MINING INDABA • advances on the traditional combination of semi-autogenous ( SAG ) and ball mills .
“ This paves the way for mill capacity to be increased by more than 30 %,” says McKay . “ Another benefit is that a coarser tailings particle size improves water drainage , so that tailings can be placed through hydraulic deposition to improve sustainability .”
Once again , it is the cumulative progression of technology through ongoing R & D that makes this all possible , he points out . The concept of laminar plates from the original reflex classifier , for example , has been incorporated in the coarseAIR™ – as well as into another recent innovation : the REFLUX Flotation Cell ( RFC™ ).
The FLS HPGR Pro takes grinding to the next level of efficiency .
“ Emerging from the well-established presence of the HPGR in the mining market , the HPGR Pro is now taking that progress another step forward ,” he says . “ The continuous improvement has focused on aspects such as improved feeding of material onto the rolls , ensuring a uniform pressure profile across the full width of the roll .”
This reduces concentrated wear in the mid-sections of the grinding roll , and further improves the overall capacity , energy efficiency , roll wear life and maintenance requirements . At the heart of this advance has been the application of rotating side plates ; this is a particularly valuable aspect of the technology as existing HPGRs can be upgraded to include these rotating plates .
“ This all contributes not only to the energy savings but also to the production capacity ,” he explains . “ Our concept of sustainability goes beyond savings on energy and water consumption ; we also believe it must include production benefits , which is clearly the case here .”
Flotation circuit innovation Further downstream in the flow sheet are other innovations that promote the company ’ s MissionZero imperatives . The achievement of the FLS coarseAIR™ technology is to allow coarser particles to be floated at a lower mineral liberation – reducing the amount of grinding necessary . This cuts down on the energy cost and the grinding media consumed , as well as high material throughput in the flotation circuit .
FLS coarseAIR™ technology allows coarser particles to be floated at a lower mineral liberation reducing energy and boosting sustainability .
“ What is significant about the REFLUX flotation cell is the way it contributes to developing the industry trend toward ‘ staged flotation ’ to improve overall flotation kinetics ,” he says . “ This helps us to focus on the critical differential in particle size , to more effectively separate gangue from valuable minerals .”
This has allowed the RFC™ to reduce the residence time of material from an average of over 30 minutes to between three and four minutes – while an increase in recoveries of 1 to 3 % has been achieved . This has been done while cutting energy consumption by 27 %.
“ These are the kinds of innovations which are central to our MissionZero strategy ,” concludes McKay . “ We believe that the mining sector is a vital player in the planet ’ s quest for a lower carbon future ; these technologies are paving the way to achieve sufficient production of critical minerals while still allowing mines to meet their sustainability targets .” •
A sustainable future is reliant on these technologies , as they could account for two-thirds of global greenhouse gas emissions ’ abatement by 2050 .
The REFLUX™ Flotation Cell pushes performance to new extremes .
www . africanmining . co . za African Mining Publication African Mining African Mining • January 2025 • 49