Downer EDI Mining [a division of Downer EDI Limited] has engaged Dowdens Pumping & Water Treatment [Brisbane] to design, manufacture, install and commission a Heavy Vehicle Wash Bay and associated plant treatment equipment at the Meandu Coal Mine located in Tarong, South East Queensland.

Since January 2013 Downer EDI Mining has been providing mining services at Meandu Mine as part of their long-term rolling contract with TEC Coal Pty Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Stanwell Corporation Limited. Downer provides a total mine service to TEC Coal, including mine management, planning, drilling, overburden removal (including dragline and truck-and-shovel operations), coal mining, coal processing, rehabilitation, and maintenance of mobile and fixed plant.

Downer EDI's Heavy Vehicle Wash Bay project tender was won primarily due to Dowdens ability to expertly design / manufacture / install and commission specialised equipment, built in-house & onsite to meet our specific client's unique requirements. With a history of successful installations over the past 15 years within the Queensland Mining Sector, Dowdens is Queensland's premier pumping & water treatment organisation.

Downer's project brief to Dowdens Brisbane was for the design / manufacture / installation and commissioning of a Heavy Vehicle Wash Bay capable of processing a minimum of 5 vehicles per day, with each vehicle taking approximately 1 hour to wash. Meandu Mine required this new Heavy Vehicle Wash Bay to be constructed after the mine had recently purchased a fleet of new generation trucks (KOMATSU 830E Trucks) which are considerably larger in size compared to their existing fleet.

To ensure Meandu Mine continued to meet their Environmental Discharge requirements Dowdens designed and incorporated 4x Settling Pits & 3x Oily Water Separators into the construction of the Heavy Vehicle Wash Bay. In Queensland it is a legal requirement for mine sites to treat (separate) any sludge or oil from any waste water coming from a Heavy Vehicle Wash Bay.

Pictured below you can see the 4x large Settling Pits (empty) that are used to catch / store (via gravity feed) waste water from the Wash Pad area. The waste water generally contains some grease, oil, coal fine and soil (mud). The coal fine, mud and other solid particles washed off the trucks is allowed to settle to the bottom of the Settling Pits - the pits are then intermittently emptied by a Bobcat excavator.

The waste water (still containing grease and oil) is pumped from the Settling Pits via progressive cavity pumps into 3 individual 'Oily Water Separators' to remove the remaining contaminants. Once the waste water has been through this treatment stage it is pumped back into Meandu Mine's network of onsite holding dams to be used in other site extraction and processing applications.

Dowdens design philosophy for this project was: Cost Effectiveness - Current Best Practice - Ease of Installation - Simple Plant Operation - Plant Reliability & Reduced Maintenance.

Key Project System Components are listed below (click for component specs):

• 3x 47kL Poly Tanks for onsite Raw Water storage
• 1x Southern Cross 100x65-250 Cannon Pump
• 1x Grundfos 3kW Hose Reel Pump
• 8x 65mm Orion Sentinel Water Cannons
• 6x Heavy Duty Hose Reels
• 2x Foaming Units
• 1x 13.5kL Detergent Storage Poly Tank
• 1x 1kL Dilution Poly Tank

• 1x Grundfos 0.55kW Detergent Transfer Pump
• 4x Grundfos 7.5kW & Tsurumi 3kW Submersible Sump Pumps
• 2x Oily Water Seperators, Associated Pumps, Instrumentation & Control Board
• 1x Oily Water Hydrocyclone Seperator with Netzsch iFD-Stator® 2.0 Pump, Instrumentation & Control Board
• 1x Skimmer Pump
• 2x Control Panels
• Custom Built Associated Galvanised Pipework

Wesfarmers Resources, a significant Australian producer of metallurgical coal engaged Dowdens Pumping & Water Treatment's Industrial Workshop [Mackay branch] to deliver fast-turnaround servicing to a large selection of DAVEY Water Products Vertical Multistage In-Line Pumps [pictured below] that are used onsite at their Curragh Coal Mine, located 30km north of Blackwater in Central Queensland. This servicing project presented a number of challenges for the Dowdens Mackay Industrial Workshop, none more important than the tight timelines in which these repairs needed to be completed.

