Modern Mining August 2016

PRODUCT News

information analysis and the level of responsiveness possible using MultoScan has not been available to plants until now. “It will allow customers immediate feedback on the condition of the lin- ers and any immediate issues can be addressed on the spot,” Fitzsimons says. Fitzsimons explains that MultoScan has been proven in field trials in some of the most arduous milling conditions on the African continent. Multotec Group, tel (+27 11) 923-6193 Affordable mill liner monitoring system

With the volatility of commodity prices today, it is critical that mines are able to optimise the operating costs of the entire plant, and this need has seen an increased focus on achiev- ing the desired grind efficiency in mills. While each mill liner profile is designed to provide the correct trajectory to achieve either impact grinding or attrition grinding depend- ing on the specific application, wear on the mill liner profile will affect the grind efficiency. Matthew Fitzsimons, Technical Manager of Multotec Rubber, explains that it is impor- tant to understand that the wear rate of liners is not linear and that, as the liners wear, the increased slippage of the charge increases the wear on the liners. “This can, in turn, rapidly decrease the grind efficiency of the mill due to the trajectory in the mill being sub-optimal and the energy transfer for breakage is reduced,” he says. It is for this reason that condition moni- toring of mill liners, whether steel or rubber, is necessary. Regular inspection of the liner profile will allow historical data to be collated which will facilitate liner life predictions. Describing how liner inspection has been done traditionally, Fitzsimons says that until recently there have only been two options available, one of which is the pin gauge method which is known to be time con- suming and often inaccurate. Furthermore it requires that the mill be stopped to allow access for personnel to actually perform the inspection. At the other of the scale is very expensive sophisticated technology. Fitzsimons confirms that Multotec Rubber recently introduced what he says is set to become the most affordable best practice mill liner profile condition monitoring system because it offers high accuracy and immediate availability of information at a reasonable cost. “With the introduction of MultoScan, it is now possible for plants to accurately measure the liner profile and, using this information, end users can easily and accurately predict the lifespan of the liner and the point at which the mill will become inefficient,” he says. The automatic measurement and display of the charge level is valuable in confirming that the operation of the mill is correct and this value is essential in calculating the trajectory. Highly skilled technicians take the data acquired by MultoScan and leverage Multotec’s Hawkeye proprietary programme to interpret and analyse the data. Significantly there is no time lag on the

Multotec personnel discussing captured MultoScan wear profiling data on tablet.

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