Haul roads are an essential part of any open cast mine site, but concerns associated with overwatering and dust control continue to place mining road safety under the spotlight. By employing Water Browser trucks, mine site operators are faced with a continuous struggle between balancing dust suppression and overwatering. According to Franscois Steenkamp, Managing Director of Mechanical Rotating Solutions (MRS), environmental management in the area of water conservation has meant closer attention is also being paid to the effectiveness and efficiencies of dust control and water usage. “The Cat Water Delivery System (WDS) uses a self-contained hydraulic system that controls spray patterns and allows for a consistent spray width regardless of engine rpm. Whilst this system ensures optimal dust control it also has very high pump wear with a pump life of between 4-6 months.”
The Cat WDS system will automatically shut off when the water tank is empty to avoid pump seal failures
Mechanical Rotating Solutions started with the reconditioning of the OEM pumps in 2014 and in 2016 fitted a complete new pump system fitted with a mechanical seal and replacing the OEM bronze impeller with a cast iron impeller. “To increase the pump life even further MRS coated the pump volute and impeller with Belzona 1341 Supermetalglide, a 2-part epoxy coating designed to improve efficiency of pumps, pipes, valves and other fluid handling equipment while protecting them from the effects of erosion and corrosion. By protecting the pump volute and impeller our client reported an increase of pump life from 4-6 months using the factory fitted OEM pump to 19 months using the MRS product, an increase of 15 months.“
As part of its future strategy to not only increase pump life on the water delivery system MRS plans to further upgrade the complete system by fitting the pump on a top-hat-base for easy maintenance access and fitting with a forklift, as well as replacing the compression rubber bellows with Straub couplings for easy fitting.
