Aussie miners – Miners drive pump evolution – Get the competitive edge

The growth of Australian Pump Industries (Aussie Pumps) is largely a result of support from Australia’s mining industry, this did not happen by accident. This family-owned company has a philosophy of working with Australia’s key industries to build products that work well.

“We know what moves the Australian economy,” says Aussie Pumps Chief Engineer John Hales. “The majority of the population know that Australia mines material, without understanding the work involved, the conditions and the safety issues faced by the industry. They are in fact blind to the chief contributor the country’s affluence.”

Educating Aussie pumps

Our job is educating ourselves, being students of the market. We want to understand how we can make life easier, safer, and of course bring improved productivity to the industry. Australia’s mines need to be efficient to succeed in an increasingly competitive environment.

Globally, the mining industry needs to develop up to 140 new copper mines, 60 new nickel mines, 50 new lithium mines and 17 new cobalt mines. These minerals are vital for a decarbonized future!

Dealing with climate change

The most obvious manifestation of the effects of Climate Change is of course, the weather. It is becoming more erratic, in many cases more savage. Fires, floods, cyclones and even droughts all impact on the mining industry.

Australian Pump is working on solutions to alleviate the problems. Their basic approach is to develop products to handle the rigors of the industry and to minimise the effects of climate on man and machines.

Aussies drought buster range

The company started out making 2” trash pumps for hire companies. They quickly gravitated to bigger machines up to 4” and more recently, big 6” pumps.

“Our big 6” MQ600TD, the star of the show, is powered by an 80hp air cooled Deutz diesel engine,” said Hales. The big pump delivers 6000 lpm, will handle up to 3” solids in suspension, and has a maximum head of 47.6m.

“It’s a mighty beast,” said Hales. “Imagine 3 of those side by side emptying a flooded mine. They’d be pumping out over a million litres per hour.”

Simple is best

The company learnt from building trash pumps for construction and quarry applications, that the fundamentals for mining industry gear are the same.

The product needs to be simple, with as few components as possible, and of the highest quality. It also needs to be designed to cope with the huge range of liquids being pumped.
The features of the trash pump range are quite extraordinary. A huge clean out port, built into the front of the bowl, enables it to be cleared of any debris that may get through the suction strainer.

The pump itself is one big cast iron monster, with a gigantic water tank built into the pump body. It’s the pump body that enables the MQ600TD to draw water through a vertical lift of 7.6m.

The designers elected to use a titanium tungsten carbide seal mounted in an isolated oil bath, protected from the pumped medium.

The drive shaft from the engine clutch to the impeller is a mighty piece of 316 stainless steel, specifically over engineered by necessity.

The big machines can be mounted onto trailers or skid bases.

Mines wanting mobility chose the big 6” pump on a heavy duty site trailer.

“The site trailer is particularly robust, fitted with big tyres, a tough steel frame, an army style draw bar and hitch point. With products like this, open cut mines and quarries can get back in action fast,” said Hales.

Drillers do their bit

Aussie Pumps is not blind to the exceptional contribution made by Australia’s exploration drillers.

The work they do, the equipment they use, and their results are extraordinary.
Australia’s mining industry would be lost without them.

“Drillers started to buy some of our standard cast iron effluent pumps, some years ago,” said Hales. “Over a period of years we’ve learnt, particularly through spare parts sales, what works for drillers and what doesn’t,” he said.

The result is a brand new range of Mud Pumps that have lifted the bar substantially in terms of a product that is designed specifically for this specific application.

Mud pump marvels

The new Mud Pump range is self priming of course. Who wants a non-self-priming pump on a mud pumping application?

The 2”, 3” & 4” pumps offer a range of performances that are designed for specific Mud Pump applications. The 3” pumps delivers flows to a maximum of 1,500 lpm and heads as high as 55 metres.

The 4” pump delivers flows to 2,200 lpm and heads to 30 metres.

Originally these pumps were fitted with stainless steel wear plates, and silicon carbide seals. They all feature front clean out ports that enable the pumps to be cleared without disassembly.

“That’s a big feature,” said Hales. “The pumps are all hydraulic drive and represent really good value for money.

The best thing about the latest range is they are now fitted with 316 stainless steel impellers and tungsten carbide seals. That was a huge breakthrough,” said Hales.

“We’re seeing the industry sit up and take notice, with enquires coming in from all over the world. Drillers are sharing experiences within the close-knit international fraternity.”

Feel the steel

Aware of the need to eliminate pump downtime and associated costs, the company is now introducing a range of Mud Pumps made entirely from cast 316 stainless steel.

“The big 4” pump could be available reasonably quickly as we are already building that pump for corrosive liquid applications including some in the food and beverage industry,” said Hales.

“The high head 3” pumps are available with 316 stainless steel impellers, but we haven’t built them yet with a stainless steel body.”

The 3” B3XR-A pump, delivering 1500 lpm, is already on the market in cast 316 stainless steel.

“We know when built in stainless steel the pumps will outlive us,” said Hales.

Saving seals

Mech seal failures occur when pumps run dry.

“Nobody makes a pump that will run dry for any length of time,” said Hales.

“Mechanical seals are not designed for dry running!”

We are working now with drillers on ideas on how to come up with a fool proof system, in the form of either an alarm or an automatic shut off, to protect the pump from this misadventure.

“We are giving that everything we’ve got from a design and collaboration point of view,” said Hales.

Further information on Aussie’s unique mining range including, Carver Krogh filtrate pumps, is available from Aussie Pumps www.aussiepumps.com.au