An innovation engineering design has been applied to the plant feed transfer points for the Khumani Expansion Project and the first of these two Weba Chute Systems has been installed at this plant in the northern Cape. The Khumani Mine is part of Assmang which is jointly owned and controlled by African Rainbow Minerals and Assore. The first of the two proportional split transfer chutes has been installed at the on-grade plant feed conveyor and the second one will be installed on the off-grade plant feed conveyor.
Alwin Nienaber, technical director of Weba Chute Systems, says that proportional split chutes offer a major advantage as this type of chute, if configured correctly, will facilitate optimisation of available plant capacity. He says that split chutes can prove troublesome due to the variable impact points, and this is why it is so critical when dealing with such transfer point applications to interface with a company that has an established track record in providing appropriate solutions for challenging materials handling applications.
Plant feed conveyors are essentially the life blood of a plant which means that the conveyor head chute is a critical component in the process and has to provide reliable service. Downtime due to poor performance of this chute, unnecessary maintenance or complete failure will have a huge financial impact for the plant. “It is important to understand that the proportional split chute is very different to a bifurcating chute. A bifurcating chute is used where a 50/50 split is required but in this particular application the split will vary depending on the actual plant requirements at the time,” Nienaber said, adding: “Control is key to the reliable performance of the proportional split transfer chute and through innovative engineering and the use of advanced technology we were able to provide an engineered solution that will work. These chutes have been engineered in such a manner so as to allow the split to be automatically adjusted as and when necessary.”
Iron ore is extremely abrasive and known for its high wear characteristics. Weba Chute Systems states that it has an established reference within the iron ore sector where its understanding of the material performance and the incorporation of this into the engineering design ensure optimum life even with the high rate of wear. Factors taken into account during the design and engineering phases of the chutes included height of transfer drop, throughput rates and tonnages as well as maximum lump size.