Weir Minerals - inaugurates 1000th Geho pump
Weir Minerals Netherlands supplied its 1000
th
GEHO
® piston diaphragm pump, a significant milestone in
for the company. The 1000
th GEHO
® pump has
been installed at the Coral Bay Nickel plant in the Philippines and
officially inaugurated during a festive weekend in June, attended
by representatives from the Coral Bay Nickel Corporation and JGC
Corporation.
Weir Minerals started
engineering and manufacturing these pumps in 1968 for the
transportation of ores, minerals and mine processing tailings.
Starting initially with pumping applications that were technically
described as ‘simple’, gradually the pumping applications have
become more complex and challenging. Pump motor ratings,
capacities, discharge pressures and slurry temperatures are
constantly increased and the designs of the GEHO® pumps
have been continuously optimized and further improved to meet the
demands of our customers.
The 1000th GEHO® pump is
a triplex piston diaphragm pump which feeds the autoclave that
processes nickel slurry under high temperatures. The pump features
the proven heat-barrier concept, a special design which handles
high temperature slurries under extreme corrosive conditions such
as the HPAL process. Thanks to this unique technology, optimised
diaphragm and component configuration have proven to meet the high
reliability requirements.
The design keeps the hot slurry, which flows through the valve housings, a suitable distance from the diaphragms. Interconnecting piping consists of two major components: an oscillating separator and a water-cooled jacket. Special alloys are used for all of the pump components that are exposed to the hot and corrosive slurry. Another important feature is the slide mounted pump power-end that reduces stress and prevents potential fractures due to thermal expansion of the pipes.
Ongoing development in
partnership with our end-users has enabled Weir Minerals
Netherlands to respond to the challenging needs for even higher
flow rates, pressure and temperatures, whilst maintaining the high
GEHO® autoclave feed pump availability and low cost of
ownership. With this extra pump unit, the company reinforces its
worldwide experience in pumping high temperature laterite-nickel
slurries.
The GEHO®
concept is applied in the Pressure Acid Leaching plant Bulong in
Western Australia and was selected above other pump technology at
Moa Nickel in Cuba. For the High Pressure Acid Leach (HPAL)
technology GEHO® pumps have been selected at the
Australian Murrin Murrin (Minara) and Ravensthorpe (BHP
Ravensthorpe), Rio Tuba (Sumitomo) at the Philippines and Ambatovy
which will be commissioned in Madagascar.
Gathering to commemorate and ‘bless’ the
1000th GEHO® piston diaphragm pump
Part of the inauguration ceremony: blessings
of the GEHO® pumps by a Catholic priest.
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