Beaver Process Equipment

Beaver Process Equipment We help you select the right pipes, hoses, and valves so you can get the job done right, first time. http://www.beaverprocess.com.au/

Whether you're an engineer, fitter, planner, or maintenance super, we're here to help. So you can make good decisions and choose the right products to design, build, run, and maintain the plants and pipelines that drive our economy.

Early this year, the maintenance super at Carosue Dam called us to help solve an issue with his plant’s impingement box ...
11/07/2023

Early this year, the maintenance super at Carosue Dam called us to help solve an issue with his plant’s impingement box feed line piping. This area is known for being a high-wear zone in gold plants and he described it as “the main problem in the plant.” ⚠️

When we heard this, we thought we’d better take a closer look. 🔎

On the site visit, we could see why the spools were causing problems. Only lasting 2.5 weeks before leaks began, the maintenance crew were constantly bandaging the spools.

They’d tried rubber-lined pipe in the past without any success, then were using a cheap ceramic-lined steel pipe.

The two main problems were:
1. Rigid steel elbows – When hard, fast slurry impacted the elbow, it couldn’t absorb the impact. The ceramic liner was taking a beating.

2. Internal lining design – The ceramic liner had a built-in ‘rock ledge,’ basically ridges in the lining. As slurry hit the ridges, it became turbulent, and snapped pieces off the liner.

We recommended they redesign the line to better handle the fast, abrasive slurry.

Slurryflex CLX ceramic-lined mining hose was the ideal choice. Being made of rubber, mining hose absorbs and dissipates impact from particles when slurry changes direction on the bends, and it has a smooth internal liner.

They chose ceramic tiles embedded over a 45° arc for more durability where slurry impacts the hose wall the hardest.

For the straight spool, they opted for Abrasiguard polymer-lined pipe because its wear liner is smooth and durable to withstand the rough sliding ore.

The photo on the left shows the old spools leaking and heavily bandaged. On the right, the new Abrasiguard and Slurryflex piping system is installed.

We’re continuing to work with Carosue Dam to make other reliability improvements, and we look forward to seeing the results. 🔧

Say goodbye to fast-wearing HDPE overflows.In 2022, the engineers at Newcrest Telfer gold mine gave us a call to see if ...
04/07/2023

Say goodbye to fast-wearing HDPE overflows.

In 2022, the engineers at Newcrest Telfer gold mine gave us a call to see if we could help sort out fast wearing cyclone overflow piping.

They wondered if we could design something with less high-wear spots to handle the highly abrasive gold slurry.

We worked with them to design this one-piece 180° Slurryflex hose bend—custom built specifically for their plant.

This new 180° Slurryflex pre-formed mining hose bend means:
- No more HDPE welding
- More durable than HDPE
- Flexible and corrects pipe misalignment
- Absorbs mechanical impact/shock
- Easier to install as a single spool

Twelve months on, it’s outperformed HDPE and still going strong.

The team have now upgraded all the overflow piping with Slurryflex bends. It’s reduced maintenance costs and downtime at Telfer— and one less thing for the team to worry about.

We like simple reliability fixes that make a process plant more efficient. This one is so basic but ticks all the boxes ...
27/06/2023

We like simple reliability fixes that make a process plant more efficient. This one is so basic but ticks all the boxes ✔️ ✔️ ✔️:

- Longer wear life
- Reduced install time
- Improved safety
- Reduced inventory

This iron ore process plant was previously using two rubber-lined steel spools—a straight spool and a reducer—and a flexible coupling to connect the pump and adjoining pipework.

This set-up amplified pump vibration and caused the pipes to continually misalign and leak.

Slurry would build up underneath and make the plant floor slippery. 💧

The new arrangement uses a single Slurryflex CLX ceramic-lined mining hose reducer. It’s one piece instead of three.

Not only has it doubled the lifespan of the pipework around the pump, but it also:
1. Dampens the vibration
2. Handles abrasive slurry easily with ceramic tiles
3. Makes shutdowns and installation faster and easier

Our Brisbane team custom built the reducer to fit between the different pipe diameters, and then delivered it to site where it easily bolted into place. 🔧

The maintenance team can now comfortably make it to the next shutdown free from leaks and unscheduled repairs.

Slowing down is sometimes the best way to speed up. That’s what this maintenance team did to fix fast wearing piping in ...
21/06/2023

Slowing down is sometimes the best way to speed up. That’s what this maintenance team did to fix fast wearing piping in their processing plant.

The senior maintenance supervisor at the Pilgangoora lithium-tantalum mine was getting tired of dealing with blowouts every three weeks on one of the plant’s slurry lines.

He and his team were frustrated at how much this was pulling them away from other, more pressing maintenance.

We had a look and identified two major problems:

1. Fast, free-falling slurry was hitting bottom of the bend and holing out the outer ridge of the spool. That was causing the blowouts.
2. The line snaked through a structural cross brace so there was a slight elevation where the pipe went over the brace (see scan image below). That was leading to blockages. The team cleared this through a flushing port but it was an almost daily battle to keep the slurry moving.

