Key Benefits
- Enhanced product grade
- Higher recovery of low-grade ores and tailings
- Occupies less space than traditional equipment
- More cost-effective than other separation options
- Simple to set up and operate
Enhanced minerals recovery from low-grade ores and tailings
Today's mining landscape of declining average ore grades requires innovation. To address the challenges of inefficient recovery and increased processing costs, we designed the REFLUX™ Concentrating Classifier – a modified version of our REFLUX Classifier technology – to achieve optimal recovery when treating low-grade ores.
What we offer
Improve your minerals recovery from low-grade ores
The REFLUX Concentrating Classifier (RCC™) builds upon the success of our original patented REFLUX Classifier (RC™), utilising gravity-based separation techniques to tackle the recovery challenges associated with low-grade minerals. Modifications to the proven, successful REFLUX design, and additional control parameters, result in vast recovery improvements for low-grade mineral ores and tailings.
The RCC is highly effective in upgrading the concentration of valuable minerals in low-grade feed samples, modifications allow heavy minerals to settle in a lower gangue ratio region induced by split fluidisation flow.
Compared to traditional minerals recovery methods such as spirals and shaking tables, the REFLUX Concentrating Classifier offers a smaller footprint and does not require expensive foundations or tall structures to accommodate multiple stages – making it a more efficient and cost-effective solution. With the RCC, improved recovery of valuable minerals in feeds of 3% or less make it a crucial tool for the long-term sustainability of the mining industry.
Lab-scale trials: promising results
The RCC has been proven to produce purer products from low-grade ores when compared to our traditional REFLUX Classifier. For example, in one laboratory run, the RCC was tested using a tin producer’s tailings sample, which had a low-grade composition of tin and tantalum. With feed containing small quantities of tantalum and tin, the RCC rejected 99.9% of the gangue.
During the testing phase, after determining the optimal set of operating parameters, our team tested* the RCC100-40 and the RC100 under identical operating and feed conditions. Each test utilised approximately 500 kg of the sample, and the tests were continuously carried out.
The RC and RCC proved to be highly effective in upgrading the concentration of valuable minerals in low-grade feed samples. The RCC100-40, however, achieved significantly better results than the RC100 – nearly doubling the upgrade ratios, while maintaining high recovery rates. The high upgrade ratios for tantalum and tin indicate that the RCC has promising applications in the processing of other low-grade ores and tailings containing these minerals.
Key benefits
Increased product grade
The RCC significantly improves the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of mineral processing for low-grade ores and tailings. The technology offers a superior alternative to traditional methods, such as spirals and shaking tables, and has promising applications in the processing of other low-grade ores and tailings containing valuable minerals.
- Enhanced product grade
- The RCC has been proven to produce purer products from low-grade ores when compared to the traditional RC. In one laboratory run with feed containing small quantities of tantalum and tin, 99.9% of the gangue was rejected.
- Higher recovery of low-grade ores and tailings
- The RCC proved to be highly effective in improving concentration of valuable minerals in the feed. In tests involving the recovery of tantalum and tin, the RCC increased concentration of tantalum and tin to almost twice the RC result. The RCC achieved these upgrades while removing 98.9% of the silica gangue in the feed. Ultimately, the RCC test also resulted in higher recovery rates of mineral (79.3% for tantalum and 90.4% for tin) compared to the RC.
- Occupies less space than traditional equipment
- Compared to traditional methods such as spirals and shaking tables, the RCC is efficient and compact, with a small footprint for tight spaces in existing plants.
- More cost-effective than other separation options
- With a smaller footprint that does not require expensive foundations or tall structures to accommodate multiple stages, the RCC is a more efficient and cost-effective solution.
- Simple to set up and operate
- The RCC requires only minimal operator input, with just simple control room operation required.
Product features
Enhanced separation for low-grade feed
When it comes to recovery of valuable minerals from low-grade ores and tailings, the RCC features several design improvements over our original RC that increase both efficiency and effectiveness.
In designing the RCC, two key modifications to our original RC design include a reduced mixing chamber area and the introduction of secondary fluidisation water. By reducing the mixing chamber area, the bed can concentrate with valuable dense particles more quickly. The secondary fluidisation water continues with the same upward flux used for the primary fluidisation water, allowing for the removal of light gangue particles before they ever enter the bed.
Reduced mixing chamber
The mixing chamber in the original RC is designed to create a fluidised bed of particles, which then settles into different layers based on the density of the particles. The size of the mixing chamber, however, can have an impact on the stratification of the bed, therefore it is particularly relevant when dealing with low-grade feed materials.
In the RCC, reducing the mixing chamber area shortens the residence time of the particles in the chamber, which allows for better stratification of the particles by density. This results in a higher concentration of heavy minerals in the bed, with fewer gangue minerals present. The result of this design modification is an improved concentration of the valuable minerals in the concentrate, which provides significant economic benefits.
Split fluidisation system
The RCC design also includes a split fluidisation water system that introduces water above and below the bed. The reduced area mixing chamber continues as a short inner insert into the upper mixing chamber. Secondary fluidisation water is introduced through multiple points on the outside of the insert to continue with the same upward flux used for the primary fluidisation water. This combined flow is referred to as a hydraulic floor in the mixing section of the classifier.
Heavy or large particles can gravitate to the lower mixing chamber through the slots in the insert or directly through the insert opening. The flow is based on the heavy mineral requirement for fluidisation, so it allows for the removal of light gangue particles to overflow before they even enter the bed.
Primary fluidisation is for the reduced area bed section, and it lifts the light gangue particles to the surface of the bed where they can easily be removed at the insert exit. This design modification allows for the bed to concentrate with dense valuable particles more quickly, improving the efficiency of the separation process.
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