Namibia is currently in the grip of a drought which has been declared the severest in over a quarter of a century. The prolonged shortage of water has also begun to impact mining operations in the country and necessitated an increased focus on ensuring water capacity in all reservoirs including return water ponds.

Integrated Pump Rental has developed a reputation for the effective removal of built-up silt from dams and ponds in the mining industry and recently sent a team with a SlurrySucker Maxi to assist a uranium mine in Namibia.

The company’s SlurrySucker Dredge Unit is capable of extracting high tonnages due to the design and engineering of the dredge head, and is considered one of the most effective manners in which to clean out reservoirs.

Lee Vine, managing director of Integrated Pump Rental, says that the primary advantage offered by the SlurrySucker is that the dredging operation can be performed without any downstream processes having to be halted.

“This accounts for the popularity we are seeing with this locally manufactured unit,” Vine says. “Other traditional methodologies used to dredge water storage ponds necessitate that the pond be taken off line and this shutdown can be costly in terms of production.”

The return water pond on the mine has a ph of 10 and this high alkalinity level necessitated that modifications be made to the SlurrySucker unit to enable it to perform in this application. Vine says that the company is often called upon to customise equipment to facilitate operation in exceptionally harsh conditions.

The SlurrySucker handled this application with ease, discharging slurry at 250 m3 per hour into the thickener which in turn resulted in 70 dry tons per hour of sediment. Sediment can typically be sent to the tailings or remined while the clean desludged recycled water is returned to the return water pond.

Integrated Pump Rental has an established reputation for offering reliable turnkey rental pump solutions, and is fast developing one for providing solutions to challenging applications