Weir and STM Minerals to Promote Sustainable Mining
By adding vertical stirred grinding mills to Weir's flow sheet for processing minerals, customers will see huge improvements in throughput and energy efficiency, which will help them meet their productivity and environmental goals.
The energy efficiency of STM's vertical stirred grinding technology has been proven in the mining market, where more than 80 units are currently operating in the hard rock mineral processing industry.
It is used in the comminution part of the minerals processing circuit as part of a series of crushing and grinding steps that make fine particles from which minerals can be extracted by floatation.
Comminution is one of the most energy-intensive parts of the mine, accounting for 25% of an average mine site's total energy usage. Weir is already a market leader in comminution technologies, such as Enduron® HPGRs, which reduce customers' energy usage by up to 40%.
This new partnership with STM takes things to the next level, providing the mining and minerals industry with a proven low-energy alternative to classic high-energy-consumption tumbling mills. Combining and integrating these energy-efficient technologies into a single, optimised flow sheet will result in significant energy-use reductions, lowering costs and carbon emissions.
Ricardo Garib, Weir Minerals Divisional President, said:
“Weir and STM share the same vision of enabling primary resource providers to produce resources most sustainably. This is a perfect match for best-in-class technology providers. Integrating STM mills with Weir’s comminution products, which includes Enduron® high pressure grinding rolls (HPGRs) and Enduron® screens, will improve throughput and help bring substantial reductions in carbon emissions. This is a real win-win.”
Fritz Moser, STM Chairman, said:
“Both the HPGR and the STM vertical stirred mills provide significant energy savings compared to conventional grinding technologies. Our new supply agreement with Weir will enable us to fast track the rollout of an innovative flow sheet using STM mills in conjunction with Weir’s Enduron® HPGR.”
To prove the most beneficial flow sheet for specific projects, STM has already supplied two vertical test mills to the Weir Minerals HPGR test facility in Venlo (Netherlands). Weir and STM will be in the unique position to provide clients with combined energy-efficient grinding test work of HPGR followed by STM’s vertical stirred mill.
Source: Weir Minerals