These DAVEY Vertical Multistage In-Line Pumps play a crucial role in the operation of the mine as they are used in various dewatering applications and also to boost supply of water to all of Curragh Coal Mine's various processing areas - including the vitally important Coal Handling & Preparation Plant (CHPP). Wesfarmers are supremely confident in having their pumps serviced by Dowdens Pumping, because after many years of working together they know Dowdens always aim to provide the sale / service of suitable pumps that maximise service life and minimise power usage and downtime. Improving levels of equipment utilisation whilst reducing planned / unplanned maintenance downtime increases the overall productivity of a coal mine.

Wesfarmers Curragh Coal Mine is an open-cut coal mine that provides metallurgical coal for export markets and supplies steaming coal to the Queensland Government's Stanwell Corporation under a long-term contract. Stanwell operate two major electricity generation assets, the Stanwell Power Station located in Central Queensland and the Tarong Power Station, located in the South Burnett, Southern Queensland. Wesfarmers Curragh Coal Mine has a well-established and geographically diverse customer portfolio with a number of long-standing relationships with world-leading steel-makers.

Like with any pump that arrives to Dowdens Pumping - Mackay's Industrial or Domestic Workshop, these Davey VM Vertical Multistage In-Line Pumps were serviced using Dowdens established workshop repair procedures. It was these established procedures and highly regarded workmanship that prompted Wesfarmers Resources to award Dowdens this important servicing contract. Dowdens Pumping - Mackay are so confident in our Workshop Servicing Capabilities we offer a "12 MONTH WORKMANSHIP GUARANTEE" for any service completed in-house - this is by-far the best guarantee available in or around Mackay, QLD. All pumps were successfully serviced and returned to site within Wesfarmers specified deadlines, meaning less downtime for Curragh Mine's related water infrastructure.

A very brief synopsis of this projects Key SERVICING Procedures are listed below:

• Set up pump on work bench & preform suite of electrical tests on motor
• Remove motor from the pump wet end
• Once seperated, run the pump motor independently of pump wet end to establish & gauge motors efficiency
• Submit detailed quote to customer clearly illustrating what is required to repair motor/pump
• Once quote has been accepted immediately begin to repair motor/pump components

• Dismantle motor and replace worn bearings
• Dismantle wet end of pump - clean, strip & asses all components
• Repair and reassemble both motor and pump wet end
• Connect unit to the Dowdens 'Pump Test Bench' & check all pump curves/electrical operation is 100%
• Undertake final inspection before preparing pump for transportation back to Curragh Coal Mine

Since opening in Mackay back in 1973, Dowdens has grown to employ over 160 staff situated across 4 branches in Mackay, Proserpine, Rockhampton and Brisbane permitting us to confidently service customers throughout Queensland, nationally and internationally. Dowdens services now cover all aspects of water engineering and fluid handling resource management for the residential, commercial / industrial, agricultural and mining sectors. From project inception through to final commissioning - the team at Dowdens has the ability to deliver complete specialised long-term engineered solutions that are practical and innovative, ensuring our clients benefit from greater productivity and reduced downtime.

With dedicated departments of industry trained engineers, draftsmen, project managers, sales staff and tradespeople including fitters, mechanics, polywelders, machinists, plumbers, electricians and boiler makers - Dowdens Pumping & Water Treatment offer an unmatched range of world-class engineering solutions for any type of water management project. We truly are Queensland's premier one-stop-shop for pumping and water treatment systems! CLICK HERE TO LODGE AN ONLINE PUMP SERVICE REQUEST, OR REQUEST AN OBLIGATION FREE QUOTE.

Longreach Regional Council recently engaged Dowdens Pumping & Water Treatment's Mackay & Rockhampton branches to manufacture and install a specialised pool water treatment system for the Yaraka Community Pool in Yaraka (a small town in Central West Queensland located 220 kilometres south of Longreach).

