Maamba Collieries relocates pumps to boost ops

MAAMBA Collieries Limited (MCL) has relocated its pumps to a new location in Lake Kariba to provide water essential for the boilers of its 300 Megawatt (MW) power plant.

MCL runs two power generating units, with a capacity of 150 MW, each of which consumes about 9,000 cubic metres of water a day when running at full capacity.

Maamba Development Trust Manager, Jethro Sikalunda, said the company installed four pumps each with a capacity to pump 500 cubic meters of water an hour to the power plant 28 kilometres away.

“When the water levels started reducing following last year’s drought, we had to move quickly and establish an alternative temporary pumping station – 400 metres from the original site,” he said in a statement.

Mr Sikalunda explained that despite dredging, the temporary pumping site also ran dry, forcing yet another relocation of the pumps further up the lake in deeper waters.

MCL redeployed its pumps to a new location in order to keep the thermal plant of the nation’s largest Independent Power Producer operating at full capacity and avoid further load-shedding.

Mining Manager, Scott Phiri, who led the team in the execution of the work, said the group was motivated as MCL’s power was critical for the country as a whole.

“Installing the pumps at a deeper location was not easy in crocodile- and hippo-infested waters, as these had to kept at bay as men worked in knee-deep waters. We often had to seek the assistance of wildlife wardens to ensure safety,” Mr Phiri said.

The water at the temporary pump station set up about 400 meters from the original suction point, also dried up last year, despite dredging efforts to sustain water depths.