Roy Hill Masters High Pressure, Abrasive Pipeline Challenges

Pressure & abrasion challenges

Roy Hill’s previous tailings pipelines used HDPE-lined pipe. This worked fine for the shorter pipelines at low pressure, but the project team knew it wouldn’t be durable enough for the future requirements of their tailings network. The new pipeline needed to handle:

Highly abrasive slurry
Iron ore slurry is severely abrasive on pipes. They wanted to avoid premature failure of the piping. Because they were already using HDPE-lined pipe, they understood the wear rate and were concerned that it wouldn’t be durable enough for a longer, higher pressure pipeline.

Long distance
Longer pipelines are a large investment. To reduce the capital expense, they wanted to review all the lined pipe options available.

High pressure
Because the new pit was further away from the plant, the pipeline needed to safely handle the increased pumping demands.

Our recommendations

1.  More durable wear liner for abrasive slurry
The Zulu 6 team were concerned HDPE-lined pipe would wear prematurely. We reviewed and agreed it wouldn’t be durable enough for the high pressure, abrasive conditions. That’s because when HDPE is used in high pressure conditions, there is an increased risk that entire sections of the lining will detach and collapse. It also wears quickly in iron ore slurry applications.

The team decided polyurethane lined pipe was a better option. But not all polyurethane liners are equal. If the wrong formulation is used or the liner isn’t bonded properly, the liner delaminates from the substrate. Once the slurry leaks through to the steel pipe, it shortens the pipeline’s lifespan and causes massive maintenance problems.

That’s why we recommended Abrasiguard slurry piping. The liner is spun cast and chemically adhered to the steel substrate, so it won’t debond and peel. It has far better wear performance than HDPE due to its excellent abrasion resistance and is successfully used at other sites for low maintenance, reliable tailings transport.

3. A mix of flexible and rigid piping
To reduce maintenance work and provide a more reliable system overall, we suggested a piping system of rigid Abrasiguard on the straight geometries, and flexible Slurryflex mining hose on the bends.

Using a system of rigid and flexible piping means they get the extended wear life of polyurethane-lined pipe, combined with the benefits of mining hose where there’s an angle or elevation change.

Mining hose has more tolerance to be stretched, compressed or flexed. This makes it easier to install. And it can absorb and dissipate impact better than a rigid steel spool—so it performs better where hard, fast slurry changes direction on bends.