I came across a great story of an Australian mining company that was looking to extend the life of its mine. The challenge was that the area where they wanted to expand mining operations was currently being used as a tailings storage facility (TSF).

Moving the TSF involved relocating 30 million cubic meters of tailings and necessitated modifications to the existing water management system to ensure efficient reclamation and water return, supporting ongoing operations. This project was estimated to extend the mine’s life by 10+ years at current production rates.

Relocating the tailings required severe service valve technology to handle the high volumes and high solids content in the abrasive tailings slurry. In some applications, valves were required to cycle 70 to 100 times per week, providing zero leakage shutoff in a system operating 24×7.

The mining operations team deployed more than 60 Clarkson™ Knife Gate Valves for this project, which were configured with various automated and manual actuation options. For the most demanding applications, the team selected the Clarkson KS1 Severe Service Knife Gate Valve – a Class 150 ASME-rated valve designed to handle challenging, high-pressure slurry applications. These valves performed critical isolation functions in pump stations and related pipelines.

Four of the Clarkson KS1 valves were automated with the Biffi™ ICON3000 electric actuator and operated up to 100 times per week in high-cycle, severe service slurry conditions. The local Emerson team provided commissioning support for the tailings relocation project. These knife gate valves continue to deliver zero-leakage isolation with no significant maintenance events in the 12 months following project commissioning and startup.

Check out the links above and other resources, including the Tailings Pipeline and Spigot Solutions and Tailings Pump Station Solutions sections on Emerson.com for more information on these rugged and reliable isolation valves for your most demanding applications.