Mining has been a part of Canada’s history since coal deposits were discovered by French settlers in the 16th century. In the 19th century, the discovery of precious metals fueled a gold rush. Today, mining accounts for over 720,000 jobs and 5% of Canada’s gross domestic product, making it one of the largest mining industries in the world. Canada is the leading global producer of potash and among the top five producers of aluminum, diamonds, gemstones, gold, indium, and other minerals.
KSB Canada has brought Canadian customers the most reliable slurry transport equipment — and the best in hydraulic engineering knowledge and experience — for more than three decades.
KSB’s line of GIW® pumps have been removing and processing oil sands bitumen in Canada for over 30 years. Today, the GIW® TBC pump is the most operated severe-duty slurry pump in the Canadian oil sands mining industry.
KSB Canada
KSB Canada is headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario and includes a 10,000-square-foot KSB SupremeServ service center. Edmonton is home to a second KSB SupremeServ center of the same size and service capability, and KSB has additional sales offices in Burnaby, BC, Calgary, Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, and Montreal, Quebec.
KSB has also partnered with authorized dealers across Canada to strengthen regional market coverage. These authorized dealers provide local aftermarket support for KSB customers and are essential to KSB Canada’s national success. A close working relationship with these authorized dealers strengthens KSB Canada’s ability to provide KSB customers with the best available support. KSB Canada offers both slurry and non-slurry pump solutions for the mining industry. It provides GIW® slurry pumps and high performance mine drainage and process water solutions. These products consume less energy thanks to the high efficiency of the pump hydraulic and its smaller footprint.
The GIW Fort McMurray Service Centre is expanding to meet the future needs of a growing oil sands market. KSB is now able to provide a larger area for inventory and repair, maintenance inspection, system efficiency services, technical consultancy, training, and retrofit services. Repair and rebuild capabilities also include experienced service technicians and original equipment manufacturer (OEM) parts produced to KSB specifications and superior standards. KSB’s goal is to be an innovative partner providing our customers with the best, longest wearing slurry transport solutions, service, and repair.
In addition to a commitment to our customers and their success, KSB is equally committed to the environment and society, both locally and globally. Sustainability is built into daily operations at every KSB location. KSB joined the UN Global Compact in 2010 and proudly adheres to its Ten Principles for human and employee rights, environmental responsibility, and the prevention of corruption. In addition, KSB “uses the 17 Sustainable Development Goals as guidelines for ensuring its actions are sustainable and geared to the future.”
KSB Mining Solutions in Canada
As the world’s population continues to grow and require more from the global food supply chain, demand for minerals, such as potash, continue to increase as well. Potash is a potassium-rich salt mainly used in fertilizer to improve the quality and yield of agricultural production. Estimates predict demand for potash could as much as double by the late 2040s — by which point it could be a $40 billion (USD) market. A customer needed a sewage lift station for the campus of a new potash mine site, and while highly experienced at designing mineral process systems, they lacked the background and knowledge necessary to design the required wastewater system. They needed a customized turnkey solution to meet both heavy demand and complex requirements — all within an extremely tight timeframe. KSB Canada was able to offer a workable design early in the project bidding stage and meet the customer’s need for quick results. Offering technical expertise and education along the way, KSB Canada went beyond the supplier role to act as a true partner to the customer.
Another customer used more than 40 GIW® LSA-44 pumps in their coarse tailings service for almost three decades. The LSA-44 was the predecessor to the GIW® TBC product line, which is now the industry standard for oil sands hydro transport and coarse tailings applications. The LSA-44 pump’s average suction liner and impeller wear life was about 3,600 hours. The customer wanted a longer lasting pump, with a 4,800-hr. target, and KSB Canada knew introducing TBC pumps — featuring the latest hydraulic and wear technology — was the best solution for meeting their target.
The customer provided GIW with access to actual operating data, which GIW utilized to produce a TBC pump that was the right size for their service requirements. The LSA-44 was a good fit for their hydraulic needs, so GIW used the hydraulic range of the LSA-44 and applied it to a larger, slower turning pump with a 58” impeller. Both KSB and the customer understood the benefits of the larger size and slower speed. In addition, the TBC-58 features modern hydraulic geometry, thicker wear components, and an adjustable suction liner, all of which promote extended wear life. The TBC-58 was inspected during an outage in May 2021, and the suction liner and impeller were replaced after 10,800 hours of service, which is three times the average component life of the LSA-44. The casing and hub liner remain in operation, demonstrating that the TBC-58 allows for the elimination of multimillion dollar outages compared to the LSA-44.
KSB’s line of GIW® TBC pumps illustrate our ability to innovate with our customers and meet their high-demand application needs at KSB Canada and around the world.
Keyvan Heydari (left) and Marius Hugo (right)
Spotlight on Keyvan Heydari and Marius Hugo
Keyvan Heydari graduated with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering in 2002 and is a licensed and designated professional engineer with the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscience of Alberta since 2016. He joined KSB in 2006 as a Sales Manager in Processes and Industrial Pumps in an Iranian branch office. He transferred to the Ontario office in 2012 as an Application Specialist and continued to grow his career with KSB in Canada as a Regional, and later a National Sales Manager. Mr. Heydari now serves as Vice President of Sales at KSB Canada.
Marius Hugo earned an electrical engineering degree from Vaal University of Technology, South Africa, in 1993 and a master’s in business administration from the University of Cumbria, U.K., in 2020. He began his career with GIW in 2020 at the Fort McMurray Service Centre and has since served as a Strategic Account Manager before moving to his current position as Head of Sales. Mr. Hugo counts his growth within the company and his ongoing commitment to providing the best for KSB customers as personal points of pride.
Both Mr. Heydari and Mr. Hugo continue to combine their professional expertise with their goal of making KSB Canada and Fort McMurray successful in meeting and exceeding the needs of KSB customers.