Cellona, Andrew John D.

 Feeding
MET125
Assignment 1
ORE HANDLING – REPORTING NOTES
ORE HANDLING
 First step in mineral processing; a key
function
 Accounts for 30-60% of the total
delivered price of raw materials
 Drilling and blasting processes
 Ore sizes may differ depending on
the type of mining executed:
- Open-pit Mining
- Underground Mining
Open-pit Mining
 Ore sizes have a wide range of variety;
1.5m in diameter
 Transportation is tedious; trucks = 200 t
 Storage of ores is not always
practicable; segregation
 Can cause anomalies in feeding and
storage
 Washing
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
ORE STORAGE
 Reservoir for material are provided
between the different steps, the
whole operation is rendered
spasmodic and, consequently,
uneconomical.
 type and location of the material
storage depends primarily on the
feeding system
 Ore storage facility is also used for
blending different ore grades from
various sources.
The amount of storage depends on:
• Equipment of the plant
• Method of operation
• Frequency and duration of regular and
unexpected shutdowns
Storage has the advantage of
allowing blending of different ores so as to
provide a consistent feed to the mill using
tripper and shuttle conveyors.

Types of application of storage:

Underground Mining
 Complex; ore deposits are hoisted to
surface
 Uses chutes and tramways and loaded
into skips = 30 t
 Large rocks are crushed underground by
primary crushers; creates efficient
hoisting and handling
 Ores are easier to handle, feed, and
store
 Skips = shaft conveyors for hoisting ore
STAGES IN ORE HANDLING
Stockpile- used to store coarse ore of low
value outdoors
-Conical Stockpile
-Elongated Stockpile
Bins- used for transfer poof the coarse
material from belts and rail and road
trucks
Tanks- used for storing suspensions of fine
particles to provide time for chemical
reactions to proceed
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 Transportation
 Storage
 REMOVAL OF HARMFUL MATERIALS
TRAMP MATERIALS
• Materials that accidentally find its way
onto conveyors and into bulk materials
during the mining process.
• Small proportion of material which is
potentially harmful to the mill equipment
and processes.
ORE WASHING
• The ore is passed through high-pressure
jets of water on mechanically vibrated
screens.
• It is sometimes assisted by adding
scrubbers in the circuit.
• Scrubbers are designed to clean
crushed ore, sand, and gravel.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Gangue Tramp Materials ORE TRANSPORTATION

• Valueless and • Harmful materials it is important to operate with the

undesirable that can ruin ore minimum upward or horizontal movement
materials in an ore. dressing process. and with the maximum practicable pulp
density in all of those stages subsequent to
•Waste rockspen-pit • They must be
the addition of water to the system.
Mining removed as far as
possible at an early • The basic philosophy requires maximum
stage in treatment. use of gravity and continuous movement
over the shortest possible distances
• Examples are:
between processing units.
-Large pieces of iron
• Dry ore can be moved through chutes,
and steels
provided they are of sufficient slope to
-Woods
allow easy sliding, and sharp turns are
-Clays and slimes
avoided.
• Clean solids slide easily on a 15-25 ° steel-
Conveyor Guard Magnets faced slope, but for most ores, a 45-55 °
working slope is used.
• Magnets are generally installed
downstream of the primary crusher to The ore may be difficult to control if the
protect skips, ore bins and mill equipment slope is too steep.
from “tramp” iron and steel.
Belt Conveyor
• For ferromagnetic tramps only
•The belt conveyor is the most widely used
Metal Detectors method of handling loose bulk materials.

