MBE Minerals can engineer and provide the necessary capital equipment for iron ore beneficiation processes within the harsh African beneficiation environment. The company is able to access close to 160 years of experience gained in the tough and demanding global mining industry, of which 45 years have been achieved in Africa.

In a tightening economy the focus shifts to maximised return on investment. Increasing beneficiation process outputs whilst simultaneously adhering to safety regulations and minimising maintenance can be challenging.

To sustain and ideally grow profitability and quality, processing plants need to align themselves with suppliers can customise solutions that fit specific applications. Capital equipment needs to be designed and selected with maximised throughput and uptime in mind.

Johannes Kottmann, managing director of MBE Minerals SA, says the company is able to access close to 160 years of experience gained in the tough and demanding global mining industry, of which 45 years have been achieved in Africa.

“This allows us to engineer and provide the necessary capital equipment for iron ore beneficiation processes within the harsh African beneficiation environment,” he explains.

MBE Minerals SA is a leading supplier of iron ore and coal beneficiation technology offering basic and detailed engineering, components for complete plants and systems including modernisation and capacity increase measures, as well as automation and process control equipment. The company’s scope of services includes feasibility studies, raw material testing, financing concepts, erection and commissioning, personnel training and pre- and after-sales services and support.

By strategically reacting to customer demand and tailoring solutions that closely match explicit needs, MBE Minerals has amassed a large footprint of customers and a stable of products with robustness and productivity in mind. Its solid customer base in the Northern Cape provides a clear example of anticipating and servicing customer needs, and the company operates a branch in the Kathu Industrial Area to deliver fast turnaround times on the supply and maintenance of its entire product range to its local customers. Considerable consignment stock is also held at the branch to support Service Level Agreements in place with customers in the region.

Targeted range of products

MBE Minerals employs extensive R&D to design and engineer equipment that not only ensures optimised throughput of product but is also affordable and durable. The company’s BATAC® jigs are becoming increasingly popular in the iron ore beneficiation sector due to their rapid detection of changes in the raw material, quick reaction to such changes and easy operation.

Kottmann says that BATAC® jig technology has excellent separation accuracy, is relatively small in footprint and has a comparatively low capital cost.

A large footprint of MBE Minerals’ vibrating screens in the African mining industry stand testament to the durability and effectiveness of the products. Options are available for wet and dry classification as well as for dewatering and depulping of coal, minerals and ores. Variants include RSL and RFS resonance screens and conveyors; type VSL and USL linear motion screens; type VSK and USK circular motion screens; type VRL micro screens; and type VMSL vibrating screens.

A range of vibrating feeders, designed in Germany and manufactured locally, feature feed capacities of 100 up to 3 000 tph. These feeders are suitable for all applications where controllable discharge of bulk materials is required. Replaceable bolt-on wear liners are fitted to the feeder troughs to prolong feeder life.

Ongoing R&D

Due to extremely wide variations of mineral deposits and requirements for final products, MBE invests substantially in undertaking pilot scale test work at its fully equipped R&D centre in Cologne, Germany. The R&D Centre is able to simulate complete separation processes with its own crushers and mills, using wet as well as dry classification on screens, in cyclones or in air classifiers, and finally separating the minerals by gravity, magnetic properties or using specific chemical surface attributes for flotation.

“A well-established product base, a team of experienced and knowledgeable engineers and technicians and a large and varied database of customers, provides MBE Minerals with the ability to customise efficient solutions for the iron ore beneficiation sector,” Kottmann concludes.