HIGH PROFILE
CDE AggMax 151 modular logwasher at
Vallourec in Brazil
Awash with innovation
Paul Moore met with CDE’s Head of Business Development
for Mining Adam Holland to get an idea of the company
ethos and some examples of its modular approach
ne of the keys to CDE’s phenomenal
growth from a regional supplier of washing
equipment to the quarrying industry to a
global player involved in mining, quarrying, waste
management and other areas, is its collaborative
approach with customers and the level of
customisation that it offers.
CDE summarises itself as a modular wet
processing solutions provider which designs,
manufactures, installs and commissions plants
that are completely bespoke to the customer’s
requirements. It maintains that this sets it apart
from competitors that are by and large just
supplying pieces of equipment. Hollland gave two
mission statements as follows: “We will provide a
world class service though every stage of the
project and beyond to ensure the delivery of
projects which will outperform our customers’
expectations” and “we will continue to work in
partnership with our customers to ensure their
plant continues to operate at maximum
efficiency therefore ensuring maximum
profitability.”
Key milestones include the delivery of a plant to
Pakistan in 2005, the establishment of CDE Asia in
India in 2006, then the largest sand washing plant
in the world at that time delivered in Qatar in 2008,
which was an important stepping stone in CDE’s
global expansion out of Britain and Ireland. Today
the company employs over 450 people and is
targeting a turnover of over £100 million for 2018.
This growth is now being bolstered with the
purchase of a new manufacturing base in
Monkstown near Belfast, UK, which is a former
Caterpillar factory. This means that a lot of
components currently sourced from third party
suppliers will now be made in house. Globally, CDE
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52 International Mining | JUNE 2018
now has eight regional offices including
Ireland/UK, Europe and Russia, North America,
Latin America, Middle East & North Africa,
Australasia and CDE Asia. Each region has a local
legal entity directly owned company.
Another recent change is a rebranding of the
company by market sector, with CDE Meta covering
the mining market or as the brand is defined:
“transforming mining waste into value.” Also
relevant to mining are CDE Primo – “maximising
sand and aggregate resources” and CDE Solv:
“creating high value industrial sand resources.”
Some important mining market related projects
delivered worldwide include a large project in
Australia to upgrade iron ore waste dumps at the
Iron Knob and Iron Baron mining locations in
South Australia, which were part of Arrium Mining,
since acquired by GFG Alliance and renamed
SIMEC Mining. CDE now boasts the successful
completion of over 1,000 wet processing projects
globally, bringing to the table a portfolio of
successful projects, for example in Australia (iron
ore, construction, and industrial sands) where it
has been helping operators to maximise their
return on investment.
Upping efficiency at Vallourec in Brazil
At Expomin, Holland also homed in on the South
American market, where CDE now has 30 projects.
These include Vallourec in Brazil at Mina Pau
Branco, where prior to the delivery of iron ore to
the blast furnace the existing equipment on site
was not able to liberate or separate the highly clay
bound fines from the lump ore on the more difficult
ROMs. This led to final lump ore being sent onto
the smelting process with higher levels of
contamination being retained. The knock-on effect
on the smelting process was the requirement to
exponentially increase fluxes and coal in the
removal of this contamination in order to achieve
the high-quality steel that they produced. CDE
identified a solution that could quickly and
effectively solve a number of issues within one
installation. The AggMax 151 is a portable log
washer with a sizing screen that stands on a single
chassis; it was integrated within the existing
Vallourec processing plant. The introduction of the
AggMax allows the breaking down of the clay
contamination within the lump iron ore which in
turn liberates the alumina particles. The system
also reduces the friable material present which
means a lower proportion of fines are found in the
processed iron ore before it is delivered to the
blast furnace. The integration of the CDE AggMax
not only further improved the ability to process
lower grade ores while still maintaining a high
level final product but also allows the mine to
process even lower grade ores. Overall, the
scrubbing has upgraded the ore from 58% to 60%
Fe meaning effectively 2% more reserve yield
being realised equating to $45 million over life of
mine.
CDE has also helped Vallourec more recently in
tailings recovery at the Mina Pau Branco operation.
It has supplied an innovative EvoWash dewatering
plant for iron ore tailings contributing to the mine’s
sustainability. Magnetic concentration rejects (>45
µm) are feasibly dewatered through high-
frequency screenings, and slimes (<45 µm) are
effectively filtered in a horizontal filter press,
enabling the dry stacking of 45,000 t tailings per
month and 30% less mass reduction going to the
filter presses. These dry tailings have even had
uses of their own, from improving land reclamation
soil composition to brick manufacture.
Australian innovation with SIMEC
The then Arrium Mining wanted to reprocess their
overburden waste for iron ore recovery. CDE
worked with them on a large-scale solution
through to commissioning, despite the fact that
during the design work, Arrium went into
administration and was acquired and renamed
SIMEC Mining. Such was the ROI on the project
that the new owners stuck with the plan and it was
carried through very successfully.
At the Iron Knob mining location stockpiles of
low grade iron ore had accumulated over the life of
the mining of the Iron Monarch and Iron Princess
deposits - mining of the Iron Monarch first
commenced in 1899. The first CDE plant at the Iron
Monarch deposit has an annual processing
capacity of 1.8 Mt. The feed rate for the plant is
250 t/h of <12 mm material. A second CDE plant
was then installed at the Iron Baron mining