Low impact hard rock lithium processing

VRMs have proven to be more energy-efficient than traditional ball milling circuits, making them an attractive alternative for lower-energy, dry-grinding processes. Typical savings include more than 20% lower energy consumption. Meanwhile, eliminating grinding media can cut operating costs by ~50% while reducing downstream metal contamination. Additionally, high-efficiency air separators can be configured to deliver a steeper product curve with reduced ultrafine particles, thereby enhancing downstream flotation performance.

The nextSTEP Flotation Cell offers significant improvements in recovery and grade, while reducing power consumption by 15% to 40% compared to alternative forced-air flotation cell designs. It also helps increase pumping efficiency and improves wear distribution, extending rotor/stator life. Retrofittable to all forced-air cell designs, the nextSTEP mechanism has a substantial positive impact on the total cost of ownership while offering key sustainability benefits.

The RFC is designed to accelerate flotation kinetics, reducing energy consumption. Trials have demonstrated required residency times of just three to four minutes, compared to 31 minutes in conventional flotation plants, with a 1% to 3% increase in recovery possible at equal or slightly improved grade. This substantially lowers the required number of cells compared to conventional flotation to achieve similar performance. Through extensive on-site testing, the RFC has proven to reduce circuit flotation energy consumption by 27%.

With its rakeless design, the E-Cat uses novel technology to accomplish both clarification and thickening in a single unit that takes up minimal area. The design advantages include lower capital, operating, and maintenance costs, significantly lower footprint, and lower flocculant consumption than conventional thickeners.

Offering the most efficient use of filtration area, the Pneumapress vertical filter provides up to 95% water recovery with low energy consumption (kWh per ton) while delivering production rates that can exceed those of competitor technologies by more than 1000%. Combined with the shortest mechanical times in the industry, it spends more time dewatering cakes, coming closer to continuous production than any other available batch pressure filter. With low space and maintenance requirements, it is an industry-proven solution with a 33% lower average total cost of ownership than other tower filter presses.

The RFC is designed to accelerate flotation kinetics, reducing energy consumption. Trials have demonstrated required residency times of just three to four minutes, compared to 31 minutes in conventional flotation plants, with a 1% to 3% increase in recovery possible at equal or slightly improved grade. This substantially lowers the required number of cells compared to conventional flotation to achieve similar performance. Through extensive on-site testing, RFC have proven to reduce copper circuit flotation energy consumption by 27%.

Traditional wet tailings storage facilities consume considerable quantities of water. New tailings management practices, such as thickening, high-pressure filtration, EcoTails® co-mingled tailings, and paste tailings, aim to recover much of this water for reuse in the mineral processing plant, reducing raw water draw and the regional water impact of mining operations, while enhancing the stability – and thus the safety – of tailings storage facilities.