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May 2016
MODERN MINING
53
feature
CRUSHING, SCREENING
AND MILLING
T
wo recent orders for Osborn
rotary breakers reflect the con-
tinued demand for these robust,
reliable machines in the coal industry,
says Osborn Engineered Products. The
Elandsfontein-based equipment manu-
facturer has supplied a rotary breaker
to a new customer in the Kriel area and
has secured an order from a coal mine
in Secunda, says product sales special-
ist Etienne Swanepoel.
“At the Kriel coal mine, our customer
has installed a 3 600 mm x 6 700 mm
Osborn rotary breaker to optimise the
performance of his plant, remove rock
and contamination, and increase the
operation’s yield. This machine has
a design capacity of 1 350 tons per
hour, but our customer is running it at
500 tons per hour.” Osborn supplied,
installed and commissioned the new
machine, including the chute work and
the support structure, Swanepoel adds.
He contends that this mine, like
many others, recognises the value of an
‘old classic’ like the rotary coal breaker.
“For rock removal, rock and coal separation,
the rotary breaker is the best machine for the
job. This tough, hardworking unit has come
back into favour in the coal mining industry
in recent years, and it is once again making its
mark as the most efficient machine for use in
‘dirty’ coal mining environments, where there
is a lot of rock in the run-of-mine material.”
Explaining the rotary breaker’s operation,
Swanepoel says it works on a gravity method
to break coal in a very efficient manner through
attrition. “Material is continuously introduced
at the feed end, repeatedly raised by the lifters
and dropped until it is broken to size and falls
through the perforations in the screen plates to
a collection hopper below.
“Any hard rock present in the feed material
assists with breaking the coal during the raising
and dropping action. The Osborn rotary breaker
is designed to reduce soft to medium coal and
is not entirely suitable for hard coal or coal
with a high moisture content.
“Mine rock, refuse and other uncrush-
able debris is automatically carried to the
end of the drum and is discharged through a
chute,” Swanepoel continues. “The Osborn
rotary breaker’s design incorporates a chain
and sprocket drive arrangement which drives
a heavy duty reinforced drum. Renewable
Osborn rotary breakers
find favour in coal
Iron ore mine opts for Metso equipment
Metso reports that it will deliver to Sedibeng Iron Ore, a subsidiary of Tata
Steel, a stationary crushing and screening solution for its Sedibeng iron ore
mine in the Northern Cape. The delivery includes a five-year Life Cycle Ser-
vices contract, which will reportedly bring Sedibeng increased production
capacity and reliability while reducing production costs.
The cold commissioning is scheduled for late 2016, and the plant should
be operating at the beginning of 2017.
“This complete solution covers services and equipment and thus en-
sures planned maintenance and better production reliability for the cus-
tomer. For Metso, the order represents a new way of operating in Southern
Africa. It increases our installed base in the area and will surely open up new
opportunities in the growing market,” says Charles Ntsele, Metso’s General
Manager for Mining Sales in Southern Africa.
Sedibeng Iron Ore mine has previously been using a Metso mobile
crushing and screening solution operated by a sub-contractor. Due to a
planned increase in capacity, Tata Steel, the principal shareholder, wanted
to investigate the possibility for a stationary plant.
The complete order consists of a vibrating feeder, a C130 jaw, a CVB 603
screen, an HP 500 cone crusher, conveyors, electrics and automation, to-
gether with the auxiliary equipment.
An Osborn rotary breaker in
a typical application.
perforated plates are fitted around the inte-
rior of the drum. Interchangeable lifters and
ploughs are bolted on the inside of the drum.
Due to variations in the types of coal being pro-
cessed, capacities and power requirements will
vary from mine to mine.”