Pump & Abrasion Technologies (PAT) has expanded its range of services to counteract the current skills shortage in the South African mining industry, while ensuring the lowest total cost of ownership for customers.

Added services include application engineering, site surveys, technical problem solving, on-site maintenance, training, pump repairs and rebuilds, and providing service exchange pumps and pump spares.

PAT operations GM Francois de Villiers says the company’s range of value-added and commercial services has proved to be a significant factor in customer decision-making.

“We have seen consistent growth in this segment . . . in terms of revenue and the proportion of business.”

While De Villiers believes that most major mining houses proclaim strong environmental policies, but only embrace the green agenda when it is financially sound, he asserts that PAT’s value-added services can assist in reducing carbon footprints while delivering real savings.

PAT can assist mines and mineral processing operations in ensuring that optimal pump operating parameters are established and maintained, thereby improving efficiency and saving electricity.

He notes that the company has, for example, assisted a coal processor in reducing the electricity consumption of one pump, subsequently resulting in savings of more than R1-million a year.

It also aided a chrome processor in changing the sealing arrangement on its slurry pumps, thereby removing the need to use gland service water. De Villiers says this particular initiative stands to save the customer about 400-million litres of water a year.

He further notes that the unprecedented crash of all commodity prices has forced mining companies to preserve cash by deferring projects and maintenance to the last possible moment, adding that this has had an unexpected positive effect on PAT’s business.

“We believe it is a result of our strong customercentric stock profile, which enables us to meet breakdown requirements in a relatively short timeframe,” De Villiers says, adding that the proven long working life and competitive pricing of PAT products are “compelling factors” for customers.

He mentions that the recent crash of commodity prices, combined with the uncertainty in emerging market economies, has left the mining project space barren, with very few green- and brownfield projects.

Despite this, PAT has been involved in significant projects. The company completed the supply of 24 slurry pump to an expansion project at Cronimet’s Thaba mine, in the Thabazimbi area, through engineering, procurement and construction company Consulmet Metals. The project was successfully completed and handed over in August.

PAT has also been involved in several smaller projects, including demothballing a Mpumalanga platinum mine, rebuilding a coal plant and the supply of sixteen 8/6 pumpsets for a Zambian copper mine expansion project.

De Villiers says that, before the current instability, there was a spurt of mining investments in Africa, notably in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Mali, Mozambique and Zambia. Additionally, the last few years’ substantial investment in oil and gas in Angola has enabled that industry to mature.

PAT has, therefore, made a concerted effort to expand north, into Africa, supplying and servicing its Battlemax range of slurry pumps from its South African base and through local dealerships in major African mining locations.

New Product
PAT has introduced the Battlemax BattleSub – a full stainless steel submersible pump range, suited to light dewatering duty in low pH environments – onto the market over the last six months.

The BattleSub range discharges light slurry up to 147 m3/h, with heads of up to 48 m and a maximum water depth of 50 m. The pumps have a three-phase electrical system of 400 V or 550 V, and motors with outputs ranging from 1.5 kW to 11 kW.

The range is protected against reverse power surges and impeller jams, and the pumps stop functioning when they overheat before automatically restarting when sufficiently cooled. The pumps have an auto-stop feature in the event of an overload, and the chrome alloy semi-open impeller, combined with the metal wear plate, allows for superior durability.