The merger of two former pump industry rivals, Howden Pumps and Orbit Pumps, has created a new company with an enhanced line-up of pumping technologies and skills well-suited to mine maintenance.
An important spin-off from the merger is the bringing together of the Orbit team's experience in line-shaft mine-dewatering techniques, with that of Howden Pumps, which has helped to pioneer the use of submersible turbines for the removal of water from flooded mines.
Mining houses will now have access to a selection of technologies from the new entity, represented by the Orbit, Mono, Indura, Super D and Monax brands, says marketing director designate for the merged company Rory Parsons.
These pumps can be applied to different maintenance duties 每 including dewatering and gland servicing 每 dependent on the requirements of the appli-cation.
※The new company will be driven by the needs of the customer, and we intend applying our unrivalled product selection and installation expertise to provide pumping solutions structured around individual needs,§ says Parsons.
Within the mining industry line shaft, Orbit Pumps has already proved effective for dewatering mines flooded with water containing abrasives.
※Orbit line-shaft pumps are in service at the opencast operations at Orapa diamond-mine, in Botswana, where their rugged construction and good design have been instrumental in controlling subterranean flooding, enabling the mine to continue with normal operations,§ Parsons adds.
Similar Orbit pumps have also been used successfully in gold-mining operations 每 in Kalgoorlie, in Australia, and Ashanti mine, in Ghana.
※These successes have underlined the suitability of our pumps for applications such as these, and we are building on this success by developing two new Orbit line-shaft pumps specifically for mine dewatering purposes.
※These pumps, an eight-stage pump capable of pumping to a head of 600 m and a seven-stage model that delivers water to a head of 500 m, are undergoing final testing at our facilities and should be avail-able later this year,§ Parsons continues.
For dewatering applications, where large volumes of water have been removed from older mines which have become completely flooded over time, the range of Super D submersible turbines, supplemented with imported pumps, has fast established a niche.
※Advances in pump and pump-motor technology have substantially boosted the flow rates of submersible turbines. Using these improved flow rates, we have developed a technique whereby submer- sible pumps are lowered down the flooded mineshaft and used to drain the mine of water and provide access to the lower levels, where further draining activities can be undertaken,§ Parsons reports.
This technique has been used on platinum-mines in North West Province as well as on the Copperbelt, in Zambia.
The company can also employ its axial flow technology pumps 每 Orbit and Monax 每 for removing large volumes of water from opencast mine pits.
※Axial flow pumps, with their high-volume, low-head capabilities, are suited to pumping water from shallow flooded mining pits, and we have used this technology to assist the diamond-mines in Botswana with the removal of water which is then supplied to the plant for diamond processing, or used as potable water,§ Parsons explains.
Progressing-cavity Orbit and Mono pumps are becoming the pumps of choice in mines for gland-servicing duties.
Parsons says that a number of mines are standardising on positive-displacement pumps for gland servicing duties, mainly because of the high pressures they are able to deliver, and the reliability of the pumps in this application.
※Downtime has serious implications for production, and the reliability of the company's pumps has established them as the favoured option in these applications.
※We believe that the merged companies' diverse range of technologies and application skills will enable us to meet a significant portion of a mine's pumping requirements with the most suitable solution in each instance, opening up new possibilities for more efficient and effective maintenance,§ Parsons reports.
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