Client: CURO Pumps for DRDGOLD
Industry: Mining and Mineral Processing
Region: Carletonville, Gauteng, South Africa
Product: GraviFilter, Model VA4, ±100 m3/hr
Installation: October 2023

Challenge

• DRDGold’s Far West Gold Recoveries treats reclaimed material from tailings dams. As part of the process, water from the tailings dam flows into the process water dam where suspended solids are allowed to settle. Supernatant from the process water dam is re-used in general mining applications, including as Gland Service Water (GSW) for slurry pumps. Poor quality of the supernatant (high levels of suspended solids, TSS) causes damage to equipment. Specifically, dirty GSW will reduce the life of the gland service water pump (multistage pump), the slurry pump stuffing box components, and gland packing.
• At Far West Gold Recoveries, the client noticed excessive sliming on the pumps combined with higher-than-expected pump maintenance costs and frequent breakdowns. A solution was required to reduce TSS in the supernatant to drastically reduce maintenance costs and breakdown frequency.

Application

• Final Filtration / Filtration of Gland Service Water to protect gland service water pumps and slurry pumps.

Solution

• Following on the successful use of Gravi Filters at Harmony Gold on the same application (four GraviFilters in operation at Harmony Gold on GSW), DRDGold decided to install a GraviFilter to reduce TSS on the process water line.
• GraviFilters are non-pressurised screen filters with an integral (self) cleaning mechanism. This allows for long uninterrupted filter runs without any manpower requirements.
• GraviFilters are versatile and excellent at handling different types of solids. They are ideal for the removal of soft, organic, or fibrous suspended solids and are equally effective in removing hard scale and sand. Depending on the nature of the solids, GraviFilters can achieve filtration down to 50 µm, and irregular or oversized solids are easily processed.
• 1 x VA4 GraviFilter was installed with a processing capacity of 100m3/h @ 250µm.

Results

• After installing the GraviFilter, the client reports a significant decrease in breakdowns. Fitters and other maintenance personnel are freed up to focus on other areas.

Client Experience

“After installing the GraviFilter, we noticed a significant decrease in pump breakdowns. The pumps ran for over three months before replacing the packing, and as a result, spares consumption was reduced. Before installing the GraviFilter, they replaced the liners every two to three weeks. Now, they replace liners every 6 to 8 months, if needed. This has freed up the mechanical fitter to give more attention to maintaining other sites.”
— JP Schoeman, Senior Sales Engineer, Pump and Process Equipment, Weir Minerals Agent