Crusher Feeder After
G lobal dust control management solutions provider Dust-A-Side has successfully developed and commissioned a tailor-made airborne-dust reduction system to tackle dust fallout for coal and heavy minerals mining company Exxaro Resource's Leeuwpan colliery near Delmas, in Mpumalanga.
Dust-A-Side business manager Werner de Kock explains that the project was started in the fourth quarter of 2015 and completed in July, adding that all the systems are operational at the mine, which produces three-million tons a
year of metallurgical and power station coal.
The company's dust suppression service targets processing operations in the mining industry. Whether it is a coal, nickel, uranium or platinum mine, all operations generate dust within their processing plants and systems, states the company.
At Leeuwpan, Exxaro explains, coal is processed using jigging technology for the top coal layer (Seam 4 upper) and dense-medium separation for the bottom coal layer (Seam 4 lower), while bottom coal is also crushed and screened for power station use.
He points out that some of the benefits of the system installed at Leeuwpan include the reduction in airborne dust generated from the processing plant and dust throughout the plant operations.
Dust-A-Side, which is active in Africa, Australia and Chile, specialises in reducing the dust generated from mining operations by implementing low-pressure, high-pressure or combination systems. It has also introduced fog cannons as a method of limiting dust fallout at open tipping areas within the coal operations.
'Although high-pressure fog cannons have been in the mining industry for a while, we have researched, developed and provided an improved version of this technology. It is available in Africa and is operational at numerous mines, with Dust-A-Side facilitating trials at a few sites,' explains De Kock.
He boasts that using company services and products reduces operational costs at mining operations.
'We focus on various aspects of a mining operation, its access roads and processing plant. We currently have a water-saving
project under way in Limpopo, which is succeeding in decreasing water use by 90%, as well as a programme focused on prolonging vehicle tyre life at platinum miner Anglo American Platinum's Mogalakwena mine, in the Waterberg district of Limpopo, called Wheels of Fortune,' De Kock explains.
Besides cost savings, the implementation of projects is also driven by mining houses' having to comply with legislation such as the National Environmental Management Act No 107 of 1998, he highlights.
However, he laments that a major challenge facing the materials handling sector is the depressed mining market and, as such, the funds available to industry members are limited to undertaking new projects or extensions.
Therefore, some projects, where legally possible, have been put on hold until the economy improves, while mining companies are focused on sustaining their businesses, changes in commodities prices and their
bottom lines.
Although, with certain commodity prices, such as that of gold, improving, the implementation of projects is looking more likely, De Kock points out.
The company has several dust controlling systems that can improve the level of dust at mines, one of which involves improving visibility on haul roads through a bitumen-based emulsion that decreases the amount of mud and dust created by roads.
Dust-A-Side also offers Aquatarp Hydrotac, Hydrowet and Hydrosperse, which are water-based dust control systems that utilise a variety of techniques to control dust at mining operations.