The Future in Classification

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Weir Minerals products have a deserved reputationfor extended wear life and reliability, bringing thecustomer the lowest cost of ownership.

Weir Minerals is the world leader in the fieldof premium quality slurry pumps, slurryvalves, hydrocyclones and mill liners whereapplications typically involve heavy abrasiveand/or corrosive slurries that make severedemands on the equipment used.

The strength of Weir Minerals products lies in thesuperiority of our hydraulic designs and wear andcorrosion resistant materials.

For many years we have applied our experience ofslurry handling technology in the design and manu-facture of hydrocyclones.

CAVEX® Hydrocyclones feature a unique laminar spi-ral inlet geometry designed to deliver maximum effi-ciency, maximum capacity and longer wear life thanconventional involute or tangential feed hydrocy-clone designs.

Not just a cone modification, the CAVEX® hydrocy-clone has an entirely new feed geometry that sub-stantially increases hydraulic capacity while minimis-ing localised wear on the feed chamber and vortexfinder. These design improvements result in loweroperating costs and fewer hydrocyclones required fora given duty.

For grinding circuit applications, CAVEX® hydrocy-clones increase circuit capacity by minimising thequantity of fines bypassing to the underflow stream.CAVEX® hydrocyclones achieve these results by max-imising the air core diameter created within therotating mass of fluid in the hydrocyclone. Theseeffects are proven in both laboratory testing and fullscale plant operation.

Each cluster of CAVEX® hydro-cyclones is modelled using thelatest 3D CAD technology.

• Around 300% increase in feedchamber wear life.

• Superlative hydrocyclone processefficiency, with reduced grits inoverflow.

• Greater capacity for equivalentproduct sizing.

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Our customers range from the world’s largest mining and minerals multi-nationals to single site operators.

We don’t just claim that a CAVEX® hydrocy-clone will lower your ownership costs. Wehave field tests to prove it.

Look how the CAVEX® hydrocyclones can lower yourownership costs, just as it did in the following casestudies.

Get the same grind at higher tonnage - Osborne Mine, Australia

The efficient classification of CAVEX® hydrocyclonesproduced a lower P80 and a lower circulating load.This allowed Osborne to increase tonnage at theoriginal P80.

Increase metal recovery -Zinkgruven Mine, Sweden

At the Zinkgruven Mine in Sweden, eight CAVEX®

hydrocyclones replaced eight conventional stylehydrocyclones. Less coarse particles in the flotationfeed gave an additional increase of 0.5% metalrecovery. Payback on the CAVEX® installation wasachieved within 28 days.

Increase wear life by 300% -Bronzewing Gold Mine, Western Australia

A CAVEX® hydrocyclone was placed in a cluster of14 conventional style hydrocyclones at theBronzewing Gold Mine in Western Australia.Conventional style feed chamber liners, 25mm thick,averaged 1200 hours when worn through. TheCAVEX® hydrocyclone rubber feed chamber liners,25mm thick, averaged 3750 hours - a 300%increase in wear life. All hydrocyclones are nowCAVEX® hydrocyclones.

Improve leach kinetics

The graph above shows the hydrocyclone efficiencycurves prepared by operations staff. The inclusion ofthe CAVEX® hydrocyclones, along with other plantmodifications, increased gold recovery atBronzewing.

Results of head-to-head trials in a gold mining oper-ation closed circuit grinding with a feed slurry of65% w/w. Major reduction of the >300 micron par-ticles from the overflow increased gold recovery.Wear life of the CAVEX® hydrocyclone liners wasthree times longer.

Trial ResultsPartition CurvesCavex

®hydrocyclone

Existing hydrocyclonesImproved Recovery

0 100.0 200.0 300.0 400.0 500.0 600.0 700.0

Nominal Size (µm)

Feed

to

Und

erflo

w

0%

100%

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Improved flow means you can do more withless – less power consumption and fewerhydrocyclones.

By minimising resistance of flow through the feedchamber, CAVEX® hydrocyclones process substantial-ly higher slurry volumes than conventional hydrocy-clones with equivalent fittings. This increased pro-ductivity effectively reduces the quantity of hydrocy-clones required and/or reduces the energy requiredto perform a given duty.

How do CAVEX® hydrocyclones reduce turbu-lence?

The design of CAVEX® hydrocyclone’s laminar spiralinlet geometry provides a natural flow path into thehydrocyclone. This unique shape has no sharp edgesand no square corners and allows the feed stream toblend smoothly with the rotating slurry inside thechamber.

The result is greatly reduced turbulence throughoutthe whole hydrocyclone, creating more even wear,longer life and a more efficient classification.

In conventional hydrocyclones, slurry bursts into thecylinder with no flow control and the resulting tur-bulence is responsible for gouging the liner walls.

