MechChem Africa March 2017

MechChem Africa

•

March 2017

ocal pump supplier, KSB Pumps and

Valves, has continued its strong gains

in the mining sector with several

large-scale slurry-pump contracts be-

ing awarded to the company in the latter half

of last year. These include projects in the

ferrochrome, gold and copper industries as

well as pumps to be used for stainless steel

processing. In all instances the customers

selectedKSBpumpsdue to their performance

and reliability, aswell as theafter sales service

offered by the company, which is designed to

ensure uninterrupted production in these

high-value plants.

“This has put us in a position to supply

pumps for several projects being undertaken

by Minprotech, a company which processes

downstream products from Samancor fer-

rochrome mines in Steelepoort, Rustenburg,

MooinooiandMilsaai,forexample,”saysBond.

“These projects are currently underway

in phases and require the supply of a variety

of slurry process pumps and water pumps. In

this instance our slurry pumps were found to

be best suited for the project and our already

well-proven water pumps perfectly comple-

ment the company’s requirements.

“Significantly, this international client

Crowning

a successful year

Rob Bond (left) and Mohamed Trabelsi of KSB

Pumps and Valves.

KSB Pumps and Valves’ MDX 750c. MDX extra-heavy mill duty pumps are the heart of mill circuits,

tackling the most extreme duty conditions.

According to KSB Pumps and Valves’ slurry specialists, Mohamed Trabelsi and Rob

Bond, the ability of the company to supply a full range of high quality pumps with

full backup and support, as well as readily available spare parts, has placed the

company in a unique position where mines can meet all their pumping requirements

through a single supplier.

also found that KSB Pumps and Valves glob-

ally had the best after sales support for such

complex and demanding high production

work,” he says.

“Another large scale project that we have

beenawarded is the tailings expansionproject

being undertaken by QKR Mining Company,

at its Navachab Gold Mine in Namibia. This

calls for the supply of two trains of six LSA

high-pressure (severe duty) slurry pumps in

the discharge segment of the plant’s grinding

circuit,” Bond continues.

“The two trains are designed for redun-

dancy to ensure that pumping capacity is

always available even in the event of a pump

failure. Also, considering the severe nature

of pumped materials and high pressures

involved, the second train allows regular

maintenance without affecting production.

“In this project the supervision and ex-

pertise of the company’s Namibian branch

manager, Klaus Streit ensures that despite the

relative remoteness of the plant themine has

full-time access toKSBexpertise,” he assures.

Trabelsi explains that mines value the

expertise of a globally connected company

such as KSB Pumps and Valves, where en-

gineered solutions can be found to ensure

the right materials, types and sizes of pumps

are used to reduce downtime and wear

parts for the pumps. “That means that if the

company makes the right selection it will get

the best production and longevity from their

equipment.

“This is proving tobe the case at Columbus

Stainless in Middleburg, where the previous

solution supplied by another company was

proving problematic because of excessively

high numbers of breakdowns and abnormally

highwear onexposedparts. Also, aftermarket

service was lacking and no solution was ever

found by the previous supplier to remedy the

situation.

“In this case we carefully analysed the

requirements versus the materials being

pumped, aswell as the volumes required, and

specially designed a pump solution based on

our standard large-size 250 mm LCV heavy

dutyvertical pump. Theapplication to remove

steel scaling called for a pumpwith highwear

resistance and the ability to operate in harsh

conditions at high temperatures.

“We were able to meet and exceed these

requirements and, needless to say, this par-

ticular pumping circuit on our customer’s

plant is no longer problematic,” he says.

“Our growing reputation for expertise

and quality has also given us the opportunity

to supply the Australian firm, First Quantum,

with a trial MDX 550 mill circuit pump for its

Kansanshi Copper Mine,” Trabelsi continues.

“This pump will primarily supply the cy-

clone feed for the secondarymill, where itwill

be the most critical production pump on the

plant requiring a constant supply of course

ore material to be delivered directly to the

mill. This is one of the newer pumps that is

receiving a lot of attention locally and abroad

so we are confident that its performance will

meet the company’s strict requirements,” he

concludes.