www.PatersonCooke.

com

Long Distance Slurry

Pipelines
Robert Cooke

April 27, 2021

YPAC: Long Distance Slurry Pipelines – April 27, 2021

Presentation
Overview  Introduction
 Safety Share
 Slurry Pipelines vs Other Pipelines
 Slurry System Components
 Long Distance Slurry Pipeline Transport in the US
 Major Long Distance Slurry Pipelines
 Key Considerations
 Discussion

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 Introduction

Office
Project Dr Robert Cooke

• Employee owned • Civil Engineer with PhD in fluid mechanics

• 160+ staff members • Engineering career focused on slurry pipeline design
• Providing specialist engineering to the mining and tailings management systems
industry since 1991 • Lectures at various graduate level industry courses
• Focused on deeply understanding each client’s of slurry pipeline design and tailings
unique project requirements and then delivering an • Serves on several investment assurance and
appropriately engineered solution technical review panels for major mining companies
www.PatersonCooke.com

YPAC: Long Distance Slurry Pipelines – April 27, 2021

Safety Share

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 Slurry Pipelines vs Other Pipelines
 Differences  Similarities
 Slurry is mixture of solid particles and liquid:  Codes (B31.4)
• Minimum operating velocity  Diameters
• Maximum operating velocity  Materials and welding (API)
 Erosive  Internal liners
• Special pumps and valves  Pipeline construction
• Long radius bends (no miter bends)
 Controls and leak detection
• No intrusions into flow
 Corrosion (electrochemical and microbial)
 Maximum allowable slope
 Scale build-up
 Batch operation
 Pipeline integrity management
 Potential for blockage
 Design life

YPAC: Long Distance Slurry Pipelines – April 27, 2021

Slurry Pipeline System Components

System duty: Slurry properties:
 Tonnage and operating mode  Particle size, density and concentration
 Start and end points (inc. elevations)  Liquid phase properties
 Design life  Chemistry, temperature and rheology

Tank:
 Storage capacity Transport:
 Agitated?  Pressure pipe or launder
 Pipe material
M
 Buried, above ground pipeline or other? Energy dissipation?
 Long or short M
M  Topography
Discharge:
 Atmosphere
Booster pump station?  Pressurized
Energy source:
Tightline or pressure break?
 Gravity
 Centrifugal pumps
 Positive displacement pumps Instrumentation and control
System operability and maintenance

www.PatersonCooke.com

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 Slurry Storage

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Pump Stations

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 Pump Stations

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Pipelines

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 Choke Stations and Valve Stations

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Pipeline Pigging Facilities

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 SCADA and Communications

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Pipeline Leak Detection

Operations
Level 3 Management
Remote Consultant

Contego Leak Detection Server

User
Analysis Database Interface
Read / Write Web-browser
interface to LDS
Connection via OPC

SCADA
Client
SCADA
OPC Server

CompactLogix
CLX PLC PLC CLX PLC

PD Pump PD Pump
PT FT PT PT PT FT

Pipeline Pipeline
Sump

Head Pump Station Booster Pump Station Terminal

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 Long Distance Slurry Pipeline Transport in the US

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Long Distance Slurry Pipeline Transport in the US

 Consolidated Coal Slurry Pipeline
 The first major long distance slurry
pipeline transportation system
 110 miles from Cadiz to Cleveland, Ohio,
USA.
 10 inch pipeline
 1.5 Mt per year
 1.2 mm top size, 50% by mass coal slurry
 Operated from 1957 to 1964 (6 years of
operation)
 The railways reduced tariffs (from $ 3.47/ t
to $ 1.88 / t) and the system was
mothballed but kept in care &
maintenance

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 Long Distance Slurry Pipeline Transport in the US

President JF Kennedy, 1962

“Surely a continent so rich in minerals, so blessed with
water, and a society so replete with engineers and
scientists can make and must make the best possible
use of the bounty which nature and God have given us,
public and private, federal and local, cooperative and
corporate. We cannot prevent other people in this
country from developing their resources. We look
forward to the day when energy will flow where it is
needed. We cannot permit railroads to prevent coal
slurry pipelines from conveying the resources of our
mines …”
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Long Distance Slurry Pipeline Transport in the US

 Black Mesa Coal Slurry Pipeline
 273 miles from Black Mesa coal fields in
Arizona to the Mohave Power Station in
Nevada
 4.8 Mt per year via 18-inch pipeline
 1.2 mm top size, 50% by mass coal slurry
 Operated 1970 to 2007, employed 57
people
 99% availability

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 Long Distance Slurry Pipeline Transport in the US

President Carter, 1977

“I happen to believe in
competition, and we do not have
enough of it right now”
New York Times
July 30, 1982

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Major Long Distance Slurry Pipelines

