Is your ore processing efficiency significantly hampered by excessive impurities? In the mining and mineral processing industry, stubborn clay, silt, and other impurities not only severely affect the purity of subsequent smelting but also lead to water waste and soaring processing costs. Traditional ore washing methods often rely on large amounts of water, resulting in high operating costs and potentially facing production restrictions in today’s global push for green mining. How can you achieve low-water-consumption, high-efficiency ore purification without sacrificing cleaning effectiveness? This article reviews the water consumption, impurity removal efficiency, and applicable scenarios of 4 mainstream low-water ore washing equipment, guiding you to find the ultimate solution that balances energy saving, environmental protection, and economic efficiency.
Low-water ore washing equipment includes trommel screens, rotary scrubbers, spiral washing machines, and log washers. Through innovative designs such as high-pressure spraying, circulating water systems, and mechanical scrubbing, water consumption is reduced by 30%-50% while ensuring an impurity removal rate of over 90%.
Detailed Explanation of 4 Low Water Consumption Ore Washing Equipment
1. Trommel Screen
Water-Saving Principle:
The core working principle of the trommel screen is that a motor drives a cylindrical screen cylinder to rotate slowly. After the ore enters through the feed inlet, it tumbles continuously as the screen cylinder rotates, while a built-in high-pressure spray system continuously washes the material. The screen cylinder surface is equipped with screens of different aperture sizes to meet different processing needs, allowing for simultaneous material grading and washing: finer particles and impurities are discharged through the screen holes, while the washed coarse ore particles are discharged from the outlet.
Impurity Removal Effect:
The entire process achieves a highly efficient “one-time feeding, multiple processing” effect, significantly improving ore pretreatment efficiency, especially suitable for raw materials with low mud and sand content. It can remove mud and waste rock particles of 0-100mm size, with an impurity removal rate of over 90%. Compared to other ore washing equipment, the trommel screen adopts a dry pre-screening + small-volume spray design, targeting water only for muddy ores, saving 40% more water than traditional ore washing equipment.
Applicable Scenarios:
This trommel (drum) screen is the preferred equipment for pre-treatment of ores with low mud content, especially suitable for washing ores with a mud content of less than 15%, such as placer gold, chromium, tin, quartz, and beach sand. It is highly adaptable to arid and water-scarce mining areas in Southeast Asia and Africa with annual rainfall of less than 300mm, allowing for operation without the need for large-scale water storage facilities. Its gentle washing method does not easily damage the original particle size of the ore, and the processed particle size range is typically ≤100mm. For ores with high clay content, it is recommended to use it in conjunction with a spiral washer.
2. Rotary Scrubber
Water-Saving Principle:
This rotary ore washing machine features a heavy-duty drum design with internal wear-resistant lifting plates. The ore is continuously lifted and thrown, generating strong friction and collisions with adjacent ores. Simultaneously, under the dual action of mechanical friction and high-pressure spraying, stubborn clay clumps are efficiently broken down.
High-Efficiency Impurity Removal:
The rotary scrubber is equipped with a three-stage closed-loop water circulation system. After washing, the wastewater undergoes three processes: sedimentation, filtration, and impurity removal. 80% of the water can be directly reused in the washing process, eliminating the need for frequent replenishment of fresh water. Overall, it saves 35% more water than ordinary ore washing machines of the same capacity. It powerfully peels away clay and oxide layers adhering to the ore surface, achieving an impurity removal rate of up to 95%.
Applicable Scenarios:
The equipped mud sedimentation can remove 90% of solid impurities, significantly reducing the amount of clean water needed for replenishment. It is particularly suitable for processing highly adhesive clayey ores, such as alluvial gold, tantalum-niobium, manganese ore, diamond, laterite chromite, bauxite, and other ores with a high mud content of 20-30%. Trommel screens and rotary scrubbers can be directly installed on flat ground for operation, or they can be mounted on mobile chassis to form mobile ore washing equipment, which can move with sand mining sites or mining sites at any time, offering extremely high flexibility.
