Boliden boosts sustainability and reliability at Garpenberg with Bredel hose pumps

As Boliden’s goal is to be the world’s most climate-friendly metal supplier, only the most reliable and efficient pumps will do for its mine sites.

At Boliden’s Garpenberg mine in Sweden, ores containing zinc, lead, silver, copper, and gold are extracted and processed as part of a highly efficient, cost-effective operation that minimizes environmental impact. Within this demanding environment, Bredel peristaltic hose pumps play a critical role in multiple applications.

The robust design of Bredel ensures reliable, low-maintenance performance in stable, high-pressure transfer of slurry and careful handling of polymer, helping Boliden maximize productivity while reducing downtime at its concentrator, tailings facility, and paste plant.

With some Bredel hose pumps at Garpenberg operating reliably for more than a decade, they provide long‑term sustainability benefits and operational efficiency that align perfectly with Boliden’s ambition to lead the industry in climate responsibility.

Boliden uses Bredel hose pumps at Garpenberg for:

• Handling thickener underflow for tailings and concentrated slurries (final product)
• Transferring concentrated slurry (thickened slurry) to feed a batch mixer and a continuous mixer
• Polymer transfer for mixing and dosing
• Chemical dosing and slurry sampling

Pumping high‑density thickener underflow in the concentrator

Bredel hose pumps in the concentrator at Garpenberg:

• Bredel 2100 – Thickener underflow, zinc concentrate. Density 2200 kg/m3; solids by weight ~75%.
• Bredel 80 – Thickener underflow, lead concentrate. Density 2800 kg/m3; solids by weight ~75%.
• Bredel 65 – Secondary thickening, zinc concentrate. Density is low; solids by weight is low.
• Bredel 40 – Thickener underflow, copper concentrate. Density 1400 kg/m3; solids by weight ~35%
• Bredel 32 – Polymer transport for thickeners
• Bredel 50 – Sampling pumps for flotation

Located at the concentrate transfer stage, Bredel hose pumps move high-density slurry against system heads of up to 31 meters, maintaining stable flow even when slurry density and composition fluctuate.

Three Bredel B2100 pumps transfer concentrated slurry and zinc concentrate to both a batch mixer and a continuous mixer, maintaining reliable flow under demanding system head conditions. In these applications, hose pumps deliver the most economical and sustainable balance of performance, wear life and maintenance.

Bredel hose pumps move slurries denser than tailings underflow to filter press tanks in zinc, lead, and copper concentrators. Without the need for seal water and slurry dilution, Bredel hose pumps can help save process water and increase effective filtration capacity by as much as 75%.

Wilfried Staijen, Mining Sector Specialist, said: “The big advantage Bredel hose pumps have over centrifugal pumps for transferring underflow slurries is the high solid content they can handle and their robustness against slurry composition changes. Centrifugal pumps only offer a narrow window of efficiency strongly related to the solids mass concentration of the slurry, and are limited to slurries with solids content of <40%m, often lower, which means operators must add water to dilute the thickener underflow. That water then needs to be taken out later.

“The Bredel pump is ideal for thickener underflow at Boliden Garpenberg because it delivers constant, easily controlled flow, combines exceptional robustness and long hose life with simple maintenance, and eliminates the need for ancillary equipment that could fail or clog.”

Bredel 50 pumps manage sampling slurry through analyzers. Discharge lines can be long, and the suction conditions vary from ideal to challenging, so the suction lift capabilities up to 9.5 meters of self-priming Bredel hose pumps is important.

Bredel 50 pumps deliver the required volume and stable flow despite changes in slurry density. Under challenging suction and discharge conditions, they maintain a consistent slurry feed without needing ancillary equipment and without line blockages that could disrupt analyzer operation. As Bredel hose pumps are reversible, this allows safe clearing of blockages to reduce maintenance downtime and prevent production losses.

Polymer transfer in the tailings facility

Bredel hose pumps in the tailings facility: 

• Bredel 32 – Polymer transport for thickened tailings

The low-shear gentle pumping of Bredel hose pumps protects polymer integrity to keep it functional, whereas whereas other pump types could destroy some of the polymer chains and disrupt the process.

With a ±1% metering accuracy, Bredel prevents costly dosing errors. Their enclosed pump housing also contains any product in the event of a hose failure, eliminating messy spills of polymer and ensuring safer operation.

High‑density thickener underflow and polymer dosing in the paste plant

Bredel hose pumps in the paste plant:

• Bredel 2100 – Thickener underflow to the batch mixer and the continuous mixer. Density 1800 kg/m3, solids by weight ~68%
• Bredel 20 – Polymer dosing

Smaller Bredel 20 pumps handle polymer dosing with precision and containment, after replacing higher maintenance progressive cavity pumps.

Boliden also benefits from the high accuracy of Bredel NR Metering hoses and has also achieved lower operating costs thanks to improved hose service life compared with the previous set up. Bredel hose pumps only have one wear part, the hose, which can be replaced in minutes without specialist tools or training. This increases uptime and reliability, and reduces maintenance costs.

Technical support

Bredel provides Boliden with expert technical support to ensure smooth operations at Garpenberg.

Wilfried Staijen, Mining Sector Specialist, added: “Our technical support for Boliden has focused on pump selection and configuration steps, helping to optimize pump speeds for ideal hose life and to avoid excessive discharge pressures or pulsation. We’ve also advised on pumphead and drive design to deliver a compact footprint that fits the site’s space constraints.”

Bredel enables reliable, high‑pressure slurry movement

From concentrate handling to flotation sampling and polymer dosing, Boliden uses a wide range of Bredel hose pumps for their high-pressure capability, abrasion resistance, and low-shear pumping action to ensure:

• Stable flow at high slurry densities
• Polymer integrity protection
• Low maintenance
• Consistent and stable process

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