purpose, 600m 3 of water mus t be removed, which is a b o u t 68 500 m / h . The a n n u a l ene rgy cos t for th i s dewater ing opera t ion amoun t s to about DM 50m.

In light of this vast energy cost, it is not surpris ing tha t with the increas ing dep th of mines, there is a growing need for more cost-effective dewater- ing methods. Opera t ing condi- t ions in the mining industry are very a rduous and dewater ing pumps mus t be able to offer high rel iabi l i ty levels in this environment . The emphas i s on reliabili ty is p a r a m o u n t as both the safety of personnel and the efficiency of the ent i re mining process depend on the perfor- mance of the pumps.

To meet these cost and relia- bility requirements , there is an increasing use in opencas t and underground mines of submer- s ible p u m p s for dewate r ing . These are mul t i s tage centr ifugal p u m p s which o p e r a t e be low water level and are driven by waterfi l led AC th ree -phase sub- mersible motors or %vet' motors.

C o m p a r e d to 'dry ' m o t o r units, they offer the major ad- vantage of s imple and low cost ins ta l la t ion for mine dewater- ing. All t h a t is n e e d e d for ins ta l la t ion is a well which acts as the collect ion poin t for water from the mine. The p u m p and moto r form a single enclosed

uni t which, when instal led in the well, is held in posi t ion by the pipe. The expense of pump- ing s ta t ions and associated ven- t i la t ion shafts, wate r t igh t doors and o ther equ ipmen t used with 'dry' p u m p s is the re fore not r e q u i r e d w i t h s u b m e r s i b l e pumps.

As well as these cost savings, a fur ther advantage of using these pumps is tha t they are main tenance- f ree and there are no problems with pr iming the p u m p as it is always submerged. There is t hus no d a n g e r of f looding as the pumps are de signed for submerged operat ion. This is also an impor t an t safety feature in the event of a break- in of water into the works.

To r each the h igh h e a d s n e c e s s a r y in u n d e r g r o u n d mines, submers ible pumps can be instal led in tandem, with the second p u m p highe/~ in a boos- ter shroud or ted by a collect ion reservoir.

A typical submersible p u m p mining appl ica t ion occurred on a mining project in Australia, where opera tors were dewater- ing an old underground gold mine. The mine had previously been closed down because of a c o m b i n a t i o n of the lack of adequa te p u m p technology and i n a d e q u a t e r e se rves for the mine to be commercia l ly viable.

New gold recovering techni ques have now made the project economic. But the p u m p sup pliers were faced with a difficult c h a l l e n g e b e c a u s e t h e m i n e opera to r s needed a pumping system tha t would give them a h igh c a p a c i t y p u m p i n g r a t e s t ra ight away so tha t they could quickly examine the upper le- vels of the underground mine

WORLD PUMPS JULY 1997 lq