REPORT ON DMS 1

SECTIONAL REPORT: DMS 1 PLANT

AUTHOR MUKONDO ATIPAISHE

DISTRUBITION
MR E MUTANDIRO
MR T MUPFUMI
MISS I
PERIOD OF ENGAGEMENT 4 weeks
INSTITUTION ZIMBABWE SCHOOL OF MINES

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Table of Contents
1.0 BACKGROUND............................................................................................................................4
1.1 Objectives of the DMS plant...........................................................................................................4
2.0 SHEQ ASPECTS.................................................................................................................................4
2.1 Safety................................................................................................................................................4
2.2 Health...............................................................................................................................................5
3.0 Literature review.................................................................................................................................5
3.1 Media................................................................................................................................................5
4.0 Major equipment.................................................................................................................................6
4.1 Vibrating screens.............................................................................................................................6
4.1.1 Working principle.....................................................................................................................7
4.2 DMS cyclones...................................................................................................................................8
4.2.1 Working principle.....................................................................................................................8
4.3 Spiral classifier.................................................................................................................................9
4.3.1Working principle....................................................................................................................10
4.4 Drum magnets................................................................................................................................10
4.4.1 Operating principle.................................................................................................................10
4.5 Demagnetizing coil.........................................................................................................................11
4.5 Centrifugal Pumps.........................................................................................................................11
5.0 Process flow diagram for DMS1.......................................................................................................11
5.1 Process flow description for DMS1..............................................................................................13
5.1.1Media circuit............................................................................................................................13
5.1.2 Specific gravity (sg) correction..............................................................................................14
6.0 Control philosophy............................................................................................................................14
6.1 Process start up and shut down procedure for DMS1................................................................14
6.2 Interlock systems...........................................................................................................................15
7.0 Technical specifications of equipment..............................................................................................15
7.0 RECOMMENDATIONS..................................................................................................................17
8.0 References..........................................................................................................................................18

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List of tables
Table 1:safety..............................................................................................................................................3
Table 2: health.............................................................................................................................................4

List of figures
Figure 1: showing vibrating screen..............................................................................................................6
Figure 2: showing a labelled diagram of a cyclone ( Source B.A Wills 2006)............................................8
Figure 3: showing a spiral classifier at Bikita( DMS1)................................................................................9
Figure 4: showing the operating mechanism of a spiral classifier ( Source B.A Wills 2006)......................9
Figure 5: showing the primary and secondary wet magnets at Bikita ( DMS1).........................................10
Figure 6: process flow diagram for DMS1................................................................................................12

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1.0 BACKGROUND

Dense Medium Separation (also called Heavy Media Separation) is a well-established density
separation process. It uses the characteristic differences in density of the input material to pass a
gravimetric-based separation. There are two DMS plants at Bikita Minerals. This report
deliberates on the DMS1 plant which was the first one to be set up, to separate ore of size
ranging from 2mm to 28mm from the reduction plant.

1.1 Objectives of the DMS plant

 To separate targeted minerals using differences in density.
 To pre-concentrate the mineral for downstream processes (milling).

2.0 SHEQ ASPECTS

These are the hazards and probable risks that are identified before work is done that may result
in injuries health issues or even death to anyone working on that particular area. The risk
assessment process is done by the employees led by SHE Reps in every department, thereby
identifying potential hazards and risks that maybe encountered in a particular work area and how
to control, avoid or minimize the effects of the hazards.

2.1 Safety
Table 1: safety

Risk Effect Mitigation

Working on  Falling from heights  Wear safety harness
heights  Dropping tools onto  Wear hard hat
passerby  Inspection of walk ways
and hand rails
Flying particles and  Eye irritation  Wear safety goggles
objects
Uneven surfaces  Tripping and falling leading  Clear spillage as quickly
(spillages on conveyor to injury. as possible.

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belt3)

2.2 Health
Table 2: health

Risk Effect Mitigation

Heavy material Lifting and  Back injuries.  Follow correct working
Handling (pushing the swinging procedure.
conveyor belt)
Noise (Noise generated  Loss of hearing  Wear hearing protection (ear plug
by vibrating screens in or muffs).
operation)  Monitor noise levels around the
plant

3.0 Literature review

Dense medium Separation is a process whereby minerals of different densities are separated
using their density differences as the principle of separation. Minerals with density almost equal
to that of the medium remain in suspension. Other mechanisms like cyclone separation are then
employed to aid separation of these minerals to aid quicker and sharper separation. Centrifugal
forces produced in cyclonic separation enable particles to be separated by overcoming the
resistance of the fluid (viscosity). Cyclonic separation can thus be used for smaller size fractions
of ore.

