2025 … Aussie does it again

Australian Pump Industries is a major supporter of the Australian mining industry. The company realises that the volume and revenue generated to the country is so far ahead of any other field of activity! Without mining, where would the Australian economy be?

Over the past 12 months, Australian Pumps R&D Department have generated major progress in self priming centrifugal pumps with new models made from cast 316 stainless steel. They have also had success with big heavy duty trash pumps designed for flood mitigation and high-pressure water blasters beyond the usual expectations of any mining company.

Why stainless steel works in mines

Aussie’s Chief Engineer, John Hales, was instrumental in the push to spend the money on building 316 stainless steel self priming centrifugal pumps from 2” to 4” sizes.  These pumps are available direct coupled to diesel engines and built into heavy duty stainless steel frames with integrated lift bar.

“We called this a Mine Boss breakthrough”, he said.

Hales believes that building pumps for mining requires material to handle exceptionally corrosive or abrasive liquids or both.

“The only material we know that exceeds 316 SS is Duplex or Super Duplex”, he said.

Australian Pumps has worked closely with the mining industry and is well aware of the challenges facing machinery from dewatering pumps, process pumps and even mud pumps for drilling operations.

“It’s surprising but we’ve seen cheap Chinese pumps being used on mine sites, with Yanmar knock off diesel engines fitted,” Hales said.

“These products are regarded as ‘throw away’ items. We believe it can be extremely inconvenient on a mine site to suddenly find that the ‘throw away’ product isn’t working, creating a major loss of productivity and frustration for the team working on the job.

“Building machines designed to go the distance is what we’re all about.”

6” flood busters… keeping Juba safe

Aussie’s big 6” 80hp Deutz diesel engine powered trash pumps are famous for all the work they have done around Australia and Papua New Guinea.  They have also played a vital role for the United Nations in South Sudan.

These machines, sometimes flown into Juba, are built super tough and pass the United Nations standards for longevity and reliability.

“Parts are readily available in kit form and we found that Deutz are excellent at supporting their product right across the globe”, said Hales.

The 6” pumps can deliver 6,000L per minute and have a superb priming system that is so simple it seems absurd. The pumps have a huge tank cast into the body.  The body is fitted with a clean out port above the drain plug that enables easy access to clear chokes without undoing suction or discharge hoses.

“That was a miracle for some of the people in the Sudan who have been used to doing it the hard way,” Hales said.

The Aussie MQ600TD heavy duty 6” trash pump has proved itself time and again working in the most adverse conditions in Africa. The brief was to divert the Nile River around the city of Juba instead of having it flow through the streets. The equatorial monsoonal rains area a constant potential challenge.  The use of a squadron of these big pumps managed to save the day and keep the inhabitants of the capital safe.

All machines are fitted with integrated lift bar and can be trailer or skid mounted.

Engine protection kits and rejuvenation kits for the pump are supplied in the case of a failure of mechanical seal or elastomer.

“The mechanical seals are tungsten titanium carbide, oil bathed,” Hales said.

“In the three years that we have been involved in supplying these pumps to Africa, we’ve only had one mechanical seal replaced. The water is abrasive, with the Nile containing potential solids but also a lot of sand content.”

Aussie’s big clean up — meet the aussie atlas mkii

Australian Pump recently got a brief to build a 5,000 psi super heavy-duty machines for what appears to be akin to the challenges of the mining industry.  The company named the new product, Aussie Atlas MKII. It Is powered by Hatz air cooled diesel engine.

The first Atlas was a 4,000psi machine driven by Hatz 1B50, mounted on heavy-duty stainless steel trolley frame, fitted with break tank and oversized fuel tank.

“We set the original machines up with loads of safety equipment, in terms of emergency stop, engine protection, double insulated wiring, dual pole battery isolator and fire extinguisher,” Hales said.

“The machine was a big hit but the pressure was on us to build a similar unit but with more power, higher pressure and significantly more capability.

“We decided to use a Bertolini 5,000 psi KTL series pump, 16 lpm flow. That makes the machine a Class A unit so operators don’t need to be trained by a Registered RTO.  Quite the contrary, Aussie’s FREE Safety Training Program is more than adequate for operators of this new machine.”

The unit is built-in stainless steel frame with integrated lift bar, 30L fuel tank and a break tank of 30L. The machine is mounted on four big steel wheels with pneumatic tyres, designed for continuous service in the toughest applications.

The machines come with 30m of 5,000psi rated high pressure double wire braid hose on a stainless steel reel, mounted on the machine.

“We designed this machine based on our on-site experiences. Our idea was to make it virtually bullet proof”, said Hales.

The machines come with standard pistol grip lance kit and have a range of options available for even the most difficult mine wash applications.

Kits to clean everything

The Turbomaster 500 is a top-quality brass turbo nozzle attached to a 800mm stainless steel lance kit with pistol grip gun. The gun has a quick coupler so it can be changed from the standard gun that comes with the machine over to the turbo in a matter of minutes.

The turbo delivers a calculated impact of 8,500psi, cutting paint preparation time substantially on any type of job.

Aussie’s grit blast solution

“Getting rid of built up rust or corrosion is a piece of cake for a 5,000psi machine using the turbo gun kit,” Hales said.

“Another option available to users is Aussie’s Grit blast kit. This makes short work of any surface preparation job, removing paint and rust fast. It consists of 8 metres of suction hose and a tungsten carbide blast head, adaptable to heavy duty gun kit.”

The Grit blast kit has a 500mm zinc probe for sucking up sand or grit and again has quick coupler to enable swapping from standard lance over to grit blast kit in a matter of minutes.

Big plant clean up

The above options can cut most job down to size!

An alternate for big washdown of plant is Aussie’s big flow washdown kit.  These models have less pressure but have flows up to 125L per minute. Sometimes for cleaning a big piece of plant, crawler tractor or face shovel, it’s flow that works, not necessarily pressure.

“We work on the principle of ‘horses for courses,” said Hales.

The great progress that Australian Pump have made in the last 12 months and the successful operation of products in the field is a testament to the work that has gone into the programs. The sign in Hales’ office says it all, “WE DESIGN AND BUILD PRODUCTS AS IF WE ARE GOING TO USE THEM OURSELVES”

Further information, including comprehensive product documents on Aussie’s unique mining equipment is available from aussiepumps.com.au