Weir Minerals Africa has received its largest ever pump order since its merger with the CH Warman pump group in 2008. Kenmare Resources placed the multimillion rand order for the supply of 32 pumps for its Moma Titanium Minerals Mine in northern Mozambique.

Kenmare’s Moma Mine contains reserves of heavy minerals which are mined using dredges which float in an artificial mining pond. The dredges pump the mineral sands that form the wall of the pond into a floating wet concentrator plant. A heavy mineral concentrate is produced, which is then pumped to a nearby minerals separation plant, where it is separated into final products for export via Kenmare’s product trans-shipment vessel. This vessel is self-propelled, self-discharging and capable of carrying minerals from the jetty to the trans-shipment point, where product is loaded onto the customer’s vessel.

The original processing plant was purchased in Australia by Kenmare and commissioned at the Moma Mine and was fitted with Warman® pumps. Weir Minerals had already been awarded a service contract to maintain those pumps.

In 2010 Aveng E+PC was appointed as the EPCM contractor to undertake full project management and controls, engineering design, procurement and construction management services for the fast track Moma Sands Expansion Project. When the expansion is completed by the first quarter 2012, the plant capacity will be increased to more than 50% of its original capacity with an additional floating separation plant complete with dredge, and increased associated MSP plants and infrastructure.

“The order for 32 pumps is part of the expansion project and includes five Warman® 20/18 AH® horizontal heavy duty rubber lined slurry pumps with standard high-chrome metal impellers,” JP Joseph of Weir Minerals Africa, says. “These are the biggest AH® pumps in the range, designed for continuous pumping of highly abrasive and corrosive slurries and capable of handling more than 4 800 cubic metres of slurry per hour.”

One distinguishing feature of the Warman® 20/18 AH pump is its R55™ premium grade elastomer liner — a high-tech rubber developed to operate in severe wear applications. R55™ is a high grade premium black natural rubber, with a low hardness suitable for pump liners, impellers and cyclone parts. Its superior physical properties deliver improved cut resistance in hard, sharp particle slurries.

“The Warman® impellers are designed to produce an optimum balance between wear life and lifetime efficiency,” Joseph says. “Correct design ensures maximum wear life with a minimum total energy cost over the full service life of the pump. With this in mind, when evaluating alternative pump models, engineers should consider total energy and operating costs over the full service life of the impeller.

Joseph believes that the Warman® 20/18 AH® pumps will prove ideal at the Moma Sands operation in the high volume dredger application in the wet concentrator plant. Of the five new Warman® 20/18 AH® pumps, two will be installed in parallel in the dredge feed de-grit duty, and two will serve as disposal pumps to discharge fine tails back into the mining pond. The fifth pump will operate as a rougher spiral feed pump.

“Weir Minerals’ capability supports an array of customer specifications with products easily adaptable to meet specific process requirements,” Joseph says. “We build close, long term partnerships through which we aim to help customers achieve the lowest cost of ownership.

“The slow running speeds of the Warman® AH® heavy duty slurry pump range, together with a comprehensive choice of abrasion resistant alloys and elastomers, are all equipment features which allow Weir to deliver unrivalled pump performance and service life in abrasive mining and minerals processing applications.”

WARMAN is a registered trademark of Weir Minerals Australia Ltd and Weir Group African IP Ltd. AH is a registered trademark of Weir Minerals Australia Ltd. R55 is a trademark of Weir Minerals Australia Ltd. Copyright © 2011, Weir Minerals Africa (Pty) Ltd. All rights reserved.