Mining saves the day

We should all congratulate the new Federal Government on being able to produce their first budget with a surplus. The first in a decade!

If you saw the budget speech on television you would see very pleased looking people taking credit for that turnaround.

What we missed out on seeing was details of exactly how it was achieved, particularly the part that our industry, Mining, played in this reversal of fortune.

Of course, at the end of Covid and prices for other commodities, including agricultural, play a part in this as well. Shortly after the budget was produced, we also see the Western Australian Government coming up with a $4B surplus. Again, looking very pleased with themselves.

How did they do it?

People involved in the mining industry know it’s dirty work, like agriculture, but in a much bigger way. It’s a major contributor to the wellbeing of the rest of the population. What most people don’t understand is there is only around ¼ million people involved in mining and yet it produces literally hundreds of billions of dollars income for Australia. All by the efforts of the Mining Industry.

To quote the Commonwealth statistician, Resources and Energy Quarterly, it’s iron ore that is the star at about $155B, LNG next with more than $90B, followed by thermal coal at $76 B and metallurgical coal at $63B. Yes there are other key players as well. For example, gold at $24B and other minerals, copper, lead, lithium etc, producing another $70B or so!

All that is accomplished by less than 1% of the total population of the country! We could probably do a similar exercise of agriculture but the numbers would be smaller with the amount of professional farmers probably about the same as mining.

We salute the industry

Australian Pumps’ Warwick Lorenz, who contributed this article, believes Australian miners are the best in the world.

“They’re innovative, adventurous, certainly risk takers”, he said.

Australian Pump works with the drilling industry and plays a major role in supporting all mining extractive operations from big open cut coal mines to underground and surface gold operations.

“We understand the fundamentals of the Australian economy. Without our mining industry, it would be much more like New Zealand’s than the dynamic potential we have in Australia”, said Lorenz.

“The fact that the industry has saved the reputation of a number of governments over the last 30 years is obvious. The industry makes good economic managers look even better”.

Why are Aussies great miners?

The majority of our population don’t know that it was gold mines at Ophir, compliments of Mr Hargraves, that put Australia on the map. We hear stories about Sydney Harbour being chocked with ships where the sailors had deserted the vessels and gone off to the gold fields. Our population exploded from a few convicts and entrepreneurs to real people getting out and “trying their luck”.

Many of us have ancestors who go back to that explosion of population in the 1860’s! The reality is Australians have been mining for almost 200 years and have become very good at it. There is hundreds of stories from “Lasseter’s Lost Reef” to the founding of BHP at Broken Hill when it was just a nob of black rock.

Now we see the world’s best in machinery being utilised by the world’s best mining companies to build Australia’s wealth, and ultimately our security.

Aussie’s part in all this

Australian Pump Industries, (Aussie Pumps) play our part in mining. Innovative, adventurous, just like the miners we serve, we keep exploring ways of building better pumps, hydrotesters for gas and similar products to help serve the industry.

“We find Australian engineers working on mines in Africa, South East Asia, even in Mongolia and Chili. They specify our equipment because we are ahead of other major equivalent operators. All that, and yet we’re only a small company of around 50 people, looking for another 25, exporting our products around the world. We have a huge debt to the mining industry for the encouragement and support we’ve had over the years”, said Lorenz.

Aussie’s mine boss success

“It was miners who taught us what was required. Our engineers learnt from experience what works in mining and what doesn’t. One thing we know is products need to be virtually unbreakable and safe to operate. Those are the two basic principles our designers use when producing new ideas or, making what were good products even better”, said Lorenz. Aussie’s Chief Engineer, John Hales, puts himself in the position of the user and asks what would work for him. His team do a lot of research directly with the mines dialoguing with operators. “It is from that experience we get the inspiration to improve the products and to value add features that will make them safer and more efficient”, said Hales.

Aussie mine boss trash pumps

Aussie’s first adventure in a product designed for mining was their trash pump range. Everybody has to move water on mines. In and underground mine, you have to make sure it’s dry so miners can work safely. In open cut mines, you have to empty the water if it’s flooded

Aussie started out with small 2” and 3” trash pumps built to take the rigors of operating in tough conditions, both from the climatic and rugged environment. Miners expect the product to work first time, every time. The company’s first Mine Boss trash pump designs came out looking like they’d been designed by Caterpillar in Peroria. Super heavy duty frames in hot dipped galvanised steel, integrated lifting bar, reliable first world engines fitted with electric start with E-stop, battery isolation and even fire extinguisher.

