Technology focus for Multotec at Electra Mining

Multotec, which has exhibited at every Electra Mining Africa exhibition since the show was launched in the 1970s, has a strong presence at this year’s event, with its in-house experts on hand to brief visitors to the stand on the company’s comprehensive line-up of minerals processing equipment.

“Given that the Electra Mining 2020 was cancelled due to COVID, we see this year’s show as an excellent opportunity to reconnect with our customer base,” says Rikus Immink, who is Multotec’s CEO – South African Operations. “The overall is how our equipment and systems can assist customers in realising their Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) goals. We are also emphasising our strong commitment to South Africa. We are a global group now, but we started in South Africa and the country still accounts for about half our revenues.”

Virtually all Multotec’s products can, to a greater or lesser extent, reduce consumption of resources such as water and energy and allow for more efficient operations. A prime example is provided by the pulping chute, a highly innovative concept in fines scrubbing which was first installed at Ekapa Minerals’ Combined Treatment Plant (CTP) in Kimberley in late 2019. More recently it has been successfully trialled at a diamond mine in Botswana.

“The pulping chute performs the scrubbing action faster and more efficiently than a traditional rotary scrubber,” says Immink “It can use recycled water, which is a major benefit, and it also lowers energy costs. Moreover, it involves less capital outlay. We are very proud of this innovation and it is featuring very strongly on our Electra Mining stand.”

Other Multotec products being highlighted at the show and which are able to contribute to energy and water saving include the company’s classification cyclones, which provide efficient solutions for desliming and dewatering; its ultra-fines spirals, which offer a non-chemical process for fines recovery and allow easy water recovery; its centrifuges and filter presses, which deliver effective solid liquid separation and dewatering solutions; and its screening media, whose many benefits include the recovery of non-chemical water.

Immink also notes that Mato belt cleaners, which also feature on the Multotec stand, prevent spillage and reduce clean-up requirements. “This is not a product that gets much attention and yet it can play an absolutely crucial role in cutting wastage and in maintaining a clean environment,” he states.

The energy savings made possible by Multotec’s products and systems help, of course, to reduce the carbon footprints of mine sites. “At Multotec we take carbon footprint reduction very seriously and strive to achieve this both in our own operations and, through our equipment, at our customers’ operations,” says Immink. “Multotec equipment that can play a significant role in this respect are our coal spirals, which produce cleaner coal with less energy consumption, our DMS cyclones, which also deliver cleaner coal, and our mill lining solutions, which optimise mill efficiencies, thereby reducing power demand.”