Tough Choices for Miners
19 January 2006 14:40
Pumping out slurry pits at an iron ore mine is a recipe for long maintenance times and high pumping costs. Unless you choose the right pump.
Swedish mining company LKAB operates an iron ore mine in Kiruna in northern Sweden. As part of the ore handling and refining process, it passes through a pellet-handling plant, with the residue from the process being washed into spillage pits. These pits were emptied by old-fashioned dry-mounted pumps, but the abrasive nature of the media caused expensive wear of the units, coupled with high maintenance and downtimes. The pumps themselves were big and heavy and difficult to move in and out of the pits.
A temporary solution of standard Flygt Bibo dewatering pumps was found, before some dedicated Flygt 5100 pumps were assigned to the task. A test pump was run successfully for more than 7,000 hours without failure, so the pits were re-equipped with these pumps. As a result, maintenance times and costs associated with pumping operations were cut by at least 30%.
In addition, the pump solutions are submersible; this makes the units flood-proof and easier to relocate than their fixed long-shaft predecessors. Being submersible, they also require no support superstructure and are virtually silent in operation.
Following the test, LKAB has purchased seven ITT Flygt slurry pumps, a mix of 5100 50Hz pumps with 7.5kW-45kW motors, and 5150 50Hz pumps with 22kW-70kW motors.
For more information on this company:
Flygt - Reliable Fluid Handling Solutions for the Mining Industry
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