product news
59
06.13
TeePee™ panel poised to
improve diamond processing
Multotec’s innovative new TeePee™ polyurethane screen panel is
poised to usher in significant improvements and cost savings for
both the land and marine diamond industries, and is already prov-
ing very popular in dewatering applications. This injection moulded
polyurethane (PU) panel is reported to be unique worldwide, effec-
tively doubling the open area for the same footprint.
The fully field tested Multotec TeePee™ panel makes it possible
to achieve open areas of 27 %, with slotted apertures of 0,5 mm,
0,63 mm and 0,8 mm – representing a 100 % improvement on cur-
rent polyurethane panel technology. Multotec’s Derrick Alston says
the company intends to increase the available aperture size range
to 1,4 mm and reduce it as far as 300 micron to accommodate the
various requirements of diamond and mineral processing. The im-
provement in open area offered by the TeePee™ panel is only effec-
tive in the smaller aperture polyurethane screen panels.
“The TeePee™ panel was developed with open area in mind and
the resultant design provides a significant open area that has been
shown to be double what was previously achieved with convention-
al Multotec Hi-Flow panels for the same aperture and with double
the drainage capability,” Alston says. “In dewatering applications
there’s a significant improvement in drainage, further reducing the
moisture content of the oversized material. This makes the panel
an ideal solution on plants where existing dewatering screens are
overloaded.”
Other typical applications for the Multotec TeePee™panel include
degritting, drain and rinse, static and feed preparation screens.
Multotec is one of the leading suppliers of minerals processing
equipment into diamond processing plants throughout Africa and
into a large proportion of plants operating in the main diamond pro-
ducing countries of the world.
Multotec Group CEO Thomas Holtz comments: “Although we
have a broad product portfolio, our business model encompasses
a focus on product groupings that suit certain commodities and we
continue to develop and fine-tune products to suit these specific
applications. And, to offer process support, we deploy seasoned
veterans from the various mineral processing environments.”
The success of diamond processing hinges on the feed enve-
lope being as accurate as possible and Alston says Multotec un-
derstands the importance of supplying precision screen panels and
cyclones to achieve this.
“Optimised screen panels and cyclones are pivotal to achieving
the high efficiencies required in this industry,” he says. “I’ve heard a
metallurgist put it this way: if the bottom cut-off size on the screen
panels is inaccurate, you throw away diamonds. If the coarse size
is imprecise, you break diamonds and if the cyclones are inefficient,
you lose diamonds.
“Our cyclones for dense media separation (DMS) are recognised
worldwide as being the most efficient in the market today, owing to
their precise and well thought-out design, as well as their proven
efficiencies.”
DMS is known to be one of the most complex unit processes
in mineral processing today, particularly if cyclones are used. The
cyclone forms the core of the DMS process and is one of the rea-
sons that the diamond industry continues to favour high chrome
as a material of construction. Multotec offers two ranges of high
chrome cast iron dense medium cyclones for this application, as an
alternative to the more cost effective ceramic lined cyclones which
have the potential to fail catastrophically and result in major losses
of diamonds.
Attracting attention is the Multotec CL range, a cost effective cast
iron cyclone that harnesses less high chrome in the manufactur-
ing process, while a more recent model, initially developed for a
major diamond producer, incorporates a cone with an integrated
spigot which eliminates the misalignments that impact on cyclone
efficiency.
Bernadette Wilson, Multotec Group, tel (+27 11) 923-6193
