Recently, a diesel driven pump set was used to rapidly dewater an openpit at an existing copper mine in northern Botswana. Using this high performance, high head pump set, 103-million litres of water was removed in just 30 days to enable exploratory drilling to take place.

Integrated Pump Rental rental development manager Steve du Toit explains that unseasonably high rainfall made it impossible to reach the benches and face where the exploratory core drilling needed to be done.

“This was when the mine reached out to us requesting rapid assistance to avoid any further delays,” Du Toit says. “After assessing the application requirement and operating conditions, we selected and dispatched one of our Sykes XH 150 rental pump sets.”

The Sykes XH 150 rental pump sets are available either as trailer mounted units or on skids, allowing for easy installation on site and facilitating moving of the unit from section to section as required. An advantage of the set is that it offers automatic priming, allowing for quick set up.  The unit has a flow rate of 120 l/s, which allowed it to move about 3 456 m3 of water in eight hours, and it is also capable of handling solids with ease.

Engineered for reliable performance with low fuel consumption, the pump is designed to be able to work in dewatering applications for extended periods of time and its ability to operate in ‘snore’ conditions allows for conditions where suction levels may fluctuate.