South African-based mill liner specialist Multotec Rubber is leveraging its extensive local design and manufacturing capability to supply linings to mills as far afield as Australia and Sudan. The company works closely with its customers to ensure that all mill parameters are considered when developing the best liner solution.
Multotec Rubber’s inhouse design capability incorporates specialised software such as Rocky DEM and MillTraj.
Taking a proactive stance on promoting local content in its liner products, Multotec Rubber is one of the first mining suppliers to have its local manufacturing content verified by the SA Bureau of Standards (SABS). This is part of a broader Multotec Group initiative to partner with SABS in piloting local content verification.
“This positions us well in terms of aligning with the Mining Charter requirements to benefit our South African customers,” says Spike Taylor, Managing Director of Multotec Rubber. “At the same time, we continue to make in-roads into export markets in the rest of Africa and abroad.”
One of Multotec’s recent large projects was to design and supply mill liners for a new 7,9 m semi-autogenous mill for a gold mine in Western Australia. The mill contract itself is being fulfilled by another successful South African original equipment manufacturer, New Concept Projects (NCP).
Based on current orders, Multotec Rubber will supply three mill linings for NCP mills this year. Taylor notes that Multotec’s global branch footprint will allow replacement liners for the Australian project to even be supplied from its offices in Perth and Brisbane.
Multotec Rubber’s in-house design capability – making use of specialised software such as Rocky DEM and MillTraj – allows all mill parameters to be considered when developing the best liner solution. Wherever possible, the company works closely with mill manufacturers to ensure the optimal design of linings, even providing valuable input that the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) can feed into its own design process.
Close and ongoing technical collaboration with the end-user is also key to Multotec Rubber’s approach, according to Global Sales and Business Development Manager Sam Hearn, as liners are responsible for up to 90 % of mill efficiency.
“Our comminution specialists have extensive experience and are able to understand the customers’ downstream and upstream requirements and take all factors into account that could affect mill performance,” says Hearn. “Being able to leverage this level of insight ensures that the appropriate configuration of liners is installed providing an optimum solution.”
He notes that much of Multotec Rubber’s success is based on its technical support and detailed understanding of what the customer needs. “We don’t just supply liners,” he says. “We analyse the issues being experienced in the milling circuit, so that we can optimise efficiencies and mill liner life.”
Area Sales Manager Matodzi Ramalamula highlights the ‘hands-on’ approach that is second-nature to the company’s teams. “It always starts with the customer right from the first visit to site by one of our technical experts and this continues through the installation process ensuring that everything goes according to plan.”
Hearn points to the impact of technology advances in plants, allowing mines to more accurately simulate what is happening inside the mill at any given time.
“For our part, we are able to monitor the condition of the liners to assess how they are performing under various parameters, and based on that history, we regularly improve our designs,” he says. “We don’t walk away after an installation; we work with the customer to keep adapting to the changing characteristics of the mined material being milled as well as the mill’s operating parameters.”
This focus allows a continuous evolution process to deliver incremental improvements for each customer over time, keeping mills running at their highest possible efficiencies. Among Multotec Rubber’s local projects this year is a lining installation for a large mill measuring 7,3 m in diameter for a platinum operation based in Rustenburg.