Engineering & Mining Journal

MAR 2014

Engineering and Mining Journal - Whether the market is copper, gold, nickel, iron ore, lead/zinc, PGM, diamonds or other commodities, E&MJ takes the lead in projecting trends, following development and reporting on the most efficient operating pr

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Magnetic Separator Line Offers Capacities Up to 1,400 mt/h 72 E&MJ; • MARCH 2014 www.e-mj.com P R O C E S S I N G S O LU T I O N S According to mineral process equipment supplier allmineral Aufbereitungstechnik GmbH, Duisburg, Germany, increased glob- al demand for raw materials, combined with a steady decline in the quality of the min- eral raw materials in demand, has generat- ed rising interest in development of high- intensity magnetic separators with larger capacities. Currently, allmineral has more than 750 installations for dry and wet pro- cessing in Europe, India, Australia, North and South America, and South Africa. In response to market interest, the com- pany developed the new gaustec GHX 1400 model, claimed to be particularly efficient and cost-effective for wet processing low- grade material into marketable high-grade pellet feed fines. Although low-grade iron ore mines will benefit from the new tech- nology, the main focus is on reclaiming low- grade iron ore tailings from ponds, with environmental and economic benefits. A number of factors make the gaustec GHX 1400 an innovative solution, accord- ing to allmineral, ranging from simplified maintenance, reduced energy consump- tion, smaller plant layout and greater flexi- bility through variable customized settings, to the unit's high throughput capacity of up to 1,400 metric tons per hour (mt/h). According to allmineral, gaustec tech- nology separates ores and other paramag- netic and weakly magnetic minerals in particle sizes up to 3 mm. The matrix is made of grooved plates with the gap between the plates designed according to process requirements. Flow through the matrix is vertical and unhindered, elimi- nating the risk of blockage by ferromag- netic particles. This allows for small quan- tities of magnetite in the feed when treat- ing hematite ores. The high-gradient magnetic field is inde- pendently adjustable for each rotor through AC/DC converters, in the operational ranges. This allows for rougher and cleaner/scav- enger process steps in a single machine. The rotor speed is adjustable from 3 to 7 rpm through a frequency inverter. A plant using gaustec technology to process tailings grading 45% Fe was com- pleted in 2013 at Brazil's Itaminas mine, owned by a state-run Chinese mining com- pany. The plant became operational in mid-2013, providing a feed capacity of 480 mt/y with three processing stages (rougher, cleaner and recleaner) in a single unit at 2.5-mm matrix gap. Following treat- ment, the pellet feed produced by the plant contains up to 65% Fe with an aver- age tailings grade of 35%, approximately equivalent to a 30% plant yield. The performance of the first GHX unit led to the construction of a second plant of the same type for further downgrading the tailings to less than 20% Fe. The plant is scheduled for commissioning in 2014. Containerized Water Plant for Kansanshi Copper Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies South Africa will provide a containerized water treatment plant—built into six 40-ft (12.2-m) shipping containers—to the Kansanshi copper mine near Solwezi in Zambia. As part of a new copper smelter project, the mine aims to expand annual copper output from 340,000 tons in 2013 to 400,000 tons by 2015. "As the world's eighth largest copper mine, the new Kansanshi smelter has very specific requirements for boiler feed, process and drinking water," said Nigel Bester, project engineer at Veolia's Engineered Systems & Services division. "The result is a flagship water treatment solution that upgrades river water to match each requirement exactly, with guaranteed availability due to a duty standby design on all process streams." Veolia will completely manufacture, test and certify the six plants at its factory in Sebenza, Gauteng, before they are transport- ed to the site. The containerized plants are designed to be linked up to one another on site, and will operate as a single plant with multiple output streams to produce a com- bined 42.5 m 3 of treated water per hour. The Itaminas iron ore operation in Brazil has installed two of allmineral's gaustec magnetic separators to process iron tailings with 45% Fe content. Diagram illustrates allmineral's magnetic separator product evolution from basic bipolar type (left) to tetrapolar (middle) and most recently to hexapolar (right). EMJ_pg72-73_EMJ_pg72-73 2/27/14 12:01 PM Page 72

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