WASHING SOLUTIONS
Looking at log washers
The mining market is looking again at scrubbing technologies like log washing to make removal of clays & other waste material more efficient , reports Paul Moore
Mining has been a real focus for CDE as a
company in recent years , borne out of its highly successful plants at SIMEC in South Australia where it has two wet processing lines at two different sites ( Iron Knob and Iron Baron ) which are upgrading low grade iron ore into saleable product . At the core of the two SIMEC plants are two 250 t / h AggMax™ units , CDE ’ s modular log washer that combines feeding , scrubbing , sizing and trash removal . These are handling 4.2 SG iron ore that has angular and abrasive particles – but from the outset handled it very well as the AggMax is extremely robust , designed for the quarrying and recycling markets . CDE ’ s Business Development Manager for Mining , Kate McCormick told IM : “ At SIMEC the paddles lasted more than a year , exceptional for the type of material , and it is not exaggerating by saying that the AggMax is probably the most robust piece of equipment that CDE has ever brought to market and we would argue that the results show it to be the leading logwasher in performance in the industry today .”
While the AggMax was designed to remove clayey material from quarried rock , in mining often it is dealing with conglomerates where silica rich material and other waste material is adhering to the ore . There have been some tweaks for mining , such as higher specification motors for 24 / 7 operation plus a different approach to spares , with recommendation that a mining customer take a full set of paddles . SIMEC actually have three 250 t / h AggMax units
in operation , and another RotoMax shell ( the log washing component ) in reserve which is swapped in periodically to allow for refurbishment .
Diamonds on the up
Looking at the market , the success with SIMEC as a reference has driven interest in other parts of the mining world . McCormick commented : “ The first success was in diamond mining through our partnership with EPC company Consulmet in South Africa who supply processing solutions for both alluvial and kimberlite diamond operations . Our collaboration agreement with them dates to 2018 and since then Consulmet has bought four AggMax plants , the first of which is located in the Orapa kimberlite field in northern Botswana , followed by South African projects , and there are a large number of additional projects under review . They have found that the AggMax scrubs diamond ore of clays and / or silica waste much
more effectively than a traditional trommel design . Better scrubbing also means that optical or XRT based sorting systems become much
more efficient . If the diamond plant has a DMS
A CDE AggMax 251 installation at SIMEC ' s Iron Baron operation
circuit then AggMax will also sit before this stage .”
As well as the pre and post screening elements , the AggMax also has a built-in trash screen and floats off any organics that get into the process ; this is another advantage as XRT can mistakenly select this material with the diamonds . It is important to highlight that the AggMax is effectively a combination of equipment on a single chassis , not just the RotoMax log washer but before that sand removal with prescreening using a single , double or triple deck screen , which makes the log washer more effective . Then there is post-log washer screening as well performing dewatering and fraction separation plus the mentioned trash screen . “ The Consulmet success also led to CDE independently selling a full AggMax plant to a Swiss-based company called Kamanga which is developing a new diamond operation in Angola . These successes have enabled us to look to the global diamond market for yet more opportunities in Russia , Canada and elsewhere .”
Consulmet as an example is not just active in Africa – in recent years it supplied a 30 t / h bulk sampling plant to Star Diamond Corporation for its Star-Orion South Diamond Project in Saskatchewan . “ So this is an important partnership for CDE which will bring further success in the future .”
52 International Mining | OCTOBER 2020