Mainland Machinery Ltd

Thickeners: How they Operate

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This is a guest post by Bill Hancock, President of Zeroday Enterprises

Thickeners: How they Operate

The most common solids-liquid (S/L) unit operation is thickening. A wide variety of thickeners are used including conventional, deep well, paste, high rate and clarifiers which is a thickener subclass used for removing solids from turbid or very low % solids waters. Thickeners are mechanically continuous process equipment which operates on a particle/floccule sedimentation principle where in simplest terms the solids settle to the bottom of the thickener tank and the water overflows the tank.

Essential elements common to thickeners include:

a)  Feedwell: where the slurry or water is introduced into the thickener which confines the kinetic energy of the incoming waters to minimize overall tank turbulence as well as directing the flow downward into the thickener

b)  Rake mechanism: or similar device that pulls the settled solids/mud to the center of the tank; as the rakes travel through the mud, this plays an additional important role in disturbing the mud and releasing additional water retained by the settled mud

c)  Under flow pump: which can be of several types including peristaltic, centrifugal, diaphragm and progressive cavity.

Thickeners are designed to operate continuously with slurry/water consistently flowing into the centerwell with thickener underflow pumping balanced to maintain a mud bed in the thickener. Key to thickener operational efficiency is the solids must be able to settle 2-4 times faster than the nominal water up flow rate. High feed solids recoveries reporting to the bottom of the thickener ensures high solids recovery and high overflow clarity levels.

Modern thickeners are designed based on use of highly effective synthetic (polyacrylamide) flocculants, ensuring high solids capture and adequate settling rates. Coagulants are sometimes also used when fine particle recovery is a challenge with flocculants alone. Fine particle recovery is needed to maximize thickener overflow clarity, minimize sands-slime separation in the bed which causes torque issues and to ensure bed solids flowability. Additionally coagulants can have positive downstream operational benefits such as in filters.

Flocculants are typically introduced either to the slurry-water pipe feeding the thickener, to a feed tank before the thickener, to the centerwell or a combination of these addition points. Where flocculant is optimally dosed is typically determined by plant evaluation and varies from operation to operation and is influenced by solids substrate, particle sizes and system specific factors. If coagulants are used, typically these are dosed upsteam of the flocculant addition point; however, in mineral concentrates, most often the best response is dosing coagulant after the flocculant.

Settled solids at the bottom of the thickener is called ‘mud’. The goal is to maximize the % solids in the underflow to recover as much water as possible for reuse. Primary means for controlling % solids is by mud depth and flocculant dosage. Deeper mud depths increase % solids because mud weight will cause more water to be released. Higher flocculant dosages, within a normal dosage rate range, will result in higher % solids. The % solids is typically limited by the thickener’s ability to transfer mud from the thickener and pumping the underflow because viscosity and slurry density increases dramatically with increasing % solids.

The simple animation below that shows only flocculant addition (not coagulant) illustrates these thickener operational principles.

 

Bill Hancock is an internationally recognized expert in mineral processing technologies, technical marketing management and water treatment. Hancock founded and owns Zeroday Enterprises which supplies chemical mix-feed systems, LTM conductive slurry level monitoring probes, peristaltic hose and tube pumps, mixers and flocculant and coagulant chemicals. He also founded Argo Consulting—a technical and technical marketing consulting practice focused on providing mineral processing, water treatment and technical marketing consulting services to the mining industry.

Mainland Machinery Ltd

Flocculants: How Do They Work and Why?

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This is a guest post by Bill Hancock, President of Zeroday Enterprises

How Do Flocculants Work and Why?

Have you ever wondered how flocculants work at the colloid (small particle) level?

