Underground Dewatering Solutions
Underground mine dewatering is not only a critical for the safety of frontline personnel working at the face it is also crucial in the profitability and viability of keeping the operation running. Underground Mine Dewatering on a commercial scale demands highly specialised pump systems engineered to meet different project applications within specific mine environments. Selecting the appropriate dewatering system is key to sustaining long-term productivity and profitability.
Complex Process
Underground de-watering is complex on a number of levels, a few key areas are; limited space, power resource and location. Massive input is required to design an efficient underground mine dewatering system and is no mere feat. Infrastructure such as rising mains, drain holes, sumps, pump capacities, in and out flows all need to align to ensure the system works effectively and is able to cope with the varying requirements that are typical in an underground mine environment. Typical underground mine dewatering systems have many facets that make up the system in its entirety, these predominately include sumps or (reception pits) which are located at various levels of the mine which allows water & rock dust to flow into or pumped from drilling activities at the face as the mine goes deeper, sumps also capture any water seepage or overflows that have occurred throughout the mine. These sumps must be pumped out regularly to prevent flooding which can pose both safety risks and loss in production to the mining staff.
Water slimes are predominately then pumped into smaller Underground Pump Stations or as otherwise known as Underground Dewatering Fish Tanks, Underground Dewatering Pods, fishtanks or Travelling Decline Pump Systems (Traveller).these smaller pump stations usually comprise of a relatively small hopper varying between 2-10,000 litres and a high head pumping system to move the water as far as possible. Commonly Underground Fish.
Tanks will cope with inflows of up to 20L/s and pump approximately 320M Head. Smaller pump stations are often “daisy-chained” up the decline to a major Underground Mine Pump Station which will then pump directly to another major underground pump station or directly to the surface where the water slurry settles in large reservoirs for reuse. The limiting factor with most travelling decline pump stations is low flow rates, to overcome this issue some miners opt to use a Submersible Pump Hopper which as its name would suggest is a Pump Hopper with a large submersible pump moving larger volumes albeit not as far.
Common Issues
One of the most common issues with underground mine dewatering systems is slimes. Underground slimes are one of the most dealt with and least well understood pumping issue for an underground mine. Slimes which are a collection of drilling dust, dirt and shotcrete fibres are the source of the most expense for any underground mine dewatering system. From premature pump burnout to constant flushing of Underground de-watering hoppers to avoid issues upstream, the cost is immense.
Liquimech has an expansive range of Underground Mine Dewatering Systems to solve the most challenging tasks. Reach out to the team today to discuss your underground liquid management issue.
Our Process
Why Choose Liquimech?
Solutions built for you. You define, we design
Liquimech understands your business and business objectives; we are committed to excellence and focus on building long-lasting relationships with our clients. We don’t just supply products and services; we take you through the entire process.
Liquimech provides end-to-end support from design, sourcing, manufacture, hand-over, and ongoing support and maintenance.
Reliability
Our Packaged Bespoke Solutions are built to handle any challenge – custom designed and extensively tested.
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With Satisfied customers big and small in our portfolio.
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We take the necessary steps in ensuring that our clients receive high-quality products.
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Our job does not end when your project leaves the workshop, we also operate an extensive aftersales service
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