Project Name Product Location Length (km) Diameter (inch) Throughput (Mtpy) Year
Consolidation Coal USA 174 10 1.3 1957
Rugby Limestone England 92 10 1.7 1964
Iron Concentrate
Savage River Tasmania 85 9 2.3 1967
(Magnetite)
Black Mesa Coal USA 439 18 4.8 1970
Freeport Copper Concentrate Indonesia 119 4/5/5 1.3 1972
KBI Copper Concentrate Turkey 64 6 1.0 1973
Peña Colorada Iron Concentrate Mexico 48 8/11 4.0 1974
Chongin Iron Concentrate North Korea 98 10 2.0 1976
Iron Concentrate
Samarco Brazil 398 20 12.0 1977
(Hematite)
Valep Phosphate Brazil 120.7 9 2.0 1978
Kudremukh Iron Concentrate India 71 18 7.5 1980
Iron Concentrate
La Perla-Hercules (Hematite & Mexico 85/295 8/14 4.5 1982
Magnetite)
Simplot Phosphate USA 138 9 1.9 1982
SF Phosphates Phosphate USA 153 10 2.9 1986
Copper/Molybdenum
OK Tedi Papua New Guinea 156 6 0.6 1987
Concentrate
Kennecott Copper Tailings USA 136 12-40 74.6 1987
Belovo-Novosibirsk Coal (CWM) Russia 262 21 3.0 1989
Escondida Copper Concentrate Chile 167 6&7 2.0 1990
Los Bronces Copper Ore Chile 52 20 11.4 1992
Weng Fu Phosphate China 45 9 2.0 1995
Para Pigmentos S.A. Kaolin Brazil 180 10 1.3 1996

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 Major Long Distance Slurry Pipelines
Project Name Product Location Length (km) Diameter (inch) Throughput (Mtpy) Year
Alumbrera Copper Concentrate Argentina 312 6 0.9 1997
Jian Shan Iron Concentrate China 105 9 2.0 1997
Collahausi Copper Concentrate Chile 203 7 1.0 1998
Los Pelambres Copper Concentrate Chile 120 7 1.1 1999
Century Project Lead-Zinc Concentrate Australia 303 12 0.9 1999
Copper-Zinc
Antamina Peru 302 8/10 1.5 2001
Concentrate
Imerys Rio Capim Caulim Kaolin Brazil 159 14 1.2 2002
Los Bronces – 1st
Copper Ore Chile 52 24 18.7 2004
Expansion
Los Pelambres Copper Tailings Chile 49 36 42.7 2004
Escondida Copper Concentrate Chile 167 9 2.0 2005
Essar Iron Concentrate India 268 14/16 7.0 2005
Collahuasi – 1st Expansion Copper Concentrate Chile 103 8 1.5 2006
Da Hong Shan Iron Concentrate China 171 9 2.3 2007
Mineracao Bauxita
Bauxite Ore Brazil 244 24 8.0-13.5 2007
Paragominas (MBP)
Compania Minera Pacifico Iron Concentrate
Chile 79 12 5.0 2007
(CMP) (Magnetite)
One Steel Whyalla Iron Concentrate Australia 60 9 2.0 2007
Iron Concentrate
Samarco – 2nd Pipeline Brazil 398 16/14 8.0 2008
(Hematite)
Bao Tou Iron Concentrate China 145 14 5.5 2010
Da Hong Shan – 1st
Iron Concentrate China 171 9 3.5 2010
Expansion
Ambatovy Nickel Laterite Ore Madagascar 208 24 7.0 2011

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Major Long Distance Slurry Pipelines

Project Name Product Location Length (km) Diameter (inch) Throughput (Mtpy) Year
BRPL Tanto-Jajpur Iron Concentrate India 217 13.25 4.0 2011
Esperanza HL Copper Concentrate Chile 160 5-7 0.9 2011
Essar – 2nd Pipeline Iron Concentrate India 253 20 12.0 2011
Los Bronces – 2nd
Copper Ore Chile 52 28 37.5 2011
Expansion
Los Pelambres –
Copper Tailings Chile 55 28 62.3 2011
Expansion
Pan Zhi Hua Baima (PZH) Iron Concentrate China 97 10.75 3.0 2012
Samarco – 3rd Pipeline Iron Concentrate Brazil 401 22/24 20.0 2013
Minas-Rio Iron Concentrate Brazil 528 24/26 24.5 2014
OCP Phosphate Morocco 187 36 35.0 2016
Quebrada Blanca Copper Concentrate Chile 165 8/6 1.5 2021
JSW, Joda – Paradeep Iron Conc. (Hematite) India 320 32 20 2023?
JSPL, Barbil - Angul Iron Conc. (Hematite) India 200 18 10 2023?

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 Key Considerations

 Existing infrastructure  Topography and right of way

 Single transport mode  Pipeline construction
 Water availability  Carbon footprint
 Slurry composition  Safety
 Production ramp-up  Environmental impact

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Carbon Footprint

290 to 580kt CO2/y 30 to 90kt CO2/y 20kt CO2/y

10 MTPA of iron concentrate over 200 km

Rail number depends on diesel vs electric, calculation based on Indian average
Trucking based on a 40 tonne truck with a 25 tonne load running empty for return trip

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 Safety

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Pipeline Safety

Manhattan Institute For Policy Research, No. 23 June 2013

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 Spills

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Summary
 Slurry pipelines efficiently and safely
transport materials over long distances with
minimal environment impact.
 Pipelines will increasingly be operated from
remote locations as controls and
communications improve.
 Improvements in pipeline leak detection
technology will more quickly detect and
locate the presence of leaks.

www.PatersonCooke.com

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 Thank you for your attention, any questions?

Robert Cooke

robert.cooke@patersoncooke.com

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