Large containerised final diamond-recovery plant
Bateman Engineering has received an order from a diamond producer in South Africa’s Northern Cape for a containerised, final diamond-recovery plant. Diamond recovery will be accomplished solely by grease-belt systems.
With a design throughput of 50 t/h of concentrate, it is believed
this plant will have the largest capacity of this type of recovery
plant in the world.
The plant will comprise six conventional Bateman Engineering grease
belts and two of Bateman Engineering’s new compact grease-belt
systems. A sort house providing a secured area for sorting the diamonds
recovered on the grease belts will also be incorporated.
The concentrate feed to the recovery plant will first pass through
a roller-supported scrubber, in which the attritioning action will
ensure that the surfaces of the diamonds have been appropriately cleaned
for recovery on grease.
The feed is sized into five fractions, 1 mm to 6 mm, 6 mm to 10 mm,
10 mm to 14 mm, 14 mm to 32 mm and 32 mm to 50 mm. The first four
fractions will be processed by the conventional grease belts and the
fraction with the large particles (32 mm to 50 mm) will be split at
40 mm and treated by the two compact grease belts.
The conventional grease belts will be arranged in two parallel banks,
each with three belts. These belts consist of angled horizontally
moving belts in which the waste is washed off the side of the belt
(their operation is described in detail in Bateman Globe No. 55).
In the new compact system, a level belt moves up an incline, the diamonds
adhering to the grease layer being removed as the belt passes over
the top pulley and the waste is washed off the end of the belt at
the bottom pulley. By tuning the parameters determining the performance
of the belt, such as the angle and speed of the belt, the grease,
pulleys and water, the new compact grease belts from Bateman Engineering
can now effectively handle particle fractions up to 50 mm in size,
well in excess of the 32 mm particle limit of the older equipment.
A recovery of 98 % of the diamonds is anticipated, providing the feed
has been suitably prepared and high-quality water is supplied to the
plant.
The whole plant will be built into 18 Hi-Cube (20 m long) containers,
assembled and tested in the works and then transported by road to
site in the containers. The fully-equipped containers will then be
reassembled on site. The containers are insulated and air-conditioned,
not only to provide pleasant working conditions for the plant operators,
but also to ensure that the internal ambient conditions enable the
grease-belt system to operate as required.
The six conventional grease belts and ancillary equipment will be
contained in 12 containers and their sizing screens in two more. Three
containers will be required for the compact grease systems and screens.
The sort room will be built into the last container.
The order for the plant was received in August 2006 and it is anticipated
that construction and testing in the works will be completed by the
end of the year. Once delivered on site, a month will be required
for erection, commissioning and training of the personnel.
For more details, please contact Neels van Niekerk, Project Manager,
on +27-11-899-9111 or email Modular@BatemanEngineering.com.