This project began with Longreach Regional Council asking for tender submissions to fully upgrade the Yaraka's Pool onsite filtration & treatment systems. Dowdens Pumping & Water Treatment was successful in winning the tender thanks to our price competitiveness, delivery times and unique in-house fabrication capabilities. On hearing about the tender a representative from the Dowdens Rockhampton branch immediately attended the pool to properly assess and quote the job. It quickly became apparent that a specialised filtration system was needed due in part to the pools remote location (limiting the possibility of regular system servicing), and the extreme weather patterns (high temperatures, dust storms & limited / sporadic rainfall) experienced in Central QLD.

Dowdens then set about designing the new filtration system utilising inhouse Engineering, Workshop Fabrication & Mobile Pool Servicing Departments. The end result was a unique twin-filtration systems that was mounted onto a fabricated galvanised skid to aid in maneuverability, ease of installation & transportation. The skid base was fabricated specifically to fit the existing shed onsite.

Having all the system components plumbed up on a single sturdy base made installation easy as only the Pump Inlet, Pool Water Return and Wastewater Pipes needed to be connected and the system was ready to go. The skid comprised 2x Pool Glass Media Filters, 2x Pool Pumps and 2x Salt Water Chlorinators. The Salt Water Chlorinators are fully automated allowing for round the clock (controlled via sensors) pH and chlorine / acid dosing together with chlorine generation. This has drastically reduced the need for regular onsite water testing and manual chemical dosing at the community pool. On Dowdens recommendation Longreach Regional Council also purchased a Dolphin Robotic Pool Cleaner which has noticeably improved the pools cleanliness.

All design, manufacture, delivery and installation / commissioning was successfully completed by Dowdens well within Longreach Regional Council's delivery deadline of six weeks.

The Yaraka Community Pool is now clean and ready for summer. The new equipment Dowdens supplied has reduced the need for costly regular maintenance whilst improving the automation of the pools chlorine levels - keeping the pool sanitised and chemically balanced at all times is extremely important for any community pool. Dowdens Pumping & Water Treatment's design philosophy for this project was simple: Cost Effectiveness - Ease of Installation - Simple & Effective System Operation - System Reliability & Delivering Greatly Reduced Ongoing Maintenance Requirements.

Yaraka Community Pool Filtration System ~ Key System Features & Components:

Dowdens Pumping & Water Treatment [Mackay] have delivered yet another Soft Hose Travelling Irrigator to a local Sarina Sugarcane Farmer.

Harvey Matsen [pictured below] operates a 100ha sugarcane farm in Sarina. Due to the lack of rainfall during the 2014/15 growing season he decided to purchase a TRAILCO T-450-2 Soft Hose Travelling Irrigator to better manage the irrigation of his cane.

Wanting to purchase his new irrigator from a local business Harvey sought the services of the Dowdens Mackay Agricultural Sales Team - one of the most experienced Ag sales teams in Australia, with over 125 years of combined irrigation system design and operational experience between them. As a company that has built its foundation on the servicing and development of agricultural pumping systems, Dowdens Pumping & Water Treatment have the experience to engineer a solution to suit any agricultural application. For over 40 years Dowdens Pumping & Water Treatment have been selling & servicing irrigation products throughout Central & Northern Queensland - designing each and every system to improve farming efficiencies, reduce downtime and increase the longevity of pumps / irrigators.

Jeff Roberts from the Dowdens Mackay Agricultural Sales Team visited Harvey's farm on a number of occasions to investigate, design and then match an irrigator and irrigation plan to best suit the property. Taking into consideration the terrain, existing pump capabilities and source water availability Jeff suggested Harvey purchase a TRAILCO T-450-2 Soft Hose Travelling Irrigator with irrigation gun.

Harvey has access to pressurised irrigation water from the nearby Kinchant Dam. Located in Sarina near Kinchant Dam, meaning this farm has access to irrigation water coming via the Eton Water Supply Scheme. Kinchant Dam, situated near Mt Kinchant, 6kms southeast of Mirani, is the only major storage in the Eton Water Supply Scheme. It was constructed to capture runoff water from the small portion of the catchment of Sandy Creek and water pumped from the Pioneer River. Three water harvesting pump stations are located at Mirani Weir below the confluence of Cattle Creek and the Pioneer River, and divert water into an 8km diversion channel into Kinchant Dam. At farm door the dam feed water arrives at between 20 - 30psi. With the TRAILCO T-450-2 Soft Hose Travelling Irrigator needing a higher pressure to operate efficiently Dowdens utilised the farm's existing Power-Take-Off (PTO) Tractor driven booster pump, raising the feed water to over 70psi.

