Company Announcement - Open pit mining and underground solutions specialist, Tenova TAKRAF Africa, has successfully completed supply of an underground apron feeder to Wessels Mine, part of BHP Billiton’s Hotazel Manganese Mines, in the Northern Cape, South Africa. Tenova TAKRAF Africa is part of the global total technology solutions provider, Tenova Mining & Minerals. The contract for the Tenova TAKRAF Apron Feeder was placed in September 2013, with commissioning completed in May 2014.  The contract scope covered design, manufacture, delivery to site and assistance with installation and commissioning of a 1,250 mm wide by 6,000 mm long, Model D4 Apron Feeder. It has a capacity of 500 tph and receives manganese ore of 500 mm maximum lump size to feed to a jaw crusher.  This was the second Tenova TAKRAF Apron Feeder to be ordered by Wessels Mine within the past three years, with a 1,250 mm wide by 15,000 mm long, D4 Apron Feeder delivered in July 2012.

The apron feeder was supplied as a routine replacement of an existing one (also supplied by Tenova TAKRAF) which has been operating  successfully at the mine since the 1990s The new apron feeder features a number of enhancements over the older design, including the use of standard undercarriage parts, which means that spares are readily available and more cost-effective. A design challenge was to ensure that the size and mass of the apron feeder assemblies were such that they could be easily transported underground via an incline.  This was achieved by splitting the frame in two longitudinal sections without the need to remove the flights or any other parts.

Tenova TAKRAF Apron Feeders are designed for demanding material handling work in mineral, ore, coal and aggregate mining, as well as processing operations, combining robust, heavy-duty frames and rugged short pitch flights to provide extremely long service life. They can be installed below any bulk solids storage or transfer facility of any capacity, with the feeder slope downwards, horizontal or upwards. 

Tenova TAKRAF is a key supplier of equipment and systems for open pit mining & underground solutions and bulk handling, having provided hundreds of complete systems, as well as individual machines to clients all over the world in all climatic conditions. Globally sourced air pollution control, specialised handling equipment, and technology for the cement and fly ash industries ensure selection of optimal processing options.

Tenova Mining & Minerals is a total integrated solutions provider to the global mining, bulk materials handling and minerals beneficiation and processing sectors, offering innovative technological solutions and full process and commodity knowledge across the mining industry value chain.

Tenova is a worldwide supplier of advanced technologies, products, and engineering services for the metals and mining & minerals industries. More information is available at www.tenova.com enquiries.tmm@ tenova.com

Technical Enquiries: Contact Maurice Malaza, Senior Product Engineer - Specialised Mechanical Handling, Tenova TAKRAF Africa, on +27 11 201 2300 or email enquiries.tmm@ tenova.com