Two of the largest screens built by Weir Minerals Africa are being designed and manufactured in South Africa as part of a process solution for an iron ore mine in Nigeria.

According to Tiisetso Masekwameng, general manager comminution at Weir Minerals Africa, the flowsheet accepted by the customer includes equipment for screening, washing, and grinding supplied by Weir Minerals.

“Within our scope of work are the two largest Enduron double-deck banana screens built by Weir Minerals,” says Masekwameng. “This is made possible by the depth of design expertise in our Separation Technology Group, an eight-strong team conducting research and development.”

Steven Hunter, separation technology group leader at Weir Minerals Africa, says the two 51-tonne Enduron® double-deck banana (DBHG 43/97) screens for this project were built upon the designs of the Weir Minerals existing screens range. These large machines measure 4,3 metre wide and 9,7 metre long and can process 1,750 tonnes per hour.

“The customer’s production requirements demanded this considerable size, so we optimised the design by minimising mass without compromising structural integrity,” says Hunter. “We conducted extensive finite element analysis (FEA) on the whole machine but focused on the main structural elements, ensuring that the units were fit-for-purpose while still being light enough to be driven by the exciters.”

Nonetheless, the size of the units still demanded the design and manufacture of Weir Minerals Africa’s largest exciter yet – the Enduron® LTX 10. With 120 tonnes of excitation force (at maximum setting), these units will drive the screens at a stroke of 9,4 mm and a gravitational force of 4,6 G. Hunter highlights the close collaboration between the Research & Development and manufacturing teams that contributed to the successful development and testing of the Enduron® LTX 10 exciters.

“The screens are also ready to be fitted with our IIoT (Industrial Internet-of-Things) platform, Synertrex,” he says. “This allows the machines to be monitored remotely; the system can measure the machine’s performance any deviations arising that may require proactive attention.”

The order for Nigeria also includes two Trio® jaw crushers, two Trio® cone crushers, two large 2- metre by 8- metre Trio® apron feeders, two Trio® pan feeders, eight Enduron® vibrating screens and an Enduron® HPGR (high-pressure grinding roll).

For the clay washing circuit, Weir Minerals Africa will supply the mine with a Trio® twin-shaft blade mill and Trio® twin-shaft coarse washers as well as Warman® slurry pumps.