Wet High Intensity Magnetic Separators Circuit Modelling

摘要

In the heavy minerals industry wet high intensity magnetic separators (WHIMS) are widely appliedrnfor primary magnetic separation of magnetic minerals and non-magnetic minerals. This piecernof equipment is well known for its robustness to handle a wide range of feed conditions and stillrnproduce stable product qualities and yields. A heavy mineral production plant aimed to increasernproduction through their WHIMS plant containing 11 duties and 26 units. Instead of adding newrnunits an alternative approach was followed to fi rstly maximise the effi ciency of the current circuit andrnsecondly to consider possible reconfi guration of the circuit to produce additional product tons forrnminimal capital investment. In order to characterise the current circuit’s effi ciency, identify pocketsrnof excellence and determine the areas for improvement the whole circuit was surveyed several timesrnand mineral mass balances were drawn up.rnThis paper aims to:rn1.discuss the modelling process of the WHIMS circuit,rn2.explain the calibration and validation process followed to ensure the accuracy, andrn3.demonstrate the sensitivity analysis performed on the different options.rnFrom this analysis an effi ciency criteria was developed to compare different circuit confi gurationsrnthat enabled the production plant personnel to make an informed decision on the way forward.