Testimonials from our customers

Why PumpEng Pump Hire Works Best For Redpath

Alex Wheeler is the Project Manager for Redpath at a Queensland underground zinc and lead mine. In this interview, he discusses the switchover from buying mine dewatering pumps to using the PumpEng hire approach.

Can you describe your site there and your role?

The site is Dugald River. It is a large underground zinc and lead mine near Cloncurry. My role is Project Manager for Redpath, undertaking all the underground tunnelling work for the client.

In the past, you’ve purchased pumps or handled the servicing in-house or offsite, but recently you switched to the PumpEng hire model combined with The PumpEng Way of continuous improvement.

Correct.

What were the factors that led you to make that change?

The cost of buying the pumps outright was becoming increasingly hard to justify in order for us to get CapEx approval to continue purchasing them. We identified that the life we were getting from the pumps didn’t justify their outright purchase. We were intrigued by the idea of moving towards the rental option. It would reduce the onsite labour required to fix the pumps and our capital expenditure for the project.

Was the continuous improvement methodology a factor in your decision-making?

Yes. We engaged in a competitive tender process before we swapped over to PumpEng. The service we got from PumpEng was a big part of what we took into account. We liked a few of the improvements that PumpEng had come up with, like the JetGuard pumps and the full metal pump interior. This is a great help in dealing with our Fibercrete fibres that damage the pumps in underground sumps. They caused us issues in the past. The PumpEng full-metal wet end of the pump helped solve many of those problems. All these factors contributed to our decision to go for the PumpEng pump hire strategy.

Were there any other obstacles you had to overcome to take the hiring approach inside your business?

No, not particularly. The business was happy with the arrangement because the capital outlay for purchasing pumps was so high, especially on these big projects where we were required to run 30 and 40 pumps at a time. Hundreds of thousands of dollars are involved in buying that number of pumps outright. The business was happy to swap over to the hiring methodology.

Can you tell me what lessons have been learned from this hiring approach?

We’ve been very happy with receiving consistent monthly invoices with no surprises. We’re all on the understanding of the fair wear and tear policy. We’re only going to see large repair bills for willful damage and any damage caused by fibre entering the wrong pump. That’s been easy for us on site, having that consistency and knowing what we’ll be charged each month.

Were there any other advantages you weren’t expecting?

We get the guys to come out and audit the pumping infrastructure for us as well. They ensure that we’ve got the correct pumps where we need them and that the pumps we are using are fit for the purpose we’re using them. There’ll be more benefits that will come from that process in the short term.

What type of feedback are you getting from your team on the site about the pumps and their performance?

The feedback has been good. We’re getting good life out of the hire pumps, and it is valuable having that steady stream of pumps coming back to the site that we can use when we need them. It’s been really good. I know the maintenance team has been happy that they don’t have to maintain these pumps. The electricians are happy too. Being able to put them on a truck when they’re out of service is convenient. Then we receive a new one back to get things going again. That’s been handy. We are freeing up maintenance people who would usually spend their time repairing these pumps.

Do you have any plans to expand your hire fleet?

Yes, certainly. The business is moving towards this methodology of hiring a fleet of pumps over purchasing outright. I see it expanding using that approach.

If you’re talking to someone on another mine site who hadn’t tried this kind of dewatering pump hire approach, what would you say to them?

I’d definitely recommend trying out PumpEng’s pump hire. It’s certainly the more beneficial approach to managing your pumping fleet onsite.

More About: PumpEng Hire

Testimonial Link: Why PumpEng Pump Hire Works Best For Redpath

18 Mths & Still Going – JetGuard On Site

In this pump performance review, we speak with Scott Hansen, who is Maintenance Supervisor at Redpath’s Queensland operation.

Site Description

Q: How would you describe your operation?

A: We are operating an underground site which includes two underground mines and a batch plant.

Motivation for Change

Q: I believe that you decided to purchase a PumpEng JetGuard pump for a slurry pit. What motivated that trial?

A: I did a bit of research online. I came across the JetGuard pump and got in touch with PumpEng to get some quotes. We ended up putting in a 10kW JetGuard at the batch plant.

We’d been chewing through the pumps that we had in there because the fibres kept getting in them. That’s when we decided to replace them with a JetGuard.

Pump Performance

Q: The JetGuard pump was installed on-site in February 2020. Can you describe how that pump has performed over the past 18 month period?