“We soon moved on to big 4” and 6” pumps, similarly equipped for the industry, knowing that machines can take a hiding”, said Hales.

Yanmar and Kunota

Aussie uses Yanmar single cylinder engines for smaller pumps and Kubota water cooled drive on the 4,000 lpm 6” Aussie QP60TD trash pump. All trash pumps have big front clean out ports. That allows the operator to clear chokes in a matter of minutes.

The pumps are all self priming! That is a huge benefit to the user, not having to prime the suction hose is a real plus. The Aussie pumps prime first time every time. The operator only needs to ensure the suction hose is absolutely secure with no air leaks.

Bigger trash pumps have since been introduced and are used for mine dewatering and flood mitigation.

“We know we have to deal with climate change and Australia’s mining industry is particularly susceptible. We learnt that lesson in Queensland decades ago when all those big open cuts filled with water. We saw the photos that show the boom of a crane sticking out of a completely flooded mine. That created real challenges for mine operators to pump what often was contaminated water out of the mine and dispose of it safely”, said Hales.

We prime pumps versus dry pump

Aussie learnt in the early days the real value of ‘wet prime’ versus ‘dry prime’ pumps. Dry prime require a priming device, either a compressor or vacuum pump. They have their place where pumps have to operate on ‘snore’ or have to draw water from deeper vertical lifts than 7.6 metres. Compressors and vacuum pumps can be temperamental, especially if they’re pumping contaminated water.

Aussie’s wet prime pumps are significantly simpler. They consist of big cast bodies with an integrated priming tank designed into the bowl. Taking their 6” pump, the Aussie MQ600TD, you’ll see the shoulders on the pump are the built in priming tank, all cast in as one piece.

Those big pumps, driven by Deutz 80 hp diesel engines, are super reliable and have very few moving parts. There is a stub shaft coming off the engine to mount the impeller and a mechanical seal that is oil lubricated and made from tungsten titanium carbide.

Super heavy duty wear resistant high SG iron volute and impellers make up the only other components inside the bowl. The pump is so simple to prime. You simply fill the pump with water through the priming port, ensure the suction hose is sealed at the front of the pump and that’s it. Start the engine, the water inside the pump is evacuated, creating a vacuum inside the bowl. The check valve on the suction side opens, drawing water up through the suction hose through a lift of as much as 7.6 metres.

They are maintenance free and built to last. The MQ600TD pump comes with a 152 litre fuel tank, enabling it to operate for eleven hours before refilling.

Aussie is now building bigger, cast iron self priming and 316 stainless steel pumps for mining applications. The company knows there are highly corrosive liquids in mining and reliability is everything.

“We’ve even glass coated the inside and outside of some of these pumps and been astonished to find the same product with the original internal lining is still intact a decade after the pumps were supplied. Even the challenge of pumping water contaminated with abrasive slurry didn’t stop them”, said Hales.

We salute the drillers

Without the exploration industry and the work that goes into prospecting, we wouldn’t have a mining industry. We salute those operators and the great work they do.

“Certainly, we keep working with them on developing mud pumps that will be super reliable in cast iron, nickel aluminium bronze and 316 stainless steel configurations.

More recently major exploration rig operators seem to be preferring heavy duty cast iron bodies but with 316 SS impellers.

Hydraulics are the go. We are now working with Australia’s leading drill rig operators with a view to getting their input on the ideal mud pump specification”, said Hales.

Looking to the future

Aussie is big on pressure cleaners as well, also built in Mine Boss configuration. They also ship loads of hydrotesters to the Middle East where they work on water and gas pipelines.

“It’s the mining industry that gave this company a break when we first started out 30 years ago. Without mining Australia would be in a very different place and we would be living very different lives”, said Lorenz. Aussie’s 30 year celebrations will go all year. Like Australia’s mining industry, Aussie is growing too. Their new facility in Sydney’s Norwest business district is a huge warehouse/workshop complex that will enable them to grow substantially in support of Australia’s most important industry.

Further information including two great new publications are available from aussiepumps.com.au. Pump Smart 8 covers everything you wanted to know about self priming water pumps. Blaster Blitz 8 is all about high pressure cleaning done the Aussie way. Loads of free training courses also available.

Aussie has it’s eye on the world market and their expansion will enable them to supply more products for the export market that have been tried and proven in Australia’s Mining Industry.

“That’s another one we owe mining”, said Lorenz.