Russian centrifugal concentrators: will their market share grow?
Who knows, maybe in a few years Russian industrialists will thank the West for the announced sanctions, because the situation in 2022, like in 2014, launched a wave of import substitution. And, since the nuts have been tightened this time, we can expect that the countermeasures will be more effective. For example, interesting processes are taking place in the centrifugal concentrator market today: until recently, Russian factories only knew Canadian equipment, and now Russian samples are about to appear on the scene.
Photo: Service Technoprom LLC
Let's clarify right away: Russian CC's have existed up to the present, but their share in the gold mining industry has been very modest. According to Anton Korolev, Technical Director of Effective Technologies LLC, foreign equipment occupied 99% of the ZIF market.
The remaining percentage is accounted for by Russian centrifugal concentrators: Itomak, Mezon, CVKP and the PROC built on its basis. The maximum productivity of Russian devices reached a maximum of 20-40 t/h, which does not meet the requirements of industrial applications in large factories.
Vladislav Pelikh, Director of Strategic Development at Service Technoprom LLC, assigns a slightly larger share to Russian concentrators — about 5%, but this is in the ore segment: domestic machines were used much more actively in placer deposits. But, as you know, in modern industry, the main role is played by ore gold: it accounts for more than 75% of the total Russian production. This means that the main demand and fixed assets are located right here.
By and large, there were only two foreign suppliers in the centrifugal concentrator market: Knelson and Falcon. Several countries had copies of this locally made equipment, but they were inferior in quality and performance. But if a large ZIF chose a supplier, then the competition was between two companies, and usually the one that could make the best financial offer won.
Experts generally associate the development of centrifugal concentration technology in recent decades with the name of Byron Nelson, the inventor and creator of Knelson concentrators. In fact, the principle of forced separation of raw materials into heavy and light fractions, which underlies the operation of the concentrator, has been known for several centuries, so this enrichment technology is generally called one of the oldest. Nevertheless, centrifugal concentrators, as an established class of gravity concentrating equipment suitable for real industrial use, do not have such a long history — 30-40 years.
«При этом ведь не секрет, что ни Байрон Нельсон (концентраторы Knelson), ни Стив МакАлистер (концентраторы Falcon) не были основателями идеи центробежной сепарации, а скопировали уже существовавшие «чашевые» сепараторы и усовершенствовали их благодаря своим конструкторским талантам и усердию», — настаивает Антон Королев.
In other words, the task of creating Russian centrifugal concentrators seems quite feasible.
By inheritance
Today, domestic manufacturers are not starting their work from scratch, to put it mildly. They inherited the experience of foreign manufacturers. This story is typical not only for centrifugal concentrators, but also for industrial equipment in general. When entering the Russian market, a foreign manufacturer necessarily acquired official representatives.
And Russian specialists have already selected the equipment, installed it at the facility, and serviced it. That is, whether the foreigners wanted it or not, they have formed competencies here, which the Russian experts intend to use.
«Более 10 лет назад я сам был в Knelson, потом поработал в FLSmidth, в Metso. И я видел все процессы изнутри: как строились поставки, инжиниринг, как мы получали первую информацию с месторождений, как проходили исследования, как всё это перерастало в рабочие проекты фабрик», — рассказывает Владислав Пелих, добавляя, что большая часть сотрудников бывшего иркутского офиса FLSmidth сейчас составила штат компании «Сервис ТехноПром».
Initially, STP did not plan to replace anyone. The company appeared long before modern events and saw its task as the selection of equipment, the development of integrated solutions and the supply of products from domestic and foreign manufacturers. But gradually reverse engineering technologies appeared in the work, the Russian company began to produce analogues of components and parts for imported hubs and, step by step, approached the development of design documentation for full-fledged own equipment.
«Деятельность компании с самого начала связана с производством и поставками комплектующих именно для центробежных концентраторов. В числе прочего с 2015 года мы являлись одним из локальных субпоставщиков FLSmidth в России, и некоторые части, которые поставлялись под брендом FLSmidth, реально были сделаны на нашей промплощадке», — рассказал Владислав Пелих.
