Tag Archives: Screening

Gensource signs up K-UTEC, Koeppern and Ebner for Tugaske potash project

Comminution of minerals, Energy minerals, Mineral processing, Mineral project development, Mining equipment, Mining services, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Gensource says it has engaged a consortium of world-class potash process design and equipment fabrication companies to work together to provide a design-supply-commission package for the entire process plant at the Tugaske potash project, in Saskatchewan, Canada.

The kick-off of engineering work for the major process equipment package is another milestone for the project, the fertiliser development company said.

Gensource previously announced advances in the development and financing of the Tugaske project, with KfW IPEX-Bank and Société Générale, joint lead arrangers for the project debt, nearing completion of their due diligence process.

The total senior debt financing for the project is expected to be supported by export insurance coverage with the German Export Credit Agency (ECA), Euler Hermes.

To satisfy a significant portion of the German export requirement, Gensource has elected to work with a consortium of three German-based design and equipment fabrication companies, namely: K-UTEC AG Salt Technologies, Koeppern GmbH & Co KG and Ebner GmbH & Co KG.

“Individually, these companies represent world-class capabilities in their specific areas of expertise, whether in the design of potash and salt processing plants or the design and fabrication of equipment,” Gensource said.

Together, the three companies known as KKE have the capability to supply the entire main process plant in a single design-supply-commission package, the company said.

K-UTEC AG Salt Technologies will look at the physical chemistry, overall process development and engineering, including practical bench scale testing, for the project; Koeppern will be engaged for drying, compaction, and screening process design and compaction equipment design and manufacture; and Ebner (tour of Ebner fabrication facility in Eiterfeld, Germany, pictured below) will be in charge of cooling crystallisation process design and crystallisation equipment design and manufacture.

“Based on the combined experience and capabilities of KKE, Gensource saw an opportunity to not only work with these top-tier companies and have this work qualify for ECA coverage, but also to simplify the number of project interfaces by packaging the entire process plant into a single design-supply-commission contract package,” Gensource said.

“Together, these companies provide a complete solution: from receiving the raw brine from the solution mining wellfield all the way through to a final potash product, meeting the off-taker’s specifications, ready for storage and shipping.”

Additionally, by packaging the entire process plant into one export contract, Gensource says it de-risks the project through obtaining a process guarantee from KKE for product quality and process plant throughput.

To advance the scope on this process plant package, Gensource has initiated the first phase of engineering with KKE, which will start the detailed process and equipment design, leading to the fabrication and ordering of key equipment for the process plant.

Advancing the scope of this package supports a development timeline that targets production from the Tugaske project in late 2022, supplying product to Tugaske’s off-taker and future equity partner, Helm Fertilizers.

The efforts of the KKE group will be integrated into the project by Gensource’s key project delivery partners: Engcomp Engineering & Computing Professionals, the lead engineering and design consultant for the project; and South East Construction (SEC), the general construction contractor for the project, it said.

“Together, Gensource, Engcomp, and SEC are acting as an integrated team, responsible for the overall execution and delivery of the project,” Gensource said, explaining that both Engcomp and SEC were seasoned engineering and construction professionals in the Saskatchewan potash industry.

Mike Ferguson, President & CEO of Gensource, said: “The three companies of the KKE group have unrivalled global experience in the potash and salt industries and bring their tremendous know-how, experience and proven track record of success to our project.

“Together with Gensource, Engcomp, and SEC, KKE rounds out the world-class potash team that we have established, which will no doubt deliver a world-class sustainable potash production facility in Saskatchewan via the Tugaske project.”

Like other Gensource module designs, the Tugaske project will produce a minimum of 250,000 t/y of saleable muriate of potash product.

Superior Industries deepens relationship with Kimball Equipment

Bulk handling, Comminution of minerals, Mineral processing, Mining equipment, Mining services, , , , , ,

Superior Industries, a US-based manufacturer and global supplier of bulk material processing and handling systems, has announced an expanded product partnership with its long-term conveyor dealer, Kimball Equipment Company.

The respected dealer, which celebrates 75 years of operation next year, will now sell, service and support Superior’s crushing, screening and washing equipment in addition to the conveying equipment and components lines throughout Utah, Nevada, Arizona and southern Idaho.

“Kimball Equipment is a well-respected company and we’re honoured they’ll represent our growing line of aggregate processing and handling equipment,” Jarrod Felton, President of Superior, said. “Together, we’re both excited to serve customers with the region’s best application advice, robust stocking plans and most efficient customer support.”