Flocculants enhance, and are often required to make possible solid-liquid separations from turbid to high percent solids in water.  Typically, solid particle sizes in water have a wide normal distribution and are inorganic and organic based.   If these particles are denser than water, the particles will settle to the bottom of a container if given sufficient time; however, many of the smaller, lighter particles remain suspended (think a cloudy mud puddle that appears to swirl with activity) for a much longer time than allowed with a typical residence time.  That is because the particles, or colloids, are small enough to remain suspended by external forces including Brownian motion (interaction with the water molecules), thermal currents, dispersive surface charges and the like.  These are the hardest particles to treat because they are so fine and do not easily and quickly settle.

How do Flocculants work and why?

Unless the particles are uniformly coarse (depending on the water chemistry conditions and relative solid and water densities, coarse particles might be considered greater than 100 mesh or greater than 210 microns) and rapidly settle by gravity, flocculants are required to aggregate multiple particles together as ‘floccules’ which are pseudo-large particles.  Enter the flocculants!

Polymers are ubiquitous materials ranging from nylon, polyethylene plastics, Teflon, and starches to amino acids.  Flocculants belong to the water soluble polymer class, and so they fully dissolve in water.  These are acrylamide based with functionality groups which allow the polymers to readily chemically adsorb to particles.  These polymers are very long (for perspective, if you expanded a flocculant molecule to 1 inch in diameter, the total length would be on the order of 1.25 miles long!)  As flocculant molecules dissolve in water, these molecular chains (ropes) are free to uncoil and expand, but are never completely linear due to random Brownian motion and water thermal current effects.

In effect, these flocculant ropes lasso aggregates of particles together.  Since the polymer chains are very long, these polymers agglomerate multiple colloidal and coarse particles together.  As these flocculated aggregates continue to mix, the polymer rope continues pulling the particle aggregate into a tighter and denser floccule, which causes the particles to settle more readily. The larger floccules are more easily filtered, centrifuged and floated in a dissolved air flotation unit.

A simple visual demonstration of this process is represented in the accompanying animation video.  The animation shows the initial step of ‘coagulation’ where a short cationic (positive) charged polymer coagulant is added to partially neutralize the repulsive particle negative charges and induces pin flocc aggregation of the colloidal particles.  Then the flocculant molecules ‘lasso’ and flocculate these pin floccs into larger floccules.

Bill Hancock is an internationally recognized expert in mineral processing technologies, technical marketing management and water treatment. Hancock founded and owns Zeroday Enterprises which supplies chemical mix-feed systems, LTM conductive slurry level monitoring probes, peristaltic hose and tube pumps, mixers and flocculant and coagulant chemicals. He also founded Argo Consulting—a technical and technical marketing consulting practice focused on providing mineral processing, water treatment and technical marketing consulting services to the mining industry.

Mainland Machinery Ltd

HELP US BREAK IN OUR NEW BRAKE PRESS – INTRODUCTORY RATES!

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HELP US BREAK IN OUR NEW BRAKE PRESS – INTRODUCTORY RATES!

Mainland Machinery’s Machining Center is fully operational and capable of meeting your heavy plate forming and project needs.

brake press

Our recently opened third facility located in Aldergrove, BC features our new Accurpress Model 7 1500 16 Brake press with ETS3000 Control System.

brake press

Mainland Machinery’s state of the art Accurpress Brake Press is now available for your heavy plate forming needs. We are pleased to announce that we are currently processing orders for its use at introductory rates.

Visit our website for more information and to submit a request form

brake press

Product Capacity

  • 1500 ton
  • 16′ Bed with increased opening of 4″
  • 575 Volt motor
  • Series 7 (rocker arm style)
  • Die Holders
    • 12W-2H-16′
  • Bends 1″ plate

bending resized

Visit our website for more information and to submit a request form

 

Mainland Machinery Ltd

Could Deep-Sea Mining Be Canada’s Next Gold Rush?

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deep sea miningCould Deep-Sea Mining Be Canada’s Next Gold Rush?

Traditionally, mining has been a prolific source of income for Canada and other countries throughout the world. With land-based deposits becoming increasingly scarce, mining companies have had to seek out other sources that could be mined, including ocean floors. Vastly covering two-thirds of the Earth’s surface, oceans have been largely unexplored until now. However, the ocean floors are known to possess abundant mineral resources.

