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Mining Pump Applications

Published on 2019/10/22

 

There are many kinds of mining pump applications, such as wastewater treatment, drainage and dewatering, dust suppression, ore/mineral transfer, leaching and flotation, water supply and pressurization, and tailings transportation. The application details are as follows:

Sewage Treatment

The water used in mining is polluted by chemical and physical processes, which is called mine wastewater for short. These mine wastewater can’t discharge at will, otherwise, it will pollute the environment. It needs special treatment. It’s going to the sewage treatment. In fact, mine-use wastewater must be recovered through treatment in order to minimize environmental impacts and to use water resources efficiently and effectively. Here, water pumps are used in the wastewater transport and treatment phase. The mine water pump used here is not ordinary water pump, because the mine wastewater is corrosive. Therefore, the pump has corrosion resistance, better than the general pump.

Drainage and Dewatering

Water is used in many places from ore extraction to refining. In addition, the mining process can only be carried out after drainage and dewatering in the open-pit and underground mining. In particular, in the process of exploration and mining, mining pumps must be used to drainage and dewatering. The water there has long been affected by the mine, contains dissolved minerals and is also corrosive. And there are mineral impurities in the water. So, the general pump is not. It needs wear-resisting and corrosion-resisting mining water pump.

water transfer pump application

Supply and Treatment of Raw Water

There is a need for a great deal of water in the mining process. Raw Water can be supplied from rivers, lakes, and rainwater and treated at treatment plants. The transportation and treatment of raw water is accomplished by large capacity pumps. Since raw water is generally non-aggressive, “efficient” and “reliable” pumps are used to reduce energy costs and improve system maintainability.

Ore/mineral Transfer

In many cases, the geographical location of mines is not suitable for the construction of enrichment and refining plants in the vicinity of exploration/extraction areas. Therefore, minerals/ores must be transported long distances by truck in the form of solids or by pipeline in the form of dissolved liquids. In the case of transmission through the pipeline, the use of mining pumps, can contact the abrasive and corrosive liquid.

Leaching and Flotation

Leaching and flotation processes are the most common applications. Chemicals are widely used to separate valuable and precious minerals such as gold and diamonds. Flotation is a process in which minerals are enriched and separated by sinking and rising, taking advantage of differences in surface physical chemistry properties of different minerals. Similarly, leaching is an enrichment process using chemical reagents (H2SO4, Noah, NaCN, NACL, etc.). These processes require pumps for the transfer of aggressive liquids and chemicals, which use high-tech materials and a very good sealing system to prevent spills.

Dust Suppression

Dust is unavoidable in the mining process. And this dust spreads everywhere, entering the equipment, covering every gap, clogging the pipes, causing mechanical parts to jam and worsening the lubrication system. Therefore, with the increase of the failure frequency, the maintenance cycle is shortened, resulting in many problems, such as production losses and high maintenance costs. Therefore, the pump used in the spray system plays a vital role in the application of dust control.

Mining Pumps Types

According to the different mine pump applications, the types of mining pumps are also many. Slurry pump, gravel pump, diaphragm pumps, dredge pump, submersible pump, borehole pumps, centrifugal pump, froth pump, and self-priming pumps.

Pumps are used in the mining process from the first stage of ore/mineral extraction to the refining of the final product. As a part of these processes, pumps operate under heavy operating conditions and pump corrosive/abrasive fluids. The operation of pumps under harsh environmental conditions (dust and explosives) and the pumping of liquids containing particulate and corrosive chemicals should provide the strength and reliability required for the system to operate continuously.

 

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