A: Yes, we haven’t had to do anything to it in terms of service. We just winch it up every now and then to give it a bit of a clean-out.

Mean (net) Time Between Failure

Q: A PumpEng goal is to increase the Mean (net) Time Between Failure of dewatering pumps. Is that what you are seeing that has been achieved by using JetGuard?

A: Yes, for sure. It is a surprise because before, we were down there just about once a week digging out the sump and getting rid of the fibres. We’d be pulling up the pump, pulling it apart and stripping the bottom end down just so we could pump water. Putting the JetGuard in has eliminated that work. Now the only time we do any maintenance is when we do our electrical testing on the box. That’s when we pull it up, make sure it comes out, so we can give it a bit of a clean.

Fibre Management

Q: In the previous pumps, you were seeing a lot of evidence that it was the Shotcrete fibre that was causing the trouble. The evidence you are seeing is that the JetGuard is managing the Shotcrete fibre better. Is that correct?

A: Yes, it manages the Fibrecrete better. The fibre doesn’t block the pump up.

Future Plans

Q: Would you consider more JetGuards in future if the right sizes were available?

A: Yes. The size that we have been using is 20kW. Sometimes we’ll use 37kW, but mostly 20kW. We’ve also started using some 8 kW in a few places.

Data-Driven Constant Improvement

Q: PumpEng takes a constant improvement approach to pump performance by ongoing analysis of performance data and making quarterly adjustments to optimise pump performance. If more JetGuard pumps were on-site in the future, would that be of interest to you?

A: Yes. We’re not spraying as much Fibrecrete as we used to, but there is still a fair bit of the fibre around.

Benefits of Longer Pump Life

Q: Improvements in pump performance lead to a reduction in costs and resource demand. What is the area of saving most important to you?

Labour Saving

A: It was more to do with downtime and the labour involved. Every week I’d be sending someone down there to clean a pump out. That might take them four hours digging out the sump and that’s the minimum. It could even take six hours, and that’s every week. So definitely, labour-saving is important.

Safety Benefit

A: It also creates a hazard because you’ve got water on the floor in the batch plant.

Frees Up Crew for Preventative Maintenance

A: Having the JetGuard there has freed them up to do other jobs like preventative maintenance, which reduces breakdowns.

Less Worry About Breakdowns

Q: What was your thinking when you initially bought this pump?

A: We were hoping to be able to put in a pump and not have to worry too much. So that’s a green tick there. Initially, I got the Gold Star service package on it, and I haven’t had to get the pump serviced at all.

Value of Improved Pump Performance

Q: The PumpEng Way is about delivering value and increased profit by fewer disruptive maintenance events. From what you’re saying, that’s been achieved by this one pump.

A: Yes, that’s been achieved.

Crew Feedback

Q: Has the long life of this JetGuard pump been noticed by other members of your team?

A: Yes it has. The batch plant managers would have noticed it because they have to ring up and say the sump is overflowing and the pump is not working.

Good Day At Work

Q: PumpEng is trying to get people to have a good day at work by improving dewatering pump performance. Do you think longer pump performance contributes to better morale on-site?

A: Yes, for sure. It frees up time to put into other parts of the business. It’s good not having to constantly deal with the same pump problems.

Testimonial Link: 18 Mths & Still Going – JetGuard On Site

Pit N Portal & PumpEng Supporting Australian Mining

Zac Camilleri, Electrical Supervisor for Pit N Portal, discusses the performance of the PumpEng submersible range at a Queensland underground mine site and the standard of support from PumpEng Townsville branch.

Q. How would you describe this operation?

We are at a small underground lead and zinc mine located in north Queensland, about 40 kilometres northwest of Chillagoe.

Q. You’ve got the MetalVest 37kW submersible dewatering pumps on site now. Where do you use them, and how would you describe the operating environment?

We mainly use the pumps on our level sumps. Being up near Cairns, we’ve got a lot of groundwater underground, so the reliability and the head pressure of the dewatering pumps is very important to us. We are constantly working to get that water moving out of the mine. In terms of water quality, some of the levels are artesian type water. Down the decline, we are moving very filthy grainy type water that is full of silt.

Q. The Right Pump for the Job is a PumpEng goal in order to  increase the Mean (net) Time Between Failure. Can you describe your experience with the MetalVest 37kW pumps?

