Usually, when a product promises to save you money, you can be almost certain that your initial investment will be high.

Happily, Alvenius TP Pipes is proving to be an exception to the rule.

In Arizona, at Phelps Dodge' Miami open-pit mine, the world's second largest copper mine, the concentrator and acid plant processes some 650,000 tonnes of ore per annum.

Until two years ago the ferric cure-line supplying the leach pads was a system of stainless steel 316L pipes. Unfortunately the corrosive action of 15% sulphuric acid under pressure of 28 bar was proving too much for this expensive pipe work which was being replaced, on average, every three months. In 1999, following a trial installation, Phelps Dodge replaced the entire system with 610mm Alvenius TP Pipes.

Alvenius TP Pipes is a lightweight, modular, thermoplastic coated piping system which is replacing stainless steel in a number of demanding high-pressure water, fluid and slurry transfer applications including; mining tunnelling, chemical engineering, off-shore marine and fire protection.

Apart from a 30% saving on material costs, TP Pipes offer many other advantages over stainless steel. Instead of expensive and time-consuming welding by trained craftsmen, each section of TP Pipes can be simply coupled or bolted together by semi-skilled workers. Virtually maintenance-free, the high-density, fully-bonded 100% thermo-plastic coating resists corrosion, UV deterioration and the effects of extreme daily temperature changes such as those associated with the Arizona desert.

Two years on, with no signs of deterioration, it looks as if it will be many more years before Phelps Dodge will be able to calculate the total pay-back on their investment. However, they are clearly satisfied with results today because they have recently ordered a further consignment of TP Pipes to up-grade other areas of their Miami process plant with TP Pipes.

Alvenius' supplies TP Pipes to mining and related industries in over 30 countries including recent installations for zinc leach operation in the Congo and acid mine water run-off in Sweden.