Engineering & Mining Journal

JUN 2013

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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ORBITE COMPANY PROFILE- PAID ADVERTISEMENT Klüber Lubrication For more than 80 years, Klüber Lubrication has formulated tribological solutions for an ever-advancing industrial society. We develop high-quality lubricants for specific applications through consultation with OEMs and end users about their requirements. This has earned us a reputation in the market as your global partner for specialty lubricants. The demands of today's mineral industry have put an increased emphasis on maintenance and reliability departments to minimize unscheduled downtime and extend intervals between scheduled downtimes. With our service approach, known as Klüber Asset Support, we work with our customers to identify the critical equipment where specialty lubricants can extend lubrication intervals, reduce wear, reduce man hours for lubrication, and reduce lubricant consumption. Klüber has developed a portfolio of lubricants to protect open gears during all stages of their life. • Installation: Our priming lubricants prevent corrosion and initial damage to the tooth flanks. • Running-in lubricants: Significantly reduce the surface roughness and increase the contact ratio to achieve a uniform load distribution. • Operational lubricants: Klüber continues the innovation by further developing our range of transparent lubricants, the Kluberfluid family. Compared to the traditional asphaltic and graphite lubricants, we have seen drastic reductions in consumption quantities, vibrations, and tooth flank temperatures. The transparency of the product facilitates the inspection of the gears while in operation to detect early signs of wear. If and when wear occurs, our service engineers are available to assess the damage and, if necessary, perform a gear repair with our repair lubricants, all while your equipment stays in operation. Often times, our repair procedure can prevent your gear from being flipped or replaced, reducing lost production and saving your capital budget. At Klüber, our goal is to reduce your total cost of operation and increase the reliability of your equipment. With the proper lubricant selection, we increase wear protection, reduce lubricant disposal costs, and decrease energy consumption. Klüber can also be your partner in reducing the environmental impact of your facility by offering sustainable products, such as bio-based and bio-degradable lubricants. From all levels of the organization, Klüber is available to be your partner and can help you attain your objectives. Klüber Lubrication North America L.P. info@us.kluber.com www.klubersolutions.com/mining2 90 E&MJ; • JUNE 2013 93% of the Al2O3 from a regional aluminous clay deposit and an average recovery rate of 90% for all other elements. The process involves two phases: hydrochloric leaching of the substrate is used to release the aluminates as chlorides, then acid regeneration recovers the hydrochloric acid from the mother liquor while converting other metallic components to oxides. The acid regeneration portion of the process allows Orbite to extract byproducts while still recovering the hydrochloric acid. The Orbite process can be broken down into the following steps: clay preparation, leaching (digestion), filtration of insoluble elements, alumina extraction, iron extraction and calcination. Meanwhile, byproducts and the regenerated acid are recovered from the mother liquor in a parallel process. The aluminous clay is crushed and ground to maximize the surface area for acid leaching. Particles are acid-leached at a high temperature using HCl. All of the metals (except titanium, but including REEs) dissolve as chloride solutions. Specifically, alumina and iron dissolve to form aluminum trichloride (AlCl3) and ferric chloride (FeCl3). Silica and a small amount of titanium remain insoluble and are removed by filtering. The waste stream consists of pure silica (sand) containing some titanium. This material is non-toxic and could potentially be sold for commercial use in applications that range from optical-quality silicon to fracking sands. The leachate is processed by first precipitating the AlCl3 and removing it as aluminum chloride hexahydrate. The aluminum chloride hexahydrate then goes through calcination and is transformed into alumina. The ferric chloride, which is still in the leachate, is hydrolyzed using a low-temperature process, producing a pure ferric oxide precipitate while regenerating hydrochloric acid. The ferric oxide (hematite) is very pure and can be sold commercially as a specialty byproduct. Remaining in the leachate are metallic solutions including magnesium, gallium, alkaline and rare earths, which are then recovered through standard extracting processes. No acidic residue remains; the red mud that plagues the Bayer process is not an issue with the Orbite process. The ferric oxide and the metals that go to waste in red mud ponds in the Bayer process are recovered and sold as byproducts. Cap-Chat Commissioning The commissioning and optimization of Orbite's first HPA plant is currently under way. The plant is designed to process alumi- Reactors rest on their sides before being placed in the HPA Plant. www.e-mj.com

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