The relationship between dealer, Kimball Equipment, and manufacturer, Superior Industries, started in 2004. Since then, the Salt Lake City-based dealer has sold almost 1,500 Superior conveyors and thousands of idlers, pulleys and conveyor accessories, according to Superior.

Kimball Equipment offers an extensive inventory of new and used heavy equipment, parts and supplies, repairs and rebuilds, field service and engineering capabilities.

Metso adds crushing & screening flexibility to the process flowsheet with My Plant Planner

Bulk handling, Comminution of minerals, IoT, Metallurgy, Mineral processing, Mining equipment, Mining services, Mining software, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Metso is looking to increase access to and improve the visualisation of mining process flowsheets with a new tool that could ultimately see more of its equipment end up at mine sites.

My Plant Planner offers engineering customers and mining end users the ability to model a flowsheet after inputting certain key parameters of their orebodies. They can then also visualise this plant layout in a platform that is free to use.

Metso, along with other OEMs, has provided visualisation tools to the industry for many years.

The company’s Bruno simulation software has over 7,000 users and has been helping customers select the right equipment for their mines since 1994. This software includes all the necessary Metso equipment, such as feeders, crushers and screens, and shows outputs for different end products, providing users with the data they need to make informed decisions on the right equipment.

My Plant Planner utilises this simulation expertise, but does so at a much earlier stage of the equipment selection process.

With the tool, customers can pick and choose different types of crushers, screens and conveyors to get the perfect balance for the circuit and identify bottlenecks to understand where extra capacity is needed, according to Metso.

Important factors, such as capacity, load, and power draw, are updated in real time as the circuit is designed and the parameters updated. At any point, it is possible to download a report that gathers together all the details about the plant being designed. It includes details on the chosen crushers, screens, conveyors and their parameters, including power consumption.

“We decided to develop this tool as we were seeing different types of requirements from our customers and EPCMs (engineering procurement and construction management) at the time around prefeasibility studies and we wanted to be more reactive to this,” Guillaume Lambert, Vice President of Metso’s Crushing Systems business line, explained to IM.

Prior to using such a tool, these EPCM firms were developing flowsheets for economic studies – the type of documents investors use to gauge the potential profitability of a mine development – over a matter of months or years in tandem with OEMs, before moving onto obtaining quotes based on their mining customers’ budgets.

As time has gone on, these firms have been asked by their mining customers to factor in more requirements into these studies. One may require a reduced plant footprint due to the proximity of indigenous communities; another may request that energy consumption is reduced in line with existing available power infrastructure in the region.

The requests vary depending on the size of company, the location of the project, the commodity and many other elements.

This is where the three-dimensional aspect of My Plant Planner is very important, according to Lambert, providing customers with not only a visualisation of the flowsheet, but also a gauge of the physical constraints that cannot be represented in 2D form.

This means companies assessing brownfield assessments can factor in height and width restrictions of existing infrastructure against capital expenditure requirements.

The turnaround time for the type of analysis being carried out by My Plant Planner is also a key selling point, allowing companies to generate results in a matter of hours, as opposed to waiting two to three weeks for a flowsheet assessment.

This speed could allow customers to explore multiple processing flowsheets in a simplified form as part of their due diligence process – for example weighing up a three stage conventional crushing and screening flowsheet against a HPGR circuit.

So far, the crushing and screening portion of the process flowsheet will be covered with the launch of My Plant Planner, but, based on customer feedback, the company plans to expand to the filtration process and other downstream elements.

As to why the company started with crushing and screening, the answer is an obvious one, according to Lambert.

Metso already has Bruno and VPS software (mine to mill assessments) in place – “we don’t have to reinvent the wheel in this regard”, Lambert said – and it is the area of the flowsheet that tends to come with the most equipment options.

“You can have three crushers in parallel, or one big one; a large screen in close circuit, or a smaller one in open circuit, etc,” he said.

It is this flexibility that miners require today. New projects coming to the table are very rarely 20-plus year developments that require a uniform comminution process over their lifetime.

Capex-conscious miners and their investors are instead bankrolling developments that tend to come with less than 10 years of life and are conservative when it comes to throughput. This is with the idea that they will fund the mine life extensions and expansions from existing cash flow when the operation is at full tilt.

These growth plans will inevitably come with the need to amend the process flowsheet down the line – which is where the plant footprint visualisation ability of My Plant Planner could come into play.

