Category: Tech Talk

THERMAL arc spraying is a process whereby molten metal is blasted under pressure onto a metal substrate in order to reclaim a worn or corroded surface. The technology is cost effective for repairs and is used widely in the mining industry for the repair of components ranging from wheel hubs to spindles, shafts and bearing surfaces. This unique process is also known as twin wire arc spray because it uses two spools of wire passing through the same handpiece, like a double MIG welder. However, unlike MIG, one wire is positive and the other is negative so that when the two touch, they create an arc which melts both wires simultaneously. The addition of compressed air into the handpiece literally…

THE new innovative Teranap TP Control was the first bitumen geomembrane with integrated seam control system. The same BMI Siplast Teranap quality now has seam control technology, with the control channel embedded in the geomembrane and located in the middle of the weld melting zone. When the overlaps and welds are completed, the channel becomes fully encapsulated between the two layers of the membrane. Leak detection is carried out after the welding of Teranap TP rolls. The tracer gas is injected at low pressure into the channel, and will spread along the geomembrane’s welded channel, finding all possible escape routes. The detector is able to quickly locate the leak with high precision alerting the operator to possible issues. Not only…

AN idea by Leverlink founder Richard Sharp early in 1991 led to the production of the first “dynamic” impact bed for troughed conveyor belts in Australia, forming the foundation for Leverlink’s current leading-edge technology. Mr Sharp had the idea to develop a better and more reliable product; one that would dissipate kinetic energy and provide the benefits of long service life, as well as assisting in reducing maintenance costs in terms of consumables and labour. The design for the dynamic impact bed – using rubber torsion springs as suspension – was radically different from the static impact beds that were dominating the Australian marketplace at the time. Load zones and transfer points Most belt damage occurs at conveyor load zones…

FOR productive and safe raise excavation, raiseboring is the most successful method, and Raisebore Australia is one of the country’s leading specialists. Raisebore Australia is a one-stop shop – providing specialised, adaptive drilling solutions to meet the client’s needs. The new addition to the fleet is the diverse slot machine – the Rhino 100. Raisebore Australia Operations manager Alex Hughes said the Rhino 100 is an easy to use one-man machine, taking slot raise drilling to new heights, maximising the output and reducing the risks without compromising productivity. “The set-up time for the machine is around 15 minutes, which is much quicker than conventional/box hole raiseborers,” Mr Hughes said. “You also don’t need concrete foundations for the derrick to be…

PARTICLES of Inconel or tungsten carbide heated to 3000ºC in a jet-fuelled flame, boosted by liquid oxygen and colliding with a steel shaft at Mach 3 – welcome to the world of HVOF. The Australian Mining Review visited High Velocity Technologies (HVT) in Maddington, WA, for an insight into this high-tech, high-temp process. High Velocity Oxygen Fuel (HVOF) is a unique process that allows a metal substrate to be built up or coated with range of anti-corrosive or extremely wear resistant metal particles. These particles are heated to the point of plasticity as they are introduced into a flame path created by burning A1 jet fuel with liquid oxygen added as an oxidiser to create a 2000ºC super-sonic torch. As…

TAILINGS slurries can have a major impact on the community living in the vicinity of mining activity, and also carry significant environmental risk. Calls for greater transparency are mounting from all stakeholders including the mining industry, investors and governments in mining countries around the world. Small miners to large mining conglomerates are conducting trials to characterise their tailings and assess which dewatering technologies are the most effective and efficient. Alfa Laval offers a cost-effective solution to dewatering tailings using mechanical separation by solid bowl decanter centrifuges, which enable mines to dispose of tailings solids as a solid cake and remove the risk of storing slurries in a tailings dam. Conventional methods like pressure filtration have limitations, particularly when processing fines,…

WORLD leading welding manufacturer Lorch has developed new, all-in-one resonance technology that enables the next generation of portable machines to operate from mains supply, small generators and batteries – all delivering a perfect Stick and TIG welding performance. The MicorStick series The Lorch MicorStick series always offers you the right tool whether you need to weld with basic, rutile or even special electrodes. Better still, it provides long duty cycles, high power reserves and the possibility of TIG welding with ContacTIG ignition of even the most difficult electrodes. The MicorStick is a CEL-capable, fully resonant welding inverter with MicorBoost technology, electrode pre-selection and TIG function. It’s also suitable for connection to cables with a length of up to 200m and…

RAMMER’S new Excellence line of rockbreakers are smarter and easier to use than ever before. With integrated smart technology for easier fleet management and new customer-focused features for more efficient processes, the Excellence line lives up to its name. Idle Blow Protection One of the main issues that can cause rockbreakers to prematurely break down is blank firing. The piston strikes the tool and the tool strikes the rock, but if the piston doesn’t strike the tool, all the energy that’s normally transferred goes back inside the rockbreaker and causes internal components to fail over time. Rammer has developed anti-blank firing which stops the unit working unless the piston is striking the tool. The Idle Blow Protection (IBP) is easily…

Induction heating is a simple, cost-effective heating process that delivers fast and consistent heat in welding fabrication and construction, weld preheating and stress relieving, post-weld heat treatment (PWHT), coating removal and shrink fit applications. Compared to flame or resistance heating, induction heating can save hundreds or thousands of dollars per week because it can bring a part to temperature in a fraction of the time and hold that part at a specified temperature. How does induction heating work? Induction heating induces heat electromagnetically rather than by using conventional heating elements. It acts more like a microwave oven; the appliance remains cool while the food cooks from within. In an industrial part, heat is induced in the part by subjecting it…

WHY do so many new starters in mining fail? It’s not like this is a new problem, with three in five new starters failing in the first six months being a long-term industry average. It was going on when I first started underground in 1994 and continues today. Every time we hit an upswing and have to hire new starters, and there are always issues retaining them. To be fair to the employers, they have over the years (and continue to) spent large amounts of time and money to address this problem – but with limited success. Underground Training was founded by a group of Western Australian shift bosses in 2009 who were frustrated by the high turnover of the…

AS part of a major multinational mining company’s new project, bulk material handling specialist Bulknet was selected to design and manufacture a unique screw feeder. Positioned under a 150-tonne storage hopper, the screw feeder supplies nickel sulphate crystals to a bagging system below. The system needed to start under a full load from the hopper through a four-metre-long outlet. This would allow the client to fill and store material in the hopper for when planned maintenance was undertaken upstream. The hopper’s significant capacity and the weight of the material would place the screw feeder under extreme pressures. Special consideration was necessary in the design phase to ensure it was robust enough to handle the task. When the screw rotates, it…