This is exciting news for the mining industry in Canada. With the longest coastline in the world and access to three different oceans, Canada has great potential for deep-sea mining resources. So much that we need to ask, will deep-sea mining be Canada’s next gold rush?

The Ocean is a Rich Source of Minerals

The ocean floor is covered in aqueous vents, which are geothermal fissures that cut deeply into the earth’s crust. These vents spew minerals from deep inside the Earth into the ocean that settle in rock deposits known as massive seafloor sulfides. 

Massive seafloor sulfides consist of coveted rare earth metals, including copper and platinum. These deposits are of high quality because they are newer than dry-land deposits and have not had a chance to degrade or disperse. Many of the dwindling copper deposits on dry land feature copper with a 0.6 grade, while deep-sea copper deposits have been shown to be as high as 7.2.

Deep-Sea Mining Methods Differ from Traditional Methods

Deep-sea mineral deposits cannot be extracted through traditional mining methods. Many of these deposits are found at depths that make manual extraction impossible. Moreover, because these mineral deposits are located underwater, most established mining methods would not apply.

In order to bring these minerals to the ocean’s surface, mining companies are developing remotely operated robots to do the work for them. These robots are connected to ships floating above the mineral deposits that are used to operate the machines and collect the minerals that are extracted. Much of this technology is still in the early stages of development, but it appears to show promise.

Worries of Possible Environmental Impact

Many critics have warned of the potential environmental impacts of deep-sea mining. Little is known about the complex ecosystems located on the seafloor and scientists worry that deep-sea mining operations could cause irreversible damage.

Proponents of deep-sea mining argue that it could actually be more environmentally friendly than surface mining. Surface mining has had a significant negative impact on the environment by causing polluted waterways, devastated habitats and displaced communities.

Deep-sea mining does not require companies to drill into the Earth’s surface. As a result, it does not produce the same waste that surface mining does and there is less disruption to surrounding ecosystems. Additionally, human communities are not displaced, as the mineral deposits are not located in habitable areas.

What Deep-Sea Mining Means for Canada

Canadian companies are leading the charge in developing deep-sea mining technology. Toronto-based Nautilus Minerals is the first company in the world to be granted a deep-sea mining lease in 2014. This 20-year lease is located 30 kilometers off the coast of Papua New Guinea on a site known as Solwara 1. Nautilus plans to start operations within the next five years.

Though other deep-sea projects are in development in Europe, Nautilus Minerals’ Solwara 1 operation is set to become the first active deep-sea mining site in the world. With Canadian companies on the cutting edge of deep-sea mining, Canada is poised to be a leader in this exciting new industry. 

Mainland Machinery Ltd

When Precision Counts, Count on Laser Cutting Technology

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laser cutting metalWhen Precision Counts, Count on Laser Cutting Technology

Experienced metal fabricators know that when it comes to projects that require the utmost in precision cutting, there is no cutting corners by using outdated and inefficient equipment. Laser technology has provided the fabrication industry with not only the means to allow for more precise manufacturing, but also a way to make their operations more efficient and less costly.

What is Laser Cutting?

The origin of the word LASER stems from the acronym for “light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation.” Laser cutting is accomplished, true to its name, through a process that stimulates emission. Laser cutters for industrial use are able to cut through flat sheets, piping or structural metals. Cutting is made possible by the laser’s ability to burn, melt or blow away the area to be cut.

Electricity or special lamps used within a closed environment generate the power needed to charge up the material that creates the laser beam. There are three types of laser cutting available to metal fabricators, including:

  • CO2 for boring, cutting and engraving
  • Nd for boring that requires high-energy
  • Nd-YAG for when high power is required

Both the Nd and Nd-YAG lasers are used in the welding process.

