There’s a large scale, open pit Copper mine in the eastern region of Kazakhstan where it’s quite common for winter temperature to drop below minus 45 Degrees Celsius. The remote location does not receive much rainfall, however the mine-site still requires a significant dewatering effort – especially after the Winter snow melts.
To control ground water, the mine had been using two old pumps but they were constantly causing downtime issues. In the winter months, their pumping units were particularly unreliable as the machines couldn’t handle the freezing conditions. This situation was made even worse by a lack of local service support and parts availability.
The team from Sykes Group Dubai visited the mine site to gauge the exact scope of the dewatering requirements. Their investigation revealed that the mine has an average water flow of 50-85 LPS and a head ranging from 90 metres to 140 metres, depending on the final discharge point.
To replace the existing units, two XH150 pumps with Cat C13 engines were suggested by Sykes Group as the most efficient and effective dewaterting solution.
In addition, due to the extreme cold in the winter months, they also needed a ‘Winterization package”. This included a tailor made weather proof enclosure, thermal insulation, inline fuel heater, exhaust lagging and block heaters on each of the CAT engines.
Sykes Group worked very hard to meet the client’s special weather proof requirements. Using the considerable engineering experience available to AllightStykes worldwide, they designed and manufactured two fit-for-purpose pumps that will operate in the freezing winter conditions.
The Sykes Group Dubai Engineering and Production teams custom-designed the cold-weather product enclosure, including the use of special thermal-insulating material to handle the severe cold.
Considering that the team in Dubai are usually facing extremely hot conditions – the summer temperature in Dubai can reach 50 degrees – then the winterization package was literally out of their comfort zone. However, they were up for the challenge and immediately set to work to solve the issue.
The main challenge they faced was sourcing the inline fuel heaters and the engine block heaters. They found the perfect solution through the AllightStykes local dealer in Kazakhstan who has expertise in winter-proofing this type of machinery. So very conveniently for the client, the Sykes Group pumps were retrofitted with the special heating units when the pumps reached the Kazakhstan facility.
The client is very impressed with the pumps supplied and commissioned by Sykes Group, particularly with the special winterization package. They now enjoy an extremely smooth pumping operation. Even more, the local support from the Sykes Group dealer is playing a vital role in increasing mine productivity.
According to the Service Manager at the Copper Mine, the new AllightStykes units have provided trouble-free pumping with no complaints from the operational people. “By providing fit-for-purpose technical solutions in a very timely manner, plus offering easy to access after-sales service, Sykes Group is now the preferred vendor for future pumping requirements” he said.
In fact, to support this claim, the copper mine has just placed a new order with Sykes Group for an additional three XH150 units with the same specification. To learn more about mine spec dewatering, email sales@sykesgroup.com
