GIW® HVF Froth Pump Delivers Reliable Tailings Handling

 

At a well-recognized copper mine in New Mexico, a conventional flotation circuit helps process approximately 36,000 metric tons of ore per day to produce copper concentrate. As the circuit separates valuable minerals from waste material, it must continuously discharge tailings and move them toward the tailings dam.

These tailings present a pumping challenge. Additives and flocculants used during flotation introduce significant amounts of air bubbles into the slurry, creating frothy conditions that can interfere with pumping performance. Reliably handling this frothy material is critical to maintaining throughput and keeping the flotation circuit running.

The mine’s tailings discharge system previously relied on two competitor pumps operating at once to meet the required 3,000-gpm flow. The system was originally designed with one operating pump and one spare. However, neither pump could maintain the required throughput on its own, leaving the site without standby capacity.

The pumps also experienced higher-than-average wear and reliability issues and required maintenance approximately every two months. Because both pumps were needed to maintain process flow, taking either one offline for maintenance forced a complete shutdown of the flotation circuit, which reduced daily production tonnage.

During these outages, incoming tailings slurry continued to collect with no way to discharge from the tank. The tank would then overflow and frequently flood the main operating floor, leading to difficult maintenance conditions and additional downtime.

After a site evaluation, KSB GIW engineers identified significant air content in the tailings slurry as the primary limitation of the existing pumps and selected the GIW® HVF as the best solution.

The GIW® HVF was designed specifically to manage air entrained slurries in froth applications. Its innovative deaeration chamber actively clears air from the pumping process and provides an open path to the atmosphere, while its patented vented impeller design removes air from the impeller eye during operation. 

Two GIW® HVF 12x16-28 pumps were selected for the site. The installation required only minor piping rearrangements, and KSB GIW field engineers and account managers provided on-site support throughout installation and startup.

Since startup in July 2025, a single GIW® HVF has maintained the site’s full 3,000-gpm tailings slurry flow, allowing the second pump to remain on standby. This has restored the duty/standby arrangement originally intended for the system and given the customer greater operating flexibility. Pump maintenance no longer leads to flotation circuit shutdowns or to flooding that requires mobile pumps and additional labor to remove spilled tailings from the operating floor.

Wear performance has also improved significantly. While the previous pumps typically required maintenance every two months, the two GIW® HVF pumps have operated in an alternating configuration for one year without a major failure or component replacement. Current wear patterns indicate that each pump will achieve approximately one and a half years of service before part replacement is required.

The customer has responded positively to these results, and KSB GIW is now evaluating additional testing in other applications within the milling area.