One of the largest iron ore miners in WA urgently needed a powerful pump to flush out a slurry line. With an extremely tight lead time, the dewatering experts at Sykes Group were perfectly placed to provide the long-term solution.
“With the slurry line blocked, the client needed a pump onsite immediately. After looking at the situation and identifying that our HH220 pump unit was perfect for the job, the first thing we did was to facilitate the cross-hire of a similar unit from our sister company, Coates Hire,” said Bill Jones, Sykes Group Regional Sales Manager WA.
The hire unit got the job done in the short term, but the client needed a sustainable on-site solution and ordered their own Sykes Group HH220 pump to the same specifications.
“While the new pump was being built and tested by Sykes Group NSW, the client’s crew onsite in the Pilbara had designed their pipeline manifold system around the cross-hire unit. Therefore, our manufactured unit needed to have the exact same footprint as the hire pump,” explained Bill.
The install and up-fits of the capital unit, plus commissioning of the pump and site training was carried out by Chris O’Brien at the Sykes Group Cardiff facility.
“The project required a 450mm suction pipe and discharge hose with eccentric/concentric reducers to exactly fit the in-situ manifold system,” said Chris. “These requirements were so exact, it needed to pass a significant factory acceptance test (FAT) at our yard. After seeing the results of the test, the comment from the client was that they have ‘never had a pump hit all duty point on test’.”
“The build and delivery of both the hire pump and the capital pump was managed to the hour. Everything from the factory acceptance test, delivery, installation, commissioning and all supporting documentation was delivered on time and within budget parameters. It was a complete success,” continued Bill, proudly.
“The client was very happy that the project was delivered on time and exactly to their specifications. They also mentioned that the FAT had clearly demonstrated the capability of the pump and thanked our team for all the support provided at site during commissioning.”
“The client appreciated the quick and decisive actions that we took to address delivery issues with the tailored hoses, and also the management support needed to respond to their strict QA requirements,” said Bill.
For more information on Sykes Group’ pump solutions and large-scale dewatering expertise, email bill.jones@sykesgroup.com or explore our range of pumps.