This is my first experience using PumpEng pumps. They are easily by far the most reliable I’ve used.

Q. How long are the pumps lasting in that environment compared with the pumps you had there in the past?

I’d say in the sumps; we’d be getting at least 30% longer than some of the other brands we’ve used in the past.

Q. Can you comment on the operating stamina you are seeing from MetalVest 37kW pumps dealing with this type of water?

They’ve been great. The miners usually destroy them before the pumps break down from the operating conditions. If we could keep the miners away from them, they’d last a lot longer. (Laughs)

Q. You’ve now had experience with a few different PumpEng pumps at your site. What feedback can you give about the pump range as a whole?

They are a range suitable for all different types of environments. You can use them anywhere. They’re good.

Q. What feedback are you getting from your team about the quality of the pumps?

All the electricians have commented that the PumpEng pumps seem to be lasting a lot longer than the dewatering pumps they’ve used on other sites. They are getting the same impression that I did.

Q. PumpEng wants to give people A Good Day At Work. What does that look like for you and your team now you are using MetalVest pumps on-site? How are things better?

The less time we have to get called down for a breakdown of pumps, the happier we are. Obviously, most of the time, the electrical departments on mines are always the smallest department. The more reliable the electrical equipment we have, the more we can get on with other priorities. Also, anything to do with electrical and water has a safety aspect to it. So the fewer breakdown events, the safer the site. From a safety perspective, it also helps that all the cables on PumpEng pumps are the correct type.

Q. I understand that your head office is in Kalgoorlie, and your contact network is Australia wide. Can you describe your experience of support you’ve been getting locally through the PumpEng support network?

Our support has come from the Townsville office, and it has been really good. A few times, we’ve hit water, and I’ve had to mobilise pumps on short notice, and they’ve always delivered.

What is the future in terms of pumps on this site?

As we develop further down, we’re going to require more of these pumps in the sumps. Our main focus is getting a decent mono station backbone to support those sump pumps.

If you were talking to someone who hasn’t tried out the PumpEng pumps what would your advice to them be?

I’d highly recommend them. There is general agreement here that these are some of the best submersible pumps that we’ve come across. Certainly the best I’ve come across, personally.

Testimonial Link: Pit N Portal & PumpEng Supporting Australian Mining

Review: New Pump Engineering Delivers Performance Improvements

Daniel Selwood is a Pump Manager at JTMEC Pty Ltd in Queensland. In his career, Daniel has worked with many different brands of dewatering pumps on Australian mine sites. In this interview, he discusses the performance and engineering of the new PumpEng dewatering pumps.

Q. I understand JTMEC is an Australian-owned company providing quality turn-key electrical services and products across the Asia-Pacific Region. What sort of clients do you service in this region?

We mostly deal directly with hard rock mining companies, including Newcrest, Redpath and PYBAR.

Q. I believe some of your clients are using the MetalVest 37kW submersible dewatering pumps. How do they use them, and can you describe the operating environment?

Generally, they’re used in high head applications with high water flow. They’re used in sumps to pump either to another sump or to a mono pump. These pumps handle the dirty water that you find in mining environments. This includes Shotcrete fibres and muddy sumps.

Q. What feedback are you getting about the PumpEng MetalVest 37kW pumps and the water quality they handle?

They handle poor water quality a lot better than the other pumps, and they also handle the rubbish and the mud. MetalVest uses hard iron and High Chrome parts, whereas most other mining pumps are cast alloy with rubber wear parts. When the rubber parts wear in other pumps, the performance goes down for that pump. In contrast with this previous wear standard, the PumpEng MetalVest 37kW pumps performance will stay up because of the materials used in the impeller.

Q. A PumpEng goal is to increase the Mean (net) Time Between Failure of dewatering pumps. Can you describe what your clients are saying about the MetalVest 37kW pumps?

Clients are saying that they handle the water better. The MetalVest pump performs for longer, and so these pumps reduce the man hours needed to maintain your system.

Q. You’ve been able to assess the performance of a number of different pump brands over the years. Can you describe the kind of improvement you are seeing in the PumpEng product relative to others?

I’ve worked on many different pump brands over the years. I’m seeing these PumpEng pumps lasting twice to three times longer. Not only are the pumps lasting longer, when they come back, less parts need replacing. We had a rental pump that was out for three months. When it came back, it only needed minor repairs before going back out again. This is a pretty dramatic change from what we’ve seen with other pumps in the past.

