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January 2017
MODERN MINING
63
COAL
T
he full-scale commercial sorter
was recently commissioned at
Vlakfontein – the mining opera-
tion of state-owned African Explo-
ration Mining and Finance Cor-
poration (AEMFC) – and has been processing
coal from the mine as part of ongoing testing
of the technology. The plant has a capacity to
treat up to 125 tonnes of coal per hour.
Speaking at the opening, AEMFC General
Manager Corporate Strategy and Planning
Sicelo Sikakane said the relevance of this col-
laboration is that it comes at a time of water
shortages.
“The technology can help us to move away
from demanding more and more water in our
efforts to develop the mining industry and the
economy as a whole,” said Sikakane.
“This will assist not only in reducing the
volumes of water required by mines, but also
in reducing the need for treatment facilities
like pollution control dams. Hopefully this
approach can be rolled out across the rest of
the industry.”
He said the rising cost of water also meant
that the technology made good economic sense,
and contributed to the continued sustainability
of mining.
As one of a range of ore-sorting technologies
– which separate ore particles based on their
physical properties – XRT uses the atomic den-
sity of the product as a basis for differentiation.
It has to date been applied to both base met-
als and precious metals, as well as to coal and
diamonds.
The origins of the Mintek project date
back almost seven years, according to Alan
McKenzie, General Manager Technology at
Mintek.
“South Africa was at that stage struggling
with issues of load-shedding, high coal prices
and poor coal quality, and we were already
working with mineral sorting experts on sen-
sor-based sorting,” said McKenzie. “Given the
strategic importance of electrical power genera-
tion, coal was identified as a focus area.”
XRT was then being tested in the process
Pilot XRT plant opened
at Vlakfontein coal mine
One of two X-Ray Transmis-
sion (XRT) ore sorters at
Mintek’s recently opened
plant at Vlakfontein coal
mine, extracting the higher
grade coal from run-of-
mine.
In a pioneering step that is hoped will
demonstrate the scope for waterless
beneficiation of South African coal,
Mintek officially opened its pilot X-Ray
Transmission (XRT) plant at Vlakfon-
tein opencast thermal coal mine near
Ogies in Mpumalanga Province in
November.
Modern Mining
con-
tributor Paul Crankshaw attended the
event and filed this report.