A double-layered rubber lining solution installed on a mill discharge chute is said to have achieved a 250% wear life improvement compared to the competitor product.

Weir Minerals Africa was asked to provide a lining solution at Kalumbila Minerals Limited’s Sentinel mine in Zambia, to replace the initial rubber lining that had failed after two months, resulting in downtime and added costs for equipment hire and specialised personnel. The remote location of the site also made obtaining materials for repairs a challenge.

Weir Minerals asserts that its Linatex and Linard solution has, to date, achieved six times the life of the product previously installed at Sentinel mine, where 4 500 t/h of high impact and abrasive slurry is being fed to the mill discharge chute.

The company explains that Linatex Premium Rubber is a proprietary vulcanised natural gum rubber, produced through a unique liquid-phase compounding process using high quality natural latex. It exhibits outstanding strength, resilience and resistance to cutting and tearing, giving superior performance in wet abrasion conditions.

The Weir Minerals Africa team specified a double-layered rubber lining solution, with a bottom layer of 30 mm Linatex Premium Rubber selected to improve impact absorption, owing to its resilient properties, and the Linard 60, with a thickness of 25 mm, selected for the top layer, owing to its cutting and tearing resistance to the product reporting to the discharge chute.

The company states that its combined solution has lasted for one year with little signs of wear, resulting in reduced downtime, increased cost savings and improved plant availability on the mine.