SCREENING
movement. Shepherd:“ Even using HPGRs as an alternative in future flowsheets means there is still a lot of mass moving across the panels and it can be up to 100 mm of rubber, taking a lot of energy to drive. A conventional flowsheet screen deck that might be 4.2 m wide by 7.3 m long in a double deck configuration has a lot of mass and operates around 4.6 or 4.7G with a 12 mm stroke. That is using a lot of energy- by utilising far better materials, we give the miners more confidence and certainty in their operation, while at the same time we bring the mass down, the dynamic loads and the static loads in the plant. So it’ s a win-win all round.”
Lewis adds:“ Another win for us when we look at it from end to end and the ESG outcomes is with respect to certainty with reduction of working capital. If we can produce the same amount of tonnes with less wear, obviously there’ s less freight movements, there’ s less stock movements within the mine site, and there’ s less obsolescence risk from a a manufacturing standpoint. So there’ s a whole range of additional benefits that that are not even seen.”
On top of that, there are improved safety aspects. The new screen media means putting less people in hazardous situations less often as it changes the maintenance schedule. The screens have more uptime, and more throughput and they are safer. Also, FLS is developing a new system to monitor wear detection for screening media, which will enable safer wear inspections and precise reporting for data-driven decision making. Shepherd added“ This will enable us to get really interesting wear monitoring detailed data over time.
It’ s a very exciting project, which we are excited to share more information about in the near future.” Jimenez also commented on screen versatility of design:“ One of the great things about the FLS range of screens is that it’ s fully tunable to your specific application. One of the things we do is ensure that we’ ve got very solid separation between run frequency and natural frequency to ensure that there is no clash of frequency while it’ s operating. But secondly, our exciter and driveline arrangement enables us to tune not only frequency, but also acceleration through the mass. So it’ s a fully plugged and weighted arrangement- what that means is that should the screen change in duty or need to handle more mass or have a higher bed depth, the screen can handle that as long as we do the right monitoring and move the natural frequency away from its new run frequency. On top of that, utilising our media keeps the actual inherent or structural mass of the screen down. This allows us to keep the equipment operating within its optimal performance range, while maintaining smooth and consistent linear motion.”
Shepherd says the new screen media will bring upside both for the retrofit market and the greenfield new project market.“ Greenfield has big upsides, but a much larger market is the efficiency savings and / or throughput advantages at existing plants. Plus, we can optimise circuits that use both FLS screens and non FLS screens-that’ s the reality.”
He adds:“ Traditionally you’ ll see rubber media made from natural rubber in the heavy-duty screening space, and it has been the go-to material for decades due to high impact resistance. Our NexGen polyurethane outperforms it. It means instead of a 100 mm rubber panel, you might be able to put a 60 mm panel on there meaning it’ s safer and easier to work with, plus there’ s less mass to move. Outside of that, the actual tensile strength of the material is far greater. Therefore, you can narrow the ligaments down between the apertures and therefore put more apertures in which gives you a lot more flexibility in the design. You can overcome issues such as blinding, which adds mass and stress onto the entire screen system.”
The NexGen suite will continue to grow and evolve as FLS consistently looks to develop newer materials. Shepherd:“ What we’ re wanting to do is consistently bring in premium products into NexGen based on a constant loop of testing and developing other polymers. Out in the market, we have a growing network of solution specialists on the ground and they go and work with our customers to identify their problems. Screening, as with all areas of the flowsheet, is very much about understanding their problems end to end. And that’ s from a point of view of circuit analysis, but also from a point of view of basic things like supply chain certainty.”
FLS has multiple NexGen trials ongoing – in some cases focused on wear life, some on screening efficiency, and often both. Shepherd:“ One customer we have seen has screen shutdowns every 10 days to de-peg it so they’ re only operating at 40 % capacity – we are helping them with that.”
FLS is also releasing the next range of its largest exciter series, which is going to allow it to go to dual drive on very big screens, both double and triple deck screens, and will contribute to reliability and uptime in these large units. The other part of this is increasing modularisation and efficiency of spare parts supply. Lewis:“ So from a point of view of exciters, we do the exciters as service exchange arrangements. So, a customer needs to, at predictive analysis stage, change a particular exciter. It’ s changed and comes back to us and we do the assessment. If needed, we can
perform a quick refurbishment. It enables a quick, easy change and minimises the amount of gearboxes that are sitting around awaiting overhaul and getting damaged or deteriorating. The new exciter design will also give more certainty around the couplings and all the points that are typically failure points in a drive system because you’ ve got less maintenance needs. It means in a linear stroke you’ re going to hold the linear stroke a lot longer.”
In relation to future flowsheets, FLS said that there are plenty of screens in service now that are treating HPGR feed and then conditioning that for downstream applications – but some users are struggling to reach the throughput they need with screening capacity limitations. Plus, even in conventional flowsheets, the screens in general will just get bigger and bigger. So there is a lot of work for the whole industry, not just FLS, on bringing in new screening technologies to address this.
Finally, a note on service capability. Jimenez:“ Today, we are able to handle big screen overhauls in major mining areas due to our network of large service centres being in close proximity to our customers.” Lewis added:“ We aim to be the screening lifecycle partner to enable our customers to not only maximise screening efficiency, but overall circuit productivity and profitability.”
Sandvik – embracing a lifecycle management approach
By embracing a lifecycle management approach with its customers, Sandvik Rock Processing says it ensures that its vibrating screens meet production targets at the lowest cost per tonne.
The most effective starting point, says Lomave Sukati, Sandvik Rock Processing’ s Business Line Manager Lifecycle Solutions, is for mines to request a full assessment from their OEM partner.“ This allows for a gap analysis to identify opportunities for improvement, so the equipment can be restored to OEM standards in terms of reliability and performance,” explains Sukati.“ The customer might also require
By embracing a lifecycle management approach with its customers, Sandvik Rock Processing says it ensures that its vibrating screens meet production targets at the lowest cost per tonne
20 International Mining | OCTOBER 2025