Dense medium separation is applicable to any ore in which, after a suitable degree of liberation
by crushing, there is enough difference in specific gravity between the particles. The process is
most widely applied when the density difference occurs at a coarse particle size, as separation
efficiency decreases with size due to the slower rate of settling of the particles. Particles should
preferably be larger than about 4 mm in diameter, in which case separation can be effective on a
difference in specific gravity of 0.1 or less (Wills 2006).

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3.1 Media
Dense medium separation is mainly used for minerals which have a significant density
difference at a coarse size fraction. Separation efficiency is reduced by a decrease in particle size
as a result of a reduction in the rate of settling of particles. Preferably, ore should be of particle
sizes greater than 4mm (Wills, 2006) with a density difference of at least 0.1.The choice of
media is influenced by its cost, density as well as its ability to form a perfect mixture in water.
Ability of media to form a perfect mixture with water is very important as media which does not
mix well with water can cause blockages in pipes during transportation. Poor mixing can also
result in fluctuations in the medium s.g. The s.g of media should be high otherwise large
quantities of media of a low density would be required to raise the medium density to the
required set point. This would be costly. Apart from being costly the viscosity of the medium
would be too much due to high percent solids in medium mixture resulting in hindered settling of
minerals being separated. The media used should be chemically inert and thus stable at the
operating conditions. Finer media particles mix better with water to make a homogeneous
mixture.

4.0 Major equipment

4.1 Vibrating screens

Figure 1: showing vibrating screen

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4.1.1 Working principle

The screen has a surface that has many apertures with uniform dimensions. Particles presented to
the surface will either pass through or be retained, according to whether the particles are larger or
smaller than the apertures. Particles bigger than the apertures of the screens are retained, and
constitute the oversize. Those that are smaller pass through the screening surface, forming the
undersize (this process can be dry or wet). There are water spray nozzles which provide
pressurized water. The water’s role is to wash the ore before it is transported to the mixing boxes
in the plant since slimes cannot be easily washed off media which impairs the grade of the final
product. The spray water is also used to rinse away the media on the drain and rinse screen.
Factors which affect screen efficiency are the vibration speed, angle of inclination of the screen
and the length of the screen among others. The efficiency of screening is determined by the
degree of perfection of the separation of the material into size fractions above or below the
aperture size. Float and sink screen used at the DMS 1 are1.3×5.1 mm single deck screens fitted
with 0.8screen panels and the feed preparation screen has 2mm screen panels.

These types of screens are called the low head vibrating screens. There is a motion head which is
mounted on top and joined to the body of the screen. The weights in the motion head are
eccentric resulting in vibrations when the head is in motion. Due to the law of transmissibility,
vibrations are transferred to the screen. There are springs joined to the screen which return an
equal but opposite force to the screen thereby enhancing vibration.

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4.2 DMS cyclones

Figure 2: showing a labelled diagram of a cyclone ( Source B.A Wills 2006)

C420 cyclones are used at the DMS 1 at Bikita Minerals and they separate at a pressure of
80Kpa. The spigot sizes are 95mm.

4.2.1 Working principle

Feed is introduced under pressure through the tangential inlet generating a vortex with a low
pressure zone along the vertical axis. The particles in the feed are subjected to two opposing
forces that is the outward centrifugal force and inward dragging force. The centrifugal force
accelerates the settling rate of the particles thereby separating according to size and density.
Heavier and fast settling particles move to the wall where velocity is lowest and migrate to the
apex or spigot as underflow.

The drag force pushes slower settling particles to the zone of low pressure along the vertical axis
where they are forced upwards through the vortex finder and report to the overflow. Because of
the very high centrifugal forces inside the separating cyclones vertical or horizontal installation
orientation has no effect on separation.

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4.3 Spiral classifier

Figure 3: showing a spiral classifier at Bikita( DMS1)

Figure 4: showing the operating mechanism of a spiral classifier ( Source B.A Wills 2006)

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4.3.1Working principle
Spiral classifier uses a continuously revolving spiral to move the sands up the slope. They can be
operated at steeper slopes. Steeper slopes aid the drainage of the feed, giving a cleaner, drier
product. Agitation in the pool is less which is important in separations of very fine material.

