A recently installed pan feeder at a local crushing plant is said to have increased production by 40% and helped create a safer working environment.

Weir Minerals Africa installed the Trio EF3606 pan feeder at OMV’s Stilfontein crushing plant, in a bid to reach its target of 1 300 t/d, from the 1 000 t/d it was producing. The lack of plant capacity was deemed to be a result of the stockpile reclaim chutes regularly becoming blocked, resulting in an inconsistent feed to the cone crushers. The cone crushers could not be choke fed, resulting in inconsistent product, crusher inefficiencies and uneven wear of the cone crusher liners.

A Trio EF3606 vibrating pan feeder was selected to provide a reliable and consistent feed to the cone crushers, as the EF series is designed to perform in surge tunnels or under surge bins, controlling the feed rate to the next stage of processing. Combining the pan feeder with a variable speed drive and a programmable logic controller allowed the feeder to alter its speed, based upon the levels of feed already within the cone crusher’s bins.

Weir Minerals Africa also redesigned the chute system, and used three-dimensional laser scanning equipment to ensure the new structure and chutes would fit within the existing footprint. The company’s engineers used simulation software to reproduce and optimise the particle flow through the new chute design.

After commissioning, OMV notes that its capacity was increased to 1 400 t/d – a 40% daily production improvement that it says resulted directly from the consistent feed to the cone crusher.

It adds that no blockages have been experienced since the new feeder has been installed, the plant has increased its uptime to as much as 99.5% of its 10-hour shifts, and the safety risk of clearing the chute has been removed.