MechChem Africa July-August 2025

⎪ Minerals processing and materials handling ⎪

Christmas break. By the end of January 2023, the plant was producing on-spec concentrate of 41% Cr 2 O 3 . The first full month of running the plant achieved a 6% increase on the previ ous plant yield, increasing the production output of the plant to 40-50%. This enables the client to achieve a proj ect payback period of three months, which includes the rebuild and modification of the plant. The project was completed safely, with no injuries experienced, which was a testament to the good project management from the client. Jafta Mashele, the Plant Manager of the K3 Chrome Recovery Plant at Sibanye Stillwater, expressed his satisfaction with the service provided by Multotec’s R&D di vision, for their flexibility in conducting test work to meet the client’s needs and their willingness to adapt to specific requests. He stated, “I appreciate Multotec's ability to of fer flexible payment terms, which suited and helped us manage cash flows effectively.” Mashele further commended Multotec, saying: “Multotec employs Application Engineers with extensive processing ex perience and in-depth product knowledge, which enables us to address technical inqui ries promptly, both remotely and on site.”

Left: An eight-way Multotec cluster of 250 mm cyclones at 10° with one barrel was selected for the desliming application. Right: Multotec’s HX5 spiral with a pitch angle of 19° was found to achieve the best recovery and yields on the rougher stage.

The plant is currently conducting test work with Multotec to further explore the recov ery of chrome from the ultra-fine material, with Mashele consistently emphasising the importance of data-driven decisions. This

work is being carried out using the new UX7 ultra-fine heavy minerals spirals, that is spe cifically designed to enhance the recovery of ultra-fine material. www.multotec.com

July-August 2025 • MechChem Africa ¦ 11