14/02/2016

Job Mateus

Mill Shut down and SAG Discharge pumps blockage

On Friday 12 February 2016 at around 22H00 on Afternoon Shift, the process
water pump 600-PP-736 failed due to a shaft that broke. A sudden loss of process
water flow to the grinding area was experienced, which eventually led to the
stoppage of the SAG Mill and blockage of the SAG Discharge pump 200-PP-165.
Below is the detailed sequence of events that led to the stoppage of the mill.
As indicated in Figure 1 below, at 22H16, the process water pump 600-PP-736
shaft broke, resulting in a sudden fall of flow of process water to the grinding
area.

Figure 1: Process Water Flow

An instruction was given for the grinding operator to go open the manual valves
of the standby process water pump 600-PP-737, in order of the acting Control
Room Operator to make the switch of the process water pumps. The grinding
operator then discovered a huge leakage of water at pressure relief line of the
standby process water pump. He then announced the unavailability of the
standby pump citing the huge leakage. In the meantime, the CRO was instructed
to stop feed to the mill as there is no water going into the mill as well as the SAG
Mill discharge pump box. The sudden loss of process water has resulted in the
sudden increase of slurry density, both in the mill and pump box. Figure 2 below
indicates the stoppage of feed to the mill at 22H22.

The conveyor was stopped however the SAG mill was left running to grind out
the dry ore in the mill. In the meantime, the SAG discharge pump lost flow due to
the sanded pump resulting from the high density slurry in the pump box. With a
known history of the SAG discharge pumps blocking, often a varied speed for the
pump can easily resolve the blockage problem. The speed for the pump was
varied as in most usual pump jam to try and get flow. After several attempts, it
was then decided to switch to a standby SAG discharge pump 200-PP-166.

Figure 2: SAG Feed Tonnage

The standby pump (200-PP-166) did not immediately give flow after start-up. The
speed was similarly varied to try and get flow however it took time before 200PP-166 developed flow. In the meantime the SAG discharge pump box was
overflowing since the SAG mill was still running. During this appalling moment, a
mill started showing signs of overload, as it can be seen in Figure 3 by the mill
bearing pressure of 6100 KPa. Therefore stopping the mill in that state due to the
pump box overflow was not an option. The standby process water pump 600-PP737 was started in its alarming state to assist in grinding out the mill and lower
the density inside the mill and pump box.
At 23H00, the mill started showing good signs that it is not overloaded and have
successfully grinded out as the bearing pressure read 5700 KPa. It was the
decided to stop the SAG mill to control the overflow of the SAG discharge pump
box.

Figure 3: SAG FE Bearing Pressure, Power and Torque

After several attempts to get the SAG Discharge pump 200-PP-166 running,
success was recorded at 23H04 when it started giving flow (See Figure 4). Figure
4 also indicates that the pump 200-PP-166 was actually partially blocked as it
continued running on Night Shift. The after-events of 200-PP-166 beyond 23H10
are unknown as it happens on Night Shift, considering that the plant was
eventually started up.

Figure 4: SAG Mill Discharge Flow

In Conclusion, the stoppage of the mill as well as the SAG discharge pump
blockage was mainly due to the sudden unavailability of process water to the
grinding. This was mainly caused by the process water pump that broke the shaft

and unavailability of the standby pump due to the barrel that seized. It is of
utmost importance to have all standby of critical equipment ready at all times.