Q. What are the clients saying to you about the PumpEng pump performance?

There are a couple of clients who are definitely noticing. They’re pretty impressed. In one case, we hired out a PumpEng pump to a client. They were so impressed they instantly bought one and plan to buy another. This was just based on how long the pumps lasted in their sump. I’ve been working with mining pumps for a long, long time, and it’s a dramatic step forward in engineering and innovation.

Q. One of PumpEng’s goals is to create a good day at work for maintenance crews and managers. Longer pump life is going to save work and keep crews out of the water?

I definitely agree with that. I think that whenever you reduce that type of work on any mining site, it will be appreciated.

I think the PumpEng engineering department is exceeding themselves with their new products. Rather than just being happy with producing bulk parts and making bulk money, they’re trying to engineer a real solution to the problems we’ve been having with mining pumps underground, and they’ve made a difference.

Q. Can you describe your experience of the support you’ve been getting locally through the PumpEng Townsville office?

We’ve got a lot of work on at the moment, so I speak to the Townsville office every couple of days. They’ve been responsive and helpful. Just recently, we had an issue, and one of the engineers called me within a couple of hours and solved the problem.

Q. When you are talking to clients who haven’t tried out the PumpEng pumps, what do you say?

We’ve tried and tested them. We’ve had a lot of clients who are brand exclusive when it comes to pumps. Once they’ve tried the PumpEng brand, they are happy with the wear times and performance.

For years everyone has used the old brand of pumps because they got used to them. PumpEng listened to feedback and really worked on how these old pumps were failing. They’ve engineered an improved pump design that performs better and lasts longer. I think it is a very significant step forward and a useful innovation for Australian mining.

Testimonial Link: Review: New Pump Engineering Delivers Performance Improvements

Industry Link Expo Prize Delivers For Minterra

Tony Corkery is the Project Manager at Minterra Pty Ltd, which is part of Westgold Resources Limited. The company was last year’s Win-A-JetGuard pump prize winner, and then it was installed in November 2019. The site at Paddy’s Flat was chosen to be the test site for the new JetGuard pump.

The Australian-made JetGuard^® pump went straight into a sump that had an average pump life of between two days and three weeks. The performance of the new JetGuard pump led to a site-wide trial. Since then, the site has been highly engaged and committed to following our PumpEng Pump or Pocket recommendations and The PumpEng Way approach to adding value. 

In this interview, Tony tells the story of that JetGuard pump and how it led to that site-wide trial of PumpEng pumps. He discusses the impact of the changeover in terms of pump performance, reduction in maintenance costs, increased safety and improvements in production output.

I understand that the JetGuard prize pump went into a fairly tough sump burning through pumps from anywhere between two days to three weeks. Those pumps were replaced with a JetGuard pump that lasted six months before the first repair and is currently at 200 days of operation.
Yes. That is correct.

The Site

How do you describe your operation there?
The operation itself has varying ground throughout the mine. There’s a lot of talc, dust and sediment in the water. The other pumps just burn out in those conditions. The mine superintendent took me down the hole and showed me the JetGuard pump, and told me about its performance, and I was blown away. I was amazed by how long it had been there without being changed out, especially considering the water that’s gone in there. I thought, well if it works there, it should work everywhere else, and I actively pursued that initiative.

The JetGuard Pump

What else impressed you about JetGuard? 
I was impressed by how it keeps the sediment in solution with the jets. That helps keep all the mud and the build-up away from the pump. We had been getting a crust build-up around the grill of all the Flygt pumps that caused their frequent failure. In contrast, the JetGuard grill is always clean because the jets agitate the water to keep the build-up elements in solution and out of the sump.

Data-Driven Analysis

PumpEng has a data-driven analysis of pump performance. How has that been for you?
Performance-wise, it’s been phenomenal.

Site Inspections

PumpEng base its recommendations on the site inspection and the operating conditions. Have they helped clarify anything about your site and your needs there?
Yes, we’ve had the PumpEng people coming out to see us and giving us useful feedback. That has been brilliant. They have been working closely with us. The feedback and positive approach are excellent.

Constant Improvement

PumpEng takes a constant improvement approach to the pump performance. Using an ongoing analysis of the data, they make quarterly adjustments. Do you think this has improved your operation overall?
Yes, I definitely do.

