Modern Mining August 2017

feature COAL MINING Dual feed and product discharge for a 6 m wide Batac® jig in a coal application.

MBE a leader in coal beneficiation

length, in single or double deck configuration and in either circular or linear motion. Particular innovations introduced by MBE Minerals include an innovative side plate mounted drive, which means they are much more lightweight than those using vibrator motors. However, screens can be supplied with vibrator motors if necessary, while resonance screens offer the added benefit of lower power consumption. All types of screening surfaces can be accommodated, with each screen incorporating mechanical design features such as vibration dampening, side plates, cross members and the appropriate feed and discharge chutes. The PNEUFLOT ® pneumatic flotation sys- tem was introduced into the market with the first coal flotation installation at Pittston, Pennsylvania in the US in 1987. Since then the technology has been used widely for fine coal slurries treatment. Currently PNEUFLOT ® ’s largest installation base is in China and India, with the technology expanding rapidly into Eastern Europe and other parts of Asia. In 2012 MBE Minerals decided to introduce PNEUFLOT ® into the Sub-Saharan market and, to address the key concern that the technol- ogy remained untested on South African coals, invested in a laboratory cell and pilot plant. These units have been used to test material from both the Soutpansberg and the Central Basin over the past year. The laboratory cell has achieved product with less than 10 % ash (feed +50 % ash) for a Soutpansberg seam while the pilot plant pro- duced a bulk product sample from the tails of a Central Basin plant fit for market acceptance presentation by a coal major. “Test work has proved that PNEUFLOT ® can produce a Waterberg flotation con- centrate with less than 11 % ash at yields greater than 33 % and organic efficiencies greater than 68 %,” Kottmann says. Prior to the design of an industrial scale flotation plant, laboratory scale test work and – where possible – semi- industrial pilot test work has to be carried out. The pilot plant can be installed any- where in an existing circuit as a ‘plug and play’ device and the results generated can be scaled up directly to a full-scale application. MBE Minerals offers a full testing pro- gramme in South Africa and Kottmann

Ease of operation and reduced maintenance costs are the critical parameters that all coal process plants demand. Add to this enhanced productivity and you have a winning for- mula, according to Johannes Kottmann, Managing Director of MBE Minerals, a company which has been involved in coal beneficiation technology for more than 100 years.

K ottmann is quick to stress that on- going product improvement has seen equipment upgrades over time to ensure that the latest de- velopments are incorporated into plants. He also notes that each application, whether greenfields or brownfields, is careful- ly assessed in conjunction with the customer during a comprehensive site visit to determine the optimum solution. “Our extensive local and international footprint allows the company to leverage the experience and expertise necessary to ensure a profitable and sustainable end result,” Kottmann says. MBE Minerals’ full scope of services includes feasibility studies, raw mate- rial testing, financing concepts, erection and commissioning, personnel training and pre- and after-sales service. MBE Minerals has a reference base of vibrat- ing screens in the African mining industry, from sizing to scalping, dewatering and media recovery. These vibrating screens have a proven track record under arduous and demanding conditions. They are available in a variety of sizes of up to 3,6 m in width and 6,75 m in

38  MODERN MINING  August 2017