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Diamond Mining Recovery System

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Introduction

Minas Gerais, Brazil is a very well known alluvial diamond mining region where the largest diamonds (over 100 carats) are found every year since 1930s.

Most of local alluvial mining land operations use this system as a primary recovery system. Since it is simple to make, to maintain and to operate it can be used for a medium scale mining of alluvial deposits where material is extracted with excavator, dragline or front-end loader.

Description

The primary diamond recovery system is composed of:
1. Material loading ramp where gravel, trucked from excavations, is dumped and then washed with water jet (to braking down clay) into a set of vibrating screens.
2. Two 0.7 x 1.7 m. vibrating perforated plates used to eliminate over and undersize material. A shaft with two counterweights, mounted above the box, vibrates the box with two plates. It uses 5 hp electric engine.
a. Top plate with round 25 mm. openings which eliminate oversize
b. Bottom plate with round 2 mm. openings which eliminate undersize
The material retained between two plates is fed into two jigs.
3. First 0.99 x 2.88 m. 2 hutches jig with two side mounted membranes (halves of used tire). The jig has one bottom screen with 10 mm. openings. What passes trough this screen is fed into the second jig. It retains the concentrate between 25 and 10 mm. size. It uses 2 hp electric engine
4. Second 0.84 x 2.48 m. jig similar to the first and as well with one bottom screen but with 3 mm. openings. It retains the concentrate between 10 and 3 mm. size.
5. Water tank situated above jigs to feed under even pressure water into hutches of jigs.
6. 4-inch water pump with 37 hp diesel engine feeding the water tank and the single water jet at loading ramp.
7. Generator to power one 5 hp and two 2 hp electric engines plus light for night operation.

Operation

The set composed of vibrating plates and two jigs processes 60 to 80 m3 per 8 hours shift. The main problem is quite high clay content and the time it takes to break it down before feeding the vibrating plates. For larger scale operations systems with 4 or 6 jigs are used.

Concentrate cleaning

According to the crew leader, the front part of screen over first hutch of each jig is cleaned once a day and the rest once a week.

Cost

The complete jigs set, less water pump with diesel engine or generator with electric instalation and water hoses, FOB Uberlandia, Minas Gerais, Brazil costs: US$19,300. The fabricator can come up to where the sets of jigs are needed and make it for the same price each plus travel, accomodations and food. The buyer must supply complet fabrication shop (flame/plasma cutting, welding, drilling, grinding, etc) and matterials (sheet steel, screens, angle iron, etc.)

Other screen sizes can be installed according to client specification.

Illustrations

Fig. 1. Vibrating plates and first jig.

Fig. 2. The loading ramp, vibrating plates, first jig and water tank.

Fig. 3. The second jig and water tank. The two hoses on the left, one feeds the water tank and the other single water jet at the loading ramp.

Fig. 4. At the end of each work shift front parts of jigs are cleaned from concentrate.

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