Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth from an orebody, lode, vein, seam, reef or placer deposits which forms the mineralized package of economic interest to the miner.
Mining is required to obtain any material that cannot be grown through agricultural processes, or created artificially in a laboratory or factory.
Mining processes are usually different depending on the mineral, as well as the location of the mines.
- Extraction:
Copper, iron ore, nickel, bauxite, gold,… are extracted from different reserves all over the world. - Pump Extraction:
Pump stations are usually located near the mines and are composed by; slurry storage tanks, slurry pumps and slurry valves:- Slurry Storage Tanks: These tanks are used to agitate and/or store the slurry extracted in the mine.
- Slurry Pumps: These pumps are used to increase the pressure of liquid and solid particle mixture.
- Slurry Valves: Together with the pumps, we can find slurry valves such us severe service ball valves and slurry check valves at the pump station.
- Slurry Pipeline:
The slurry pipelines are used to transport corrosive/abrasive and high concentrated slurry from the Pump station to the Terminal Station or to the Refinery.
Slurry composition: The slurry composition is usually water mixed with:
- Iron ore
- Copper
- Bauxite
- Nickel, Gold, etc.
On the other hand, fluid conditions are: high temperature, high pressure and corrosive & abrasive environment.
Taking into account these conditions, severe service ball valves are installed at slurry pipelines.
- Valve station:
Valve stations are usually located along the pipeline and are composed by severe service slurry valves. These valves are used to break the static pressure during pipeline shutdowns.
- Terminal Station:
Terminal stations are usually located near Seaports.
The slurry arrives from the pipeline and it is stored at the Terminal before being transported by sea. These terminal stations are usually composed by Slurry storage tanks, where severe service ball valves are installed.
- Refinery:
Slurry arrives from the pipeline and it is processed at the Refinery. Most common materials processed are: bauxite, nickel and copper. At refineries slurry angle valves and gate, globe & check valves are installed.
Currently we produce highly engineered valves mainly for copper, gold, iron, nickel, zinc, molybdenum and alumina refineries in a variety of special materials such as Duplex & Superduplex Steels, High alloys & Nickel based alloys, Martensitic & Heat Resistant Alloys, Austenitic Stainless Steels, as well as Carbon Steels and Medium and Low alloy steels.
The most demanded design constructions for mining are severe service ball valves, slurry check valves, sea water transportation gate valves and slurry angle valves. Moreover AMPO offers different types of coatings for parts depending on the size, pressure, operating temperature and material of the component, applied by different processes such as; Plating, HVOF and PTA (Plasma Transfer Arc Welding). Our advanced technologies and high productivity allows us to produce the entire range of Weld overlays (Tungsten Carbide, Chromium Carbide,…) on any kind of base materials in the shortest turnaround times using special materials.
Our control of casting, machining and coating technologies allows us to guarantee product final quality to the highest level demanded.
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