Custom screen panels at Bell Creek – Image from Polydeck
Tahoe Resources’ Bell Creek gold mine and processing facility in Ontario was experiencing severe blinding from fibrous blasting residue on their trash circuit screens. This blinding resulted in increased downtime for manual screen cleaning, poor dewatering which reduced throughput, and a need for a secondary screen.
Polydeck Mining Project Manager, John Griffith, and Polydeck Consultant, Perry Miller, visited Bell Creek several times to gather data and formulate a solution. As a result, two custom screen panel designs were commissioned to specifically address these issues.
After three months of testing, Polydeck’s panels exhibited excellent dewatering results (throughput rate increased by 32%) with little water proceeding past the last row of Polydeck panels
Polydeck’s custom screen panels were installed in Rows 1-6 while competitor panels were left installed on the remaining 6 rows. After three months of testing, Polydeck’s panels exhibited excellent dewatering results (throughput rate increased by 32%) with little water proceeding past the last row of Polydeck panels. The drain rate also increased by more than 2.5 times doubling the capacity of the screen. Polydeck’s panels resisted blinding from the fibrous material which resulted in increased efficiency that was previously lost from cleaning panels. It was observed that the competitor panels still exhibited problematic blinding.
Tahoe Resources’ Metallurgical Technician, Nick Muskovac said, “Increased drainage with Polydeck panels has allowed us to bypass the secondary trash screen. This provides savings in maintenance time, energy consumption and process water. This is a critical path for our operations. Polydeck has provided excellent customer service and has worked closely with us to solve our screening issues.”
The Bell Creek Gold Mine custom panels will be on display at the SME Annual Conference & Expo (February 24-27). Case Studies will be available at our booth (Booth 1920) and available for download in March. To have access to the digital case study, please sign up for the Polydeck newsletter at www.polydeck.com.
About Polydeck:
Polydeck is the leading provider of the most dependable synthetic screen media in the aggregate, coal, and mining industries across North and South America. Polydeck takes pride in putting their customers first and for providing custom solutions with unmatched quality, efficiency and consistency. Polydeck is a federally registered service mark of Polydeck Screen Corporation.