Different types of material require different types of laser beams using various methods to allow for cutting. These methods include, but are not limited to:

  • Burning stabilized laser cutting
  • Cold cutting
  • Melt and blow
  • Melt blow and burn
  • Scribing
  • Thermal stress cracking
  • Vaporization

A typical laser cutting setup for a metal fabrication shop includes:

  • A power source to produce a laser beam
  • Positioning table to secure material with clamps, magnets or straps
  • Laser material
  • Stimulation apparatus
  • Mirrors
  • Lens for focusing the laser beam

Pros and Cons of Using Lasers for Cutting

Laser cutting is more precise than mechanical cutting methods because machines can be easily contaminated from the materials that are being cut with them. Additionally, their blades are subjected to continual use that can dull them and cause their cuts to be inconsistent which can often lead to wasted material.

With laser cutting, you can expect:

  • Cleaner cuts without burrs that require additional processing
  • Faster production time
  • Less human error
  • Improved accuracy resulting in waste reduction

However, using laser cutting machinery does have a few drawbacks. It requires more energy than mechanical cutting methods. Because of the heat process involved, the laser process requires a cooling source, where water is commonly used as a coolant for a heat transfer or chiller system.

Advances Continue to Make Cutting Process More Efficient and Cost-Effective

Improved technology continues to develop cutting equipment that will require less laser gas and power to operate while dramatically improving cutting speeds and accuracy. These advancements help to increase production and transform other areas of the business process for metal fabricators who are taking advantage of this technology to greatly improve their bottom line.

Mainland Machinery Ltd

Reclaiming Oil Sands

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oil sand reclamationReclaiming Oil Sands

Canada’s oil sands have always been controversial. Despite their economic benefits, critics are concerned over the environmental damage the oil sands cause. Alberta’s oil sands are surrounded by pristine wilderness, and development has caused what is considered irreversible damage.

However, a number of Canadian companies are working to return the area to its natural state. With companies such as Syncrude pumping up to $60 million a year into researching land reclamation techniques, Canadian oil field companies are on the cutting edge of oil sands restoration efforts.

The Challenges of Land Reclamation

Alberta’s oil sands are located under an area covered by dense Boreal forest and wetlands. In order to extract the petroleum from the ground, large swaths of forest must be cleared to make way for open pit mines, or steam must be pumped into wells to separate bitumen from the soil. The waste water generated by these processes is stored in highly toxic “tailing ponds,” which account for about 25 per cent of the area disturbed by oil sands development. These ponds are one of the largest problems for environmentalists.

To be certified as reclaimed, any traces of man-made impact must be removed, and the land must be capable of generating native plant and animal life. This makes reclaiming wetlands complex, due to the diverse mix of life contained therein.

Can a Forest Be Rebuilt?

A number of companies operating in the oil sands region are doing their part to ensure that disturbed areas are restored to their native Boreal forest.

Collaboration between industry heavyweights such as Shell Canada, Suncor Energy, Nexen Energy and Husky Energy has resulted in 2.5 million trees and shrubs being planted. The project has replanted about 700 hectares of land disturbed by industrial development.

Replanting these areas rather than allowing them to regrow on their own ensures that the areas are not overtaken by invasive plant species and that animal habitats are not disrupted.

Cutting-edge Techniques

Completely restoring the wetlands disturbed by oil sands development is the greatest challenge of land reclamation. Syncrude’s Sandhill Fen research project, however, is making strides.

The purpose of the project is to create a sustainable wetland environment and share successful techniques with other companies and organizations. This has resulted in a 50 hectare, man-made pollution-free watershed built from tailing sands. Although no animals have been reintroduced to the area – as it is still part of an active mine site – some animals have begun to return on their own.

Other projects, such as Suncor Energy’s Nikatonee Fen, have achieved similar success.

Cleaning up Tailing Ponds

The removal of tailing ponds is another key priority in restoration efforts. The most important development in this aspect of cleanup has been Suncor’s centrifuge plant. The centrifuge returns the water from tailing ponds to its natural state by spinning it rapidly to remove the solid pollutants. The plant became operational in early 2015 and is expected to reduce tailing ponds by 50 per cent.