We recommended they refine the layout of the piping geometry.

It would do two things:

1. ‘Slow down’ the slurry. A longer, smoother bend radius reduces the speed and wear on the bends.
2. Moving the pipe below the cross brace removed the elevation (the blue piping in the image). It would slow down blockages forming and drastically reduce the need to flush the line.

The supervisor decided to go ahead with the new design in Slurryflex CLX ceramic lined hose to further beef up the wear resistance.

It’s a small change that’s paid off two-fold.

He’s improved the wear life of the new line by at least 4x.

Plus, he found can ‘speed up’ the line by enlarging the bore to push more through the line. It’s further improved productivity at the plant.

Less downtime + improved performance = happy supervisor

We’re pleased to be working with Technology on the Endeavour Mining Ity gold mine ReCYN plant expansion project.The min...
19/06/2023

We’re pleased to be working with Technology on the Endeavour Mining Ity gold mine ReCYN plant expansion project.

The mine is commissioning a ReCyn process for its flagship gold mine in Côte d'Ivoire. It’s a groundbreaking optimisation process that captures free cyanide from plant tailings for recycling back through the leach circuit.

The process increases recoveries through the plant, reduces cyanide consumption and ensures compliant tailings water discharge. ✔️

We provided the entire manual valve and SPI packages for the project. Everything they need for commissioning and valves are tested, tagged and ready for installation.

We’re proud to work with GreenGold Technology on this innovative and exciting project. 👍

Predictable maintenance: A pipe dream or achievable? 👀-Back in 2020, the rubber-lined steel elbows in Mineral Resources’...
15/06/2023

Predictable maintenance: A pipe dream or achievable? 👀

-

Back in 2020, the rubber-lined steel elbows in Mineral Resources’ Mt Marion process plant would start leaking after only four weeks.

It was frustrating for the team to diagnose, maintain and eventually replace🤯.

Lithium is brutal on slurry piping. The sharp, coarse particles will destroy most rubber lined spools within months.

That’s why we recommended they change to ceramic-lined mining hose. In our experience, it’s the best option for long-lasting slurry piping in lithium plants.

The Mt Marion team decided to go one step further and add a wear monitor to the DN150 Slurryflex CLX bend. It allows them to easily check the remaining wear life and predict when they will need to replace it.

Instead of replacing every few weeks, they now get more than 12 months out of the Slurryflex CLX hose 🏅.

12x longer than rubber-lined steel.

Planned and predictable piping maintenance is exactly what they needed.

The Mt Marion team can now set and forget those high wear spots and focus on other maintenance problems.

If you know what works, stick to it.✔️That’s the strategy the engineering team have taken for the Robe Valley Sustaining...
13/06/2023

If you know what works, stick to it.✔️

That’s the strategy the engineering team have taken for the Robe Valley Sustaining (RVS) Tailings Storage Facility 8 at Mesa J.

They are dealing with some of the hardest, coarsest and thickest iron ore slurry in the world.

But they know what works.💡

In 2016, independent field testing by Rio Tinto identified Abrasiguard polyurethane-lined steel and ceramic-lined Slurryflex mining hose as the best choice for the tough application.

It’s why they selected it for the 7km Mesa A tailings pipeline.

And again for the 5km Mesa J pipeline.

Now, they’re using it for the 6.5km extension at Mesa J, set for commissioning in 2024.

It’s the same purpose-built specifications they used on their overland slurry pipeline. It's proven to stand up to the rigors of this extremely abrasive slurry. 💪

Our Brisbane piping team are now working hard to have it ready and on site ready for installation.

We’re proud to work with the team and see our Australian-made piping technology in this world-class tailings system. 🇦🇺🌏

The mechanical supervisor at First Quantum’s Kansanshi copper-gold mine was chasing the unicorn of slurry piping - “pipi...
23/02/2023

The mechanical supervisor at First Quantum’s Kansanshi copper-gold mine was chasing the unicorn of slurry piping - “piping with longer life, easier installation, and easier removal."

He was frustrated that the ceramic-lined steel pipes on their high-wear slurry lines were holing out and failing every six to nine months.

The process to remove and replace the DN600 pipes was arduous due to the size and location of the line. Each time they failed, the downtime cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost production.

There’s no ‘give’ with ceramic-lined steel pipe. There’s no tolerance for incorrect measurements. If there’s any misalignment during installation or in the tile liner, the slurry works its way under the tiles and holes out the steel substrate.

That’s why we recommended an option with more flexibility. Mining hose can better absorb and dissipate impact from high-velocity particles. It also has greater tolerance for twisting, stretching, and bending into place to correct misalignment.

The supervisor decided to trial one side of the feed with our Australian-made Slurryflex CLX ceramic-lined mining hose against the lined steel pipe.

The results could not have been clearer.

Within months, the ceramic-lined piping had holed out and failed, while the Slurryflex CLX lasted more than two years.

That’s more than 4x the wear life.

It’s a big win for the supervisor and his team. He’s reduced costly downtime and put an end to constant bandaging and leaking pipes.

