Dewatering job in Africa

A quarrying company based in Zambia, Central Africa, contacted Colin Bracken, Sykes group regional manager, Africa, to provide it with a complete solution to its pit dewatering problems.

The pit was being dewatered by submersible pumps that were proving to be troublesome as well as unreliable, costly and time consuming to repair - resulting in interruptions to the mining process. Colin suggested the purchase of Sykes Group pumps that are specifically designed for this type of application and have been tested in open cast mining operations.

The company purchased two HH220i pumps, coupled to 260 kW electric drives, twin discharge facility, all securely mounted on marine-engineered floating pontoons with adjustable ballasts.

The equipment was engineered and put together in Dubai by Primax and shipped to Zambia via sea and road freight.

The two units have now been successfully commissioned on site and the results are shown in the pictures.

It will more than likely take another six weeks to completely dewater the pit that initially had in the region of 2 million cubic metres of water inside it - the pumps will then keep the pit accessible 365 days a year allowing production to be continuous.

The pumps were supplied with stainless steel shafts, impellers and front and rear wear plates and glycol-cooled, mechanical seal, as standard.