Fraser Valley (Catherine Hercus) – Water is on all our minds lately with the catastrophic damage done by flooding in BC, especially in Sumas Prairie.
Did you know that 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered by water? Unfortunately, only about 1% is freshwater which can be used for consumption. The average Canadian uses 335 liters of water per person per day! That is the equivalent of 670 500 ml water bottles!
With such a small amount of usable water available for our use, it is important to not waste it.
One of the mining machines produced by Fraser Valley company Sepro Mineral Systems Corp. uses the force of gravity to capture fine gold and mineral particles. This technology not only recovers tiny particles smaller than 10 microns, it is also ecofriendly, using much less water and chemicals than similar machines.
One main difference between Sepro’s and their competitors’ machines is they use far less water. Rather than injecting water into the entire bowl, it is added to just one third of the bowl. This reduces the amount of water used by half! Customers appreciate this ecofriendly feature as they need to supply less water to run the machine.
Gravity concentration not only reduces overall water usage, it also reduces chemical usage in mining plants.
So what do Semi Batch gravity concentrators do? These machines are mostly used for fine gold, silver and platinum recovery. The gravity process makes it possible to recover ultra-fine particles and produce high grade concentrates. The goal is to recover as many minerals as possible before the ore goes on to be further treated.
How do they work? The Semi Batch gravity concentrators have bowls which rotate at a high rpm (revolutions per minute) at 200 Gs which is 200 times the force of a still object. One g of force is equivalent to 22 miles an hour, so that is fast!
Water is injected through small holes in the bowl. Materials flow into the centre of the bowl through a pipe. The water injected into the bowls flushes out captured mineral particles through holes in the base of the bowl as well as waste material.
These concentrators are the only devices on the market which retain particles both in an unfluidized zone or layer in the bowl, and a “bed” underneath it which has water injected into it. Fine particles build up in the unfluidized layer, and coarser particles sink and are caught in the fluidized bed. Extremely fine gold accumulates which would otherwise be flushed out.
Sepro’s machines also require less servicing than other machines, and less operator intervention.
For more information, contact Sepro at 1-800-990-5568 or https://bit.ly/3Ii9bpV.
