South Africa-based pumps manufacturer APE Pumps reports that it has completed the manufacturing of two vertical turbine pumps for return water duty at the Namoya gold mine, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). APE Pumps has orders of R8-million at present, with the Namoya pumps making up R1-million of the total.
APE Pumps dispatched the Namoya pumps from its Wadeville works towards the end of July. They will be shipped up the African east coast to Mombasa, in Kenya, from where they will be transported by road to Namoya, in the DRC.
The pumps will be installed to transfer water for reuse within the mine’s gravity circuit, a preleaching process that will recover coarse gold by making use of its relatively high specific gravity. After use, process water will pass into a large polyurethane-lined dam for transfer by the APE vertical turbine pumps back to the start of the circuit, states the company.
Namoya mine, Canada-based gold junior Banro Corporation’s second gold mine, is situated at the southern end of the Twangiza-Namoya goldbelt in the DRC’s Maniema province about 225 km south-west of the town of Bukavu.
Construction of the gravity circuit at Namoya is nearing completion as part of a larger overall mine development programme being executed by metallurgical engineering company MDM Engineering.
The first gold delivered by this process is expected before the end of this year, with commercial production at the mine scheduled for early 2014.
APE’s two vertical turbine pumps for Namoya are identical machines, both being 8 m in length from the mounting plate to the suction bell and incorporating a water flush to lubricate the bearings.
The pumps are designed to transfer water at a flow rate of 100 m3/h and a pressure of 120 m. The power will be supplied by 55 kW electric component products and services company Weg Electric’s motors.
The twin machines at Namoya make up a total number of 18 pumps supplied by APE Pumps to MDM Engineering since January 2012 from its various pump ranges.
Competition for the latest order came from manufacturers in China and India, as well as from other South African pump manufacturers.