Mainland Machinery Ltd

Sheet Metal Fabrication; Electroplating vs Painting?

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Electroplating vs PaintingSheet Metal Fabrication; Electroplating vs Painting?

Choosing a finish is an essential step in the sheet metal fabrication process. Finishes can prolong the lifespan of metal parts, improve their cosmetic appearance and increase their suitability for their intended use. There are a number of options for finishing sheet metal parts, but two of the most common are electroplating and painting. Both of these options offer distinct advantages as well as certain drawbacks depending on the product’s purpose.

Electroplating vs Painting

Electroplating is the process of attaching a thin layer of one metal, such as chrome, iridize or zinc, to the surface of another base metal, such as aluminum. The plating is chemically bonded to the surface of the base metal through electric conduction. Electroplating should not be confused with anodizing, which involves bonding an additional layer of the same metal to the base product through the same electrochemical process.

Painting is more straightforward and most people are familiar with it. A primer is first applied to the base metal, followed by multiple layers of liquid paint and finally, a protective coating such as lacquer is added to protect the underlying paint.

Advantages and Drawbacks of Electroplating

Electroplating offers a much stronger finish than paint. Depending on the choice of metal used for electroplating, the object may have better resistance to chemical corrosion or increased physical durability. For example, zinc offers additional resistance to water damage, while chrome reduces the friction on the metal’s surface and tin can be used to join aluminum, which is commonly used in sheet metal manufacturing, to dissimilar materials. Certain finishing metals can also increase paint adhesion to metal parts as well.

Because electroplating chemically bonds the finish to the metal product itself, the coating expands and contracts at the same rate of the base metal itself, making it suitable for environments with drastic temperature fluctuations.

However, electroplating can be expensive and uneconomical, especially when parts are small. Furthermore, the advantages offered by electroplating may be excessive if the metal product is intended for a use that does not take full advantage of the benefits offered by the process.

Advantages and Drawbacks of Painting Sheet Metal

The most obvious advantage of painting is that fabricators have a much greater degree of control over how the finished product will look. Paint comes in just about any color imaginable, meaning that there are endless options for how the final product will look. Furthermore, company and product logos can also be added to the surface to further increase its cosmetic value.

Certain paints offer similar advantages to electroplating; some can increase the metal product’s resistance to chemical corrosion or physical damage, though not to the same degree as electroplating. Damage to specific areas of painted surfaces is easily repaired as paint can be applied quickly and easily to small areas of a product’s surface. Another advantage paint has over electroplating is that it can be applied to certain areas of a product’s surface if the entire product does not require finishing. Unlike electroplating, painting is not an “all or nothing” process.

Paint, however, is not as durable as electroplating. Furthermore, because paint is applied as liquid, it can take many applications to ensure a finish of even thickness and color.

Which Option is Best For You?

Electroplating and painting each offer unique advantages for finishing a sheet metal product. Ultimately, deciding on which finishing option is best for you depends on the intended use of your product. It is important that you consider all factors and the advantages and drawbacks of each before making a final decision.

Mainland Machinery Ltd

Oil Prices and More: Mobile Apps for the Oil & Gas Industry

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oil pricesOil Prices and More: Mobile Apps for the Oil & Gas Industry

Today’s oil and gas industry is a dynamic and rapidly changing environment and oilfield professionals constantly require accurate and up-to-the-minute information to perform their jobs. Luckily, there is a wide range of mobile apps, which support these professionals, including the following 10.

 Rigzone

Rigzone provides oilfield personnel with up to date news on developments in the industry. Furthermore, it allows job seekers to search and apply for thousands of jobs in the oilfield directly through the app. The app works with pre-existing Rigzone accounts.

