Pumping Platinum Slurry

Verder Pumps SA (Pty) Ltd, provide mining supplies to most of the mines in the Rustenburg area. Of these, the Angloplat operation has 3 running VF125 pumps at their Waterval Smelter plant. With the change of processes at the smelter and the need for reliable quality pumps, Div de Villiers, Engineering Specialist at the Waterval Smelter, took into consideration the Verder range of pumps which are renowned for their durability, and are able to withstand the demand for the capacity for the pumping of slurries.

After a strategic consultation with Verder Pumps SA’s engineers, three VF125 pumps were acquired for the plant. The offloading pump, used to transfer the concentrate (SG 1.5) from the trucks to the tank, previously took one hour 45 minutes, whereas the offloading has been cut right down to 20 minutes.

The hardest working, Conditioner pump, runs for 10 hours per day and circulates the very dense (SG 1.7) slurry in the process to keep it in suspension. This prevents the slurry settling out and eliminates the consequent choking problems. The associated Transfer pumps deliver this high density slurry to the filter plant 600m away.

The two transfer pumps typically operate for 4 to 5 hours per day reflecting the supply tanker delivery schedules. The pumps are limited to 50m³/hr for SG of 1.7 even though the pump has a capacity to pump up to 90m³/hr.

Mr. Gresse who has been with the tollbay smelter plant for 11 years says that the pumps are operating smoothly, with only the regular maintenance that has to be performed on the hoses. “We are extremely happy with pump’s operation” he confirms.

Due to the increase in demand on the pumping of slurries at the smelter, de Villiers has advised Verder that a second tollbay plant is on the cards by the end of the year. The new larger plant has double the original plant’s capacity, requiring the use of six Verderflex VF125 pumps to increase system flow rates and was built alongside the existing plant. Moreover, de Villiers is so impressed by the quality of Verder’s pumps that over the next few months Verder’s range of pumps will replace the existing competitor ones when coming across major repairs and/or modifications at the smelter.

In the 17 years that de Villiers has been with Anglo Platinum, he says that he has never received such outstanding service, as he has from Verder. “We are in an extremely fortunate position to be receiving such professional expertise and product knowledge from Verder”.

Since becoming the plant’s preferred service provider eight months ago, the plant has benefited tremendously from the sound pumping knowledge from the mining suppliers,” concludes de Villiers. Furthermore, with the recommendation from Verder, a VF100 pump was recently delivered to the UG2 Concentrator, the newest plant in the area by the same operation. “This is the first of the Verder range of pumps at the particular plant”. In time, "the durability of Verder’s quality pumps will break the competitor stronghold at the plant,” believes Lamb.

For close to 60 years the Verder Group has been providing pumping solutions to industries all over the world. The group is known of their high quality products, innovative technology and above all their knowledge of the industry it supplies.  

The VF125 pump, the largest in the Verderflex® peristaltic range, has a 125mm internal diameter hose, can pump at flows of up to 90m³/hr and can cope with the toughest of pumping tasks, such as the platinum slurry at the Waterval Smelter plant, with the greatest of ease.