According to Sykes Pumps, control of mine tailings water is made simple with the Dragflow agitator slurry pump.
Dragflow pumps are specially designed to pick up solids from rest and mix them into high dense slurry so they can be pumped with ease. The company says the pumps handle fast settling, high specific gravity solids and viscous thixotropic mud.
The agitator is the key for picking up material from rest as it physically and hydraulically forces material away from the pump’s suction, which creates a down pressure stirring up material below the pump’s suction.
This pressure differential (suction of pump versus down pressure of agitator) mixes and homogenises the stirred up material, which is drawn back into the suction as highly concentrated, uniform slurry.
Material too large to enter the pump’s suction is repelled and does not plug the suction screen.
Sykes says the normal intake velocity on a standard sump or solids handling pump has insufficient force to pick up the solids and pump them to a sufficient extent.
Almost all of the liquid is pumped, while the bulk of the solids remain at the bottom of the sump.
Sykes, the exclusive distributor for the Italian built pumps, has a range of Dragflow pumps to help customers select the right equipment for the job.