And our other expert, Anton Korolev, worked for Falcon in the past, where he also acquired the necessary knowledge and experience.
Efftech also initially did not position itself as an import-substituting company. The company was created in the same logic — as a provider of integrated solutions. Efftech has its own production facility, employs more than 90 people, and the company sees its task as selecting the most effective solutions and providing it with related elements.
«Когда с поставками возникли сложности, к нам по старой памяти стали обращаться пользователи центробежных концентраторов с вопросами, реально ли привезти оборудование из-за границы. Мы навели справки и поняли, что Канада нам больше ничего не поставит. То есть отдельные единицы и элементы весной прошлого года ещё можно было купить, но большую партию — нереально.
Сначала мы занялись вопросами ремонта и восстановления имеющегося оборудования: провели 3D-сканирование, разработали конструкторскую документацию. А потом подумали: а почему бы не произвести собственное оборудование?» — рассказал Антон Королев.
Don't panic — everything will be fine
Or maybe the foreign suppliers will come back? In fact, this is a very real scenario. But by this time, competitors will definitely appear on the market.
Experts say that today the shock in the industry has already passed. In the first months, customers were increasingly waiting and hoping for parallel imports. But, says Anton Korolev, the use of bypass schemes led to a 3-4-fold increase in the cost of projects, so users had to postpone the task of purchasing new machines.
«В настоящий момент, год спустя после ухода западных компаний, есть три основных направления развития: это параллельный импорт, который идёт с переменным успехом; переориентация на производителей из азиатского и ближневосточного регионов, в первую очередь Китая и Турции, — этот процесс идёт довольно активно; и импортозамещение, развитие собственного производства.
Везде есть свои успехи и свои проблемы. Деятельность нашей компании связана с работой во всех трёх направлениях, но стратегическим является процесс выпуска собственных центробежных концентраторов», — говорит Владислав Пелих.
According to him, machines with a single capacity of 100-150 t/h and 200-400 t/h have become the most widespread in the domestic industry. Most often, we used hubs with periodic unloading, but models with continuous unloading, which are also present in the line of Canadian manufacturers, are almost not used in our country and are represented only by single models.
Relying on these data, STP has launched its own production, with the company planning to release the first units this year. These will be the analogues of the QS48 and QS30 — CC-STP120 and CC-STP75. All the necessary elements of the future CC-STP120 are already available in the company's workshop. In the spring, STP intends to complete the general assembly and launch factory tests. By December, the Russian manufacturer plans to prepare the concentrator for shipment to the factory for industrial testing. They will last approximately 6 months.
Vladislav Pelikh says that confidence in the success of the initiative is based on the experience of specialists gained while working with FLSmidth: the company is well acquainted with the practices of using centrifugal concentrators, knows the strengths and weaknesses of these machines, and even has access to some design documentation of Canadian solutions.
At the same time, Efftech is working on creating a prototype of its own centrifugal concentrator with a capacity of up to 150 t/h. According to the manufacturers' calculations, it will be ready in July 2023. And next up is a prototype of a central processing unit with a capacity of up to 400 t/h, which should appear by December of this year.
Photo: Efftech LLC
The company also acquired the necessary competencies in the production of wear parts for the Falcon i150/i350/SB1350/SB2500/SB5200 CC. Since Efftech was often contacted by users of such machines, prototypes were manufactured in the company's workshops, and a complete database of all wear parts was accumulated.
So domestic miners will not remain without centrifugal concentrators — competition may even form on the market. By the way, not only Russian, but also, most likely, Asian manufacturers will take part in the struggle for consumers. We have already said that in the current conditions, ties with suppliers from friendly countries are strengthening, which has not been observed before. According to Anton Korolev, until last year, only STL hubs were trying to enter the Russian market.
«Они кардинально отличались от канадских аналогов по качеству исполнения в худшую сторону, что, разумеется, отрицательно сказывалось как на эксплуатации (КИО), так и на показателях извлечения.
