McLanahan Portable UFRs developed as quick-to-install solution for fines recovery

The plants consist of a partitioned sump, McLanahan Slurry Pump, bank of McLanahan Hydrocyclones specifically engineered to recover ultra-fine particles and a McLanahan Dewatering Screen for reducing the moisture content of the final product for stockpiling. These components, along with the electrical control panel, are neatly and conveniently housed on a wheeled chassis for the ultimate in portability.

McLanahan Portable UFR plants features

Cost savings with McLanahan Portable UFRs

Designed to move easily from site to site, McLanahan Portable UFRs reduce the amount of material reporting to settling ponds or tailings storage facilities by recapturing ultra-fine particles that can quickly fill settling ponds or overload downstream processing equipment. The recaptured material discharges from the Portable UFR as a drip-free product that is easy to manage on site and potentially salable.

“Some customers muck their ponds out multiple times per year, which means they’re basically getting a long stick excavator, pulling material out of the pond and dumping it on the ground to keep their water reserve clean and fresh” said Matthew Lear, McLanahan Regional Sales Manager. “If they’re doing that three or four times a year, that’s very expensive, and it can also be dangerous.

“If they install a McLanahan Portable UFR, they may only have to muck their ponds out once a year or once every other year depending on the particle sized distribution and amount of material reporting to the settling pond. If you add up how much cost it is to muck your ponds out several times a year, the Portable UFR pays for itself very quickly.”

Applications for Portable UFR plants

Portable UFRs are ideal for lower tonnage applications that have an excess of 200 mesh by 400 mesh material reporting to their settling ponds. This UFR would be a quick-to-install fines recovery option for existing screen and screw plants, producers with multiple sites, or producers with large reserves.

“For a producer who’s processing different deposits all the time, say they move around two or three times a year, the McLanahan Portable UFR would be a huge benefit versus a skid-mounted plant they’d have to take apart and put on a flat-bed trailer for transport,” Lear said. “With the Portable UFR, they just have to unplug everything, fold the hydrocyclone tower down via the hydraulic cylinder, hitch it up and pull it to the next site.”

How Portable UFR plants work

McLanahan’s standard Portable UFRs process up to approximately 2000 gal./min. Slurry waste from the wet plant containing process water, fine particles and liberated deleterious materials such as clay enter the Portable UFR via an inlet in the front half of the partitioned sump.

The slurry is pumped to the bank of hydrocyclones, which separate most of the 400 mesh particles from the slurry and discharge them onto the dewatering screen. The dewatering screen reduces the moisture content in the material to produce a drip-free, conveyable and stackable product. The overflow from the hydrocyclone containing the liquid and some particles enters the back portion of the sump, where it gravity flows to the settling pond or tailings storage facility.

Read the article online at: https://www.globalminingreview.com/product-news/07052020/mclanahan-portable-ufrs-developed-as-quick-to-install-solution-for-fines-recovery/