Townsville Industry Week to showcase minerals processing
As one of five events under the Townsville Industry Week banner in July, the Mineral Processing Expo (MPX) will feature a wide range of companies presenting new technologies and equipment.
Recognising the significance of the minerals industry in Queensland - and particularly Townsville - MPX will feature displays and demonstrations of the latest in crushing, grinding, sizing and vibrating equipment, as well as automated solutions, recycling information, and conveying and storage options.
Reed Exhibitions exhibition manager George Martin said minerals processing is an area of rapid change with new technologies and products constantly being developed.
“By providing a mineral processing focus, visitors will have the opportunity to view a diverse range of industry developments in equipment, cost-saving solutions and technologies,” Martin said.
A number of leading supply companies will exhibit at MPX.
Ludowici Mineral Processing Equipment (LMPE) will display two products developed in direct response to international industry calls for smarter, quieter equipment. These are the Ludowici Vibrationtechnic (LVT) screen and the Silent Knight Exciter gearbox which, when combined, have noise emission levels as low as 70dBA for quiet screen excitation.
The LVT Screen has been widely adopted by the coal industry as it is 30% lighter than conventional screens. The unit features a fully swage-lock fastener construction as well as cross tube members that are fully cased in polyurethane for easy replacement in situ. The LVT screen also features a 3Hz minimum safety margin between natural and operating frequencies that eliminates the possibility of frequency induced structural failure.
Components cast from spheroidal graphite iron as well as circulating oil lubrication of all bearings and teflon coated bore bearings help ensure increased durability. The Silent Knight Exciter also features a hold-down bolt pattern for retrofit compatibility.
LVT Screen units have been installed at four sites in Qld: Hail Creek, Moorvale Mine, Goonyella Riverside Mine and New Acland Coal. Units have also been installed at Mt Arthur North in the Hunter Valley.
PAC-RIM (Qld), a Townsville based contracting company, will display its auxiliary crushing circuit products.
The company has developed an extensive range of modular crushing, screening and conveying equipment.
PAC-RIM MD Steve McPherson said all clients had different requirements and as a result the company had gained extensive experience over the past 20 years in crushing, screening and materials handling.
“At KCGM, in Kalgoorlie (WA), we have processed 9Mt over the past 2½ years with a mix of wet underground ore and old stope fill material containing a variety of tramp steel and a large volume of waste for glory hole and stope backfill,” McPherson said.
“The KCGM system has been designed to convey material 2.5km to discharge at a number of points around the old Mt Charlotte open pit.”
Recently a two-stage plant was installed for Western Metals at Pillara, WA. The plant replaces a primary-only crushing facility with both a primary and secondary plant with a processing capacity in excess of 250,000tpm.
“Mines are looking for ways to maximise the outputs of their existing processing and crushing facilities. Mill throughput capacity is often a restriction in achieving better downstream output. By linking auxiliary crushing circuits to existing crushing facilities throughput can be increased while decreasing the mill feed size.”
A number of projects using auxiliary circuits include: Mt Lyell Copper Mines, Tas; McArthur River Mining, NT; Ravenswood Carpentaria Gold, north Qld, and; Pillara Western Metals, WA.
“All of these operations have gained significantly increased downstream outputs from the finer feed and increased crushing capacity,” McPherson said.
Tecalemit Australia is a supplier of a range of equipment and services suitable for all fluid applications in mining and minerals processing. Products include manual and mechanical oil and grease pumps, and a range of hose reels.
On display at Townsville Industry Week will be the company’s general workshop equipment such as grease guns, grease nipples and accessories together with centralised lubrication equipment including single and twin line grease injectors, timers, grease filters, pump stations as well as working models of single line bearing and gear spray systems.
In July Tecalemit supplied automated lubrication systems for the domestic and export coal stackers at Mt Arthur North opencut thermal coal mine in the Hunter Valley, NSW. Tecalemit is now working on a project for the Hail Creek coal mine west of Mackay in Qld.
Cytec Specialty Chemicals, said to be the world’s largest supplier of specialty mining reagents and flocculants, is helping the alumina, sulphide, precious metal, industrial minerals and coal industries meet complex economic, environmental and metallurgical challenges.
For the minerals processing sector Cytec offers technologically advanced, novel reagents and polymer based depressants that have gained broad acceptance in separation, beneficiation and concentration processes. These products provide higher value than traditional sulphide and non-sulphide reagents by increasing revenue through improved metallurgy, lowering costs and producing higher value end products.
For coal processing Cytec’s range of coal preparation chemicals help operators obtain cleaner thickener over flows, increase throughput, tolerate wider pH swings, and produce higher grades and drier refuse cakes.
Cytec’s flocculants are used in liquid/solids separation and selective flocculation processes to increase settling and filtration rates and increase throughput and product recoveries.
8th Mill Operators’ Conference
The minerals processing focus goes beyond products at Townsville Industry Week with the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM) concurrently running the 8th Mill Operators’ Conference.
“Visitors and conference delegates alike will be able to view the latest developments for the minerals processing arena, and in the same location hear about trends from industry experts addressing the conference,” Martin said.
The conference theme this year is Evolution and Survival in the Minerals Industry. In recent years there has been a major consolidation of the minerals industry. Many mining organisations have merged to form large corporations and there is an increasing focus on improving capital efficiency and increasing returns to meet growing investor expectations.
As a result operations have focused on increasing operating efficiency through higher throughput, lower costs, improved product quality and higher recoveries. But, in the face of declining metal prices, technology has both helped to increase opportunities to reduce costs and perpetuate the decline in prices.
The three-day conference will provide a forum to discuss and exchange experiences on the challenges facing the industry.
Conference session topics include:
Operating and technical innovations in all aspects of mill operations
Training, organisational development and safety in mill operations
Application of new technologies to improve process plant performance
Application of mineralogy and other techniques to solve metallurgical problems
Operating experiences in mill operations throughout the operating life cycle, from design and construction, commissioning, maturity to full production, expansion and closure.
The 8th Mill Operators Conference will be held at Jupiters Casino, Townsville from July 21 to 23.
In addition to MPX, Townsville Industry Week will feature:
IMX – The Industrial & Mining Exhibition
IMX is recognised as the largest regional industrial event in Qld for 2003. IMX focuses on mining, power generation, sugar processing, transportation, engineering and metal smelting industries.
PACEX – The Process and Control Exhibition
PACEX will provide a showcase for up-to-the-minute solutions in process control, automation, instrumentation, robotics and test and measurement.
LMHD – The Logistics, Materials Handling & Distribution Exhibition
LMHD will provide a display of warehousing management systems, storage solutions, materials handling and lifting/access equipment.
The Business Solutions Show
The Business Solutions Show will provide a showcase for the latest developments and how these can be applied in practical environments.
Townsville Industry Week 2003, Townsville Entertainment Centre, 22-24 July. For more information or to register visit www.tiw.reedexhibitions.com.au
26-Apr-2003