Weir Minerals Africa wins major screening

order in Indian iron ore mining

Weir Minerals Africa has received its biggest order from India to date – seven Linatex vibrating screens of various sizes for RBSSN, a mining and metals company based in Hospet, in northern Karnataka.

The order includes the biggest screen Weir has supplied to India, with dimensions of 2.4 m by 4.8 m. Weir Minerals Africa’s Chris Dorlas says the order, which is destined for an iron ore application, is a milestone for the company, since it firmly establishes Weir Minerals’ footprint in India and will serve as a reference base for further sales in that country.

The RBSSN order includes three VD18/38, one VD15/38 and one VD21/48 dewatering screens. Linatex dewatering screens incorporate a 45^o sloping back section, fitted with slotted apertures across the direction of the flow. Incoming slurry is fed uniformly along the top of this back section, which acts as a vibrating drainage panel. The screen’s main deck slopes upwards at 5^o and is fitted with smaller slotted apertures.

“This design achieves exceptionally high dewatering and draining capacity,” Dorlas says, “making it possible in many cases to use smaller units than if one was using conventional dewatering screens. This, in turn, reduces the cost of the initial investment in the screens.”

At the lowest point of the screen, where the sloping back and main deck meet, a pool of partially dewatered slurry forms. Here, solid particles bridge over the apertures and form a cake, which acts as a filtration platform, allowing only quite fine particles to pass through. The vibration action conveys the cake along the screen and out of the pool, where further dewatering takes place, depending on the porosity of the cake, which is finally discharged over the adjustable weir into the product chute.

Vibration is produced by two linear motion low noise exciter motors operating at 980 or 1460 rpm. Alternatively, geared exciters with an external drive motor can be fitted to the larger screens. Both the vibrating motors and the geared exciter have been specifically designed to ensure long life, with minimum maintainance requirements.

Easy adjustment of the amplitude of vibration and deck inclination, as well as the discharge weir plate, are features incorporated to suit changes in process requirements. A high solids recovery outcome is achieved when the screen underflow is kept in closed circuit, with the only solid losses occurring as the very fine material exits in the cyclone overflow.

The two large Linatex HG24/48 screens included in the RBSSN order are horizontal linear motion screens. Linear motion is produced by the action of counterweights on separate shafts, geared together to produce a straight line “throw”. The mechanism’s direction of rotation does not affect the pattern of motion.

“Linear motion provides excellent performance in applications such as wet screening, desliming and dewatering, owing to the ability to break the surface tension between deck apertures and the pulp being screened,” Dorlas says. “Screen capacities vary widely, depending on the material characteristics and the separation required.

“Screen design has evolved and improved over many years of operational experience and industry know-how. However, the company has actively taken these improvements to the next level and introduced the Finite Element Analysis (FEA) method of design to our development technology some years ago. Our in-house FEA capabilities have assisted in optimising the mass and strength of the screens, helping to provide lower cost solutions, both in terms of capital and operational costs.”

The Weir Group acquired the Linatex group of companies in September 2010, now marketed as Lintex^® rubber products. Dorlas says that these products are proving a valuable addition to the Weir Minerals product line and assist the company in positioning itself as a solutions provider. The South African Linatex manufacturing facility in Alrode is capable of producing screens up to 4.9 m wide by 10 m in length.

Sourced & published by Henry Sapiecha

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USA & CANADA HAVE ISSUES WITH PIPELINE

WASHINGTON — Ranchers from Nebraska, people in car caravans from California and hundreds of others plan to hold daily sit-ins at the White House starting Saturday, protesting against a planned pipeline that would greatly expand the flow of oil from the black sands of western Canada.

Two weeks of protests will raise the question of what the United States should do about climate change, putting the topic back into the spotlight. They’ll pressure President Barack Obama, who must decide whether the pipeline is in the national interest and whether it will be built.

For some participants, the key issues are local matters of land and water conservation. The proposed Keystone XL pipeline from the oil sands of Alberta would run from Canada through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.

