«Mekhanobr Engineering» JSC (Saint-Petersburg, Russia):

Baranov V. F., Head of Department, Doctor of Engineering Sciences, viktorbaranov@list.ru

The relevance of re-equipment of Zhezkazgan concentration plants No. 1 and No. 2 of Kazakhmys Corporation LLP, operated since the middle of the last century, is obvious. An opinion is expressed on the technological and economic inexpediency of their reconstruction in the existing buildings. An option for their phased decommissioning is considered, which provides for the construction of a compact new crushing, grinding, and flotation facility at the site of Zhezkazgan concentration plant No. 2 with the use of high-pressure rolls for crushing. With this aim, visits to the most advanced plants in the USA, Chile, and China were organized. The paper provides a general description of the expansion of the Metcalf copper factory at the Morenci deposit in Arizona (USA) with the use of high- pressure crushing rolls and of the Robinson plant in Nevada (USA) using the semi-autogenous grinding technology. Information is presented on the specific features of the technical solutions adopted at the Metcalf plant with the use of Metso HRC3000 high-pressure grinding rolls, screens with the screening surface of 40 m², vertical mills, 257 m³ pneumatic-mechanical flotation machines, column flotation cells, etc. The Metcalf ore preparation device circuit diagram, the characteristics of the main process equipment, and respective design and layout solutions are considered. A description is provided of the operation of the HRC3000 industrial high-pressure roll and the Metso pilot ore preparation plant at the Metcalf facility. Information is also provided on the Robinson plant’s largest flotation cell by FL Smidth Supercell 600 with the effective volume of 660 m³.

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