Flexibility such as this is also coming into Metso’s equipment line-up, with the company, only last week, launching its flexible FIT™ and smart Foresight™ crushing and screening stations for mining.

The FIT stations are designed with a focus on speed and flexibility, with two stations to choose from – Recrushing station and Jaw station – while the Foresight stations are equipped with smart automation technology including Metso Metrics™, VisioRock™, level sensors and crusher variable frequency drive.

These modular solutions are geared towards reducing capital expenditure and providing shorter lead times. In other words, they offer more flexibility.

It is tools such as My Plant Planner that will highlight just how important this flexibility could be over the life of mine of a chosen operation, providing users with the visibility to help navigate choppy commodity cycles and ensure their operations remain profitable over the long term.

You can find more details on My Plant Planner by clicking here.

Superior Industries strengthens SE Asia distribution with KeepMining agreement

Bulk handling, Comminution of minerals, Equipment maintenance, Mineral processing, Mining equipment, Mining maintenance, Mining services, , , , , ,

Superior Industries has added KeepMining™ to its long list of distribution partners, with the Singapore-based company to represent Superior’s growing line of crushing, screening, washing and conveying equipment in several countries throughout Southeast Asia.

The pact will see KeepMining hold the distributor mantle in countries including India, Indonesia, Japan, Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, South Korea, Malaysia, Nepal, Cambodia, Laos, Singapore, Bhutan and Brunei.

“Together, the employees of KeepMining have a lot of experience in the Southeast Asian mining and quarrying markets,” Jeff Steiner, Superior’s Territory Manager in the region, said. “They have aggressive plans for supplying and servicing customers and we look forward to growing our businesses together.”

KeepMining already has ties to Caterpillar, Atlas Copco, Liebherr and Yokohama, which equip the company to sell and service earthmovers, dump haul trucks, loaders, scrapers, crushing and screening plants, grinding solutions, washing systems, automation packages, dry bulk storage and handling systems, plus environmental solutions, Superior said.

In addition to its HQ in Singapore, KeepMining operates from additional locations in Malaysia, Indonesia, India and the Philippines.

Metso and Outotec establish business areas and leaders ahead of merger completion

Automation, Comminution of minerals, Environmental, Equipment maintenance, IoT, Mineral processing, Mining consumables, Mining equipment, Mining maintenance, Mining mergers and acquisitions, Mining services, Mining software, Sustainable mining, Water management, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

With Metso and Outotec having recently cleared one of the final remaining hurdles towards merging the two companies, the future Metso Outotec Board of Directors has laid out the planned company structure and related executive team appointments.

The nominations will become effective after the closing of the partial demerger of Metso and the combination of Metso’s Minerals business and Outotec, which is currently expected to take place on June 30, 2020, subject to receipt of all required regulatory and other approvals, including competition clearances – which the companies made significant headway on recently.

The companies said: “Combined, the future Metso Outotec will be a forerunner in sustainable technologies, end-to-end solutions and services for the minerals processing, aggregates, metals refining and recycling industries globally. The new organisation is designed to leverage the strengths and expertise of both companies.”

Metso Outotec will consist of the following six business areas:

  • Aggregates, providing crushing and screening equipment for the production of aggregates;
  • Minerals, providing equipment and full plant solutions for minerals processing, covering comminution, separation and pumps;
  • Metals, providing processing solutions and equipment for metals refining and chemical processing;
  • Recycling, providing equipment and services for metal and waste recycling;
  • Services, providing spare parts, refurbishments and professional services for mining, metals and aggregates customers; and
  • Consumables, providing a comprehensive offering of wear parts for mining, metals and aggregates processes.

The boards have also made some significant decisions on the key personnel that will lead these business units.

Markku Simula will become President of the Aggregates business unit. Simula currently serves as President, Aggregates Equipment at Metso.

Recently appointed Metso Mining Equipment President, Stephan Kirsch, will become President of the combined Minerals business area.

Jari Ålgars, currently CFO at Outotec, will become President of Metals.

Uffe Hansen, who is currently President of Recycling at Metso, will become President of Recycling at Metso Outotec.

Metso’s Sami Takaluoma will retain his President of the Consumables business area post at the new merged entity.

Markku Teräsvasara, who currently serves as the President and CEO at Outotec, will take on the President, Services and Deputy CEO role at Metso Outotec.

