Cyclones and Spirals: Adapting to a Changing Mining Industry

The year started on a positive note for the Cyclones and Spirals business, with an increase in orders following improvements in commodity prices. While it is still too early to know how current geopolitical events may affect the long-term growth outlook for commodities, mining operations must continue producing, and there will always be a need for efficient and reliable cyclone and spiral technology.

The mining industry is placing more focus than ever on reducing environmental impact and using resources such as water and energy more efficiently. This means our equipment, technologies and sales approach must continue to evolve to remain relevant.

Customer expectations are also changing. Many operations have fewer experienced technical resources on site than in the past, which means original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are expected to provide greater technical support, faster service and more practical solutions.

Developing better wear solutions

Mining companies are always looking for ways to process more ore. Higher throughputs, however, result in higher wear rates on equipment. At the same time, customers want equipment to last longer and reduce maintenance requirements.

For cyclones, we are investigating several options to improve wear life. These include the use of silicon carbide linings, alternative alloy compositions for cast iron cyclones and thicker alumina tile options for selected applications. The goal is to extend equipment life while maintaining the performance our customers expect.

On the spiral side, development work is focused on solutions for key wear areas and on evaluating alternative materials that could provide better wear resistance without negatively affecting separation efficiency.

Expanding our cyclone and spiral ranges

The cyclone and spiral markets remain highly competitive, with many suppliers offering their own products or copies of existing designs. To remain competitive and continue delivering value to our customers, we are constantly looking for opportunities to improve and expand our product offering.

For cyclones, Multotec has supplied stainless steel and silicon carbide cyclones for many years on a project-by-project basis. While this approach has worked well, it does create a risk when customers reorder units in future, as each design may have slight dimensional differences from previous orders. To address this, stainless steel and silicon carbide cyclones have now been incorporated into standard product ranges with consistent dimensions across the diameter range. This will help ensure that customers receive the correct replacement units every time they place an order and gives us a broader range of standard solutions to offer the market.

For spirals, development remains focused on improving efficiency and achieving the highest possible recovery while delivering the lowest possible mass of material to downstream processes. Mining operations are under increasing pressure to process more material, but installing additional equipment or expanding plant footprints is often difficult and expensive. Existing equipment therefore needs to handle greater throughput while maintaining performance. This means continuous testing and development of new spiral designs remains an important focus area.

Making solutions more accessible

Multotec cyclones are recognised for their quality and performance. However, customers do not always have the budget to invest in premium solutions, even when they understand the long-term benefits. As a result, we are investigating several opportunities to reduce our customers' capital outlay while maintaining acceptable performance standards. These include evaluating liner designs and assessing alternative construction materials for selected applications.

We are also exploring opportunities to manufacture certain products closer to specific markets. As a global company, transport and logistics costs can significantly affect the final selling price of equipment. Manufacturing products closer to the end customer helps improve competitiveness in some regions while reducing delivery costs and lead times.

For spirals, the pilot plant design continues to attract strong interest from customers. This compact plant includes pumps, sumps, cyclones and spirals, providing a complete small-scale processing solution. However, we have also seen that some customers struggle to justify the investment. Development work is therefore underway to make the design more economical by reducing construction material requirements where possible. At the same time, the pilot plant is being redesigned to improve accessibility and create safer walkways and working areas, making it easier and safer for personnel to operate and maintain.

A single source of information for internal Multotec teams

One challenge in a global organisation is ensuring that employees can quickly access the information they need. To support this, a dedicated Cyclones and Spirals SharePoint site has been developed. The site will become a central location where employees can access the latest product information without having to search for the right person to contact. Technical information, training material, presentations, papers, product documentation and pricing information will all be available in one place.

The platform is currently under construction, and some employees already have access. Over the coming months, access will be expanded to more people across the business.

Looking ahead

The mining industry continues to evolve, and customer expectations continue to change. Whether it is improving wear life, increasing throughput, reducing costs, enhancing safety or making information more accessible, the Cyclones and Spirals team remains focused on finding practical solutions that help our customers succeed.

By continuing to develop our products, improve our service offering and share knowledge across the business, we can ensure that Multotec remains a trusted partner to mining operations around the world.