3. Spiral Washing Machine
Principle:
The spiral sand washing machine uses a motor to drive an inclined spiral shaft (15-20° angle) to rotate. The ore raw material enters from the lower feed chute and is continuously pushed upwards by the spiral blades. During this process, the material undergoes continuous tumbling and stirring within the washing tank, and impurities are separated from the ore through gravity settling. Lighter muddy impurities are discharged with the overflow water from the upper overflow weir, while the washed heavy minerals are pushed to the top by the spiral blades and discharged.
Impurity Removal Effect:
This spiral washing machine can efficiently separate mud and dust impurities from sand and gravel, achieving a finished sand and gravel purity of up to 95%+. The washing time is as long as 3-5 minutes, far exceeding other types of ore washing equipment. It can completely peel off the mud film and dust impurities covering the surface of the sand and gravel; the mixed fine mud and dust are directly discharged through the overflow port without secondary screening. It meets the sand standards for high-speed rail, highways, and other infrastructure projects, thereby significantly increasing the premium value of sand and gravel products.
Applicable Scenarios:
This spiral ore washing equipment is a standard washing and beneficiation unit in sand and gravel aggregate production lines. It can process various sand and gravel raw materials such as manufactured sand, river sand, weathered sand, and quartz sand. It can also be used for mud separation operations of 0-20mm fine-grained ores such as small-scale gold mines, tin mines, and tantalum-niobium mines. For even purer ore, a twin-spiral shaft washing machine can be used, and it can also be combined with a fine sand recovery system to increase the yield by 15%.
4. Log Washer
Energy Saving Principle:
This equipment features a 15-20 degree tilt angle in its tank. Washing water enters from the bottom and exits from the top, maintaining a counter-current contact with the ore throughout the process. All water is concentrated on the ore washing stage, eliminating the common problem of empty drainage in ordinary ore washing equipment.
Impurity Removal Effect:
The (trough-type) log ore washer is equipped with a wastewater treatment system that allows for direct reuse of washing wastewater after sedimentation and filtration. The water recycling rate is consistently maintained at 75%, saving 25% more water than ordinary ore washing equipment with the same capacity, significantly reducing water costs for large mines. This dual action of “mechanical kneading + hydraulic stripping” can also be designed as a dual-trough ore washer, particularly suitable for processing heavily agglomerated ores that are difficult to clean using traditional methods. The ore treated with this system achieves an impurity removal rate of over 90%, allowing it to be directly fed into the subsequent crushing stage without the problem of mud clogging the crusher feed inlet, significantly improving the overall operating efficiency of the production line.
Application Scenarios:
Trough-type ore washing equipment can efficiently remove clay and stubborn rocks from the surface of large ore pieces, making it suitable for high-difficulty ore washing processes. Applications include washing and beneficiating ores with a mud content exceeding 20%, such as iron ore, gemstone ore, and kaolin, or pre-treatment in large-scale mineral processing lines.
Comparison of core parameters of 4 types of low-water ore washing equipment
Equipment Type | Processing Capacity (t/h) | Water Consumption (m³/h) | Applicable Ore Types |
Trommel Screen | 1-200 | 10-200 | Low-clay placer gold ore, beach sa, mines in arid areas |
Rotary Scrubber | 1-400 | 30-250 | High-clay manganese ore, chrome ore, low-rainfall mines |
Spiral Washing Machine | 20-400 | 9-620 | Sand aggregate, fine-grained ore for small mines |
Log Washer | 10-100 | 80-480 | Hard iron ore, bauxite, large-scale mine production lines, Difficult-to-wash ore |
Conclusion
JXSC’s 4 low-water-consumption ore washing equipment models all achieve a high impurity removal rate of over 90%, saving 20% to 40% of water compared to traditional ore washing equipment. Available in trommel screens, rotary scrubbers, spiral washing machines, and log washer models, they can be matched to the washing and beneficiation needs of mines with different production capacities and ore types, reducing operating costs while meeting environmental compliance requirements.
If you need an ore washing production line solution tailored to your specific mine scenario, please contact JXSC for free selection guidance and a customized quote! Choosing the right equipment can improve the washing efficiency by over 20% while reducing water and electricity costs by 30%. Specific solutions depend on ore type, mud content, production capacity requirements, site water resources, and other conditions. We will provide you with a cost-effective one-stop ore washing solution.