In addition to the business area president appointments, the following function heads and executive team members have been appointed:

  • Eeva Sipilä, CFO and Deputy CEO. Her appointment was announced on July 4, 2019. She currently serves as the CFO and Deputy CEO at Metso;
  • Nina Kiviranta, General Counsel. She currently serves as General Counsel at Outotec;
  • Piia Karhu, Senior Vice President, Business Development. She currently serves as Senior Vice President, Customer Experience at Finnair. She will join the company on July 1, 2020; and
  • Hannele Järvistö, Senior Vice President, Human Resources (interim). She currently serves as Senior Vice President, Human Resources (interim) at Metso. “This appointment is valid until a new position-holder has been selected and will start in this role,” the company said.

All the function heads and executive team members will report to Metso Outotec’s future President and CEO, Pekka Vauramo (pictured), the company said.

Reflecting on these changes, Vauramo said: “Above all, Metso Outotec will be strong in sustainability. Our extensive combined offering for minerals processing, from equipment to a broad range of services, will help our customers improve their profitability and lower their operating costs and risks, while at the same time reduce the consumption of energy and water.

“We at Metso Outotec understand our customer’s world and the daily challenges they face. Together, we will partner for positive change.”

Kwatani problem solving doubles diamond mine’s screening feed rate

Comminution of minerals, Equipment maintenance, Mine operation news, Mineral processing, Mining equipment, Mining services, , , , , ,

Kwatani says it has helped a South Africa diamond operation double the feed rate of its degrit screen through the use of one of its customised solutions.

The customer was operating several multi-slope screens to dewater product between 0.8 mm and 5 mm in size, before it was treated by dense medium separation (DMS). However, the screens were causing a severe carry-over of water onto the conveyor belt to the DMS, according to the South Africa-based OEM.

“The feed rate on each screen was being limited to about 250 t/h,” Kwatani CEO, Kim Schoepflin, said. “We tackled this by designing and manufacturing a customised multi-slope screening machine to fit the customer’s existing footprint.”

Schoepflin said Kwatani’s replacement was able to double the feed rate to about 500 t/h, with minimal water carry-over.

As a result of the success of this unit, the customer requested Kwatani to replace the whole bank of screens, it said.

In another contract, a customer asked for assistance with underperforming screens that could not deliver the original design parameters. They also wanted to increase the tonnage throughput by 17%, according to the company.

“We conducted a careful evaluation in collaboration with the customer, and came up with an innovative and economical solution,” Schoepflin said. “Simply replacing the existing screens with Kwatani’s new larger screens would have been costly and time consuming, so we decided instead to replace the screen’s existing gearboxes.”

The replacement gearboxes delivered greater vibration, but without exceeding the output torque the existing motors driving the gearboxes could provide.

“Drawing from our portfolio of locally designed and manufactured exciter gearboxes, we were able to implement this solution very quickly,” she said. “The two new exciter gearboxes were delivered to site and were in operation within two weeks – successfully and immediately increasing the screen’s throughput.”

The benefits to the customer did not stop there, according to Schoepflin. The newly optimised operating parameters meant the material bed depth was lower, so the drive motors drew a lower amperage and reduced the cost of power consumed.

“Our customised screening and feeding solutions – developed by our in-house team of experienced mechanical engineers and metallurgists – are based on consultation with each customer,” she explained. “The result is a design that delivers the optimal processing performance and tonnage at the lowest cost of ownership.”

Civmec mobilises personnel for Rio Tinto Mesa A contract work

Equipment maintenance, Mine operation news, Mineral project development, Mining equipment, Mining services, Steel and iron ore, , , , , , , , ,

Civmec Ltd has added another work package on a major iron ore development to its books, with Rio Tinto awarding it a contract to help further develop its Mesa A operational hub in the Robe Valley of Western Australia.

The package comprises the supply, fabrication, modularisation, transportation to site, erection, modification, installation, and commissioning of structural, mechanical, piping, electrical and instrumentation, and communication work for the Mesa A Wet Plant, it says. Components include screening, surge bin and scrubbing facilities and associated conveyor systems, transfer towers, sub stations and all piping and cabling, including trenching for underground services.

Rio Tinto’s Robe Valley Sustaining iron ore project, in the Pilbara region, includes the development of three new mining deposits and the construction of supporting infrastructure required to continue operations of the two existing operational hubs at Mesa A and Mesa J. The project is part of the company’s plans to sustain production capacity at its Robe River joint venture.

Civmec’s contract award follows similar agreements with Fortescue Metals Group on the Eliwana project and a contract to fabricate and modularise key components for BHP’s South Flank project, both of which are also in the Pilbara.