 

Pipeline Regulations

The Pipeline Regulations app supports professionals such as oilfield engineers in their work by providing selected parts of the Code of Federal Regulations for pipeline construction and natural gas facilities.

The app includes information on minimum safety standards, pipeline safety programs and incident reports. Offline access is available for those working at remote jobsites.

Oil Price

The price of oil and natural gas can change rapidly and have a profound effect on oilfield companies. The Oil Price app displays current oil prices as well as price trends.

The app is based on three major oil and gas trading benchmarks; natural gas, Brent Crude Oil and West Texas Intermediate.

Oil and Gas News

Oilfield professionals must know what is happening beyond their jobsite in order to operate most efficiently. Oil and Gas News provides users with instant access to local and national oilfield news. The app includes a constantly updated news feed that sorts news into specific topics. Users can also share stories with each other directly through the app.

Baker Hughes Rig Count

The Rig Count app displays an interactive map of active oil rigs and their locations in the United States. The map is updated weekly in conjunction with the release of the Baker Hughes Rig Count, which serves as a major indicator for oilfield businesses as to where there is a demand for their supplies and for oil and gas production.

Observations

Safety is a primary concern for all oilfield companies. Users of the Observations app can quickly and easily record safety observations in the field including detailed accounts of chemical, biological, physical and psychological hazards. These observations are then uploaded into an online database, where they are accessible to other users.

Schlumberger Oilfield Glossary

This app serves as a dictionary of all oilfield terms and includes more than 4,600 definitions, all of which have been reviewed by technical experts. High quality, color photographs or diagrams accompany many of the definitions. This app is accessible to both amateurs and professionals.

WellEz Mobile

The WellEz Mobile app allows users to view the status of their active oil wells and allows them to monitor them for performance, drilling activity and non-productive periods. Users can also compare their wells’ actual performance to their original production plan as well as compare their current project costs to their estimated costs.

eRedbook Mobile

Halliburton’s “Redbook” cementing tables have served as the oilfield standard for referencing calculations for cementing and completing oil wells for the past 80 years. eRedbook Mobile gives oilfield professionals instant access to information on commonly used materials such as casing and tubing. The app can also be customized for instant access to information on a user’s most commonly used materials. 

Mainland Machinery Ltd

Robotic Mining Equipment: Are We Ready for Automation?

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mine operator safetyIs The World Ready For a Fully Automated Mine? 

In the last few years, mining operations have taken advantage of robotic mining equipment to perform some of the more dangerous and repetitive tasks the industry requires. However, despite their high costs, is it possible that a fully automated mine is on the horizon?

There are three reasons why it might be.

Safety

Mining is an inherently dangerous industry. After all, it entails using large machines to drill holes in the Earth, pack them with explosives, and blow them up. Even with the most stringent safety protocols in place, the rate of workplace injuries is higher than most other industries.

However, there are other reasons why safety is compromised in the mining industry. Many of the less dangerous tasks are repetitive and mind numbing, a good example being driving haulage trucks. The job consists of driving from point A to point B and back again. Human drivers are susceptible to boredom and attention drift. That lack of attention is what makes a safe, routine task one where two people are killed every year.

In the mines, robotized mining industry equipment can perform the routine and repetitive tasks, in order to save employees for important tasks.

Efficiency

Robotic mining industry equipment doesn’t need the same kind of breaks that people do. To be sure, they are subject to maintenance, but that can often be done on a predictable schedule, which isn’t true of human labor.

It goes beyond that, of course. Automation allows operations to get closer to the text book optimums for load size and frequency while also allowing for shifts in load sizes due to potential short-term fluctuations.

The use of robotics in scouting for locations offers another opportunity for efficiency. While a manned helicopter could cost as much as $2000 per hour to operate, a drone with a camera costs a mere $500 per hour, meaning drones can cover four times as much territory for the same cost in the same time frame.

Productivity

Robotic mining industry equipment can operate in more dangerous locations, perform repetitive tasks with less loss of efficiency, and aren’t subject to the same workplace laws that humans are. But these are only the most obvious ways they are more productive.

