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May 2016
MODERN MINING
51
feature
CRUSHING, SCREENING
AND MILLING
T
he strategy involves strengthen-
ing the company’s manufacturing
capacities to cater for the increas-
ing demand for its comprehensive
range of woven wire, wedgewire
and polyurethane screen media, while boost-
ing the exports of Meshcape screen media into
other mining destinations on the continent,
Alistair Calver, General Manager responsible
for screen media at FLSmidth, tells
Modern
Mining
.
Calver reports that a new wedgewire
manufacturing machine is being commis-
sioned at FLSmidth’s manufacturing plant in
Johannesburg. The facility will also benefit
from an investment into a wide range of tool-
ing that will improve its ability to manufacture
very specific wedgewire screen media products
for key mining markets.
In addition, the 17 000 m
2
facility will
receive an aesthetic overhaul, bringing it in line
with FLSmidth’s other international plants.
“This shows just how committed FLSmidth
is to the Meshcape screen media brand,” says
Calver. “Meshcape has a long history in the
country that dates back to 1905. Since then,
the company has been at the forefront of wire
innovation with its research and development
programmes giving rise to the Vibro Optimax™
wire and a host of other innovative screen
media solutions, such as self-cleaning woven
wire screen media, hybrid poly ripple screens
and poly wire.”
Calver says FLSmidth’s massive African
footprint will be used to grow its screen
media presence in other mining markets on
the continent. This includes the company’s
large installed base of equipment in Namibia,
Zambia, Mozambique and the DRC, as well as
Tanzania, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Ghana.
The range of Meshcape screen media prod-
ucts manufactured by FLSmidth is already very
well known for its sound performance in a host
of screening applications, with one of South
Africa’s biggest iron ore producers being just
one of many users in the mining sector.
Ross Dott, Sales Manager – Screen Media
Grand plan
for legacy brand
Modular polywire screen
panel in a silica application.
FLSmidth is investing significantly into technologies and expanding on its
successful product lines including Meshcape® screen media. According to the
company, this range of locally manufactured screen media products is known
for its ability to maximise the cost per tonne delivered, thus lowering the total
operating cost of a process plant.
at FLSmidth, says it
is the optimal perfor-
mance of application
specific screen media
wh i ch t r an s l a t e s
into cost savings for
plants. “Being able
to facilitate enhanced
throughput of mate-
rial, increasing the
life of screen media
and reducing main-
tenance costs on a
screening plant have
become more of a
compe t i t i ve edge
than ever for FLSmidth, especially given the
economic challenges facing mines due to the
global slump in commodity price,” he says.
Dott is, however, concerned that there are
still screening operations that opt for inferior
screen media in a cost-saving exercise. He notes
that by the time the issues associated with
this decision are apparent, these plants have
generally experienced excessive unplanned
downtime.
“The overall lifespan of the screen media
product is absolutely key as this enhances the
operation of the screening plant and will reduce
maintenance costs. It is a fallacy that bigger is
better in this industry. For example, it is the
way in which we draw our wire that improves
the tensile strength of Meshcape’s woven wire
screens, making these lighter and more cost
effective as well as allowing for improved wear
characteristics,” Dott says. “Meanwhile, we
engineer our polyurethane screen panels to suit
specific applications. Here, we aim to maximise
the open area as much as possible, while reduc-
ing the mass of the panel itself as well as the
overall installed mass of a screen.”
As an example Dott points to two platinum
mines that achieved significant savings through
applying the correct screen media to their
screening plants. Other examples include max-
imised magnetite recovery in coal operations
where Meshcape wedgewire is being used.