Dowdens Pumping and Water Treatment have successfully designed, supplied, installed and commissioned a borehole pumping system to be used for dewatering Rio Tinto's Kestrel Coal Mine goaf (the cavity behind the longwall). Water was to be transferred to a nearby storage dam where it would be reused at the Coal Handling Preparation Plant.

Rio Tinto's project supply requirements included a bore pump, a rising column, a bore head, steel discharge pipe work, HDPE poly pipe to enable transfer to the storage dam, and all necessary associated valves, levels and flow monitoring equipment.

• Bore depth of 312m
• Required flow rate of 100L/sec
• Pleuger 5 stage borehole submersible pump - complete with 500kW 3000v motor
• Operating duty of 100L/sec @ 345m TDH
• 200NB (Nominal Bore) flanged rising column - all fabricated in house at Dowdens Pumping and Water Treatment's Mackay workshop
• Submersible pressure transducer used for level monitoring
• 200NB surface discharge pipe work with isolation and air release valves - all fabricated in house at Dowdens Pumping and Water Treatment's Mackay workshop
• 280mm HDPE discharge poly pipe work from borehead to storage dam
• All design, fabrication, assembly and commissioning was undertaken by Dowdens Pumping and Water Treatment

Equipment Supplied by Rio Tinto:

• Electrical cable and controls