An analog of the Canadian Knelson concentrator, manufactured by the Irkutsk company Service Technoprom, has been put into pilot operation at the Polyus Verninskoye Research and Development Facility
Technoprom Service (STP), Irkutsk, has been developing an import substitution strategy for components and equipment for the mining and processing industry since 2015. Over the past few years, our company has become one of the local suppliers of the Danish FLSMIDTH concern in Russia, manufacturing analogues of various components for hubs and related equipment according to its orders.
A year and a half after the introduction of large-scale anti-Russian sanctions in 2022, the Technoprom Service was able to present its first device (Fig. 1).
Fig. 1. The Technoprom Service team presents its first centrifugal concentrator CC120
In August of this year, industrial tests of the CC120 centrifugal concentrator manufactured by STP at the Polyus Verninskoye Research Institute began (Fig. 2). This is the first domestic analogue of the Knelson concentrator, known in Russia, which is widely used in the gold mining industry.
Fig. 2. OPI CC120 on Verninskaya ZIF
Main characteristics of the CC 120 concentrator:
- solid power supply: up to 300 t/h plus an additional 15% productivity factor, peak short—term - 400 t/h;
- % solid in food: 40-70%;
- nominal flow rate of fluidization water: 60 m3/h.
There were many challenges on the way to producing the first industrial hub model. So, during 2022, when Western companies began to leave the Russian market en masse, Technoprom Service actively searched for new suppliers of high-quality components, carried out additional engineering, developed a complete set of design and working documentation for the start of production of the most common hub sizes in Russia, and established mass production of wear parts and critical hub assemblies.
It should be mentioned that one of the key advantages of import substitution has become the inevitable development of cooperation with local factories, manufacturers of various equipment and components for mining and processing enterprises. Previously, we relied more on imported components and, unfortunately, did not have adequate information about the capabilities of enterprises in the local market, even in our Siberian region.
Now, in the process of establishing our own production and searching for new partners, regional cooperation is rapidly increasing, requiring an individual approach and non-standard solutions. Technoprom Service has established a promising partnership with local reliable companies that supply high-quality and reliable components, parts, and spare parts. The equipment is assembled and monitored in the workshops of the STP (Fig. 3).
In cooperation with IRNTU specialists, design work was carried out, and a quality control process was organized for the components used in the production of the concentrator, which is a good example of the practical application of academic knowledge and the further development of technology.
Fig. 3. Assembly of CC 120 in the workshop of the Technoprom Service
Centrifugal separation technology continues to be in demand in the mining and processing industry, and we estimate that the demand for the coming years will be at least 15-20 machines per year. It is also important that at the beginning of 2022, Knelson occupied about 85-90% of the Russian market. The most widely used standard size is machines with a capacity of 100-150 tons per hour and 200-400 tons per hour.
The Technoprom Service has ambitious plans. Thus, the company has carried out active work to improve the characteristics of the concentrator — operational, mechanical, as well as to improve its abrasion resistance and the interface of the control system, currently theoretical models are being built to improve the technological characteristics of the concentrator.
During the pilot industrial tests of the STP concentrator at Verninskaya ZIF, designed for 6 months, an objective assessment of the quality, reliability and service life of its main components, and the efficiency of work in the technological process of gravity enrichment is carried out in accordance with the accepted test program.
This allows the company to implement its design and technology optimization plans more efficiently and quickly. Having started mass production, our company fulfills its current task of scaling production in the implementation of current major projects.
Service Technoprom — efficient technologies for the mining industry. Delivery of equipment and spare parts from the warehouse and on order. Supervision, after-sales service, consultations.
STP successfully supplies high-quality analogues of spare and wear parts to enterprises with an existing fleet of Knelson centrifugal concentrators, Acacia intensive cyanidation units and other FLSmidth processing equipment, providing its customers with high-quality warranty and post-warranty service. The company has its own warehouses and an assembly plant in the cities of Shelekhov and Irkutsk.