Sever Minerals has installed and put into operation two mobile quarry dewatering pump stations at a site operated by Bakyrchik Mining Venture.
Bakyrchik Mining Venture (BMV) is part of the Polymetal International group. Sever Minerals has been cooperating with this customer since the company opened its branch in Kazakhstan. Recently, BMV was faced with an ambitious task: installing two pumping stations in a quarry in order to pump groundwater from the bottom almost 200 metres upwards.
Experts from Sever Minerals created a fundamentally new and commercially viable engineering solution that made us stand out from our competitors. In the proposal, the specialists utilised both electric and diesel pumping stations, which is what the customer was looking for. The deal covered the full scope of the work, from design to the commissioning of the completed stations. The customer took on the responsibility of assembling the equipment, and Sever Minerals' servicing department ensured that the stations were fully ready for installation.
This project was unusual in the fact that from the very start the client requested an unconventional solution: diesel-driven equipment. For a basis, we opted to use Wilo water pumps, which have proved themselves well in various projects. Sever Minerals has provided a carefully tested solution in terms of process automation: the diesel pumping station can be moved quickly to a safe area during explosions, which take place every 2–3 hours, with no production losses, and then it can start pumping out the quarry water again. The mobile pumping stations are interconnected: unique engineering solutions give one station control over the other.
Each of the pumping stations has a head of 200 metres, ensuring an increase in performance up to 500 m3 per hour and covering a large area of 400 metres. The pumps previously installed at the quarry were Russian-made, and pumped only 183 m3 of quarry water per hour with a head of 383 metres.