Restoring the capacity of mining ponds

The Minas Gerais state in Brazil has one of the highest concentration of iron mines per square kilometer in the world. These mines, upon receiving the ore from the pits and processing it through the plant, produce a large quantity of solid waste (known as mine tailings) that is deposited in sedimentation ponds inside the processing plant. Once these mining ponds are filled with sediment, the latter must be transported to a larger embankment area for final disposal. This was the case of the mine, where the situation was reaching critical levels. One of the main concerns here, was keeping the costs at a minimum for the mine, so there should be as little steps in the process as possible.

A HY85 hydraulic pump was coupled to the arm of an excavator and powered using the auxiliary hydraulic lines in order to make an autonomous unit with no need for additional hydraulic power unit. The pump, once in operation was able to move such high concentrations of the tailings, that there was no need to dewater the pump mixture output. The material was directly loaded on trucks using the discharge pipeline. The trucks then carried the material to their final disposal area in a larger embankment off-site, a few kilometers away. This solution was as cost effective as possible and has provided the opportunity to Dragflow to equip other 2 excavators with hydraulic pump.