Сейчас появились неплохие китайские копии старых Knelson (серия CD) с полиуретановыми конусами, производительностью до 250 т/ч. Поэтому, учитывая их стоимость, я уверен, что они найдут своего покупателя, и их объём присутствия на рынке РФ будет только увеличиваться», — считает специалист.
Modern CC
Vladislav Pelikh emphasizes that centrifugal concentrators as an element of gravity enrichment technology are an important part of the precious metal ore processing chain.: This is one of the most demanded processes for the extraction of fine free and sulfide-associated gold and platinum. These machines are especially widespread in Russia and Kazakhstan, which is obviously due to the large reserves of gold, which is available in free form.
«И даже при работе с рудами, где гравитационно извлекаемое золото представлено в очень малых количествах, концентраторы всё чаще находят своё место и показывают хороший экономический эффект. Это связанно с тем, что ЦК легко выписываются даже в небольшие пространства и имеют высокую единичную производительность. Кроме того, в России развита теоретическая и практическая база их применения, а наши научно-исследовательские институты обладают моделями масштабирования», — рассуждает Владислав Пелих.
At the same time, the expert notes that in recent years, centrifugal concentrators have come a long way, and, for example, if we compare Knelson equipment from 30 years ago with modern ones, then they will have only the principle of operation in common. Among the significant innovations, Mr. Pelich notes the central unloading system, which has reduced the time for stopping and flushing.
Modern hubs are equipped with an automated control system, which makes it possible to reduce the influence of the human factor and, as a result, increase the efficiency of the equipment.
The materials used to create the elements of centrifugal concentrators have also changed.
So, if previously stainless steel was used mainly for the production of the concentration cone, which Vladislav Pelikh called the "heart" of the machine, today polyurethane is used.
Anton Korolev says that the last significant changes to the hub design were made in 2011-2013: the solutions were aimed at improving mechanical reliability and facilitating hub maintenance. The drive system was replaced from the bearing type bearings to the cartridge, which significantly increased their service life.
The V-belt drive has been replaced with a high-efficiency gear-type chevron belt, and lining materials have been added to areas of increased wear to increase service life. A zonal approach was applied (or borrowed) for the Knelson work cones, after which they were divided into two parts: the lower and upper modules.
Since 2019, some imported manufacturers have begun work on optimizing the cone profile. The classical purpose of these works is to increase extraction rates.
«Вектор эволюции применения центробежных концентраторов в последние годы смещается в сторону снижения крупности извлекаемого золота, что отражается как на конструктивных особенностях, так и на месторасположении ЦК в схеме обогатительных фабрик и ужесточении требований к подготовке исходного питания», — отмечает г-н Королев.
Young manufacturers who are entering the market today intend to take into account all these achievements of their predecessors.
Photo: Service Technoprom LLC
Beyond the Golden Circle
And one more point: we said above that centrifugal concentrators are used in ore and placer gold mining enterprises, but this is far from a complete list. Anton Korolev drew attention to the fact that in Russia, centrifugal concentrators, in addition to gold, are used to extract tin at the enterprises of PJSC Rusolovo and LLC Resources of Maly Khingan. In Norilsk, concentrators efficiently extract MPG. In Kazakhstan, there is a working example of their use for chromium extraction at the Kazchrome enterprise.
But that's not all. A promising area of application of CC is the processing of coal, mining, and metallurgical industry dumps. In this case, the concentrator can become an element of the technological complex.
«Концентраторы можно использовать везде, где есть разница в удельном весе минералов полезного компонента и породы. В свете актуальности экологической составляющей (рециклинга), стоящей на повестке дня, перспективным вариантом использования является применение ЦК для извлечения металлов из золы мусоросжигательных заводов.
Так же проводились исследовательские работы по возможности применения центробежных концентраторов для очистки «лёгких» полезных ископаемых (угля, каолина) от примесей тяжёлых минералов и кварца, но из-за высокого соотношения капитальных затрат и сроков окупаемости (Capex VS PayBack) эти технологии пока не нашли промышленного применения», — говорит Антон Королев.
In such an image, on the center of the concentration in Russia and neighboring countries, according to all faith, remain high.
Text By Kira Istratova