It would cross the Ogallala Aquifer, the giant underground water source under much of Nebraska and other Great Plains states. Some Nebraskans have been calling for a different route away from their irrigation source and the state’s Sand Hills, a land of canyons and mountains of grass-covered sand where cattle graze.

For others, the key issue is climate change.

Writer and protest organizer Bill McKibben says it may be the “single clearest decision Obama will make in his first four years because for once he has a clear shot. Congress isn’t in the way. He gets to make the call.”

McKibben said it’s a test to see if Obama stands by his 2008 campaign promise that in his presidency “the rise of the oceans will begin to slow and the planet begin to heal.”

An Obama denial of the permit for Keystone XL would “send an electrifying jolt through his base,” McKibben said. “We’ll be reminded about why we were so enthused when he was running.”

The decision puts the president between his environmentalist supporters and those looking for projects that create jobs immediately. The American Petroleum Institute said the pipeline would create 20,000 direct jobs in the two years it would take to build it.

An existing Keystone pipeline from Canada already brings 591,000 barrels of diluted bitumen, the technical name for the thick oil mixed in the sands, to refineries in Oklahoma and Illinois. The new pipeline would increase the capacity to 1.3 million barrels a day and deliver the crude to refineries on the Gulf Coast.

Protesters argue that the pipeline would be in place for some 50 years, bringing a heavily polluting form of oil. The extra energy needed to mine the oil from the sands of Alberta and to process it creates more greenhouse gas emissions than conventional oil.

NASA climate scientist James Hansen argues that if emissions from coal are phased out in a few decades and unconventional fossil fuels such as the crude from the oil sands are left in the ground, it will be possible to stabilize the climate.

“Phase-out of emissions from coal is itself an enormous challenge. However, if the tar sands are thrown into the mix, it is essentially game over,” Hansen wrote in a paper in June. Hansen in recent years has participated in protests, and organizers say he’ll join this one as well.

The organizers said they expect some arrests. They plan to station people in Lafayette Park across from the White House every day for two weeks.

That means they will be there in a week, when the president and his family return from their vacation on Martha’s Vineyard.

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Finland to pass new mining law

on Tuesday; miners critical of it.

Miners are worried that the new mining law, which is expected to be passed by Finland’s parliament on Tuesday could increase bureaucracy and compensation to landowners which may make future ops more difficult

Author: Terhi Kinnunen (Reuters)
Posted:  Monday , 14 Mar 2011

HELSINKI (Reuters) -

Finland’s parliament is expected to pass a new mining law on Tuesday that miners fear will increase bureaucracy and compensation to landowners, making future operations more difficult.

Updating a law from the 1960′s, it is seen coming into force on July 1.

The government says the new law promotes mining but also takes into account environmental issues, citizens’ and landowners’ rights and gives municipalities more potential to influence decision-making on mining projects.

Supervision of mining issues will move to the Safety Technology Authority, Tukes, from the Ministry of Employment and the Economy.

“The compensation fees will be higher than in Sweden,” Olavi Paatsola, executive director of Finnish mining industry association FinnMin, told Reuters.

“The harsh bureaucracy is to be introduced to the ore prospecting stage, which in our opinion is unnecessary, because prospecting work has a minimal impact on nature.”

Environmentalists say the reform is good for nature, although it is not perfect.

“The reform is a clear improvement to the current situation. Firstly, it will take into account environmental points, and secondly it will secure citizens’ rights,” said Leo Stranius, secretary general for the Finnish Nature League.

He added the Finnish Nature League had demanded the law would prohibit ore prospecting in nature reserves and that uranium would not be included in the mining law.

The reform to the mining law began in 2005, but the process has been slow due to its thoroughness. The parliament is expected to give the green light to the new law at the current parliament’s last session. Finland will hold general elections on April 17.

The new law requires a final approval from President Tarja Halonen.

THREE MINES UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Finland’s location in the middle of the Fennoscandian Shield gives it an excellent potential for a variety of minerals such as nickel, gold and chrome. Its geology is similar to that of areas of Canada and Australia, both big mining countries.

Currently there are nine metallic ore mines operating in Finland, and five of them are gold mines.

