First Mining Drc-Zambia March -April 2020 digital edition First Mining Drc-Zambia March - April 2020 digital | Page 37

in South Africa. They were looking for
a solution to improve the efficiency of
the sorting plant and turned to TOMRA:
“We have installed TOMRA sorters
on diamond and copper plants in the
past and we believe their technology
is ahead of their competitors,” states
Craig Meadway, Business Development
Executive of P2E Consulting.
P2E Consulting commissioned a
TOMRA COM XRT 2.0 sorter to
replace an existing drum Dense Media
Separation (DMS) plant: “The mine used
the DMS plant to produce saleable Small
Lumpy product from the mine’s LG6
Chromite ROM and dumps at a minimum
grade of 38%, but it was very inefficient,”
explains Craig Meadway.
“The TOMRA XRT sorter has resolved
this issue. It is used to upgrade Under
Value (UV) material with a head grade
of 20% to 28%, to produce a saleable
product at a minimum grade of 38%
Cr2O3. It does this efficiently and at a
low Cost of Production (COP).”
The TOMRA COM XRT 2.0 sorter
has
exceeded
Craig
Meadway’s
expectations,
with
grades
being
achieved in excess of 40% Cr2O3 and
mass recoveries of 25 to 30% from
scalped waste resulting in Chrome-in-
tails as low as 12%: “No other technology
has given us such a high recovery rate.
Not only that, with TOMRA’s XRT there
was no water usage at all and we didn’t
need to spend on expensive reagents,
so that we are producing Small Lumpy
product for approximately 50% of the
cost compared to a DMS plant.”
The environmental benefits of TOMRA’s
XRT solution were also an important
factor in P2E Consulting’s choice
of technology: “We are looking to
introduce greener technologies into
the mining industry. The fact that no
water or chemicals are used is a major
advantage,” comments Craig Meadway.
“Also, South Africa has major power
limitations, and the lower energy
consumption when compared to DMS is
a huge driving force.”
Easy operation and superior
support from the TOMRA team
The easy operation of TOMRA’s XRT
sorters is a further advantage: “It is
very easy to use: once the sorter and
feed system control philosophy is set up
correctly, the plant runs with very little
input from the operators,” explains Craig
Meadway.
TOMRA’s collaborative approach and
all-round support was also an important
factor in P2E Consulting’s decision to
turn to them for this project: “We knew
from our experience in previous projects
that the support from TOMRA is very
good, and with the installation of this
machine in a relatively new application,
it was excellent. The local team has bent
over backwards to help us make this
happen.”
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