Let’s acknowledge good process plant design when we see it.Recently, Fortescue announced first ore through its new Iron ...
07/02/2023

Let’s acknowledge good process plant design when we see it.

Recently, Fortescue announced first ore through its new Iron Bridge magnetite plant in the Pilbara.

The new plant solves several design challenges using proven piping technologies.
You’ll see Slurryflex mining hose everywhere in the plant. That’s because more than 700 Slurryflex hoses were installed.

FMG needed a flexible mining hose to cope with significant thermal movement from the HDPE gravity launder pipe—up to 420mm of movement in operation.

The engineers at Hatch, who designed the piping system, said rigid pipe was an automatic ‘no’ because it wasn’t flexible enough. And most hoses they looked at weren’t suitable because they kink.

That’s why all the hoses on the new plant are SF-Series Superflex—it’s the only hard wall slurry hose available that can reach a bend radius of 4-7D.

And it will withstand severe wear from the coarse, sharp iron ore slurry.

We built 702 hoses for the project—more than 8,000 hours work. It’s a great feeling to see them installed and performing well now the plant is operational.

Iron Bridge will deliver 22 million tonnes per annum of high grade 67% Fe magnetite concentrate. We’re pleased to help Fortescue enter the high iron ore grade market segment while also increasing annual production and shipping capacity.

Slurry pump piping can be the ‘problem child’ in the plant. Creating havoc and in constant need of attention.That was th...
07/02/2023

Slurry pump piping can be the ‘problem child’ in the plant. Creating havoc and in constant need of attention.

That was the case at this mine site in Western Australia when they asked us for help in 2020. But a simple upgrade has reduced maintenance (and stress) for the team.

And increased the wear life by 6x.

The existing pump tailings spools were ceramic-lined steel, but were only lasting 3 months. They’d felt confident choosing ceramic-lined steel for this application because it’s known for being durable with abrasive slurry.

What was the problem? It wasn’t the ceramic lining, rather, the issue was having a rigid steel spool around a turbulent vibrating slurry pump.

Vibration from the pump would quickly cause the spool to misalign, leak, and fail long before it should. This was both time consuming and costly.

We recommended ceramic-lined mining hose reducers to solve the issue. Mining hose absorbs vibration, while the ceramic tile lining is durable enough to cope with abrasive particles.

We custom manufactured Slurryflex CLX ceramic-lined mining hose reducers to fit each slurry pump. The new hoses were installed in March 2021, and are still running today.

That’s more than 6x the wear life over the rigid ceramic-lined spools.

Now they ‘set and forget’ their slurry pump piping—a big win for their maintenance team.

If you work with slurry suction pumps, then this may interest you. At Tasiast gold mine in Mauritania, the plant mainten...
18/11/2022

If you work with slurry suction pumps, then this may interest you. At Tasiast gold mine in Mauritania, the plant maintenance superintendent was searching for ideas on how to improve a poorly-designed suction piping arrangement.

He was using a lined steel eccentric reducer, connected to an expansion joint and straight spool. But the expansion joint kept failing, creating ongoing maintenance issues for his team.

He wanted a spool arrangement that would be more fit for purpose. When we looked at the existing set-up, we knew right away that we could help solve the issues with a custom mining hose reducer.

This would eliminate the need for an expansion joint entirely. It would also perform better than a rigid spool by reducing vibration and noise from the pump, and reducing stress on the pump itself.

Our engineers worked with them to come up with a complete redesign (DN450 to DN350), including custom pump flanges on one end. Then we built them, complete with DN50 flushing ports, in our Brisbane factory.

The Tasiast team are eager to get them installed. Not only have they reduced inventory—but their new suction piping will now do the job it’s supposed to.

The maintenance team at Sukari gold mine in Egypt are always looking for ways to make their process plant more efficient...
18/11/2022

The maintenance team at Sukari gold mine in Egypt are always looking for ways to make their process plant more efficient. We recently helped them solve a recurring problem along the first 70m of a tailings line.

When they got in touch with us, their HDPE tailings line kept blowing out at the elbows and weld joints. They wanted to extend wear life from months to years.

They considered a design that used ceramic-lined pipe in 1.5m lengths, but this would’ve meant installing 80 spools over 70m. We recommended a design using 6m lengths of slurry piping.

By using longer lengths, they reduced their inventory from 80 to 18 spools, while also saving on flanges, installation costs, and labour.

The new Abrasiguard spools were custom made in our Brisbane facility with a 20mm high-performance polymer liner. We designed it to handle traces of cyanide, copper sulphate, and other diluted chemicals in the gold slurry, so it won’t need to be replaced for many years to come.

We also manufactured flexible Slurryflex mining hose bends to allow for easy installation.

We’re proud to see the new piping working well and are glad to help the Sukari team create long-term value in their plant.

Address

193 Beechboro Road S
North Perth, WA
6062

Opening Hours

Monday 7:30pm - 5pm
Tuesday 7:30pm - 5pm
Wednesday 7:30pm - 5pm
Thursday 7:30pm - 5pm
Friday 7:30pm - 5pm

Telephone

+611300295799

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