DMS and diamond-recovery plants for Nizhne in Siberia
JSC Nizhne-Lensoye has ordered a dense-media separation (DMS) plant and a final diamond-recovery plant from Bateman Engineering for delivery to its operations in north-eastern Yakutia. JSC Nizhne-Lenskoye is an open, joint-stock company in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Russia. This is the second order received from Nizhne-Lenskoye in the past two years.
The site is located in the permafrost region above the polar circle
and, with temperatures ranging from about 35° in summer to as
low as -65° in winter, mining activities are seasonal for about
100 days a year.
The order for this equipment was placed in August 2006 with a requirement
that it be in operation during the summer of 2007. Hence the cargo
has to complete the trip from the port of Vladivostok to site in southern
Siberia, a straight line distance of about 2 000 km, before the thaw
commences in May. The consignment has therefore to be shipped from
South Africa no later than mid January. The time for design, construction
and pre-delivery assembly, testing and shipment is thus a mere five
months.
The DMS module is a standard 50 t/h Bateman Engineering unit enlarged
to handle 60 t/h. It will separate waste material from a diamondiferous
feed obtained from alluvial mining. Because the feed also contains
a large proportion of heavy minerals, there will be a 50 / 50 split
between the sinks and the floats (waste), which is higher than is
usually encountered in DMS operations.
The final diamond-recovery plant is intended primarily for sampling
and geological testing and will comprise a grease-belt system with
a novel, compact, grease belt having a capacity of 1 t/h capable of
recovering up to 98 % of the diamonds, depending on the quality of
the feed and water used in the process. Its modular nature will ensure
that it can be moved readily to other sites, as required.
This recovery system is a recent Bateman Engineering development in which the concentrate is deposited onto a belt moving up an incline. The waste slides off the belt at the bottom pulley and the diamonds, which adhere to the grease, are recovered after moving over the top pulley.
The recovery plant will be transported and housed on site in two 12 m Hi-Cube containers and, besides the grease belt, will also contain an attritioner to clean the surface of the diamonds, tanks to recover the diamonds from the molten grease and a heat exchanger to chill the grease for reapplication on the moving belt. The operation is completely hands off and the plant can be easily commissioned and maintained in remote sites.
Bateman Engineering won the contract because of its ability to guarantee the performance of the equipment, as demonstrated through previous projects and studies successfully completed for JSC Nizhne-Lenskoye.
More information is available from Bateman Engineering.
Regarding the DMS system, contact Garth Jones, Project Manager (DMS
Module) and regarding the grease-belt system, Neels van Niekerk, Project
Manager (Recovery Module), on +27-11-899-9111 or email Modular@BatemanEngineering.com.