Civmec Chief Executive Officer, Patrick Tallon, said: “Rio Tinto has always been a good client for us and we have a long history of supporting the safe, high quality and timely delivery of their projects in Western Australia and Queensland, across construction, manufacturing and maintenance.”

Fabrication, to be undertaken at the group’s Henderson facility, will employ around 200 people and will commence in the coming weeks, Civmec said. The on-site structural, mechanical and piping component will require some 240 people to mobilise to site at the peak of the project in the latter part of this year, while the electrical discipline will require some 100 people in early 2021.

Civmec’s relationship with Rio Tinto is not limited to new development projects, the company says. It extends across other Rio Tinto sites, with the group’s maintenance division continually supplying services to its operations.

The award of this significant construction project, combined with recent work orders for the maintenance division from Rio Tinto, have a combined value of circa-A$165 million ($106 million), with the group’s order book now standing at around A$895 million, Civmec said.

BHP, Norton Gold Fields and Saracen join forces for screening and particle sorting study

Base metals, Comminution of minerals, Environmental, IoT, Mineral processing, Mining equipment, Mining services, Mining software, Precious metals, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

A collaborative study with Australia mining companies BHP, Norton Gold Fields and Saracen on the integration of screening and particle sorting techniques is set to deliver benefits across the resources sector, according to CRC ORE.

The Integrated Screening and Particle Sorting Collaborative (ISPS) study aims to develop a robust and scientifically rigorous framework for collecting, testing and reporting results for integrated screening and particle sorting techniques in a variety of ore domains.

The study, which began in August 2019, is currently underway at BHP’s Cliffs nickel mine, Norton Gold Fields’ Paddington gold site and Saracen’s Carosue Dam gold operation, all in Western Australia. It is expected the study will further expand during its 15-month tenure to include an additional two sites, according to CRC Ore.

CRC ORE ISPS Study Program Manager and Discipline Lead – Metallurgical Engineering at Curtin University’s Western Australian School of Mines, Dr Laurence Dyer, said the opportunity existed to use particle sorting to upgrade ores.

“Trials have recently been conducted at several gold mining operations in the Goldfields region of Western Australia,” Dr Dyer said. “What commonly fails to be taken into consideration is the benefit of first assessing the natural deportment of metal to a size fraction through grade-by-size screening test work, prior to undertaking particle sorting test work.”

He added: “Missing this step has two impacts. First, there is a risk that particle sorting test results will be misinterpreted as being representative of the full sample without considering the mass balance impact of high-grade material that might have been lost in the fine fraction. This fine fraction will not be detected through the particle sorter.

“Secondly, the opportunity may exist to upgrade feed first through determining if there is a concentration of high grade to the fine (or coarse) fraction which can be separated through screening. Undertaking screening in the preparation stage of the particle sorting process will enable analysis and separation of the fine or coarse fractions of a rock mass.”

Dr Dyer said the study outcome would be a blueprint for understanding the opportunity for upgrading ore feeds, including an assessment of operational impacts, economic valuation and implementation approaches.

The three mining companies would benefit from insights and improvements generated from other sites, while CRC ORE will benefit from developing a broader understanding of the application and opportunity for applying particle sorting on a range of deposit types, he said. In CRC ORE’s case, this will be integrated with natural deportment grade-by-size screening opportunities to maximise value for mining operations, he said.

The ISPS study forms part of the CRC ORE Grade Engineering® program, which is focused on extracting metal more efficiently by separating ore from waste before the comminution process commences.

“Current industry perception is that declining feed grade is an unavoidable consequence of ore deposit geology and mass mining technologies for increasingly mature mining operations,” the CRC ORE said.

In typical crush-grind-float operations, value recovery only takes place at around the 100-micron particle size involving three to four orders of magnitude size reduction compared with run of mine feed, according to the organisation.

“For increasingly low-grade deposits, the cost of energy and capital intensity required to process and reject worthless material at micron scale drives poor productivity,” it said. “An alternative is to deploy a range of coarse rejection technologies.”

Grade Engineering is an integrated approach to coarse rejection that matches separation technologies to ore specific characteristics and compares the net value of rejecting low value components in current feed streams with existing mine plans as part of a system view, according to CRC ORE.

Dr Dyer said the Grade Engineering program and the ISPS study would be conducted through CRC ORE’s Kalgoorlie-Boulder Mining Innovation Hub and Curtin University’s Western Australian School of Mines.