Mean Time Between Failure

The goal is to increase the mean time between failure of de-watering pumps. What evidence have you seen that that’s been achieved across the site?
We are seeing close attention to monitoring and improving pump performance. We see a willingness to problem-solve and provide excellent service to achieve improvements. It’s really a working partnership.

Reducing Costs

Have you seen evidence that maintenance costs are reduced?
Maintenance-wise, yes. I have seen a significant change in regard to costs, especially when compared to their competition. I’ve noticed that when we have to repair a PumpEng pump, it’s more to do with damage to the pump or pump cables rather than a failure of the pump itself.

Could you roughly estimate what the cost reduction would be?
Between $20k and $50k over a quarter.

Safety Improvement

Fewer pump failures keep maintenance crews out of the water.  Is that a factor that is important for you?
Yes, it certainly is because the fewer pump failures minimise the number of times that crews have to go into that environment. If they’ve got to go in there five times, to change the pump out five times, that’s five times they’re exposed to risks. Whereas if they have to go there once every month to change a pump out because somebody has hit the cable, well that speaks for itself. You’ve minimised interaction with vehicles.

The flow-on effect is phenomenal. If a pump breaks down, let’s take the face pump, if that breaks down, (a) you’ve got to get it out around the jumbo, (b)  you’ve got water coming down the jumbo. So now you’ve got extra support that you’ve got to provide.  You could lose up to two, or three hours of production, and that’s in a good scenario, let alone in a bad scenario.

Improved Production

Can you give a rough guess in percentage terms of how changing over to PumpEng pumps has improved your production?
I’m guessing, but I’d say it would be at least 12% improvement in production. Maybe it could be as high as 20%.  In the grand scheme of things, it’s not just about gold coming out, and it’s time lost due to other things. The improvement in our operation is incredible.

The PumpEng Way is about delivering value and increased profit. From what you’re saying, that’s been achieved?
It has. Yes.

A Good Day At Work

What feedback are you getting from the crews on-site? PumpEng is trying to get people to have a good day at work. What are you hearing back?
My project engineer is extremely happy. He does all the figures. The superintendents, they’re the ones who convinced me to pursue this in the first place and suggested a PumpEng site-wide trial. They were extremely happy with the longevity of the sump pumps.

If someone got in touch with you and said they were thinking of trying the PumpEng pumps on their site, what would you say to them?
I’d say, what’s taken you so long? I’ve got the utmost respect for PumpEng. They come out onsite and follow up on the details.  Service and support have been really good. You can buy a Rolls Royce, but if you can’t get it serviced, you’re stuck, aren’t you? We are very pleased with the quality of the pumps, the service level, and the value increased pump performance represents for our business.

View: JetGuard Website

Testimonial Link: Industry Link Expo Prize Delivers For Minterra

Dewatering Pump Part Compatibility, Quality & Service

PumpEng has supplied dewatering pumps and parts to this WA gold mine over several years. In this site report, we speak about that experience and why some parts that may appear the same, can perform very differently in the field. We also speak with a Pump Fitter about the work environment and pump back-up service.

Underground Gold Mine

We’re a gold mine in Western Australia, an underground operation. We provide all of the underground mining services for the mine.

Preferred Pump Parts

Primarily we’ve got all of the parts set up with PumpEng, but every now and then our inventory team will review what we’ve got catalogued. They might select something different on the basis of cost. I don’t really get too much of a say in what we get to stock and what we don’t. But I can tell you that our pump crew definitely prefer the PumpEng parts.

We find that it’s always best to use the parts from PumpEng because they’re compatible and last longer.  We’ve actually had our pump crew ask us to stop buying from other companies because they prefer to use the PumpEng parts. They’re definitely a favourite with the crew.

No Compatibility Issues

Sometimes other suppliers will give us parts that are technically compatible with the kind of pump we use. We find that there are slight differences between the quality of PumpEng parts over those supplied by their competitors. Even though they appear to be only small differences, they end up being important ones.

Better Mechanical Seal Quality

I can give you an example relating to the 8-kilowatt or 20-kilowatt pump repair kits we buy from PumpEng. The mechanical seals in them are much better. They’re much easier to apply. They last a lot longer. This is why the pump crew always specifically request PumpEng parts when they’re putting orders through to us.

Better Customer Service

As a company, they are always looking at how to make the process a little bit easier for us.