Mining is not an industry that can pick and choose where the job gets done. The job goes where the raw materials are, and if there is a sizeable population of experienced miners, it will be more successful. However, if the area is remote, the operation is faced with either shutting down at times because there are not enough able workers to do the job on a full time basis, or bringing in workers from outside the region. Bringing in workers helps to keep the mine open, but comes at a substantial additional cost.

By performing many of the most repetitive and dangerous tasks, robotic mining industry equipment might actually lower the number of human employees necessary for an operation. Where this is not the case, robotic mining industry equipment will allow organizations to shift their workforce to safer jobs that require a less specific skillset.

In addition, automation would eliminate the need for all workers to be on site, which would allow an organization to place its workforce closer to a population center to eliminate or reduce the need to bring in workers from elsewhere.

A fully automated mining operation is not yet a reality, but with an increasing number of mining tasks being automated every day, it’s only a matter of time before a fully automated operation is possible.

 

Mainland Machinery Ltd

Magnetic Separation in the Mining Industry

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mining industryWhy Magnetic Separation Matters for the Mining Industry

One of the greatest challenges facing the mining industry is the separation of unwanted material generated by the extraction process from the valuable material. Mining, whether done through open seam or underground means, creates a huge amount of waste product in the form of worthless or low value minerals and unusable man-made materials. These materials can be extremely difficult to separate from the valuable materials miners are after. Perhaps the most efficient way of separating these materials is through magnetic separation.

What is Magnetic Separation?

Magnetic separation is the process of using magnetic force to remove metallic or ferrous materials from a mixture.

Magnetic separation machines consist of a vibratory feeding mechanism, an upper and lower belt and a magnet. The bulk material is fed through the vibrating mechanism onto the lower belt. At this point, the magnet pulls any material susceptible to magnetic attraction onto the upper belt, effectively separating the unwanted metals from the rest of the bulk.

How Magnetic Separation is Useful

Magnetic separation has been used in the mining industry for more than 100 years, beginning with John Wetherill’s Wetherill Magnetic Separator, which was used in England in the late nineteenth century.

Magnetic separation is most commonly used in the mining industry to separate “tramp ore,” or unwanted waste metals, from the rest of the bulk material. Tramp ore typically consists of the man-made byproducts created by the mining process itself, such as wires from explosive charges, nuts and bolts, nails, broken pieces from hand tools such as jack hammers and drills or tips off of heavy duty extraction buckets.

Magnetic separation machines are usually placed at the beginning of a mine’s materials processing line to remove tramp ore before it can cause harm to “downstream” equipment such as ore crushers and conveyor belts, which can be easily damaged by metal shards or other sharp objects.

Most magnetic extraction systems are designed to be easily retrofitted onto existing production and conveyor systems, so major equipment relocation is unnecessary.

Types of Magnetic Separators

The type of magnetic separator used by a mine depends on what material they are extracting and how much tramp ore is generated by their process. As a result, separators of different magnetic flux, or power, can be used. There are 2 types of magnetic separators; electromagnetic and permanent.

Electromagnetic separators generate a magnetic field by switching power from alternating current to direct current. Electromagnetic separators are useful for removing large pieces of tramp ore from the bulk material. These separators are typically suspended over a conveyor belt and draw the unwanted material upward. Electromagnetic separators are easy to clean as removing the tramp ore that they separate from the bulk is as simple as turning off the power that creates their magnetic field.

Permanent magnets consist of materials that generate their own magnetic field. Though not as powerful as electromagnetic separators, permanent magnets are better at attracting strongly magnetized materials such as nickel, cobalt, iron and some rare earth metals. Some permanent magnets are now being made with rare earth metals that have the ability to attract even stainless steel, which is typically not susceptible to magnetic pull. In order to clean permanent magnets, a stainless steel scraper must be used to remove any metal parts from the magnet’s surface.