Western US Mine Tailings Dewatering Case Study
Two large HAUS 5342 decanter centrifuges dewater mine tailings at a mine in the western United States.
2 × 5342HAUS decanter centrifuges
76 m³/hdesign feed per machine
28.5 t/hdry solids per machine
31 %solids in the feed slurry
The application
The project reprocesses mined stockpile material. After grinding and flotation, the tailings leave the process as a dense slurry that has to be dewatered so the water can be reused and the solids stacked.
Decanter centrifuges suit this duty: they take a heavy, abrasive feed continuously, produce a stackable solids cake and return clear water to the process, all in a small footprint at an outdoor site.
Archer supplied two large HAUS decanters for the duty, with heavy wear protection and their own control panels, and supported the site through commissioning and operation.
What Archer supplied
- Two HAUS 5342 dual-drive decanter centrifuges, 536 mm bowl, L/D 4.3, 75 kW (100 HP) main drive and 22 kW (30 HP) back-drive
- Wear protection for abrasive solids: sintered tungsten carbide on the scroll flights and solids bushings, tungsten carbide and polyurethane in the feed zone
- Duplex stainless steel bowl, 304 stainless wetted parts and cover
- Two NEMA 12 local control panels with PLC and touch screen, VFDs for both drives and a common DC bus that feeds the back-drive’s regenerated energy to the main drive
- Bearing RTDs, vibration transmitters, special tools, documentation, shop test, start-up and commissioning
Design basis
| Feed | Mine tailings slurry, relative density 1.22 |
|---|---|
| Feed flow | 152.8 m³/h total (76.4 m³/h per machine) |
| Solids in feed | 31 % w/w |
| Dry solids | 63.3 t/h total (28,500 kg/h per machine) |
| Solids SG | 2.43 (estimated) |
| Bowl | 536 mm, 1,900 rpm operating (1,075 G), 3,000 rpm maximum |
| Gearbox | 12.65 kN·m |
Design figures from Archer proposal 9080201 (September 2019).
Related
- Decanter Centrifuges: hAUS decanters for sludge dewatering and process separation.
- HAUS Centrifuge Technologies: archer is the HAUS partner in Canada.
- Control Panels: pLC control panels designed and built in BC.
- Remote Monitoring: iIoT monitoring and remote support.
- All case studies: more Archer projects in the field.