Mine backfilling with cementitious slurry

Our client is a mining company involved in mineral deposit survey and exploitation. The mineral extracted is treated in a polymetallic processing plant, which operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

The mineral deposit exploitation is carried out by excavating primary and secondary chambers, which are subsequently backfilled with a slurry made of residues originating from the mineral treatment process. Thickening the slurry and adding cement to the mixture allows a high solid content backfill slurry to be obtained. The high resilience of the mixture significantly reduces both the environmental footprint and the risk of environmental damage. This results in a modern, highly efficient, and environmentally friendly process.

Backfilling places high pump requirements

When it comes to mining requirements, the pumps installed must guarantee a high degree of reliability and availability and be able to operate under challenging conditions over long periods of time.

ABEL HMQ piston diaphragm pumps are the solution for these demands and can be even operated at lower costs than other pump technologies. The diaphragm as a means of separation between the slurry and the drive side of the pump allows the maintenance intervals to be significantly increased compared to those of pump systems that are in direct contact with the cement slurry.

Thanks to these properties and design, the pumping equipment offers a long lifetime and satisfies the requirements and needs of the backfilling application. The use of pulsation dampers allows a continuous, gentle, and low pulsation discharge of the slurry into the excavated chambers, while eliminating the risks of piping problems.

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