“Particle sorting is an important lever of Grade Engineering,” Dr Dyer said. “Through this project, CRC ORE is looking to develop a better understanding of the value of particle sorting to upgrade mill feed, particularly when combined with grade-by-size screening.”

A not for profit organisation funded by the Australia Federal Government and the global minerals industry, CRC ORE commenced in mid-2010 and, after its initial five-year funding term, was awarded a further six years of funding until July 2021.

Multotec makes an impact in the Pilbara with Ceradox screen panel

Equipment maintenance, Mineral processing, Mining consumables, Mining equipment, Mining maintenance, Mining services, Steel and iron ore, , , , , , ,

Multotec has combined Hardox blocks and alumina ceramic tiles to come up with a new high impact screen panel that, it says, cuts plant downtime and boosts mine productivity.

The Ceradox panel boasts more than double the wear life of traditional rubber panels, according to Multotec, with the innovation developed during 2019 in response to a request from an iron ore mining customer in Australia’s Pilbara region.

Three months of testing delivered results that exceeded expectations, according to Multotec Screening Product Manager, Shawn Faba.

“The customer needed a panel with an extended wear life, so that they only needed to conduct replacements during the regular maintenance shutdown every 12 weeks,” Faba said. “Our testing demonstrated that the panels were lasting 24 weeks and longer.”

Through a close collaboration between Multotec South Africa, Multotec Australia and the customer, a solution was developed and proved for a demanding application on scalper screens, it said.

Faba explained: “Designed for the impact area of the scalper screen, the Ceradox panel must withstand the impact of material up to 300 mm in size falling from a discharge height of up to 3 m. It must also resist high levels of abrasion from the ore.”

The resulting design leverages the impact strength of the Hardox blocks and the abrasion resistance of the ceramic tiles, embedded in Multotec’s proprietary rubber formulation, helping absorb the energy of the falling material, according to the company. The panels are manufactured locally at Multotec’s high-volume facilities in Gauteng, South Africa, which include a rubber mixing plant run by experienced specialists.

Faba noted that the 305 mm square Ceradox panels can be manufactured to different thicknesses from 50 mm to 100 mm.

“With our local manufacturing capability, we can achieve short lead times and deliver to anywhere in the world,” he said.

Multotec says it already supplies about 35% of the screening media to the iron ore mines in the Pilbara area.

Kwatani solves the screening equation at South Africa coal processing plant

Coal technology, Equipment maintenance, Mine operation news, Mineral processing, Mining maintenance, Mining services, , , , ,

Kwatani has once again shown its mineral processing expertise in a retrofit project that saw one of the largest coal processing plants in South Africa boost screening throughput.

The South Africa-based company was brought in to consult on possible solutions to assist the plant in not only returning its screening throughput performance to the original design parameters but increasing it further.

Kwatani Chief Operating Officer, Kenny Mayhew-Ridgers, said: “Having evaluated the challenges on site and consulted extensively with the plant personnel, we determined that the suggestion to incorporate a bigger gearbox onto the screen would fail.”

The screen lifespan was in excess of six years and Kwatani determined it would not be able to accommodate substantially larger gearboxes offering 50% more output than the currently installed exciter gearboxes. “This would have resulted in irreplaceable damage to the screens,” Mayhew-Ridgers stated.

Because the customer was also looking for a quick and cost-effective solution, purchasing new screens with larger vibration capabilities was not an option, according to the company.

Kwatani came up with a simple solution, according to Mayhew-Ridgers.

“The plant was achieving 450 t/h on 480 t/h screens and was looking to increase this to about 525 t/h. This equated to roughly a 17% increase in performance. Replacing the screen’s existing gearboxes with those that could deliver greater vibration but would not exceed the output torque that the 37 kW drive motor could provide was the answer,” he said.

With a range of locally designed and manufactured exciters gearboxes in its portfolio, Kwatani was quickly able to provide the customer with two new exciter gearboxes delivered to site, installed and operational in the two-week timeframe the customer was looking for. “The increase in screen throughput was immediate,” Mayhew-Ridgers said.

The success of the retrofit saw Kwatani secure the order to replace three additional screens for the customer with new exciter gearboxes now currently operating at 550 t/h – 22% more than the original requirement. “Our success has proven our capabilities and screening knowledge and we have further secured all the screen repair work as well,” Mayhew-Ridgers added.

“We have positioned this business to offer expertise that extends beyond the supply of screening equipment. Our product knowledge enables us to correctly specify the right equipment and components for the application – in a case-by-case scenario,” he concluded.