In addition three mines — two gold mines and one mine producing nickel, copper and palladium — are being built.

The mining sector in 2010 amounted to only 0.4 percent of Finland’s gross domestic product (GDP).

One of the biggest mines is Talvivaara (TLV1V.HE: Quote), which produces nickel, zinc and copper. It delivers nickel and cobalt to Norilsk Nickel GNKN.MM refinery in Harjavalta and zinc to Nyrstar (NYR.BR: Quote).

Finnish stainless steel maker Outokumpu (OUT1V.HE: Quote) owns Europe’s only chromium mine in Kemi with current annual production of about 1.3 million tons of ore. The mine produces chromite concentrates for its ferrochrome smelter in Tornio, some 35 kilometres (22 miles) away.

“If I look at this law from the perspective of the industry, it has been an awful project,” Antti Pihko, chief of the Kemi mine told Finnish daily Kauppalehti.

“After this, international companies will prefer to go to Sweden where fees are only a tenth compared to Finland and where production can be started much faster,” he was quoted as saying.

(Editing by Jane Baird)

© Thomson Reuters 2011 All rights reserved

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Venezuela faces logistical,

security nightmare

getting back 17,000 gold bars

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Korea signs lithium deal in Bolivia

to mine the world’s largest salt flats

The Korea Herald reports a Korean consortium forged an agreement with Bolivia’s state-run miner Comibol over the weekend to manufacture lithium-ion battery parts, boosting Korea’s bid to tap the largest lithium deposits in the world.

A research project involving extracting lithium will begin next month at Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni – an 11,000 square kilometers salt flat (pictured) – with plans for constructing lithium-carbonate processing facilities. The soft, silver-white metal is widely used in rechargeable batteries for mobile phones, laptops and electric cars and the price has been steadily increasing prompting talk of a Opec-style cartel to control production and prices among South American nations that together control 85% of the world’s resources.

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North Bay Resources acquires two BC rare earth properties

North Bay Resources Inc. announced on Wednesday that the Company has acquired a 100% undivided interest in two rare earth properties in southeastern British Columbia.

The Perry River Carbonatite property covers 505 hectares (1,247 acres) and is located approximately 42 kilometres northwest of Revelstoke, BC. The property is known to host niobium, lanthanum, cerium, neodymium, and other REEs.

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• New Gold targets 2017 for Blackwater project, northern British Columbia

  Andrew Topf | July 28, 2011

  Vanderhoof, a small community in northern British Columbia, has been told to expect a gold mine on its doorstep within 6 years.

  New Gold President and CEO Bob Gallagher paid a visit to Vandherhoof town council on July 20, telling local politicians the Blackwater gold mine should be up and running by 2017.

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Speaking at the Diggers & Dealers conference in Kalgoorlie Australia, Robert Friedland, executive chairman of Ivanhoe mines made big claims for the new mine his company is constructing in Mongolia together with major shareholder Rio Tinto.

Oyu Tolgoi is now one third complete and on track to produce more than 1.2 million pounds of copper and 650,000 ounces of gold each year and, according to the brash Canadian, would have a life of more than a century.

Oyu Tolgoi will also help turn Mongolia into the world’s fastest-growing economy with staggering GDP growth of 35%. Just to make sure no-one has any misconceptions of the grand scale of the project Friedland boasted that Oyu Tolgoi has 14,200 builders, easily overshadowing the largest construction project in the US, the new World Trade Center with only 2,300. And just to top things off he said Ivanhoe is worth at least double the $15.6 billion valuation the market is affording it at the moment.

The Australian quotes Friedland as saying the company is spending about $US75 per second in the development of the mine adding that this equated to about $US9 million ($8.3m) a day.

London South East reports Friedland believes the project is being undervalued: based on the 1.4 times net asset value that top gold miner Barrick Gold paid for copper miner Equinox Minerals earlier this year, Ivanhoe would be worth between $34 and $46 a share.

Ivanhoe last changed hands at $23.87 in early morning trade in Toronto on Wednesday. The stock has a market valuation of $15.6 billion and had been trading in a relatively narrow range this year with net gains in 2011 of just under 4%

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