A method of protecting slurry handling equipment, the method comprising: (a) identifying one or more types of wear events to which an internal surface of the slurry handling equipment is susceptible during operation; (b) characterised by estimating the severity of each type of wear event the surface will experience during operation, wherein the types and severity of the wear events are predicted using one or more computational fluid dynamics models providing as outputs wear rates expressed as volume loss per unit time at locations throughout the slurry handling equipment, the relative severity of the wear events being estimated by comparing computed wear rates at various locations within the equipment and the predicted severities of wear events in turn being used to estimate the type and thickness of protective coatings needed at locations within the slurry handling equipment that the model indicated were susceptible to service life-limiting wear events; (c) applying one or more of a thermal spray coating comprising a metal carbide or a metal nitride, and an erosion resistant organic coating to the surface; wherein the applying of either or both of the thermal spray coating and the erosion resistant organic coating to the surface is predicated on the types of wear events identified and their estimated severity, wherein the slurry handling equipment is a slurry handling pump comprising at least one internal surface susceptible to erosion and at least one surface susceptible to abrasion; and wherein the one or more inputs to the computational fluid dynamics model includes the materials of construction of surfaces susceptible to contact with the slurry and characteristics of a slurry being handled by the slurry handling pump of a slurry particle size distribution, a slurry particle density, a slurry particle hardness, particle impingement angle and particle velocity. (a) identifying one or more types of wear events to which an internal surface of the slurry handling equipment is susceptible during operation; (b) characterised by estimating the severity of each type of wear event the surface will experience during operation, wherein the types and severity of the wear events are predicted using one or more computational fluid dynamics models providing as outputs wear rates expressed as volume loss per unit time at locations throughout the slurry handling equipment, the relative severity of the wear events being estimated by comparing computed wear rates at various locations within the equipment and the predicted severities of wear events in turn being used to estimate the type and thickness of protective coatings needed at locations within the slurry handling equipment that the model indicated were susceptible to service life-limiting wear events; (c) applying one or more of a thermal spray coating comprising a metal carbide or a metal nitride, and an erosion resistant organic coating to the surface; wherein the applying of either or both of the thermal spray coating and the erosion resistant organic coating to the surface is predicated on the types of wear events identified and their estimated severity, wherein the slurry handling equipment is a slurry handling pump comprising at least one internal surface susceptible to erosion and at least one surface susceptible to abrasion; and wherein the one or more inputs to the computational fluid dynamics model includes the materials of construction of surfaces susceptible to contact with the slurry and characteristics of a slurry being handled by the slurry handling pump of a slurry particle size distribution, a slurry particle density, a slurry particle hardness, particle impingement angle and particle velocity. wherein the applying of either or both of the thermal spray coating and the erosion resistant organic coating to the surface is predicated on the types of wear events identified and their estimated severity, wherein the slurry handling equipment is a slurry handling pump comprising at least one internal surface susceptible to erosion and at least one surface susceptible to abrasion; and wherein the one or more inputs to the computational fluid dynamics model includes the materials of construction of surfaces susceptible to contact with the slurry and characteristics of a slurry being handled by the slurry handling pump of a slurry particle size distribution, a slurry particle density, a slurry particle hardness, particle impingement angle and particle velocity.