Modern Mining July 2019

PRODUCT News

Thirty years of reliable duty in a corro- sive environment has won for Condra a repeat order from Lonmin Platinum for an overhead tankhouse crane to replace an identical machine delivered three decades ago. The original crane was installed in 1990 at Lonmin’s Middelkraal Farm refinery out- side Marikana, NorthWest Province, where it lifts and positions copper plates and slabs within the acid tanks used during the electrolytic refining process. During this final phase, anodic copper Reliability leads to a repeat order for Condra slabs with a 99 % purity attained during three prior processes are suspended by the crane in large tanks filledwith an electrolyte solution of copper sulphate and sulphuric acid. Small, thin sheets of pure cathodic copper are then positioned between these anodes and an electric current applied. Copper ions leave the anodic slabs and move through the electrolyte to place themselves on the cathodic sheets, which after time become thick copper plates of 99,99 % purity, ready for removal by the tankhouse crane for rinsing and despatch to factories that produce copper products.

required to downsize ETi’s material from 250 mm to -50 mm. With their new Osborn machines, our customer needs just two crushers – primary and secondary – in order to reduce the material to as little as -10 mm and gain an increase in capacity.” The Osborn double toggle crusher range boasts production capacities of up to 600 t/h depending on the application. Because ETi has a unique, low carbon ferrochrome material that is very hard and abrasive, the Osborn double toggle crusher is the ideal machine for the job, Toprak asserts. “With a rock compres- sive strength of up to 600 MPa, this is the optimal machine for harder and highly abrasive materials, including ferro-alloy materials. With the top of the hinged swing jaw almost perpendicular to the crushing chamber, high compression is achieved by the linear stroke of the toggle movement, thus minimising wear on the jaw liners.” Osborn Engineered Products, tel (+27 11) 820-7600, website: www.osborn.co.za tomer need for higher speeds in the future, we have included in Lonmin’s new crane provision for an easy upgrade to frequency drives,” explained Condra’s Managing Director Marc Kleiner. “Condra is currently investing in improved digital loadcells to further improve reliability across our tankhouse line in general, even though the reliabil- ity of the Marikana crane was well proven over a period of three decades,” he said. Lonmin’s new tankhouse crane will incorporate features from Condra’s design library that move it beyond the company’s current generation of tankhouse cranes. These include four LED girder down- lights to illuminate the work area, remote crane control with a pendant back-up, an electrical control panel fitted with acid filtration ventilation to cater for the corro- sive tankhouse environment, and a special paint finish for the same reason. Quality control will include inspec- tion and certification at defined stages of manufacture, and there will be magnetic particle inspection of the welding seams to ensure airtight girders and the avoidance of corrosion on the internal faces. Ordered in April, the crane will be deliv- ered before the end of August. Condra, tel (+27 11) 776-6000, website: www.condra.co.za

Lonmin’s double-girder elec- tric overhead travelling crane has a span of 19,9 m, a capacity of 5 tons, a lifting height of 7,7 m and two lifting speeds of 2 and 8 m per minute. Long-travel speed over the 42 m of the tankhouse is 80 m per minute. Condra has delivered to other refineries tankhouse cranes with long-travel speeds as high as 140 mper minute, more than three times the speed of a standard crane and about as fast as an aver- age person’s jogging speed. “To cater for a possible cus-

A typical Condra double-girder electric overhead travelling crane undergoing testing at the company’s Johannesburg factory.

Osborn exports double toggle crusher to Turkey Mining and quarrying equipment specialist Osborn has completed a significant export order for the first Osborn double toggle crusher supplied to Turkey.

Regional Sales Manager, Oguzhan Toprak. “Osborn has previously supplied Turkish operations with a complete coal crushing plant, screens and crushers,” he states. “This latest order is for a 24“ x 18“ Osborn double toggle jaw crusher as well as a 36“ x 16‘ Osborn vibrating grizzly feeder. The units will be used in the primary crushing circuit at ETi’s ferroalloy plant located near the Turkish coastal city of Antalya.” The newOsborn machines form part of an expansion project that is being undertaken by ETi to increase its capac- ity, Toprak explains. The addition of the high quality, high performance Osborn equipment to the circuit will deliver substantial benefits to ETi. “The machines previously used in the crushing and screening line were old French-made units from the 1970s. Three old double toggle crushers – a primary, secondary and tertiary – were

This order, from new customer ETi Electrometallurgy, reflects the inroads that Astec Industries group company Osborn is making in the region, as well as Osborn’s growing global reputation as a supplier of robust, unrivalled equipment, says Astec’s

Osborn’s significant export order to Turkey includes a double toggle jaw crusher and vibrating grizzly feeder.

40  MODERN MINING  July 2019