The Bateman Roller Supported Mill is driven by solid polyurethane wheels, reducing capital costs by up to 30 % by eliminating the need for girth gears, pinions, white metal bearings and complex interlocks and lubrication systems. The mill can be rotated in either direction and the speed can be varied easily

A BATEMAN roller-supported scrubber being manufactured for Miba's 150 t/h NLK2 kimberlite-treatment plant, DRC.

This BATEMAN roller-supported scrubber is part of the plant processing 150 t/h (SG 2,6 t/m³) of diamond-bearing gravel at Vaalbosch Diamond Mine, RSA.

Two BATEMAN roller-supported scrubbers processing diamond-bearing gravel at Trans Hex's Baken Mine, RSA.

Bateman has supplied and commissioned over twenty roller supported scrubbers in the diamond recovery industry over the past years. Most of these were incorporated in modular process plants. These scrubbers have also found applications in marine diamond recovery where they have been put on dredging ships.

A standard roller supported scrubber consists of a rotating cylindrical shell set horizontally with end closures sufficient to maintain a body of liquid within it and mounted on and driven by polyurethane covered rollers. The rollers are coupled to electro-mechanical drive units which could be two or four on each corner of the scrubber base frame. The shell is rubber lined on the inside with internal projections or lifters that serve to tumble the load on rotation. The feed and discharge opening sizes and arrangements can vary to suit the application. The discharge arrangement can either be a bellmouth discharge cone or a single or double trommel screen.

These scrubbers have been used successfully for the disintegration or washing of clay from harder and more coarsely crystalline minerals and rocks. In some cases, scrubbing can be used to disaglomerate or break the bonding brought about between grains by precipitates of salts, clay and the like.

Shell diameters range from 0.8 metres to 3.66 metres in diameter and lengths of between 1.5 metres and 7.1 metres. The total installed power ranges from 22kW to 640kw. Capacities range between 25 t/h to 700 t/h of dry material.

The shell rotational speed is low between 50 and 60 percent of the critical speed but if the clay is tough adhesive and water resistant, the speed can easily be varied to improve the agitation.

Advantages :

• Low capital and maintenance costs
• Short delivery and installation time
• Variable peripheral speed
• Can be mounted on concrete or steel structure
• Rubber liners, inlet and discharge arrangements can be adapted to suit both the clients' and process requirements.
• All fabricated steel (no cast components), short manufacturing lead time.