Diversified mining company Xstrata Alloys vanadium extraction operation Rhombus Vanadium (Rhovan) has installed a new pump at the operation’s precipitation plant.
Rhovan acting head of depart- ment Christelle van Vuuren states that the Verderflex (VF) 40 pump, which was installed at the plant, is so reliable that its only down time is for hose replacement and yearly plant maintenance.
Van Vuuren adds that the plant, situated in Bethanie, North West province, needs appropriate and reliable equipment to run its ferrovanadium plant. “The yearly pentoxide production at the plant is about 22 000 kg and 6 000 kg of ferrovanadium. If we used unreliable equip- ment, there would have been a great loss in production and revenue,” she adds.
“VFcoal processing plant price40 peristaltic pumps offer performance in a tough and uncompromising environment such as the vanadium plants,” pumps and accessories supplier Verder Pumps South Africa (VPSA) marketing manager Kasha Wos states.
All vanadium in the ore occurs in solid state in the titaniferous magnetite. After the first stage of processing, the magnetite concentrate is subjected to a conventional roast-leach precipitation process for the recovery of vanadium. To achiecari hammer mill ex chinave the desired final product quality, silica is removed from the pregnant solution. The precipitation of vanadium from the solution is then achieved by adding the inorganic salt ammonium sulphate.
The vanadium recovery process makes use of an evaporation process to recover sodium sulphate salt from the barren solu- tion after precipitation. This salt is recycled back to the kiln, displacing the need for a portion of the sodium carbonate flux requirement.
The pump is bauxite ore mining technique and equipmentthen used to pump the barren slurry at the plant, at about 6 m3/h to 8 m3/h at a 60% solids handling. Abrasive mining slurries have submicro- metre solid contents in excess of 80%, with slurry specific gravities (SGs) in excess of 2,0 newton.
“Only hose pumps can pump such dense fluids whilst maintaining high levels of plant availability, unlike centrifugal pumps which suffer from conti- nuous down time and are unable to pump such high SG slurriemilling machine in malaysias, resulting in lower plant performance,” Wos says.
Since the commissioning of the plant, in 2002, the operation has replaced other hose pumps with VF pumps, owing to their quick maintenance capabilities. “With no gland water used by the opera- tion, the pump can run dry, and the rotor design and flange arrangement make the pump an easy maintenance pump,” Van Vuuren adds.
The VF pumps are easy to maintain, with the hoses being the only wearing part in the pump, and the VF large coal crushing and screening planthoses are specifically designed and manufactured to reduce the effect of fatigue, resulting in an extended hose service life.
“At VPSA, we remain determined to provide efficient and cost-effective solutions for our clients. The VF pump is an excellent solution for difficult pumping applications, and where maintenance costs need to be kept to a minimum,” Wos adds.
VPSA has also been involved in other mining projects, such as the Tenke Fungurume copper-mining project, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. “VPSA has been working on this order since 2007 and we have completed our last delivery, valued at R6,5-million,” says Wos. It included the delivery of six VF65 pumps, two VF50 pumps, two VF100 pumps and one VF125 pump.
“We have also replaced the pumps at a titanium slurry centrifugal platinum plant in Rustenburg. Its main application is for the pumping of hydrochloric acid at 260 m3/h. These magnetically driven pumps also guarantee zero leakage. It is ideally suited for heavy-duty chemical applications and can handle solid and volatile liquids,” Wos concludes.