CRADLE TO THE GRAVE
BMG AND REGAL STRENGTHENS
RELATIONSHIP
T
he efficient operation of a mine depends on the optimal performance
of all its parts. Bearings, no matter how big or small, are critical
components of any plant or equipment. Unfortunately, their role is
often overlooked, and their maintenance neglected. Inferior quality
bearings, or bearing failures, result in significant losses and unnecessary
downtime.
According to Werner De Bruyn, business unit manager: bearings at the
BMG, part of the Invicta Group Companies, the maintenance of bearings is
extremely important, and prolongs the life of not only the bearing itself, but
the equipment it is used in as well.
Werner De Bruyn, business
unit manager: bearings at
BMG
“At BMG we have our own fluid technical
division and Technical Resources
department where we design and build
our own lubrication systems, BMG can also
assist with any technical queries regarding
lubrication specification and lubrication
intervals. The sealing arrangement is
another vital function,” says De Bruyn.
One of the brands that BMG represents in
Africa, American group Regal, supplies the group with Rollway bearings,
custom designs bearings for certain applications and has become a reliable
supplier to BMG. BMG has been in partnership with Rollway since 1998.
The group became part of Regal in 2015. According to Steve Quintijn,
marketing manager at Regal, BMG carries enough stock at their branches
throughout the country to ensure a rapid turn-around if new bearings
are required. “One of the benefits of using Rollway, are their immaculate
lead times on specialised products. “Rollway is focusing on the processing
industry at the moment, especially on crushers and vibrating screens. There
is also a big demand for their solid brass cages. Rollway’s products are
extremely cost competitive,” adds De Bruyn.
Quintijn recently visited South Africa to train BMG staff on the Regal and
Rollway products and to further strengthen the relationship between the
two companies. Mining Mirror spoke to De Bruyn and Quintijn at BMG’s
headquarters in Johannesburg.
TARKWA REPOWERS DEWATERING
T
aking feed material as large as 150mm into its vertical drum, the
Hydro-Clean employs high-pressure nozzles, rotating at 90 rpm, to
spray as much as 90% recycled water on the material with pressures as
high as 140 bars (2000 psi). The washing system removes silt and clay
particles as small as 63 microns from mineral mixtures.
The Hydro-Clean’s water
consumption ranges from 102
to 798 ℓ/min (27 to 211 gpm),
depending on application
and model size, and energy
costs are as much as 15%
lower than with conventional
washing systems.
Ideal for use in clay-heavy
material deposits, the Hydro-
Clean is fed contaminated
material via a hopper into
its vertical drum. Once
inside, high-pressure nozzles
Haver & Boecker Niagara's Hydro-Clean
mounted at the top rotate
washing system effectively cleans deleterious
and spray the material with
material from aggregates and minerals, while
water. The turbulence in
reducing water consumption by as much
the drum creates additional
as 75% and energy costs by up to 15% over
scrubbing and abrasive forces
traditional washing systems.
that enhance the cleaning
process as the material travels
down the drum cylinder. High-pressure streams of water are injected into
holes and cracks within the rock that are difficult to reach with traditional
cleaning methods, creating a cleaner product that generates higher selling
value. In addition, many producers use this washing system to turn material
that was once waste into sellable product.
During the cleaning process, the washed material works its way down the
drum and exits onto a discharge conveyor that leads to a wash screen. The
screen removes any remaining dirt or clay still on the stone as it fractionates
the material.
PASSPORT 360 A GAME CHANGER
D
iversified mining house Anglo American has always relied on the latest
technology to locate new resources, plan and build new mining opera-
tions, and process and market its products around the world. It is for this
reason that the commodities giant has cited Passport 360 as ‘a real game
changer’ in its business across the world.
“Not only has Passport 360 slashed onboarding time for our contractors, it
has also made the ongoing management thereof far easier and less time-
consuming,” says Craig Mitrovich, SHE manager at Anglo American. “This
allows our safety officers to focus more on safety on-site, and a lot less on
paper management,” he adds.
M
The mine approached Cummins Ghana for product options. According
to Joshua K. Cobbah, the regional leader for Cummins Ghana West, the
initial plan was to provide a ‘like-for-like’ engine option for the competitor
electronic engine that powered a Sykes water pump.
“We initially settled on a QSX15 electronic engine for the repower as a ‘like-for-
like’ option. However, after thoroughly reviewing the customer’s requirements
and expectations of product reliability and equipment uptime, the final
strategy was to provide an NTA855 mechanical engine for the customer's
operations,” says Cobbah.
www. africanmining.co.za
African Mining Publication
ining site operations are extremely demanding, and dewatering
pumps need to run continuously to remove groundwater to ensure
non-stop mining. Earlier this year at a Goldfields’ site in Tarkwa, Ghana,
the mine needed to repower their dewatering pumps. The dewatering
pumps are used for pumping water in a 24-hour dewatering mine pit.
After Passport 360 was implemented, turnaround time
for contractor onboarding was reduced.
“We have had very positive feedback from the majority of our contrac-tors,
with a number also starting to utilise the system to manage their projects
and sub-contractors.” Prior to the adoption of Passport 360, An-glo American
managed its safety and quality entirely on paper.
African Mining
African Mining September 2019
61
“The failures that we normally see is because of lack of lubrication or
contamination of the bearing when the sealing is not done properly. The
contamination in the bearing will then mix with the lubrication and form a
grinding paste which results in rapid wear and causes pitting and flaking, the
result is that the bearing will ultimately fail. It is therefore important to ensure
that the bearing is properly maintained. First, one needs to look at lubrication
and ensure that there is always enough,
but not too much, lubrication on start-up,
secondly it is important that the lubrication
intervals are adhered to and the proper
maintenance is done on a regular basis.
CLEANING AGGREGATES EFFECTIVELY