The T-450-2 is able to apply 50mm of water onto a 2ha area of cane whilst travelling along 300m of 4" soft hose - delivering 22.5L/sec @ 70psi. Together with flood irrigation (using the gravity fed Kinchant Dam feed water), an existing travelling irrigator and the new T-450-2 Harvey can now irrigate his property in half the time. In times of low rainfall when young cane is most vulnerable to dry soil conditions, Harvey can now irrigate his young cane faster ensuring they take root quicker and go on to deliver a better overall yield. The T-450-2 is an extremely efficient and reliable soft hose travelling irrigator - so much so it can easily pull Harvey's tractor towards it as it travels down the feed hose on an irrigating run [pictured below].

Anglo American have engaged Dowdens Pumping & Water Treatment's [Mackay] Engineering Department & Fabrication Workshop to rectify an issue with a new valve station installation that was experiencing water hammer, resulting in the longwall mining operation being suspended at their Grasstree Coal Mine, located at Middlemount in the centre of the Bowen Basin, QLD.

Underground mines require water management systems in place to manage working water that is utilised for production, dust suppression, hydraulic jacks etc. Mines employ various methods of underground water transportation systems including Longwall Boost Pump Stations & filtered water from the mine surface networks. The filtered water system is an important piece of infrastructure for underground coal mine providing clean water for dust suppression & feeding the powerful hydraulic piston pumps that are used to jack up the roof in the longwall mining process.

When water is fed into an underground mine it is received at a very high pressures due to the vertical drop to the mine workings. This pressure needs to be reduced & controlled to levels that can be safely managed in the underground operations. Dowdens Pumping & Water Treatment has provided Grasstree Coal Mine with several Pressure Reducing Valve Stations over the life of the mine, enabling reliable & trouble free operation.

Responding to the urgent help request from Grasstree Mine, Dowdens immediately travelled to site to undertake system 'fault finding' & begin planning the delivery of a timely & cost effective solution to the problem.

As a direct result of Dowdens Pumping & Water Treatment's long standing & responsive working relationship with Anglo American's Grasstree underground coal mine, the Dowdens Engineering Department was called on to assist with a new valve station installation that was experiencing water hammer resulting in the longwall mining operation being suspended. Dowdens Engineers attended the mine site & listened/observed the problems that were being experienced such as pressure surges & water hammer in the feed pipes leading to the longwall operation.

Dowdens Engineering Dept. designed & developed a Pressure Setting Spool sized specifically to meet the specific duty required. The spool was custom designed using engineered fluid mechanics to reduce the pressure before it entered the valve station, taking part of the load off the station. Pipe supports were also engineered to provide a secure installation of the station.

The timeline to find the solution & manufacture the components was very tight. Engineering - Concept Design - Drawings & In-House Fabrication of the unique Pressure Setting Spool Piece [with roof bolt anchoring points] were completed & delivered to Grasstree Mine within 5 days from the first site meeting! No other pumping / manufacturing / engineering firm in Queensland was able to deliver such an all-encompassing product solution in the above mentioned time-frame.

Dowdens design philosophy for this project was: Fast Turnaround - Cost Effectiveness - Ease of Installation - Simple Plant Operation - Plant Reliability & Reduced Maintenance.

