When a foreman wants to purchase mining pumps, it is important to know the kind of pumps he needs. Is it a slurry pump, a submersible pump or what other type of pump does he need? There are a lot of pump applications on mining sites and it will take some homework to choose the right pump. It is important to know the type of mine it is. Is it a stone, coal, precious metal or a sand mine? It is also important to know whether it is an underground mine or a surface mine. The location of the pumping application concerning the mine is also an important consideration. Once you have all this important information, it is time to focus on the details of your application.
Considerations for mine dewatering
We will focus our discussion on mine dewatering. Every successful mining operation needs proper mine dewatering regardless of the type of mining. If the pumps used are too small or too few for dewatering, there is a possibility of being flooded or even losing critical operational time and equipment.
Conversely, if the dewatering pump is too large, its motor could burn the pump because of random and numerous starts per hour. This deprives of the motor its ability to cool off before starting again. The pump could also experience suction cavitation. This happens when it doesn’t have water. All these could result in costly repairs and you might be forced to acquire other mining pumps for sale & rent.
Some of the most common pumps used for dewatering in mines are submersible centrifugal pumps. Submersible turbines, and vertical turbines. There are pros and cons of each pump type that must be considered when choosing a pump to meet the different requirements.
When choosing a pump for dewatering your mine, there are several key factors to be considered. First of all, you need to determine the static head that needs to be overcome. If the pump can’t produce enough pressure to overcome the vertical distance then it will not achieve the needed flow.
The second consideration is the flow of the water. It is important to understand the needed flow to properly remove the water to keep the mine dry. It is therefore important to know the style of pump that is most suited for the application. Would it be submersible, self-priming or a vertical turbine? If it is self-priming then it is important to know the suction line to determine the height that can be pulled with the pump’s suction lift and the friction loss. The type and size of the material of the suction line should also be identified.
Suction line size should be either equal or greater than the size of the inlet port or the suction. This helps reduce the possibility of having suction cavitation. The length, size and type of material of the discharge line should be taken into account when choosing mining pumps. All these items are very important parts of proper selection of a dewatering pump.