Pumps producer KSB submitted the South Crofty tin mine undertaking into the Pump Trade Awards UK, with Cornish Metals. In March it was introduced the 2024 Venture of the 12 months winner.
The mine ceased manufacturing in 1998 and was allowed to flood to adit degree – circa. 60m from floor. Roughly 8 million cubic metres of water now must be eliminated to allow resumption of tin mining from the deepest ranges.
Two KSB BSX463/5 950kW borehole pumps had been bought to dewater the mine, every able to pumping as much as 525m³/hr from a most depth of 400m. Utilising Variable Pace Drives, each pumps have been put in to their preliminary first part depth of 365m. Dewatering began in November 2023.
The workings at South Crofty are virtually 900m deep, with the first entry, New Cooks Kitchen (NCK) Shaft, reaching 769m. NCK Shaft is the focus of the dewatering and is straight linked to the unique pump stations of the mine, with one at 350m from floor, and one other at 730m. The flexibility to put in the pumps and rising mains from the floor to dewater in a single part to the primary pump station elevation, allows dewatering of the higher half of the mine with out the necessity to conventionally re-access the shaft.
Typical mine dewatering requires time-consuming set up/commissioning of a shaft winding system to facilitate pump set up sequentially deeper because the water ranges recede. The flexibility to put in and management the pumps completely from the floor upfront of any shaft refurbishment accelerates the dewatering significantly. This improves security by permitting the re-access works down the shaft to be carried out independently to the dewatering fee. Utilizing VSDs and the constructive head of water above the pumps, appreciable power is saved.
