BATEMAN's APIC Jig celebrates
10 years in SA
June 2005 marks 10 years since the first testwork on the applicability
of jigging to South African iron ore was carried out by BATEMAN in
joint venture with Mintek, the South African metallurgical research
institute. The mark one version of BATEMAN's APIC Jig mobile plant
was commissioned in June 1995, based on technology from FCB of France,
but specially adapted to jigging applications in South Africa, and
tested on iron ore (both lumpy and medium sized).
Since then jigging has found wide acceptance in South African industry,
while ongoing development by BATEMAN, in association with Mintek and
the Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre (JKMRC) in Australia,
has ensured that it provides the leading-edge solution in the processing
and upgrading of ferrous ores using jigs. Having acquired the full
property rights to the APIC Jig from FCB and to the JigScan from JKMRC,
BATEMAN now provides jigs that offer superior separating performance
for a wide range of materials with specific gravities from above 1
(e.g. coal) to as high as, but not limited to, 7 (e.g. ferroalloys).
Developments over the past 10 years to this underbed, air-pulsed
gravity separator have included the redesign of the jig body and air
system for high pressures; and the adoption and redesign of the PLC-based
JigScan controller to provide improved control over product quality,
consistency and higher yields of on-specification product. With this
fully-integrated automatic system, much of the operator attention
needed for efficient operation of a jig is reduced or eliminated and
the operator can focus on other tasks. The system maintains a stable
stratification, automatically rectifies abnormal behaviour due to
feed or fluid dynamics and sequences start-ups and shut-downs to optimise
production.
In addition, the development of a fines gate especially for iron
ores has overcome the problem experienced worldwide in the separation
of fine ferrous ores by minimising the back mixing of fine concentrate
with reject before discharge. Cost-effective and proven concentrate-discharge
systems are also now incorporated to replace traditional bucket elevators,
which were used for the extraction and dewatering of sinks material
after separation but are demanding in operation and maintenance.
With the modern jig units, high-tech modelling facilitates design
as well as production monitoring, while BATEMAN's significant operational
expertise, acquired through its toll treatment services, is constantly
utilised to further enhance operational efficiency.
For more information, please contact Vincent Dieudonn, General Manager,
Jigging, on +27-11-899-2343 or email jigging@batemanengineering.com.