PumpEng Have Our Back

I’d absolutely recommend PumpEng. We’ve been with them for several years, and I think that there’s a good reason for that. There are a lot of different suppliers out there on the market. I get lots of visits from them. They’re all coming in and trying to give me the old pitch and tell me their parts are cheaper, and their service is better. We stick with PumpEng because of the quality of pump parts and standard of service. If anything goes pear-shaped, we know that they’ve got our back.

It’s All To Do With Backup

This is an interview we talk with a recent Pump Fitter at this site. This discussion covers the pumps on-site, the pumping environment and his experience with backup and support for those pumps.

Dewatering

I’ve been working as a pump fitter. In that role, I was responsible for all the underground pumping equipment. We were running the 8 and 20-kilowatt pumps. PumpEng supplies the majority of the pumps on this site. There was other machinery or tooling that needed to be done for them in the underground work environment, like cable tensioners and diaphragm pumps.

Salty Water

It’s a tough environment for pumps because the water is very salty on the site. It is seven times saltier than seawater. The pumps are also sucking up mud or small rock particles with that water.

Pump Customer Service

I found the PumpEng customer service really good. Our PumpEng guy helped a lot.

Backup

If you are thinking of switching over to PumpEng I’d say, “It’s all to do with the backup. I think PumpEng supplied a good backup service. In general, everything is available, and they do their utmost to get parts to you when you need them. We have had a good experience working with them.”

Read more:

• PumpEng Dewatering Pumps

Testimonial Link: Dewatering Pump Part Compatibility, Quality & Service

Reducing Mine Dewatering Pump Replacement From 12 to 4 Per Year

The Pumps Manager for a large West Australian underground nickel mine discusses his experience changing over to use PumpEng Raptor pumps.

How would you describe your role?

I manage the underground dewatering pump systems used in our underground nickel mine.

What issues were you experiencing with your previous pump provider?

The previous supplier was charging me for hiring pumps even when they weren’t on-site because they were constantly breaking down. I was also being charged a ridiculous amount to get them repaired.

On top of that, there was a slow turnaround in getting repaired pumps back to us. That is why we decided to change over to PumpEng pumps.

Can you tell me how many pumps you’ve currently got there?

We are using forty PumpEng Raptor pumps underground and in all the sumps.

How would you describe their performance?

Excellent. These pumps are of higher quality, and they last longer. They are easier to clean out. The actual pump, impeller, and workings of the pump are easier to access. The electricians are very happy with the set-up of the electrical side of it. We see consistently good results with the pumps.

How would you describe the customer service you get from PumpEng?

They’ve done the right thing. They’ve looked after us very well.

Can you tell me what sort of feedback you are getting from your crew about these pumps?

The crew who put them in are very pleased. The pumps have run for three or four months at a time. Before that, we had to change the pumps every month.

It’s less rigorous for the crew to change them out and bring them up to the surface. The turnaround time from PumpEng is excellent.

What would you say to someone who is thinking of switching to PumpEng for their dewatering pumps?

I’m happy to recommend PumpEng and their Raptor pumps. We are a nickel mine, so we are hard on our pumps, and these do the job.

I’ve actually got other sites asking what we’re using and seeking a supplier recommendation. We are happy to recommend PumpEng to them.

Read more:

• • PumpEng Dewatering Pumps
  • The Business Case for Dewatering Pump Hire on Mine Sites

Testimonial Link: Reducing Mine Dewatering Pump Replacement From 12 to 4 Per Year

Increased Efficiency, Reduced Costs as Gold Mine Switches To Pump Hire

The Electrical Supervisor of a Western Australian underground gold mine discusses why they have chosen to hire, rather than buy, dewatering pumps and the efficiency gains for the business.

How do you describe your operation?

We are a small to medium-sized underground gold mine.

What were the problems you were having with your old pumps?

We started from scratch, so we bought our own pumps for this site. The company I was using then are no longer in business. As we’ve grown, we added more pumps into the system. The growing workload meant that it became easier to hire and exchange replacement pumps. This is because the turnaround time was quicker than trying to repair our own pumps on-site. It was clear to us that hiring was faster and more cost-effective.

Darwin is closer to your mine site than Perth. Why did you choose the Perth-based PumpEng instead of a Darwin supplier?

Repair wise, PumpEng provides a more consistent and reliable service than the Darwin setup I have used in the past. For hire pumps, it is better value by quite a bit, both in the short and long term.

