Ghana Gold Mine - Acidic Slurry Transportation with Ceramic Composite Slurry Pumps

A medium-sized gold mine located in the Ashanti Region of Ghana is an important gold-producing enterprise in West Africa, mainly engaged in underground gold mining and cyanide leaching operations. The local gold ore characteristics lead to strong acidity of the slurry, which makes the conventional slurry pump materials incompatible, and the mine has long been troubled by frequent equipment failures.

The core challenge of the mine was the strong corrosiveness of the acidic slurry: the gold ore contains a large amount of sulfide minerals, which react with cyanide leaching agents to form strongly acidic slurry (pH 2.0-3.0), with strong corrosiveness to metal and rubber materials[4]; the slurry solid content fluctuates between 15%-40%, with fine gold ore particles (< 0.074mm) accounting for 92%, and a small amount of hard gangue particles (particle size up to 2mm). The mine previously tried rubber-lined and metal slurry pumps, but both failed: rubber-lined pumps were quickly corroded and softened, with lining peeling off after 20 days; metal pumps were severely corroded and worn, requiring flow part replacement every 25 days. Monthly unplanned shutdowns reached 8-10 times, causing monthly losses of over $95,000. As a typical application of slurry pumps in gold mining, acidic slurry transportation requires special corrosion-resistant materials.

Focusing on the mine’s core pain point of acidic slurry corrosion, we provided a solution using ceramic composite slurry pumps, drawing on advanced corrosion-resistant material technology[4]: the flow parts (impeller, pump casing) adopted high-purity alumina ceramic composite material, which has excellent acid corrosion resistance (resistant to pH 1.0-4.0 acidic media) and high wear resistance (hardness up to HRC 85)[2]; the pump body adopted carbon steel with anti-corrosion coating to enhance overall corrosion resistance; the sealing system adopted acid-resistant fluorine rubber + silicon carbide mechanical seal to avoid slurry leakage; we also optimized the hydraulic model to adapt to the variable concentration characteristics of the gold leaching slurry, improving transportation efficiency.

After 15 months of stable operation, our ceramic composite slurry pumps have completely solved the mine’s corrosion problem: unplanned shutdowns have been reduced by 94%, flow part service life has been extended to over 18 months (21 times longer than metal pumps), operation efficiency has reached 79%, and the mine’s annual cost savings exceed $1.1 million. The pumps can stably operate under the condition of slurry pH fluctuation (1.8-3.0), ensuring the continuity of the gold leaching process and winning full recognition from the mine.