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Hard-wearing materials handling solution key to energy savings

2nd June 2017

By: Robyn Wilkinson

Features Reporter

     

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Energy-saving solutions employed in materials handling processes that allow for the strategic redirection of energy use in mining operations are crucial for securing the future of the South African mining industry, says long-life wear solutions provider Rio-Carb director Martin Maine.

He highlights that mining is an energy- intensive sector, pointing out that energy- saving solutions have an important role to play in not only reducing operational costs but also facilitating the strategic use of energy in key areas, such as water supply and beneficiation, to help grow the industry.

Maine stresses that effective mining materials handling solutions can play an important role in producing the energy and cost savings needed to sustain mining activities in the long term. “Moving a product from one place to another adds cost to the product mined, but does not add value, as cutting and welding processes do, for example. The focus of materials handling, thus, needs to be on producing savings wherever possible.”

He points out that rapid technological development in the mining industry and digitalisation – the effect of large-scale Internet-driven data sets across all industries globally – have increased the potential for automated and continuous processes in mining operations. This creates opportunities for energy savings, which are further enhanced through strategic equipment design.

Established in South Africa in 1982, Rio-Carb is known in the local mining industry and international mining industries for its use of chromium carbide- (CrC-) clad liner plates for materials handling, which the company says offer superior wear protection and cost effectiveness, compared with any other commercially available steel product. Chromium at 24% is ‘alloyed’ to carbon at 4%, forming carbides that are exceptionally hard and held in place by an iron matrix. The strength of the carbides is further reinforced through Rio-Carb’s Maximum Carbide Saturation process, which allows for controlled cooling after weld cladding to improve the wear life of the liners.

The company’s main products are RC-700 CrC liner plates, RC-700 CrC pipes, wear- resistant components manufactured from CrC alloys and manganese impact plates. It also refurbishes components such as chutes and hoppers.

Owing to the slipperiness of CrC, Maine points out that it is proving highly successful in applications in the hoppers of feed chutes that discharge mining material onto conveyor belts for transportation. The CrC increases the efficiency of the discharge flow and reduces wear and abrasion in the chute, providing a long-lasting and cost-effective solution that also reduces energy consumption.

The use of plasma cutting has, moreover, enabled Rio-Carb to produce liner plates to high accuracies, with clean surface finishes and edges with miniscule tolerances. The plates also use studs instead of nuts and bolts to produce a smooth finish in the chute that reduces the potential for friction between the plates and the material moving through the chute. Material can, therefore, be discharged smoothly and continuously onto the conveyor, eliminating the risk of being damaged by the sporadic dumping of large masses.

“Our product is, thus, perfectly in line with the mining industry’s bid to save costs and energy. It is doing particularly well in the diamond industry in Africa, where Rio-Carb has assisted with the design of several feed chutes.”

Having received its ISO 9001 accreditation in October last year, Rio-Carb is well positioned to achieve ISO 14001 accreditation in future, which sets out criteria for an environmental management system, Maine notes. He points out that CrC plates have a wear life that is up to 12 times longer than that of other competitor products, reducing the number of liners that are scrapped and replaced by an operation, resulting in significant long-term cost savings.

“We pride ourselves on being a local company that places high quality and cost efficiency at the forefront when it comes to our specialised products. Rio-Carb will continue to focus on developing new products in response to the changing needs of the African mining industry.”

Edited by Tracy Hancock
Creamer Media Contributing Editor

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