South African engineering company Bateman Engineering has successfully commissioned the 30-t/h dense-media separation (DMS) modular plant it supplied to Asechin Ara Company for the preconcentration of zinc/lead carbonate-bearing ore from the Angouran mine, in Iran’s Zanjan province.
The plant will also be used to process other base metals and industrial minerals from various mine sites in Iran.
Bateman reports that there has been a worldwide increase in the use of DMS technology for the preconcentration of base metals and cone crusher parts saleindustrial minerals in general, owing to the potential this technology offers for reducing the size of downstream equipment.
The DMS modular plant was manufactured, fully assembled, water-tested and signed off by the client at thestone crushing plant thailand contractor’s works, in Pretoria, prior to being dismantled for shipping to Iran. The plant was constructed by the client, and commissioning and training of the operators were carried out under the supervision of an engineer fromcanola crushing plants in canada Bateman Engineering.
The plant required a complete redesign of the standard Bateman 30-t/h DMS, owing to differences in operating density and the material yield to the cyclone underflow required for this application. Thelimestone processing for toothpaste basic operating parameters were determined by test results on a zinc/lead carbonate-bearing ore sample that was sent to South Africa for testing at the country’s minerals research institute, Mintek. The plant achieved an estimated 85% zinc recovery, with a 60% mass reduction.
The material is trucked from mine sites and crushed at the client’s crushing facilities, in Takestan, prior to trucking to site. All peripheral equipment, such as the feed hoppers, conveyor belts, rotary scrubber, screw classifier, thickener and water reticulation plant, was designed and built by the client’s in-house engineer.
This is the second DMS plant supplied to Iran and follows the 5-t/h DMS plant supplied to the Iranian Minerals Processing Research Centre, in 2004.
Bateman modular plants can be applied in prospecting, exploration, small-scale mining and mineral processing, and are designed to overcome the problems encountered in the erection and commissioning of processing facilities in remote and difficult locations. The design options are standardised, but flexible, and significantly reduce engineering and construction times and, hence, capital cost.