Modern Mining July 2021

Linatex wear resistant rubber lining cuts costs at Sentinel mine

Weir Minerals’ Linatex Premium Rubber and Linard 60 have significantly improved wear life at Kalumbila Minerals Limited’s Sentinel mine in Zambia, after the Weir Minerals Africa team was asked to provide a lining solution that would last longer than the incumbent product. To date, the Linatex and Linard solu‑ tion has achieved six times the life of the product previously installed at Sentinel Mine. The competitor rubber product was no match for the high impact and abrasive nature of the 4 500 tph of slurry being fed to the mill discharge chute. The competitor rubber lining was fail‑ ing after two months, resulting in downtime and added costs for equipment hire and specialised personnel. The remote location of the site also made obtaining materials for repairs a challenge. The Weir Minerals Africa team specified a double-layered rubber lining solution. A bottom layer of 30 mm Linatex Premium Rubber was selected to improve impact absorption, due to its resilient properties.

Linard 60 with a thickness of 25 mm was selected for the top layer, due to its cut‑ ting and tearing resistance to the product reporting to the discharge chute. Weir Minerals Africa’s technical lining manager ensured the order was delivered to the customer site timeously. Together with a team from the Weir Minerals Zambia branch, the lining of the parts took place during a scheduled plant shutdown. The combination of 30mm Linatex Premium Rubber and Linard 60 has lasted for one year with little to no signs of wear. This is a 250% wear life improvement when compared to the competitor product. As a result, Sentinel Mine has experienced reduced downtime and benefitted from the associated cost savings and with the increased plant availability maintenance personnel have been freed up to focus on other problematic areas in the plant. Sentinel Mine has a longstanding rela‑ tionship with Weir Minerals, with a range of Weir Minerals products installed and ser‑ viced over many years. With this in mind, store to guarantee its origin. ALROSA is introducing a new, non-inva‑ sive method for physically marking rough and polished diamonds, which has been developed with the help of scientists from the Russian Academy of Sciences, as well as ALROSA’s Research Geological Enterprise (NIGP) and the Yakutniproalmaz Institute. Unlike other tracing methods which are based on keeping a digital copy of the diamond, ALROSA physical nanomarking allows the precious stone to be identified with 100% accuracy. It also differs from other engraving technologies which mark closer

Linatex premium rubber and Linard 60 rubber combination installed on a typical chute. the mine was confident that the team would provide an effective solution. Linatex Premium Rubber is a proprietary vulcanised natural gum rubber, produced through a unique liquid-phase compound‑ ing process using high quality natural latex. It exhibits outstanding strength, resilience and resistance to cutting and tearing, giv‑ ing superior performance in wet abrasion conditions.  to the surface of the diamond. ALROSA’s laser nanomark is imprinted inside the crystal lattice, across the atomic structure of the entire diamond, making it invisible without a scanner. Diamonds with such nanomarkings have been many times successfully certified by the GIA, the indus‑ try’s biggest certification centre. The mark is a three-dimensional code linked to the ALROSA Provenance platform. It offers in-depth information about the dia‑ mond’s origin and characteristics, as well as a unique identification number, photo, video and details about how it has been cut. 

ALROSA introduces nanomarking technology to trace diamonds ALROSA has introduced a ground-breaking diamond-tracing technology using non-inva‑ sive laser marking. Unlike traditional laser engraving, the laser marking cannot be destroyed or polished off. The technology allows the diamonds to be uniquely identi‑ fied, providing detailed information about their origins.

Consumer surveys in the key diamond markets of the United States and China indicate that diamond tracing is an impor‑ tant factor when making purchases. Tracing involves registering all stages of a dia‑ mond’s life from the mine to the jewellery

July 2021  MODERN MINING  41