RE:Clarification of Fines Removallovecarats wrote:
A constraint of a diamond Plant are the Dense Media Separation (DMS) units in which heavy minerals are separated from lighter minerals. Diamonds report to the heavies which include garnets and other heavy minerals typical of kimberlites. The "concentrate" is then passed through the X-ray machines which 'knock out' fluorescing diamonds with small blasts of air. After this step the concentrate is run over 'grease tables' which capture fine diamonds.
When we change the bottom-size cut-off we have all materials less than the new cut-off size (ie. 1.2 mm) removed from the feed BEFORE it gets to the DMS units.
Another question:
Is the 1.2mm cut-off determined by screening (which I have, perhaps wrongly, assumed,) or some other method I ask because if the fines are simply what passes down through a 1.2mm screen, I don't see why you need the grease tables, for you have already made the separation. OTOH if a screen is not used, what is the sizing mechanism? The grease table? I wonder how that works.
I am used to sizing by simply passing the cleaned material over a series of smaller and smaller screens.