The Glennies Creek longwall mine, owned by Consol Energy and Namoi Hunter, is able to pump coal-filled slurry onto its conveyor belts without flooding them by using a material separation system developed by local company Brain Industries. The mine was already using a Brain Mudskipper pump when it adopted the manufacturer's Mudskipper Sieve Bend (MSB) to separate water and solids prior to depositing the latter on its conveyor system.

Glennies Creek production manager Kel Gray said the mine had a problem pumping out swillies in roadways caused by the coal seam being in an “uphill” direction and water migrating out and gathering in undulations in the seam. “All of the water that was made in the panel ended on the transport roadway and the slurry was formed by vehicles going through it and dragging more and more material into the water,” he said.

"We tried pumping the slurry with a variety of pumps, including diaphram, centrifugal and hose pump, but they constantly blocked up. Because of its high water content, slurry pumped onto the conveyors made a real mess at transfer points and the angle of the main drift belt means we would get regular material run-backs resulting in major spills."

With the mine targeting a production rate of 2.5 million tonnes per annum by 2004, Gray said he didn't need time-consuming pump blockages and maintenance crews regularly shoveling coal back onto belts. “I knew from experience at the Gordonstone, now Kestral mine in Queensland's Bowen Basin, that the Mudskipper pump would solve our blockage problem,” he said.

“We just attach the Mudskipper's special suction strainer with the bubbler pipe, drop it into a swilly and leave it to pump away until it empties.

“The problem of flooding the belts was solved by Keith Hobbs of Brain Industries who designed the Mudskipper Sieve Bend for use in conjunction with the Mudskipper pump.”

It allowed Glennies Creek to discharge high-water-content slurry straight onto the conveyor belts without the usual problematic consequences, said Gray.

The MSB separates solids above 0.5mm size from the water and drops them onto the belt. “Dirty water” underflow is left to either gravity discharge or be pumped away to join the regular mine dewatering system, the risk of compromising it with solids being removed.

“The design needed to be portable and small enough to go through man doors in ventilation stoppings,” Gray said.

Brain's Hobbs said for its size the MSB was remarkably efficient and often saved having to set up long pump-out lines.

“It has no moving parts, is robustly constructed in stainless steel and has a replaceable ceramic liner in the manifold box, which can accept the large lumps and dynamic discharge from the Mudskipper pump. It can be mounted over a belt on a straddle frame or fixed to the roof by brackets,” he said.

Gray said Glennies Creek now had two Mudskipper pumps, both with MSBs, in one of its longwall development headings. “Mudskipper pumps have always been good, now with the MSB they are even better. They are a hell of an improvement on what we used before,” he said.

“Brain's solution for pumping slurry onto conveyor belts without flooding them is a real winner.”