Large Scale Gold Mine
Western Australia
The Australian gold mining industry began in 1851, increasing the countries population significantly within a few years. As the world’s second largest producer of gold and a major player in the extraction of Iron Ore, Nickel, Opal and Zinc, mining remains one of the Australia’s primary industries.
Dewatering is an important part of the mining industry and for gold mining in particular, open saline pit dewatering is key to the continued and efficient extraction of precious metals.
Going for gold
For one large scale gold mine in Western Australia, investing in a dewatering system that could effectively remove the continual influx of saline ground water and precipitation, was vital in keeping the mine running at it’s optimum level of production.
Like most open pits, extracting water from this site required a dewatering system that was capable of processing low flow fluids through extremely high heads, in order to pump the saline water up the pit face and out of the mine.
For maximum efficiency, Xylem Water Solutions Australia suggested drawing on the expertise of the wider Xylem family and using submersible multistage pumps from the Water Systems (AWS) value centre of Xylem. When installed horizontally into low flow fluids, this can produce much higher heads than the single stage pumps that are readily available in Australia.
Vogel Pumpen are manufactured in Austria as part of the AWS portfolio and enabled the team to offer extremely competitive lead time in delivering a Duplex TVS submersible multistage pump unit to the mine in Western Australia, much to the relief of the site manager.
There is no manufacturer in Australia that can deliver a duplex multistage submersible pump quicker than Xylem, even though these particular pumps are made in Europe.
Other important considerations for the purchase of a new system was ease of installation and maintenance. In very large open pits, having access to the equipment for planned maintenance can reduce the need for excessive retrieval equipment and man power, which offers further monetary savings on the life of the pump.
Floatation modules make installing and maintaining pumping equipment quick and convenient. Once in the water, the module can be towed into position and secured by anchor or guy ropes.
“By having the pump floating close to the surface, the life of the equipment is extended because it is no longer processing ‘high solids’ water from the bottom of the pit.”
A market leading solution
Drawing on the experience and product portfolio of the wider Xylem Corporation has given this gold mine the perfect combination of equipment. A combination of two Vogel Pumpen duplex multistage submersible pumps from Xylem Applied Water Systems that can provide heads of up to 500m, plus two floatation modules from Flygt, an established Xylem Water Solutions brand has given the mine the very best in market leading technology from across the globe.
Xylem Vogel Pumpen Submersible TVS Pump
Capacity: Up to 520m3/h
Heads: Up to 500 meters (1600 feet)
Materials: Basic type in austenitic stainless steel and higher graded Duplex is optional and suits more aggressive and saline waters.
Xylem flygt Pump Floatation Modules
Flygt’s range of pump floatation modules has been developed to provide a light-weight and cost-effective alternative to the traditional steel pontoon. The flotation modules are prefabricated from light-weight, foam-filled glass fibre reinforced polymer and are available in four sizes, from 50 to 1150kg
Xylem’s role: Xylem Water Solutions Australia worked with the mine to produce a package of equipment from across the Water Solutions and Applied Water Systems product portfolio.
Xylem scope: Vogel Pumpen is an Austrian based Xylem brand which operates within the Xylem AWS value centre of the organisation with expertise in the manufacture of hydraulic pumps for water technology applications.
Xylem Water Solutions specializes in complete water solutions for water & wastewater transport & treatment for municipal and industrial customers.