The CAVEX® Laminar Spiral Hydrocyclone- Maximum Life

CAVEX® Design =

High efficiency + low even wear

Turbulence =

Loss of efficiency + localised wear

CAVEX® Design Conventional Designs

Plan View - CAVEX® Design Plan View - Conventional Design

Level of WearHigh Wear

Low Wear

45°

0°

90°135°

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2 3 4 5 61 7 8 910 20 30 40 50 60 70 100 200 300 400 500

40

50

60708090

100

150

200

300

400

30

7.2 10.8 14.418

223.625

2932

36 72 108 144180

216252

360 720 10801440

1800288324

5.8

7.3

8.710.211.613.014.5

21.8

29.0

43.5

58.0

4.4

Capacity (L/S)

Capacity (M/H)3

Pressure Dro

p (PSI)

Pres

sure

Dro

p (

kPa)

100C

VX

150C

VX6

250C

VX10

400C

VX10

500C

VX10

650C

VX

800C

VX

The CAVEX® Laminar Spiral Hydrocyclone- Maximum Efficiency

CAVEX® “Laminar Spiral” hydrocyclone geometrydramatically reduces misplaced coarse carry-overresulting in significant financial gains.

The increased classification efficiency means thatovergrinding and circulating load are reduced.

Conventional geometry causes migration of unclassified coarse solids to the overflow.

The effects of this can result in valuable mineral losses.

CAVEX® Hydrocyclone Capacities (approximate)

Migrating misplacedcoarse particles inoverflow

Misplaced fineparticles inunderflowShort

circuiting

Turbulencein feed area

but with conventional designsReduced turbulence means improved efficien-cy and classification

CAVEX® Design =

High recovery + higher grade

Turbulence =

Misplaced particles + overgrinding

Excellent Engineering Solutions5

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Weir Warman Ltd

WMD/CAVEX (Australia) 09/03 ® CAVEX Registered Trade Mark of Weir Warman Ltd. ©Weir Warman Ltd. Printed in Australia.

Models 500, 650, and 800 Design Features

• Laminar Spiral Inlet Geometry

• Fabricated steel or cast ductile iron casings*

• Replaceable, elastomer liners, up to 45mm thick. Ceramic lower cone available

• Rubber vortex finders

• Rubber or ceramic spigots

• Rubber lined steel overflow pipe or “Air Core Booster” cap available

Models 100, 150, 250, and 400 Design Features

• Laminar Spiral Inlet Geometry

• Reinforced polyester resin casing

• Snap fit, replaceable, elastomer liners

• 316L ss Quick Release clamp fasteners

• Polyurethane or Hyperchrome vortex finders

• Rubber, urethane, or ceramic spigots

• Moulded HDPE overflow pipe

* cone casings on Model 500CVX10 are polyester fibreglass and fabricated steel.

Weir Minerals has an advanced product rangeincorporating market leading brands covering virtually any application, in any environment.

Our global leadership in slurry pumps is combinedwith innovative designs in complimentary productssuch as mill liners, hydrocyclones and slurry valves.

The Weir Minerals Brands :

Weir Minerals has the geographical presence toservice all the major developed markets around theworld.

This global supply capability provides our customers, from the world’s largest minerals and mining multinationals to the smallest single site users, with service second to none.

We support customer operations worldwide withconsistent products and local engineering expertise.

As part of the Weir Group, we have the reach andresource to build close, long term relationships withall our customers, helping them to achieve ...

...the Lowest Cost of Ownership

PERTH OFFICE44 Fisher StreetBELMONT WA 6104Tel: (08) 9479 9600Fax: (08) 9478 2827

sales@weirwarman.com.auwww.weirminerals.com

Australia/Pacific Ofiices: Brisbane – Regional Sales Office

Tel (07) 3347 1400Orange – Regional Sales Office

Tel (02) 63 622 622Rockhampton – Regional Sales Office

Tel (07) 4924 7700Newcastle – Regional Sales Office

Tel (02) 4954 7900Mt. Isa – Regional Sales Office

Tel (07) 4749 5301Adelaide – Regional Sales Office

Tel (08) 8340 2400Kalgoorlie – Regional Sales Office

Tel (08) 9021 1454Devonport – Regional Sales Office

Tel (03) 6427 3233Perth – Regional Sales Office

Tel (08) 9479 9600Melbourne – Regional Sales Office

Tel (03) 9866 3044Auckland – Regional Sales Office

Tel 64 9 624 1783Manila – Regional Sales Office

Tel 63 2 726 9046Kharbarovsk – Regional Sales Office

Tel 7 4212 312522

HEAD OFFICE1 Marden StreetArtarmon NSW 2064Tel: +61 (02) 9934 5100Fax: +61 (02) 9934 5201

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