Lab-scale custom crushing and blending has never been so efficient as it is now with Sudbury-based Xstrata Process Support’s (XPS) first-of-a-kind custom crushing and blending plant (CBP).
What was previously an intensive manual process that took days to perform can now be completed in a matter of hours, depending upon the batch size. XPS personnel saw the need to mechanize the process when they noticed the incidence of repetitive strain injuries was on the rise. “We realized the crushing and blending we did in the lab was very manual,” said XPS metallurgist Dave Middleditch. “Previously, we had guys with pails of rock and/or drill core dumping them in crushers, taking the product out and screening it. Once crushed to a suitable product size for metallurgical test work, the operator would load the crushed material into a spinning riffler (a carousel-type device) that would discharge it into 10 pots.”…more at MEIOnline