South Africa's Klipfontein platinum mine, part of Anglo Platinum's Rustenburg Section has recently installed a new complete flotation system from Metso Minerals.

Located north west of Johannesburg, Rustenburg Section covers nine mines working the Merensky reef and is operated by Rustenburg Platinum Mines Ltd, part of Anglo Platinum.

At one of these mines, Klipfontein, a new flotation system from Metso Minerals has recently been installed. The new installation consists of 16 x RCS 10m3 flotation cells and 4 x 30m3 cells, as well as Metso Minerals froth and discharge pumps.

According to Metso Minerals works manager Denys Armstrong, the new flotation system has increased mine productivity even though it has fewer cells than the previous installation. The new system also requires fewer slurry pumps, uses less power, and requires less maintenance. "With less downtime, the new flotation system is saving the customer time and money," he says.

The Metso Minerals flotation cells are able to increase productivity because they are HD units, whereby they have been installed with over-size mechanisms, in the case of RCS 30 it has a Size 40 mechanism and the RCS 10 has a 15 mechanism. Metso Minerals has also installed a 1m x 3m screening plant which screens out any rough material prior to flotation.

The entire system was supplied and installed by Metso Minerals and is serviced at monthly intervals.

"We do a monthly trouble-shooting report, and recommend any parts which may need replacing, thereby cutting down on maintenance and costly downtime," says Denys Armstrong.