Crushing grinding splitting of samples for testing/analysis
Mechanical preparation includes the techniques required to carry out specific studies
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Mechanical sample preparation may address the following issues as required :
- Obtain sizing data from an industrial crushing/grinding plant. For example, it is a question of determining the Work Index or the PSD (Particle Size Distribution) of an ore.
- Obtain several samples identical to a defined size (mesh) to study the performance of a treatment process (leaching, liquid/solid separation, flotation, etc.) from coarser samples taken on site.
- Obtain finely crushed samples, for analysis, representative of coarse samples. This may include, for example, assessing the resources or reserves of a deposit.
To meet the needs of its customers, CIME has the following facilities:
- Several jaw crushers to treat coarse samples or cores of diameters up to 80mm at a flow rate of several hundred kg per hour.
- Small volume (5L) bar or ball crushers to reduce the size of crushed grains below 100µm.
- A specific ball mill to calculate the Work Index of an ore.
- Six ring grinders for preparing samples for analysis, of a size of less than 80µm.
- Different sizes of rifle dividers allow samples ranging from 80µm to 20mm to be divided.
- Four screens for batch or continuous, dry or wet processing of samples ranging from 50µm to 40mm.
- A rotary divider that automatically divides a parent sample into 8 equivalent samples
- Two laser granulometers and one optical granulometer to determine the PSD of samples ranging from 0.1µm to 20mm.
Based on the customer’s needs, CIME engineers define the sampling plan (sequence of operations to be carried out with this equipment).
- Wide variety of equipment (crushers, mills, analysers, sifters, dividers, etc.)
- Expertise in sampling
- Two laboratories dedicated exclusively to these mechanical preparation operations equipped with all devices equipped with dust extraction systems to protect operators in proper ergonomic conditions
- Various measurement techniques available at CIME to determine the grain size and shape of powders (sifting, laser granulometer, optical granulometer, image analysis, etc.)
Mechanical preparation of samples is a crucial step in mining activity in order to correctly estimate the reserves of a deposit or to carry out representative tests to define an ore treatment process. Over its 40 years of existence, CIME has defined the processes of all the mining projects in Orano.
Expertise in mechanical preparation has been developed over time and passed on to new generations.
CIME services will enable a customer to:
- Have confidence in the preparation of samples for analyses to estimate the reserves of a deposit.
- Determine the crushability characteristics of an ore (Work Index, PSD, etc.) used to size an industrial plant.
- Be assured that the samples to be used for the purpose of defining an ore treatment process have been prepared in a manner representative of the process to be used.
