CLIENT: Stornoway Diamonds
PROJECT: Renard Mine Recovery Plant Upgrade

PROJECT TYPE: Brownfield
LOCATION: Quebec, Canada
COMMODITY: Diamonds
SERVICE SCOPE: Design Engineering

THE CHALLENGE

It was apparent to Renard’s operations that there were Type II diamonds not being detected and captured by the electronic x-ray sorters in their recovery circuit due to the diamond’s relatively low florescence.

It was critical for a physical separation process to be added to the circuit and for the design of the addition to fit within the limited space available in the recovery (secure) area.

THE SOLUTION

The solution to this challenge was to utilize a grease table on the tailings stream after the recovery circuit.  Although Type II diamonds are sometimes missed by the XRT machines due to their low florescence, grease works well to capture these diamonds as they are hydrophobic in nature and become trapped in the grease.

Halyard, in collaboration with screen manufacturer, Vibramech, developed a compact grease table which incorporated an integrated feed mechanism. Traditionally, grease tables are fed by a separate vibrating feeder and hopper, however, in this case, a compact hybrid feeder was used.

The hybrid feeder and grease table arrangement was designed to be compact and fit within the tight space available in the recovery area.

In addition to designing the hybrid feeder and grease table, Halyard designed a method for the wash water used in the circuit to be temperature regulated, which is critical to the consistent operation of grease tables.

ACHIEVEMENTS/HIGHLIGHTS

The development of the hybrid feeder and grease table is another example of innovation driven by Halyard.