• Measures the electrical conductivity of •The standard rubber conveyor belt has a
the materials being conveyed. foundation of sufficient strength to
withstand the driving tension and loading
• For nonferrous metal or nonmagnetic
strains. This foundation, which may be of
steels.
cotton, nylon, or steel cord.
Vibrating Scalping Screen
•Spacing along the belt is at the maximum
 Allows the ore to fall through while the interval which avoids excessive sag.
flattened wood particles ride over the
screen and be collected separately.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Conveyor-Belt Drive Arrangement Feed Chutes
• Inducing motion without slipping requires • Feed chutes must be designed to deliver
good contact between the belt and the the bulk of the material to the centre of
drive pulley. the belt and at a velocity close to that of
the belt.
• This may not be possible with a single
180° turn over a pulley(wrap angle, α), Belt Tripper
and some form of “snubbed pulley” drive
• The conveyor may discharge at the
or “tandem” drive arrangement may be
head pulley, or the load may be removed
more effective. The friction can also be
before the head pulley is reached.
provided by embedded grooves or
covering the pulleys with rubber, Shuttle Belt
polyurethane, or ceramic layer of
• Shuttle belts are reversible self-contained
thickness 612 mm.
conveyor units mounted on carriages,
• The layer can also be engraved with which permit them to be moved
patterned grooves for increased friction lengthwise to discharge to either side of
and better drainage when dealing with the feed point.
wet material.
• They are often preferred to trippers for
Conveyor-Belt Tensioning System permanent storage systems.
• The belt system must incorporate some Gravity Bucket Elevator
form of tensioning device to adjust the belt
• Where space limitation does not permit
for stretch and shrinkage and thus prevent
the installation of a belt conveyor.
undue sag between idlers, and slip at the
drive pulley. • These provide only low handling rates
with both horizontal conveying and
•gravity-operated arrangements are used
elevating of the material.
which adjust the tension continuously
Pipe Conveyor
•Hydraulics have also been used
extensively. • This belt conveyor, after being loaded, is
transformed into a pipe by arranging
Interlock System
idlers.
• The reliability of belt systems has been
• This conveyor is compact and does not
enhanced by advances in control
require a hood. It can efficiently negotiate
technology, making possible a high
horizontal curves with a short turning
degree of fail-safe automation. A series of
radius.
belts should incorporate an interlock
system such that failure of any particular SANDWICH CONVEYOR
belt will automatically stop preceding
• Sandwich conveyor systems can be
belts.
used to transport solids at steep inclines
Belt-Loading System from 30 to 90. The material being
transported is "sandwiched“ between two
• Several methods can be used to
belts which hold the material in position
minimise loading shock on the belt. A
and prevent it from sliding back down the
typical arrangement is where the fines are
conveyor even after the conveyor has
screened on to the belt first and provide a
stopped or tripped.
cushion for the larger pieces of rock.
• The advantage of sandwich belt - Always come with crushers
conveyors is that they can transport
A typical feeder consists of:
material at steep angles at similar speeds
to conventional belt conveyors. 1.) Bin
Screw Conveyors 2.) Conveyor
• Screw conveyors are another means of 3.) Gate
transporting dry or damp particles or
TYPES OF FEEDERS
solids. The material is pushed along a
trough by the rotation of a helix, which is Chain Feeder
mounted on a central shaft.
• Uses heavy loops of chains to regulate
Belt Cleaner the feeding of materials
• Belt cleaners and washing systems are • Rate of feed is controlled either
installed when handling sticky material. A manually or automatically
fraction of the sticky material clings to the
• Cheap, simple; wear on the chains is
belt conveyor surface, which must be
negligible
removed.
• Creates a quiet feed with the minimum
• Belt cleaners and washing systems are
amount of damage to the surface of the
generally installed near the discharge
belt.
point.
Elliptical Bar Feeder
Hydraulic Transport
Also known as vibrating grizzly feeders
• Hydraulic transport of the ore stream
normally takes over from dry • Executes the dual benefits of feeding
transportation at the grinding stage in material at a controlled rate and scalping
most modem mills. fines from the feed
Centrifugal Pumps • Consists of elliptical bars of steel which
form the bottom of a receiving hopper
• Their main disadvantage is the high
and are set with the long axes of the
velocity produced within the impeller
ellipses in alternate vertical and horizontal
chamber, which may result in serious wear
positions
of the impeller and chamber itself,
especially when a coarse sand is being • Better suited to handling high clay or wet
pumped. materials such as laterite, rather than hard,
abrasive ores.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Apron Feeder
FEEDING
• One of the most widely used feeders for
What are feeders?
handling coarse ore
- An industrial device used to
• Ruggedly constructed; composed of a
regulate/meter the flow of material to
series of high carbon or manganese steel
meet the specified flow rate of the
pans, bolted to strands of heavy-duty
crushing system or process system
chain, which run on steel sprockets
- Plays an important role in ore handling
• Rate of discharge is controlled manually
- Different feeders can handle certain (by varying the speed or the height of the
types of materials
ribbon of ore by means of an adjustable Rest Potential Values Of Some Sulfide
gate) Minerals

• Can handle abrasive, heavy, and lumpy Rest

materials Potential
Mineral Formula
(Vs. SHE)
Belt Feeder (V)

• short belt conveyors Pyrite FeS2 0.66

• used to control the discharge of material
from inclined chutes Chalcopyrite CuFeS2 0.56

• requires less installation height, cost

substantially less; can be operated at Sphalerie ZnS 0.46
higher speeds than apron feeders
Pentlandite ( Fe, Ni)9S8 0.35
• generally used for fine material
applications
Pyrrhotite Fe(1-x) S 0.31
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
SELF - HEATING OF SULFIDE MINERALS Galena PbS 0.28
- Self-Heating is problem associated with
many materials that affects how they are
handled, stored and transported.
- Self heating is also referred to as
spontaneous heating and pyrophoric
behaviour and results when the rate of
heat generation (due to oxidation)
exceeds the rate of heat dissipation.
-in the minerals industry, environmental
effects of self-heating for coals are well
documented from the production of toxic
fumes ( CO, NOx, SO2) and greenhouse
gases ( CH4, CO2), to the contamination
of run off water.
-Heating may occur when the sulfide
material is contained or piled in sufficient
quantity with both oxygen and some
moisture present (ca. 3-8 % by weight).