The unique system required at Grasstree Coal Mine needed to address the following issues:

• Reduction of water pressure 'spikes'
• Surge control of high pressure water
• Provide system roof bolting anchoring points
• Secure range piping & bore column

Key Project Features:

• As filtered water flows vertically from the surface the pressure at the mine level can be several thousand kPa. Normal orifice or flow restrictors induce high velocities in a very short space with resulting cavitation & sonic sound which can erode the components & reduce their effect. Dowdens customised Pressure Setting Spool Piece dissipates the energies over a larger area resulting in lower component wear & longevity of the systems performance
• Water hammer was reduced & pressure fluctuations were controlled, allowing the valve station to operate at the flows & pressures for the specific location & duty
• Dowdens Pressure Setting Spool Piece has resulted in no more loss of coal production

Dowdens Pumping & Water Treatment [Mackay] have delivered yet another High Profile Soft Hose Boom Irrigator to a local Ilbilbie Sugarcane Farmer. Longtime Dowdens customer Brian Stevens operates a number of sugarcane farms in and around Ilbilbie, QLD. Due to lack of rainfall during the 2014/15 growing season, and a desire to lower his overall irrigation costs Brian decided to purchase a RAINSPAN SB2000 High Profile Soft Hose Boom Irrigator to better facilitate the irrigation of his cane.

Wanting to purchase his new irrigator from a dependable Queensland business Brian contacted the Dowdens Mackay Agricultural Sales Team - one of the most experienced Ag sales teams in Australia, with over 125 years of combined irrigation system design and operational experience between them. As a company that has built its foundation on the servicing and development of agricultural pumping systems, Dowdens Pumping & Water Treatment have the experience to engineer a solution to suit any agricultural application.

Jeff Roberts from the Dowdens Mackay Agricultural Sales Team visited Brian's farm on a number of occasions to investigate, design and then match an irrigator and irrigation plan to best suit the 121ha property. Taking into consideration the terrain, the farms location (near the coastline - a high wind region), existing pump capabilities and source water availability shortages Jeff suggested Brian purchase a RAINSPAN SB2000 93m High Profile Soft Hose Boom Irrigator.

Sugarcane farmer Brian Stevens had for some time wanted to shift away from high pressure irrigation at his Ilbilbie farm, this was due in part to the high coastal winds the property endures year round playing havoc with his irrigation sprinklers. High pressure irrigation was no longer viable for this particular farm as it equated to water was being blown off crop, Brian's associated pumps working hard to deliver high pressure source water to existing soft hose irrigators and excessive mains power being consumed to run said pumps.

Moving from high pressure sprinklers to a low pressure RAINSPAN SB 2000 Dowdens has been able to deliver Brian considerable savings with his overall irrigation costs. The RAINSPAN SB2000 only requires approximately half the pressure to run compared to the previous high pressure irrigators. This has seen between a 30% - 40% decrease in farm irrigation electricity costs.

The low pressure RAINSPAN SB2000 Boom is far less susceptible to high winds, meaning Brian now has the potential to irrigate day or night, regardless of wind conditions. Essentially doubling his irrigation potential each day (the previous high-pressure system needed to be shut down during high winds experienced each night).

The RAINSPAN SB2000 Boom was found to be between 15% - 25% more efficient with its water application uniformity and distribution compared to the previous high pressure sprinkler irrigators. Simply put, Brian can now irrigate his sugarcane in a more cost-effective manner, utilising the limited water available to him more efficiently.

The RAINSPAN SB2000 is an extremely efficient and reliable low pressure irrigator that when installed and operated correctly saves farmers water, energy, time and money whilst increasing overall farm yields.

Key RAINSPAN SB2000 Boom Irrigator features listed below:

• Nelson R3000 Rotator Sprinklers were fitted specially to suit the windy conditions, giving a large wetted footprint & better instantaneous application rate
• Pulls 300m x 4" Snap-Tite Irrigator Hose (Dowdens are the sole authorised Snap-Tite hose dealer in Mackay, Whitsundays & Rockhampton)
• Gearbox for smooth safe operation specifically designed for the Irrigator - the most efficient in the industry
• A 93m boom was fitted to the RAINSPAN SB2000 - to seamlessly fit with farms existing lane spacings
• New Generation Turbines that are the best in the industry
• Hydraulic Boom Slew & Speed Compensator
• Made in Australia

For well over 40 years Dowdens Pumping & Water Treatment have been selling & servicing irrigation products throughout Central & Northern Queensland - designing each and every system to improve farming efficiencies, reduce downtime and increase the longevity of pumps / irrigators. CONTACT US today and let us help improve your farms productivity while lowering your overall irrigation operating costs!