MINERALS PROCESSING

CDE TAKES OUT THE TRASH WITH LATEST LOGWASHER

THIS ALL-IN-ONE MODULAR AGGMAX LOGWASHER CAN BE DEPLOYED IN DAYS TO LIBERATE CLAY-BOUND MATERIALS IN THE TOUGHEST OF MINING APPLICATIONS. CDE WORKS WITH MINING PARTNERS TO MAINTAIN A SMOOTH SCREENING AND CLEANING OPERATION.

Built on foundations of high-quality equipment and an ethos to seek continual improvement, CDE has installed the AggMax modular logwasher across Australia with great success.

Companies working in iron ore, mineral sands, manganese and even diamonds in Africa are reaping the rewards of the AggMax.

CDE regional manager for Australasia Daniel Webber says the product has gone through many years of research and development before entering the mining market.

“It has been developed from humble beginnings in the quarry market. And to make it more applicable to mining we’ve made it bigger for higher throughput and more resilient in terms of linings and design,” Webber tells Australian Mining.

Webber describes the well-rounded nature of the AggMax.

“Traditionally, logwashers aren’t great with a high sand load. The beauty of the AggMax is that it’s an integrated logwasher with a pre-screen and a product screen,” he says.

“It scalps off all the easily won sand before the logwasher and then the liberated sand is won back on the post-logwashing screen. This all-inone solution wraps a really nice bow around the flow sheet.”

CDE CustomCare account manager Simon Machin adds that the AggMax goes one step further than previous innovations to add further value to the end product.

“A trash screen can also be integrated onto the AggMax, so that if there are any organics or unwanted materials this can be liberated from the material rather than coming out through the product screen,” Machin says.

In contrast to products of a similar function, the AggMax uses a scrubbing solution, where the material is fed in and forced together using a synchronous drive system.

In this way, less water is required to clean the material, while a lack of impact – typical of trommels or drum scrubbers – removes the risk of breaking down the material too small. Alternatively, the AggMax can work in unison with previous solutions.

Webber says as operations reach deeper underground or hit lower ore grades, the issue of high-clay content can be mitigated with the AggMax.

“The most testing we’ve done is on iron ore, but more recently we’ve looked into the treatment of iron sands

CDE USES YEARS OF EXPERIENCE TO PRODUCE HIGH CHROME CAST PADDLES.

and mineral sands where trommels or drum scrubbers would be the usual goto,” Webber says.

“The AggMax has been well tested to deal with these clay balls to liberate more recoverable material and we’ve found it really complements the previous solutions instead of competing with them.”

The advantage of the synchronous drive system is rotation of the shafts is locked together, preventing the risk of paddle strikes and reducing the risk of bogging the machine.

Also reducing downtime on the AggMax is CDE’s Infinity Screens. Webber describes the advantage of this technology.

“In a system like this, uptime is everything, and you’re only going to be as strong as your weakest link. The Infinity Screens are CDE’s patented weld-free screens, which allow us to move away from the risk of weld failures,” he says.

Due to this and other features, the AggMax has been known to run for more than 25,000 hours without a rebuild.

Also aiding the reliability of the AggMax is CDE’s unique paddle design, Webber explains.

“The paddles are constructed using cast high chrome. We’ve come to that solution over many years of development,” he says.

“We’ve tried tungsten-coated, we’ve tried mould steel Hardox. Now we’ve come to cast high chrome and we’re getting unbelievable life out of these paddles in some of the most abrasive environments like iron ore.”

As with the rest of the AggMax, maintenance is a simple task on the paddles, having been designed as consumables.

Machin explains how CDE can cater to its customers’ needs to allow for the most seamless of AggMax operations.

“CDE works closely with clients to provide an appropriate level of cover depending on their needs,” Machin says.

“Some clients are very hands-on and like to be very independent, while other like us to be in there running more routine maintenance for them.

“We can offer preventative maintenance inspection programs, service engineer visits, right through to the supply of OEM parts. It really depends on what the client needs from us.”

Machin adds that CDE has undertaken some intense research and development work in the last few years, resulting in a four-fold reduction in down time for AggMax maintenance. AM