The size at which the separation is made and the quality of the separation depend on a number
of factors. Increasing the feed rate increases the horizontal carrying velocity and thus increases
the size of particle leaving in the overflow. The feed should not be introduced directly into the
pool, as this causes agitation and releases coarse material from the hindered-settling zone, which
may report to the overflow.

4.4 Drum magnets

Figure 5: showing the primary and secondary wet magnets at Bikita ( DMS1)
4.4.1 Operating principle

At the DMS1 plant, there are two magnets that is the secondary and primary magnet which are
wet drum magnets mounted with magnetic assembly inside which snares the magnetite hence
grasps it to the drum’s stainless steel surface. The primary magnet of size 915×1220mm has a
capacity of 1400rpm whilst the secondary magnet with the same capacity has a size of 915×610
mm. Both drums are coupled with a 1.5kw motor. Feed consisting of water, slimes, and media is

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introduced to the magnet flows in a direction which is opposite the rotating direction of the
drum. Media is attracted to the drum surface as the drum rolls. This media is then scrapped by a
rubber scraper which is situated directly opposite the point of feed entrance.

4.5 Demagnetizing coil

The demagnetizing coil is ring shaped and it is located on a pipe which transports media
reclaimed at magnets to the dense sump. Magnetized magnetite particles tend to aggregate,
forming a non-uniform suspension in water. This can result in the blockage of pipes and
fluctuating medium density. In order to form a perfect mixture this magnetization effect has to be
removed at the demagnetizing coil to produce a non-flocculated suspension in the separating
vessel.

4.5 Centrifugal Pumps

A pump is used to transfer liquids and gases through mechanical action from one point to
another. There are two types of pumps which are mainly used in the Dense Media Separation
plant which include the centrifugal pump and the mono pump. At the water pond an 80/250 (80
is the discharge size and 250 is the impeller size) centrifugal pump is used to water to the plant
and another type of centrifugal pump which pumps slurry of size 3/2inches is used to pump out
slimes from the pond. The two tailings centrifugal pumps and the dilute media sump are of size
4/3inches.Thethickening cyclone pump and the floor sump pump are of size 3/2.The dense media
sump pump is a 6/4 (suction side is 6 inches and the discharge size is 4 inches) centrifugal pump.
There is a mono pump below the reduction plant stock pad in conveyor number 1 which pumps
out clear water.

Centrifugal pump: These pumps are used to transfer liquids through a piping system and are also
used for low pressure, high volume flow applications in the plant. The output of this pump
mainly depends on the rotational speed of the driving source. It uses a rotating impeller to
increase the pressure and flow rate of the liquid.

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5.0 Process flow diagram for DMS1

Figure 6: process flow diagram for DMS1

5.1 Process flow description for DMS1

The vibro feeders are used to introduce the feed onto conveyor belt number one, which feeds to
the feed preparation screen. The feed preparation screen (low head vibrating screen) deslimes the
ore, the undersize (-2mm) is washed down and it is pumped to the fines screen as DMS 2 feed.
Currently the screen is fitted with 2mm screen panels but they can be changed according to the
ore being treated for example transitional petalite ore (6mm are used). The oversize is discharged
onto conveyor belt number 2 via a launder. The maximum capacity is 80t/hr and anything above
result in a chock up. The conveyor belt number 2 conveys the feed to the wing tank where the
ore is mixed with the media (magnetite). The set point is not fixed, it is determined by the type of
ore that is being fed into the plant. The feed medium usually ranges from 2.3 to 2.4 kg/m3

The feed is introduced to the cyclones at a pressure between 50 to 80Kpa. In the cyclone the
minerals are separated according to their densities. The minerals with greater S.G than the
separating s.g are discharged as underflow (sinks) and introduced to the sink screen and the less
dense is discharged as overflow (floats) and it is introduced to the float screen. The sinks are
conveyed by conveyor belt number 6 to the sinks stock pile. The floats are discharged onto
conveyor belt number 3 via a launder onto conveyor belt number 4 then onto conveyor belt
number 5 and form a stockpile.

5.1.1Media circuit

The media is fed manually into the cyclone feed boxes where it meets the ore. From the cyclones
the media is washed off the ore in both screens and exits from the first openings below the decks.

