When consultants Dowding, Reynard & Associates (DRA) designed the pilot plant for Trans Hex Mining, for the Nieuwejaarskraal open cast mine on the banks of the Orange River near Kimberley, they made sure that only the best elements were built into the design. There was to be no room for possible breakdowns particularly as the plant was designed to be dismantled and moved if and when necessary. Overall reliability was the key. The mine celebrates its first anniversary and is proud to report reliable performance to date.
The feed preparation section of the plant utilises a Trans Hex Mining design tipping arrangement for discarding oversize material prior to processing the run of the mine into a suitable size fraction for recovery from the alluvial diamond bearing gravel.
It is of significance to note that the whole of the input to the plant is dependent on one single conveyor with a 1,2 m wide, troughed belt. Driving this input conveyor is a SEW Eurodrive type MC3 bevel-helical geared motor, comprising a SEW Compact box and a Eurodrive RF57 box in series, all powered by only a 3 kW motor. The feed rate is 100 tons/h at an average speed of 0,2 m/s. For these flow rates, this means the run of mine material, which varies from fine dust to large rocks, can be as high as 1 m, but averages 700 mm, on the conveyor belt. VRN quenched and tempered alloy wear liners are fitted for this purpose.
The SEW Eurodrive 'MC' series of modular heavy-duty drives was the first series designed on a modular basis specifically for tough usage in strategic industrial applications such as mining. The series is available in helical and bevel-helical arrangements, horizontal or vertical shafts, with torque ranges from 6 to 60 kNm and ratios from 7:1 to 112:1. All shaft positions can be provided with a selection of mounting positions. In terms of cost, the MC series is claimed to deliver more torque per unit cost than the common range of typical heavy industrial gear units available on the market. Happy anniversary Nieuwejaarskraal!
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