Crushing and Screening

Multotec is an industry leader in metallurgy and process engineering and is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. It is marking this milestone by reaffirming its position as a proudly South African company that can compete with top global competitors. The company was established in 1973, starting with an imported screening product from Germany intended for the sand and gravel industry. It soon realised the necessity to evolve and design a product that was more suitable for the local mining sector, and which could be manufactured locally. Modern Quarrying spoke to Multotec’s Adele Ras (Area Sales Manager) and Gerhard van der Watt (Technical Sales Representative) about how it can assist customers in the quarrying market with deck conversions.

During the last 50 years, Multotec has worked to enhance countless client operations through the development and manufacture of high-quality process equipment and solutions. During this time, Multotec’s mineral processing equipment has been able to address the unique challenges of the local industry, including robust equipment designed to lower the overall cost per ton.

“We pride ourselves on after-sales customer service, which is achieved by delivery, accuracy, commissioning support, as well as audits,” says Ras.

“We offer modular screen panels made from various materials instead of the conventional woven wire mesh, such as polyurethane and rubber,” explains Ras about the products that Multotec offers to the quarrying industry for deck conversions. These materials have a high abrasion resistance which is needed for tough quarrying conditions. “With a complete range of modular screen panels for mineral processing, Multotec ensures that the screen deck is optimised to achieve the required cut size efficiently, reliably and over an extended service life,” she says.

Multotec’s range of polyurethane screens are, more cost-effective and achieve a longer working life than standard screen panels. Its rubber screens are specifically designed to absorb impact, ultimately improving equipment wear life. The range includes modular rubber panels and rubber trommel panels – rubber lining that helps customers achieve optimum screen use in coarse and heavy-duty mineral processing applications.

“Multotec also offers different compounds in both polyurethane and rubber, aperture sizes, and shapes available for deck conversions. Various accessories such as weir bars and deflector devices can be added to further optimise screening efficiency. Some of the new developments include laser cut diamond-shaped panels that has increased open area as well as ?, rail systems and adaptor strips that fit onto screens so that they require no structural modifications.”

Products geared for tough quarrying conditions.

Ras says that Multotec continuously improves its products, which in turn reduces the risk for the customer. The most recent improvement is self-extinguishing flame-resistant rubber panels. Multotec is also offering better ergonomics in terms of lightweight modular screen panels, which are smaller than the conventional size wire mesh panels and that will require no cranes or lifting equipment for installation,” she says.

“Another advantage of using modular screen panels over conventional woven wire screens is that it reduces the manpower needed for its installation.” explains Ras.

Reduced cost of ownership

“Even though an initial upfront investment is sometimes needed, the benefit of improved abrasion resistant materials, reduced downtime, greater efficiencies as well as safety and production gains will lead to a reduced cost of ownership ,” explains Ras.

Benefits of support contracts

“Our support contracts include cost savings on transactional costs. Customers don't need to request quotes as they have fixed prices in place for a period of time. This assists with better shutdown planning and in turn less downtime,” says Van der Watt.

“We have high availability of fast-moving parts that reduce lead times. Our products are locally manufactured at Spartan in Gauteng and Local Content was verified by the South African Bureau of Standards”.

Five decades of experience

“We believe that we are able to provide cost effective and quality goods as well as a high variety of options because Multotec is diversified and exposed to different customer bases, markets and commodities,” says Ras. “Our perceived image is as a result is professionalism, trustworthiness, credibility and reliability.”

Multotec offers the following for deck conversions.

• Modular screen panels and woven wire mesh (reduced total cost of ownership)
• Screen frames and rail systems
• More than 1 000 different apertures, several thicknesses, and compounds available, which are customizable depending on specific customer application (compression and injection-moulded – rubber or polyurethane, wedge wire, ceramic, steel).
• Various fastening systems and adaptor strips available to suit customer equipment.
• TeePee, very high open area dewatering screen panels offering 50% greater drainage area.
• High open area and lively polyurethane mats where pegging of apertures is a challenge.