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Media from the sink screen (low head vibrating screen) goes straight to the dense media sump
and that from the float screen is taken to the thickening cyclones by a thickening cyclone pump
and then to the dense media sump. An overflow from the cyclone feeds into the dilute media
sump. Media from the dense sump is then pumped to a distribution pot and back to the cyclone
feed boxes. The second exits on both the float and sink screen discharge a mixture of water and
magnetite into the dilute media sump where it is further pumped to the primary magnet to
recover the magnetite in the mixture.an undersize discharge hole at the bottom of the magnets
release the water, which still has magnetite but in small amounts, to the dilute cyclone sump. It is
then pumped to the secondary magnet for further recovery of the magnetite. The recovered
media from both magnets goes through a demagnetizing coil to remove the magnetic charge and
returns to the dense media sump. In case of any spillages, there is a floor sump which
temporarily stores water (with media) and a floor sump pump returns this water back to the dilute
media sump.

5.1.2 Specific gravity (sg) correction

A process automation system is used to regulate the amount of water needed in the dilute media
sump to achieve the wanted media sg for efficient separation of the ore. They specific gravity
control is done through a densimeter (motorized valve) fitted to a water pipe between the float
and sink screens. The specific gravity varies with the type of product to be recovered from the
ore as follows:

 standard petalite 2.25-2.40

 low alkali petalite 2.18-2.25
 container glass petalite production 2.55-2.65
 spodumene production 2.65-2.80

6.0 Control philosophy

This includes the plant startup and shut down procedure, and interlocks systems at the DMS
plants.

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6.1 Process start up and shut down procedure for DMS1

The following is the sequence used when starting up the section and in vice versa is the
shutdown procedure for DMS 1:

Water pump- Demagnetizing coil -Primary magnet- secondary magnet- Dilute Media Sump-
Dilute cyclone - Double screens- Conveyor belt 5- Conveyor belt 4- Conveyor belt 3- conveyor
belt 8-Spiral classifier- Conveyor belt 7- Dense media sump- Thickening sump - S.G correction-
Conveyor belt2- Feed preparation screen- Conveyor belt 1.

6.2 Interlock systems

An interlock is a device used to help prevent a machine from harming its operator or damaging
itself by stopping the machine when tripped.

• The interlock system is an electronic or electrical link or system set up to control a sequence of
events in the stopping, start and tripping of a specific operation where electrical equipment or
units run in sequence.

• This interlock sequence will cause all electrical units in that specific sequence to trip should
one or more of the units in the sequence stop.

 The conveyor belt system at Bikita Minerals is interlocked; so as to prevent damage to

equipment, spillage, and injury to people and production loss should breakdown occur.

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7.0 Technical specifications of equipment

Voltage Power Speed

(KW) (RPM)
water pump 525 75 2955
fines pump 525 45 1470
tailings 1 525 30 1480
tailings 2 525 15 1450
return water pump 525 30 2945
thickening cyclone 1 525 15 1450
thickening cyclone 2 525 185 1450
tailings 1 525 30 1480
tailings 2 525 15 1450
float screen 525 22 1440
sink screen 525 22 1440
slimes pump 1 525 11 1455

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slimes pump 2 525 11 1455

Feed preparation 525 11 1450
screen
dilute cyclone 525 186 1450
dilute medium 525 11 1450
cyclone
floor sump pump 525 75 960
sample cutter 525 0.75 1380
demagnetizing coil 525 22 1470
vibro feeder 1 380 22 1480
vibro feeder 2 380 185 2945
vibro feeder 3 380 186 1440
vibro feeder 4 380 15 1440

7.0 RECOMMENDATIONS

1. The weight meters should often be calibrated to give correct tonnages particularly the
float conveyor.
2. The product (floats) must be passed under a magnet to remove the possibly left
magnetite.

3. In DMS1, the wing tank should be redesigned such that the pressure of the media does
not suppress the ore leading to choke-ups hence downtime.
4. Screen panels with bars which reduce the motion of media and minerals should be used
instead of the flat panels. This restriction will give more time for the media to pass
through the screen arpatures before it reaches the water sprays.

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8.0 References
1) B.A Wills, T. N. M., 2001. Mineral processing technology. 7th ed. s.l.:elsevier science
and technology.
2) Correa, J., 2006. Sciencedirect. [Online]
Available at: www.siencedirect.com
[Accessed april 2006].
3) J.A whitehead, J. z., 2015. hydrometallurgy. separation and purification technology,
iii(88), pp. 123-127.
4) J.A Whitehead, J. Z., 2015. seperation and purification technology. hydrometallurgy,
iii(88), pp. 123-121.
5) white, F., 1967. Fluid flow. In: Introduction to fluid dynamics. s.l.:Cambrige University
press, p. 62.
6) Wills, B., 2006. mineral processing Technology. s.l.:s.n.

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