AIB 010

Barmac VSI's Replace Cones for Crushing Iron Ore

Wet, sticky materials usually mean trouble when it comes to crushing and screening processes. Water is widely used to flush sticky material through some crushers and this in turn causes problems later in the crushing circuit as the excess water must be removed and disposed of. Case Study A Brazilian iron ore processor installed three cone crushers in their pre-grinding stage to reduce the feed size to their ball mills. The material being processed was a wet, sticky ore and in an effort to overcome the problems associated with this type of feed, a water-flush process was used. However, after three years of operation, the cones were still not making the capacities which the installation was designed to produce, due to their inability to cope with the sticky material, and down time due to maintenance was unacceptable. The company had no option but to look for an alternative crushing technology. The Solution Following test work carried out in a pilot plant, the producer decided to trial a Barmac VSI crusher in place of one of their cone crushers, initially for a period of 90 days. This trial was extended to a one year rental, as a result of which, three Barmac B9000 XHD crushers were purchased to completely replace the three cone crushers in the original circuit. Benefits and Advantages The Barmac has easily proved itself to be the cheaper option: The capital cost per produced ton of material is lower than for a cone crusher; Production costs are also lower; At 95%, the Barmac has higher operational availability than the cone crushers; Wear costs for the Barmac are approximately US$0.10 per tonne of product. In addition to this, the equidimensional shape of the Barmac product has improved the efficiency of the screening operation and this, along with increased particle reduction has resulted in a lower recirculating load than that of the cone crushers.
2-Deck Wet Screen Deck 1 = 8mm Deck 2 = 1mm

Conclusion The Barmac has proved to have the ability to carry out a task which conventional crushers had failed to do, at lower operational costs and with higher availability. The Barmac can cope with wet, sticky materials, in most cases without the need to add water. In some instances, sticky material can be beneficial to the crushing process as it forms protective layers over areas of wear.

New Feed Minus 16mm

Barmac B9600 VSI 440kW [600 hp] Tip speed: 63 m/s Throughput: 320 tph

Minus 8mm Product Feed to Ball Mill

Major Benefits To The Iron Industry Processing iron ore is a tough duty for any type of crusher, however, the Barmac XHD crusher is a model which is especially designed for such applications. Its extra strong construction, together with the Barmac crusher's unique rock-on-rock crushing action combine in a machine which is capable of coping with the demands of such a hard and abrasive material as iron ore. Particle reduction takes place as the material impacts on itself within the rock-lined crushing chamber, thus minimising metallic wear and therefore wear costs.
Barmac Model Selected for Trial: B9600 Barmac VSI 440 kW [600 hp] Throughput: 320 tph Material: Iron Ore Feed: 16mm Product: 8mm Rotor tip speed: 63 m/s

100 90 80 70 Cum % Passing 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 0.01

Barmac Feed Barmac Prod

0.1

1 Sieve Size (mm.)

10

100

Barmac VSI crushers are also used in the industrial minerals, mining, recycling and general quarrying industries. A wide range of materials are processed through Barmac crushers worldwide. For more information on this or any other Barmac application, please contact your nearest Barmac representative.

Metso Minerals (Matamata) Limited Mangawhero Road, Private Bag 4071, Matamata, New Zealand Tel. +64 7 881 9060, fax +64 7 888 5244 minerals.info@metso.com

AIB 010 1 4/99