In the early 1930s, Charles Warman was a young draftsman working in gold mining in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. He saw that some improvements in slurry pump technology were needed and set out to improve the designs. By 1938, he’d taken out patents on several of his ideas, including a rubber lining that could be easily replaced. It was a ground-breaking innovation that reduced the total cost of ownership of slurry pumps, was safer to handle and offered extended wear life in many abrasive slurry applications.
Charles Warman’s legacy continues to inform Weir Minerals’ Warman® MCR® slurry pump, which features thick elastomer liners. Many of the benefits of rubber-lined pumps that he envisaged years ago are just as relevant today: the rubber liners are highly wear-resistant; they’re light, which makes them safer to handle when conducting maintenance, as well as quicker to replace, resulting in less downtime; they’re cheaper than heavy metal liners; and they’re more versatile because, if for some reason the application requirements change, the rubber lining can be swapped for metal.
Improved wear life, reduced downtime
R55® natural rubber compound is the most commonly utilised rubber in Weir Minerals’ moulded applications, including Warman® MCR® pump liners, impellers and throatbushes. It’s a highly wear-resistant material used across a variety of slurry pumping applications; it’s soft and resilient enough to withstand fine particle wear, but also strong enough to resist cutting and tearing damage from sharper particles up to 20mm in diameter.
The Weir Minerals’ team works closely with its customers to provide the ideal solution based on their specific requirements.
Improved safety
In-situ slurry pump maintenance usually involves suspended loads that can pose a safety risk to those performing the maintenance; the Warman® MCR® slurry pump’s unrivalled reliability and exceptional wear life extend the time required between scheduled maintenance, thereby reducing the number of times the mine employees need to work with suspended loads. Potential safety risk is further minimised by the use of rubber liners, which are significantly lighter than metal liners, easier to handle and eliminate the risk of parts’ sharp edges damaging lifting slings and chains.
Moreover, the Warman® MCR® slurry pump’s internal liners can be fully worn before replacement, as the split outer casing provides structural integrity and high operating pressure capability and safety.
The Warman® MCR® pump delivers reliability and there’s always a safety dividend associated with that. At Antofagasta’s Minera Centinela’s (previously Minera Esperanza) gold-copper mine in Chile, the throatbush and volute on the incumbent slurry pumps were only reaching average lifespans of 950 hours before sudden breakages occurred, which affected operational availability and, most importantly, risked the safety of personnel on-site. Despite the application of mitigation measures – use of chains and other tactics – none of their solutions produced the desired level of safety and reliability.
A Warman® MCR® 650 pump was installed for a six-month trial with a number of targets: higher operational life of wear parts; less energy consumption; shorter maintenance times; proven operational safety in pumps with encapsulation liners; reduced operational costs and the local supply of replacement parts.
Following the trial, the final report concluded that the equipment had improved operational performance, as shown by the data obtained from the IOC (Integral Operations Center) throughout the entire inspection process.
Mechanically speaking, no significant issues were observed in terms of maintainability, proving the equipment to be reliable from a safety standpoint, as well as successful at producing labour savings due to shorter intervention events required. Based on the trial’s results, a new purchase order was issued for two more Warman® MCR® 650 pumps.
Interchangeable materials
Warman® mill circuit pumps feature interchangeable elastomer or metal liners, as well as come unlined to ensure operators have a range of material options to select from so that, depending on their specific application, the wear characteristics for each component are balanced to provide optimal wear life.
The Warman® range of interchangeable materials provide customers with a degree of flexibility that allows them to overcome unforeseen challenges and changes in process – without changing the footprint or pipework. Weir Minerals recognises that the demands of customers’ processes vary considerably, that there’s no one-size-fits-all solution and it strives to support them with reliable products and technical support.
