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A thirty-year partnership between Terex Washing Systems and multi-franchise distributor, ELB Equipment, has led to customers in southern Africa delivering some of the highest quality washed sand and aggregates for use of many of the country’s flagship infrastructure projects wherever speciality and higher strength concretes were preferred.
The advanced nature of Terex washing systems provides quarry and mine operators with the ability to efficiently separate waste products from saleable products and offer their customers a range of options to suit their construction requirements in all conditions and considering the regions’ varying geologies.
This has made Terex solutions the first choice for sand and aggregate providers seeking to maximise quality without sacrificing quality. ELB Equipment’s extensive branch and dealer network through the southern African sub-region has also led to the proliferation of plants across all corners wherever quality construction is a prerequisite.
Minerals processing specialist and product manager for Terex Washing Systems at ELB Equipment, Heath Dickson, says centuries of mining South Africa’s rich resources has led to the depletion of many of the reserves especially those that are close to the surface and easy to obtain.
For those in the sand and aggregates quarrying business this is especially true and experienced miners are quick to point out that there are few free dig areas left in the-region. Aggregates and sands are mostly contaminated with fines, clay and or organic matter that require further processing before they can be brought to market.
“For concrete construction purposes sand should have minimal fines smaller than 75 microns as these require more cement to bind. Above this threshold sand mixes can be optimised to customers’ requirements depending on the application. Most other wash plants battle to recover fines smaller than 500 microns which means aggregate suppliers can lose up to 30% of their saleable sand extracted. It also burdens water treatment plants that need to carry 30% more silt.”
Heath says Terex Washing Systems has a large range of products which are suitable for South African and African conditions. These are available in a wide range that can fulfil the requirements of all types of sands while producing two different grades of sand from 0-2mm and 0-8mm simultaneously. This enables the supplier to process two streams simultaneously on the same machine.
Different systems are available for each application including washing, aggregate rinsing, scrubbing and wastewater management systems from 20 to 200 tons per hour. These can produce high-grade sand for large-scale construction projects such as plaster sand, manufactured sand, concrete sand, paving sand, glass manufacturing sand and even sand used in tile adhesives. Many golf courses also benefit from our machine’s ability to produce some of the best bunkers and drainage sand available. Specialised fracking sands can also be produced.
ELB Equipment’s Terex machines have found favour locally due to their small footprints and high technology manufacture that enables higher efficiency and recovery of more useable sand. Highly specialised processes that require technical skills and that is where the ELB team of specialists work to find the right solution for every site is different as substrates differ from region to region and mine to mine. In certain instances, existing plants can be optimised utilising Terex washing equipment.
“Even the best equipment needs to be properly specified and set up correctly with current and future plans and substrates considered. This is where ELB Equipment’s expert staff play a critical role in working with, understanding and meeting the requirements for each of our customers’ plants. There are simply too many variables to provide a single solution that fits all.
“Issues like substrates, geology, water availability, location and most importantly the final product and tonnages required will determine the types of equipment needed. Beyond that, it is a matter of securing the required finance and planning for the transport, delivery and commissioning of the equipment onsite.
“That’s why it pays to partner with ELB Equipment that has the required resources, including the largest branch network countrywide, as well as a substantial dealer network across the borders.”
Terex Washing Systems’ ever-popular bucket wheel range, including the FM 120 BW is a popular choice on quarries in the region.
Due to water scarcity throughout much of the region and due to the overall efficiency of the plant, the Terex FM Bucket Wheel range of sand classification systems are highly efficient dewatering units that remove silts, slimes and clays from sand to produce up to 2 saleable products in applications including concrete, mortar and asphalt sands, quarry dust/crushed fines, lake and beach sands, silica sand, golf course sands, filter bed sands, recycled materials and iron ore.
The range combines a dewatering bucket wheel(s), a centrifugal slurry pump, hydrocyclone(s), a collection tank and a dewatering screen on a single chassis.
Some features and benefits
- Underflow rubber-lined slurry pump
- Bucket wheel(s) with variable speed control
- Rubber-lineded hydrocyclone(s)
- Self-regulating cyclone tank
- High-frequency dewatering screen fitted with polyurethane modular mats
- Two grades of sand
- Weir discharge system which reduces the volume of fines entering the cyclone collection tank
- Collapsible bucket wheel tank for easy transport (mobile only)
- Bucket wheel performs 80-90% of the work. This helps reduce the pump and cyclone size and wear
- Reduced pump and cyclone wear
- Reduced overall power requirements
- Reduced running costs
- Maximum recovery of material above 75μm (200 mesh)
- Removes silt, slimes and clays below 75μm (200 mesh)
- Removes water following dewatering operation to 10–15% of residual water content
- Major reduction in saleable material discharging to the pond, thus reducing pond maintenance and saving money
FM120 C Specifications
- Length 6.5m
- Width (Inc Walkway) 3.5m
- Height 6.2m
- Feed height 1.90m
- Product discharge height 1.7m
- Waste water discharge height 971mm
- Total weight (Empty) 8000kg
- Total weight (Working) 14800kg
