The GIW range of slurry pumps from the South African division of pumps and valves maker KSB Pumps and Valves is designed to ensure optimal wear performance in the harsh conditions found in hard rock mining applications, reports mining market area manager Jacques Pretorius.

He adds that GIW’s mill-duty extra heavy (MDX) product line is specially engineered to handle the conditions in mill discharge and cyclone feed applications.

Pretorius explains that the MDX range has already established itself as a prominent offering in the market, owing to its premium wear-resistant materials, with robust wear components including shells, impellers and liners, all made from the company’s proprietary material technology known as Endurasite.

“Endurasite is a white-iron alloy that can potentially double a component’s wear life as compared with other materials,” he notes.

Research and development efforts have produced another hard-wearing material called Enduraclad. When bonded to the wear surfaces of pump components, Enduraclad can make these surfaces harder, with longer wear resistance.

Introduced to the mining industry in 2018, KSB points out that Enduraclad has proven successful in even the harshest applications.

Compatibility

Pretorius says the MDX range is compatible with the GIW remotely-adjusted mechanical suction liner, referred to as RAMSL technology, which he says, makes for faster and more accurate nose gap adjustments.

“The RAMSL technology does exactly what it says, in that one operator can adjust the suction liner in a pump remotely, with a precision of 0.25 mm, at the touch of a button on its control panel,” highlights Pretorius.

In addition, the RAMSL enables a closer and more detailed understanding of the condition and performance of the pumps without the cost-prohibitive demands of large crews or unplanned shutdowns being necessitated.

Prior to the introduction of RAMSL, periodic adjustments to MDX cyclone feed lines needed to be performed using hand tools, where RAMSL now allows for the adjustments to be made and monitored remotely, at the touch of a button.

The pump is further modernised with its manual user interface now being digitally enabled. Thus, it can be used as an output data source to track various measurements that are recorded in terms of the pump’s performance, such as the recording of real-time vibration readings and precise suction liner movements.

The interface further enables mine operators to calibrate the maintenance schedule for optimal life and performance and provides the ability to share this information with KSB, who can use the information to offer recommendations regarding maintenance and additional performance improvements.

KSB states that MDX pumps equipped with RAMSL vastly improves the accuracy and time it takes to perform maintenance scheduling.

“With the long-wearing components and the ease of maintenance, the MDX is proven to have longer run times than competitor pumps with minimal shutdown,” concludes Pretorius.