Modern Mining October 2018

PRODUCT News

Mineral analysers drive value in chrome industry

It is not only chromium producers that are benefiting from the high global demand for stainless steel. The situation also bodes well for South African platinum group metals producers, considering that a large portion of chromite is extracted relatively cost-effectively and effortlessly from their concentrator tailings streams at a grade of between 40 and 42 % Cr 2 O 3 , providing struggling producers with a valuable addi- tional revenue-earning commodity. Blue Cube Systems, a technology com- pany that focuses on real-time in-line

This is in addition to a feed-forward control option with a measuring point on plants’ feed streams to provide full pro- cesses optimisation and control of the grade and recovery. Albertus Heydenrych, Blue Cube Systems’ New Business Development Manager, says that multi-stream analysers significantly reduce the per stream costs of installations in multiple-stream scenarios. “The technology was developed by Blue Cube Systems as a proactive response to the requirements of industry, while also in line with those demands for more afford- able automation and control technology options. A further development includes our sampling cabinet which, in addition to its calibration functions, provides an accu- rate, consistent plant shift sample point,” Heydenrych says. The company’s analysers have been installed in numerous mining geographic locations for diverse applications and are even being used to measure sulphides in gold processing plants in Papua New Guinea and silicas in iron ore in Brazil. Blue Cube Systems, tel (+27 21) 880-1036 Marthinusen & Coutts has also estab- lished a working alliance for the service and repair of main and auxiliary fans with TLT ACTOM. This collaboration brings together the expertise of a fan technology specialist and the experience of a lead- ing electrical rotating service and repair operator. Marthinusen & Coutts, tel (+27 11) 607-1700 fan, while the Marthinusen & Coutts fans both achieved an 80 % rating.

instrumentation and analysers for the min- eral processing industry, has long realised the increased importance of chrome for PGM producers. It recently provided eight MQi real- time, in-line mineral analysers to four key chrome operations and will be installing more of its technology at several other plants. Blue Cube’s technology is based on dif- fuse reflective spectroscopy and advanced chemometric methods, providing rapid in- line element andmineral measurements to optimise the spiral gravity separation pro- cess. This improves recovery and ensures that the required grade of the final concen- trate stream is met and maintained. Moreover, Blue Cube Systems’hardened in-line scan head with a sapphire window has mitigated abrasion challenges associ- ated with chrome ore, thereby, extending maintenance cycles to a bi-annual opera- tion to lower operating costs. The technology is designed to provide measurements several times per minute, enabling concentrate and tailings feed- back control.

Blue Cube’s technology provides rapid in-line element and mineral

measurements to optimise the spiral gravity separation process.

Access to a ventilation fan performance test column installed at Marthinusen & Coutts Zambia, a division of ACTOM (Pty) Ltd, offers a major advantage to mines on the Zambian and DRC Copperbelt. Significantly, this is the only fan test col- umn in the region and was commissioned at the Kitwe-based facility in the second quarter of 2018. The custom engineered test column will facilitate verification of ventilation fan performance following repair work prior to installation. According to Eugene Lottering, General Manager at Marthinusen & Coutts Zambia, the test column will ensure that ventilation fans are tested and validated to the requi- site parameters prior to being installed. The test column has been designed to perform tests in accordance with the current BS ISO 5801:2007 standard and is equipped with common test airways with a 1 016 mm diameter. Interchangeable coni- cal inlet throats with diameters of 766 mm and 1 016 mm allow underground operat- ing conditions to be simulated with ease. Fan test column a ‘first’on the Copperbelt Lottering says that while subjecting the ventilation fan to operating conditions, it is possible to test various critical parameters including static pressure, air flow, shaft power and speed, vibration and kW rating as well as overall total efficiency. “The test facility allows for accurate reporting data to be produced which provides assurance for customers that the ventilation fan will meet the operating criteria,” he says. Mar thinusen & Coutts Zambia has a selection of OEM ref- erence fans should it be necessary to test these on the column for verification purposes. Recently, Marthinusen & Coutts Zambia conducted a com- parative test for a customer on ventilation fan installations. Lottering says that interestingly the competitor installation only achieved 64 % on a 45  kW fan and 50 % on a 37 kW

M&C Zambia test technicians conducting a test with the facility’s newly installed mine ventilation fan test column.

48  MODERN MINING  October 2018