IMPROVING THE EFFICIENCY OF THE CLASSIFICATION PROCESS OF IRON-CONTAINING QUARTZITE USING CAVEX-TYPE HYDROCYCLONES AT THE KMA IRON-ORE ENTERPRISES

Belt conveyors are a critical element of production capacity in mining and The article presents the results of industrial tests of an automated system for separating ore suspensions – CAVEX 500CVX10 hydrocyclones with Warman 14/12 F-AH slurry pumps manufactured by Weir minerals, which served as their mass application in various modifications at the processing plants of KMA mining enterprises. It was noted that an increase in the capacity of mining and processing plants and an increase in product quality requirements presuppose the improvement and complication of enrichment technology using new and more efficient equipment. According to the existing technology at Lebedinsky GOK, the classification efficiency did not exceed 65.0% for different operating schemes of technological sections and different diameters of sand nozzles of GC-500 hydrocyclones. During the testing period of the process section on different circuits, the CAVEX 500CVX10 hydrocyclones operated with different numbers of cyclones in the battery and different diameters of the sand nozzles. The hydrocyclone installations were powered by Warman 14/12 F-AH slurry pumps. Each stage of the tests was accompanied by monitoring of technological and qualitative indicators. Tests have shown an increase in classification efficiency in hydrocyclones by 4.7%. compared with traditional HZ-500, with an increase of up to 59% in the particle size of 0.045mm in the initial feed of hydrocyclones and the use of sand nozzles with a diameter of 80 mm. The use of the new CAVEX 500CVX10 hydrocyclones makes it possible to increase classification efficiency, reduce current costs for electricity, water, repairs and maintenance by increasing the durability of the nozzles and reducing the number of cyclones in one battery compared to the typical HZ-500.