Cradle to grave
Liner design improves mill life
Weir Minerals' service teams ensure
maximum productivity and efficiency.
Many processing plants in the global
mining sector are starting to ramp
up production in response to higher
commodity prices, putting them in a better
position to benefit from more advanced
liner technologies that offer longer life
and less downtime. New mills being built
tend to be larger, single-stream units that
run at high tonnages for better efficiencies
and throughput; as a result, mill uptime
and lifespan have become progressively
important factors in mine profitability.
“It is therefore increasingly imperative
that mills run continuously, reliably, and
efficiently,” says Kevin Sherwen-Slater,
Vulco product manager at Weir Minerals
Africa. “These new liner technologies
— with stronger compounds and better
designs — contribute significantly to
mines’ efforts to achieve this,” he adds.
In the latest addition to its Vulco
composite range of mill lining systems,
Weir Minerals Africa has introduced
a new heavy-duty lifter bar to optimise
service life and further contribute to the
lower cost of mill ownership.
“The design and strength of this
innovation make us confident it will
compete well against steel liners,” says
Sherwen-Slater. “It will also allow us to
approach the bigger mills, in the size range
of 6.5m diameter to 11m diameter.”
According to Sherwen-Slater, composite
liners have become popular for several
reasons, including a power consumption
saving of 25% to drive the mill compared
to steel-lined mills; throughput increases
of some 27% on grate discharge mills due
to minimum blinding of the apertures on
the grates; and service life improvements
of 30% compared to steel-lined mills in
certain applications.
Furthermore, there is a mill noise
reduction of about 9dB due to sound
deadening from the rubber material, which
is an important consideration for many
mines as they work towards lower noise
levels as part of improving mine health
and safe ty.
Automation leads to zero harm
Technology is automating the future of safety
management, writes Roberto Vargas.
Integrated systems are now commonplace
in many industrial environments. Data
is collected from a multitude of sources
and combined to give site operators a
bigger picture of the challenges they face,
allowing for the more proactive planning
of resources, maintenance, and safety
management protocols. In a mining
setting, it is crucial for managers and site
operatives to be aware of physical changes
that can affect the safety and productivity
of operations, without exposing workers
to even more danger.
These integrated systems, such as 3D
Laser Mapping’s Sitemonitor Live, have
been designed to make light work of
inspections. By using static sensors, it is
possible to continually survey a chosen
area and feed back on a range of critical
business issues ranging from inventory
and mined volume calculations, to the
height and depth of site features such as
berms. The collected data is acquired and
analysed automatically, which improves
efficiencies and allows operators to
fully document the monitoring process.
This level of additional intelligence can
be used to build a more robust safety
management system at the same time
as assisting in logistics and maintenance
planning.
The remote nature of the technology
also means that it is no longer necessary
for workers to carry out visual inspections,
removing the need to expose survey
teams to heavy machinery and vehicles
and potentially unstable stockpiles.
The African continent has some
complex geological challenges when
it comes to the extraction of natural
resources. An increase in seismic
activity was thought to contribute to
the worsening fatality statistics seen in
the previous year, with several deaths
being linked to slope and tunnel failure.
Rockfall is a significant threat in any
mining environment; yet, when it occurs
in some of the world’s deepest mines, the
results can be catastrophic. Monitoring
the stability of slopes and tunnels is
critical when it comes to saving lives and
preventing costly disruption to a mine’s
productivity.
Despite great advancements in
automated mining technology, we are
still a long way away from being able
to entirely remove human involvement
from the drilling and blasting process.
However, remote technologies can now
be used to monitor areas that pose the
greatest risk to workers. LiDAR (light
detection and ranging) sensors have been
used for mine surveys for some time, and
owing to its ability to produce millimetre-
accurate maps and 3D models, it is a key
tool when it comes to anticipating slope
failure and rockfall.
Roberto Vargas is regional business
development manager at geospatial
technology specialist 3D Laser Mapping.
SEPTEMBER 2018 MINING MIRROR
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