Mechanical Technology March 2015

⎪ On the cover ⎪

Innovative pump products for improved

Weir Minerals Africa is turning its attention to helping its customers improve their processes and optimise their plants. “The question now is how can we make improvements within a defined operational environment, where each plant has an installed base of pumps and equipment with fixed dimensional tolerances,” says Rob Fawcett, sales, marketing and engineering director: Weir Minerals Africa and the Middle East.

W eir Minerals Africa not only offers the most innovative pump products, but also gives existing customers the opportunity to update their older pumps in order to take advantage of the latest developments. “While we make ongoing improvements in terms of using the latest construction materials and im- proving the performance of our products, we continue to service and support the large base of our tried-and-tested older technology products throughout Africa,” Fawcett says. While the Warman ® AH ® pumps are well-known on the African continent, he says that Weir Minerals Africa is turning its attention to helping its customers im- prove their processes and optimise their plants. “The question now is how can we make improvements within a defined operational environment, where each plant has an installed base of pumps and equipment with fixed dimensional tolerances.” Constant support and a rapid response time are more important than ever before. “Within the context of the currently con- strained economic environment, few min-

ing operations have the capex available to replace an entire fleet of equipment. Typically, return on investment periods used to be three to five years, but that horizon is now a maximum of 12 months. Therefore, products have to be able to demonstrate the savings required within that period in order to add value for our customers. Unfortunately in today’s mar- ket some of these decisions at customer level are made only on one-dimensional initial cost, with the long term reliabil- ity and impact on process performance and reliability not always considered,” Fawcett says. “We have a major focus on increasing the durability and lifespan of compo- A sectional view of a Warman AH ® pump showing the improved technol- ogy rubber liner, Hi Seal expeller and wear reduction technology.

Rob Fawcett, sales, marketing and engineer- ing director at Weir Minerals Africa and the Middle East.

a need to strike a balance between ef- ficiency and excellent wear performance. We have been able to demonstrate a dual benefit in terms of energy savings as well as improved performance,” Fawcett adds. This philosophy of combining energy savings with improved performance is at the heart of the Weir Minerals Africa market strategy, and was applied when reviewing the entire mill circuit. It resulted in solutions being developed that combine Enduron ® high-pressure grinding mills with KHD technology, Warman ® slurry pumps, Linatex ® rubber products, Trio ® comminution equipment, Vulco ® wear-resistant linings, Cavex ®

nents, which translates into less down- time and reduced spares usage. This has proven successful in the marketplace, and forms part of our standard of- fering for all new pumps. Over the last three to four years, through our retrofit programme, these improvements have been and are being made available to the exist- ing installed base,” Fawcett says. These improvements range from the hydraulic design within the pump unit itself to complete pump range redesign. As a slurry pump differs from its clear water counterpart, there is

The new Warman WBH ® slurry pump installed in a sand and aggregate application.

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Mechanical Technology — March 2015