Allflo Pumps and Equipment tailors its heavy-duty pump solutions for Australian mines operating in the toughest conditions.
Allflo Pumps and Equipment business developer manager Lee Baker has worked across Australia’s mine sites for years.
Originally starting as a plumber 15 years ago in the Bowen Basin before transitioning into the Goldfields region, Baker soon became known in the industry as a go-to site resource for not just plumbing but poly welding, piping and pumping, and for this quickly developed an understanding of the intricacies of shifting fluids on a site.
After helping one of Western Australia’s largest gold mines drastically reduce its water intensity, Baker was told “if you can dewater this place, you can dewater anywhere”.
Baker has carried this accolade into his current role at Allflo, where he works to help other mines cut water consumption and achieve their sustainability goals.
“I’m heavily focused on the efficiency side of pumping,” Baker told Australian Mining.
“It’s key for me to hone in on the reality of what a site’s needs are – finding out their pipe size and friction losses, how they work out their total dynamic head. These are the kinds of things that paint a picture of a site and allow me to work with them to calculate exactly what they need, and how to make our solutions go further.
“Part of that is working with a site’s environmental team to determine where protected areas are and what kind of pump will be best suited to the environment.
“We’re not just a ‘pump-in-a-box’ seller, we’re a solution-provider and we make sure we meet all needs.”
With a manufacturing facility in Shepparton, Victoria, and partnerships with leading brands, Australian-owned Allflo has developed a specialised range of pumps and equipment tailored to the unique needs of Australia’s mining industry.
Thanks to the workshop’s stock holdings and the experience within the team, Baker said they can have completed custom equipment out the door and on its way to site within a short timeframe.
This could include water edge pick-up, dry prime and wet prime units, bore pumps, pontoon pumping, skid mounted units, trailer mounted units, custom frame mounted units, submersible pumps and many more.
“In these cases, it’s generally a custom fabrication,” Baker said. “Not every site is the same, that’s why we develop specialty solutions that can meet highly specific requirements.
“We’re looking forward to expanding our footprint into various locations across Australia so we can get our solutions to customers even quicker, which sets us apart from the market.”
With the world’s focus turning to issues like environmental protection and water conservation, dewatering is becoming a key consideration for Australia’s mines. But Baker said the issue can be something of a bugbear, with many not sure where to start.
“There’s a lot of componentry involved in dewatering; it’s not just pumps but hosing, pipes and controllers – there’s a lot of elements that go into creating a solution,” he said.
“Our biggest focus is to find a turn-key solution our customers can be confident they can press a button and have everything work exactly as they need it to.”
Part of finding dewatering solutions for mines means also considering how those solutions fit into a broader environmental context.
Baker said Allflo’s solutions are all available with a standard diesel system or can be customised to an electric configuration to help operators meet environmental regulations.
Image: Allflo
“It all comes back to our commitment to delivering tailored solutions to our customers that meet their specific needs,” he said. “Especially in harsh and diverse Australian mining conditions, we can create pump and dewatering packages that last.”
One such package recently made waves at a mine in the Goldfields region, with the site’s dewatering superintendent commending Baker’s role in helping the mine get its dewatering schedule back on track.
“Working with Lee Baker and Allflo Pumps and Equipment has transformed our mining operations,” the site’s dewatering superintendent said. “When we faced dewatering challenges, Lee’s expertise and Allflo’s reliable equipment made all the difference.
“He helped us select the right pumps, significantly reducing our dewatering time from days to hours and boosting our efficiency.
“Lee’s exceptional customer service and technical support have greatly impacted our project success.
“I highly recommend Lee Baker and Allflo to any mining operation facing similar challenges.”
Baker believes the key to Allflo’s lasting solutions is the combined power of its manufacturing capabilities and its range of trusted brands.
“We provide pumps that are going to be there years down the track and look just as new and perform just as well as when we first installed them,” he said. “We back our brands 100 per cent to get the right pump for the right application, and to ensure our customers’ operations stay on track.”
This feature appeared in the October 2024 issue of Australian Mining.
