The Impact of Chemical Dosing on Mining Operations’ Bottomline

The mining industry uses an extensive selection of chemicals for a broad range of processes, including metal recovery, flotation, leaching, water treatment, and more. Although chemical dosing pumps are an integral component in these processes, they are often seen as a secondary component of the overall operation. The decision on what chemical pump to spec is often where businesses will cut corners, simply opting for the cheapest pumps available. This is a critical and costly mistake for a number of reasons. Chemical consumption can account for between 10% and 30% of the company’s overall operating budget. As such, even minor improvements in chemical dosing efficiency will have a considerable impact on operational costs and total profitability. It only makes sense to utilize better, more accurate chemical dosing pumps.

Recovery and Revenue

Both overdosing and underdosing of chemicals can lead to increased costs. Underdosing wastes chemicals because the desired reaction isn’t achieved which can reduce the yield value. Those same chemicals are a major cost consideration for any mine, from small gold operations to large rare-earth facilities, and overdosing – wastes costly chemicals, driving up the cost of the yield and resulting in reduced overall profitability. For example, a plant spending $5 million annually on chemicals could achieve a $250,000 return on investment (ROI) with just a 5% improvement in dosing efficiencies.

Process Stability and Quality

Effective chemical dosing can stabilize the entire plant process, a crucial benefit for mining operations that contend with variable raw material, such as changing ore concentrations. High-quality pumps with automated dosing systems allow plants to adjust chemical addition rates in real-time based on this variability, preventing process upsets. This stability leads to improved product quality, enhances overall plant efficiency, and has positive impacts on equipment longevity by reducing stress caused by inconsistent processes.

FLEXFLO® M3 Peristaltic Chemical Dosing Pump

CHEM-FEED® MD3 Dual Diaphragm Chemical Dosing Pump

Labor and Safety

Pump quality is also tied directly to labor costs and employee safety. Many chemicals used in mining processes, such as those in leaching and flotation applications, are highly toxic or corrosive. Poorly designed dosing systems, low-quality systems prone to leaking, and those that require manual dosing practices can expose operators to significant safety risks, including chemical burns, inhalation risks, and more.

Automated, well-designed systems reduce direct operator exposure to these dangerous chemicals, thereby improving workplace safety. In addition, certain pump designs, such as those allowing tube evacuation during maintenance or fittings with check valves to prevent backflow, can further minimize hazardous waste and operator contact compared to sealed-head designs.

The right pump choice can also save time and effort associated with running the pumps themselves. High-tech features such as automation, digital alerts, and remote operation functions reduce the need for staff to interact with the pump. This is particularly valuable for those applications where the pump is used deep underground or in other locations that are difficult (and dangerous) to access.

Ensuring Environmental Compliance

Water treatment is an essential component of any mining operation and another area where chemical dosing pumps play a major role. The more accurate and repeatable the pumps are (Figure 1), the more reliable the treatment process, which must remove or neutralize a range of chemicals and other substances (including those used in extraction and recovery). This makes it easier for a facility to adhere to strict compliance guidelines for water and air discharges, which are required for regulatory approval and to avoid fines and other penalties.

Furthermore, high-quality pumps are less prone to leaks and failures, reducing the risk of hazardous chemicals spilling and leaking into the environment. This again mitigates the potential for regulatory penalties.

Why Is Dosing Often Overlooked

Despite these profound impacts, chemical dosing is often treated as an afterthought. One reason for this is that mining operations are large, and heads of some departments may be too far removed from processes to fully grasp the effect of dosing efficiency on the broader plant key performance indicators (KPIs). Many see such systems as just a pump in a pipeline, making its critical impact easy to overlook.

In addition, different departments ― such as engineering, operations, procurement, and management ― often have differing agendas and priorities. Management and procurement’s focus, for example, may be on strict capital purchase pricing rather than long-term life cycle operational costs. This can lead to decisions that prioritize cheaper, less efficient systems, resulting in poor chemical dosing performance and higher overall costs.

Finally, when there is no awareness of how poorly optimized a dosing system is, due to a lack of data or benchmarks, it can lead to practices like overdosing “to be safe,” which drives up reagent costs.

The strategic impact on KPI’s like recovery rates and throughput is often undervalued. Chemcial dosing pumps shouldn’t be an afterthought — they are mission-critical systems that can boost recovery, reduce costs, improve safety, and ensure compliance. Investing in high-quality dosing pumps delivers measurable returns across the operation, making them essential tools for maximizing mining profitability.

Written by:
Blue-White® Industries
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