How many pumps do you currently have?

We’ve currently got 31 pumps, 13 are PumpEng hire Raptor pumps, and 15 are our own pumps that PumpEng maintain for us. The pumps vary from 5kW to 37kW.

Where do you use them?

The pumps are installed in underground sumps and drill/face areas. The pumps are subject to harsh conditions. This means when you are taking them underground, they cop a hiding and external damage is inevitable. However, with the stainless steel components on the Raptor pumps and the all-metal MetalVest pumps, these risks are minimised.

The pumps are meant to pump water, but here, as in a lot of underground operations, they can be pumping a high degree of silt and fines at times. They have to handle a fair bit of wear and tear and do so admirably. They get used on multiple drill rigs, and they get moved around, which is where the bell design gives better stability.

How would you describe the PumpEng dewatering pump performance?

I’m very happy with what they do. From what I can see, their performance is as good as any made by the leading pump manufacturer.

How would you describe PumpEng customer service?

Very good. The cost and the service level I get from them are a lot better than what I’ve had from other suppliers.

What would you say to someone who’s thinking about switching to PumpEng for their dewatering pumps?

I’d definitely tell them to go for it. You’ll get better service, and you’ll cut your costs.

Read: The Business Case for Dewatering Pump Hire on Mine Sites

Testimonial Link: Increased Efficiency, Reduced Costs as Gold Mine Switches To Pump Hire

ScatPump Slashes Maintenance Costs for Brick Manufacturer

In this interview, the Maintenance Manager for an Australian brick manufacturer describes the efficiency gains in switching over to ScatPump for pumping wastewater in their wash bays.

Can you tell me about your operation?

We are an Australian company. We manufacture pavers, bricks, masonry, and stone blocks for residential and commercial use. I’m the Maintenance Manager working in our paver production plant.

What were the problems that you were having with your old pumps?

We had been using a pneumatic pump in a tough environment. Every week we’d have to recondition this pump and replace parts. It was really expensive to buy those spare parts for it. That’s why I decided to switch over to ScatPump from PumpEng. That’s been a really good decision for us.

How would you describe the performance of the PumpEng pumps?

The PumpEng pump lasted five to six months in our system before it needed maintenance. That is a big change from the weekly maintenance events for the pneumatic pumps costing us $400 every time.

When we finally had the ScatPump maintained, after around six months, it cost us between $600 – $700. That is a huge saving from the weekly maintenance bill we’d had to pay up until then. As well as that, we are saving time and human resources because there are less pump failures and replacements that we have to manage.

How many pumps do you have there?

I now have two ScatPumps in operation.

Can you describe where you use them?

We use them in our wash bay because we have a washed product and an unwashed product. The pumps are in use for our washed product wash bay.

How would you describe the customer service from PumpEng?

The service he provides is consistently really good. Orders are delivered on time.

What would you say to someone who is switching to PumpEng for their dewatering pumps?

I can recommend PumpEng, specifically their ScatPump, for anyone looking for a new pumping system. We’ve been pleased with pump performance, efficient customer service and the time and money we’ve been able to save by switching over to this new pumping system.

Read more:

• ScatPump Slurry Pump Specs
• PumpEng Dewatering Pumps

Testimonial Link: ScatPump Slashes Maintenance Costs for Brick Manufacturer

Smart ScatPump Mini Performs Well For Heavy Dewatering

Graeme Maxwell has worked as a drainage specialist for forty years, including running his own drainage business. For the last five years, he has been engaged by the City of Cockburn as a Leading Hand Drainer in charge of all drainage works in the Shire. In this interview, Graeme describes his experience deploying PumpEng ScatPump submersible Slurry Pumps.

What were the problems you were having with your old pumps?

The impellers were chewing up all the time. They just weren’t suitable for the work conditions. We couldn’t get the suction we wanted.

Why did you decide to try the PumpEng pumps?

My supervisor thought it’d be wise to give PumpEng a go. I’m very glad that he did.

You’re using the Smart ScatPump Mini pumps. How many do you currently have?

We have two currently, one has a four-inch discharge, and the other one has a three-inch discharge.

Where do you use them?

They’re both being used in manholes which are constantly filling with water. These are located in Atwell, a very low-lying area. The pumps are coping very well.

Could you describe their performance?

Testimonial Link: Smart ScatPump Mini Performs Well For Heavy Dewatering