Slurry valves for goldmine

London - Tyco Flow Control has designed and delivered a pneumatically operated cyclone distributor consisting of 18 Clarkson KGD slurry valves to a goldmine in Western Australia.

To install the Clarkson valves the customer’s cyclone distributor was removed from the mine and taken to Tyco Flow Control’s Kalgoorlie workshop where the job was completed.

The valves were also customised to enable them to fit into a compact area but the modular design of Clarkson valves made this a relatively fast and reliable process.

The trial valves underwent preventative maintenance during their year and a half in operation but the seats, once removed, were found to have significant life left in them.

KGD Mark III sleeves are designed for slurry service and their new face and seal profile allows easy installation and suitability for any pipe style without use of gaskets.

Whether closed or open the sleeve assembly provides positive sealing action protecting the metals parts from the flowing slurry.

The unobstructed port area of the KGD provides the maximum flow.

The application at the gold mine is a testing one with the cyclone located in the grinding circuit of the processing plant where it separates larger particles of ore from smaller particles and returns them for grinding.

Smaller particles move on to the next stage of the process where they are leached to extract their precious contents.

The valves’ suitability for the application was initially demonstrated by a trial installation of two KGD valves that functioned correctly for more than a year and a half.