Solutions in the Mining Industry
Applications in mining are challenging because, most of the time, mining facilities are located in harsh environments (high altitude, high or low temperatures, acid mist, etc). Additionally, mining processes handle corrosive fluid, such as sulfuric acid. Asahi/America’s thermoplastic valves, actuators and piping system products have performed under these difficult conditions for more than four decades in mines around the world.
Leaching is a hydrometallurgical process in which mineral is removed from the ore dripping chemicals into the ore pad (in copper leaching the chemical used is sulfuric acid, in gold leaching the chemical used is cyanide, for example). In order to add the chemical to ore, a network of thermoplastic piping and dripping systems or sprinklers are spread over the stockpile. Depending of the size of the pad, hundreds of ball and butterfly valves will be needed in order to operate the irrigation system.
Product Solutions:
- Type-57P Butterfly Valves
- Type-21 Ball Valves
- Type-15 Diaphragm Valves
- Electric & Pnuematic Actuators
- QM Remote Cycle®
- Chem Proline® PE Single Wall Piping System
In heap a leach application, there are several ponds at different stages of the process; these ponds collect fluids that must be transported to different parts/process of the plant. As an example, PLS (Pregnant Leach Solution) is the solution that is charged with the mineral of interest. This solution is collected in a pond and then transported to the extraction facilities (EW-SX plant in copper process). This transportation system uses large diameter thermoplastic pipe.
Product Solutions:
- Type-75 Butterfly Valves
- PDCPD Butterfly Valves
Solvent Extraction (SX) and Electrowinning (EW) is a two-stage metallurgical process. In the solvent extraction plant, the PLS is purified and concentrated through chemical process. In the electrowinning process, the copper is extracted from the solvent in order to produce copper cathodes.
Product Solutions:
- Type-21 Ball Valves
- Type-14 Diaphragm Valves
- Globe Valves
- Electric & Pneumatic Actuators
