In Western Australia, Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) is using six modern allflux^® fluidised bed separators in its iron ore plant (International Mining, April 2008). Fortescue is relying on allmineral’s technology for efficient sorting and classification of the iron ore. Six of the latest allflux® fluidised bed separators are starting operations this spring at Cloud Break. Each has the capacity to clean, sort and classify 170 t/h of iron ore with particles < 2 mm.

The allflux process is based on the fluidised bed principle. An upward stream is generated in the coarse sand chamber that causes fine and light particles to rise, while large, heavy particles sink and are removed as ready-made concentrate. In the peripheral fine-sand chamber a pre-concentrate is generated that is cleaned on spirals. The allflux overflow contains only the finest slurry and coarser light particles.

allflux fluidised bed separators are built for throughputs of 20 to 2,000 m³/h. The upper grain sizes are between 2 and 4 mm. The current and control features allow the generation of three finely-separated, classified products by a single machine unit.

allmineral says FMG chose its technology “because of the years of positive experiences with allflux separators in the South African iron ore industry and convincing results of pilot runs. allmineral’s technology completely fulfils the company’s process-related demands and offers considerable advantages relating to investment and operating costs.”