As the fines recovery gains achieved by REFLUX™ Classification (RC™) technology are extended to a wider range of commodities, FLSmidth is making mines an offer they can’t refuse: to share the value of expanded production – including retreatment of waste dumps – at no cost to themselves. The profit-share option is one of a range of contractual and financial alternatives that the leading engineering Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) is putting on the table as part of its commitment to sustainable productivity for its customers, according to FLSmidth’s Capital Sales Director for sub-Saharan Africa, Roy Hazell.

“We are putting our money where our mouth is– this is how confident we are in this technology,” says Hazell. “We can even operate the plant on the customer’s behalf; no‑one knows our equipment better than we do and we can ensure that it performs to expectation.” Other options for customers include a toll treatment arrangement, while some customers may prefer to purchase the solution outright and operate it themselves as a standalone unit to augment production levels.

He says the modular RC solution is ideal for any mining company that has dumps or stockpiles of fines where they would like to recover minerals, but where the quantities do not justify the building of a dedicated fixed plant. The modular format allows a short term treatment plant of capacities around 100 t/h to be set up without disrupting any existing process facilities. At the same time, the modular format can even be expanded for customers who want production capacity up to 400 to 600 t/h although these plants are more likely to a fixed solution.

The sector is recognising that the RC concept offers better recovery rates than spirals when dealing with fine particles, more effectively separating materials of different densities. With one modular RC plant already commissioned and in ramp-up and optimisation phase at a platinum mine near Rustenburg, FLSmidth is developing these plants for coal fines and will take the modular concept to other commodities such as gold. PGM producers have gained particular value from RC technology in terms of recovering chromite – a contaminant in PGM concentrate – as an added source of revenue.