Mineral processing turns raw ore extracted from the ground into a saleable mineral concentrate. For any mine owner or operator considering plant design or replacement equipment, the work breaks down into four equipment categories: comminution, classification, hydrometallurgy, and materials handling. We build equipment in all four at MechProTech (MPT). The sections below cover what each category does.
Comminution Equipment
Comminution is the first stage of mineral processing. It reduces large rocks of raw ore into smaller particles so valuable minerals can be liberated and separated downstream. The setup at this stage determines mineral recovery across the rest of the circuit.
Our comminution equipment covers four product lines:
- Ball Mills. Our Titan Ball Mill uses girth gear and dual pinion drive with self-aligned flanged motors and hydrodynamic oil lubricated bearings. It operates at 80% critical speed for efficient ore grinding in mineral processing applications.
- Grinding Mills. The Titan Mill™ Gear-Driven and Olympian Roller-Driven ranges handle ore grinding with a modular design and low maintenance footprint.
- Scrubbers. Our Autogenous Scrubbers and Titan GDS design carry out intensive washing of run-of-mine ore, removing impurities before downstream processing.
- Rolls Crushers. Twin manganese steel rollers with adjustable gap settings handle particle size reduction for mining and aggregate operations.
Classification Equipment
After comminution, your material has a mixed particle size distribution. Classification sorts that material into size fractions so the correct size moves to the next stage of processing, while oversize material returns to the grinding circuit.
Our classification equipment covers four product lines:
- Rotating Barrel Screens. Used for sizing run-of-mine ore where standard vibrating screens cannot handle the feed.
- Rotating Barrel Breakers. Combine sizing with light breakage of softer material in a single pass.
- Vibrating Screens. High-frequency vibration sorts ore by size for both intermediate and final product screening.
- Static Screens. Used where moving-deck designs are not suitable, often in dewatering and sizing duties on slurry feeds.
Reliable classification keeps particle size distribution consistent across the plant, which directly affects throughput and downstream recovery.
Hydrometallurgy Equipment
Hydrometallurgy uses aqueous solutions to dissolve valuable minerals out of the ore and recover them as a mineral concentrate. This is where chemical processes take over from purely mechanical separation.
Our hydrometallurgy equipment covers:
- High-Rate Thickeners. Speed up sedimentation in slurry, separating liquids from solids. The high-rate design reduces the footprint of conventional thickeners and improves dewatering performance.
- Reagent Plants. Mix and dose process chemicals into the circuit. Accurate dosing controls reaction conditions and reagent consumption on your plant.
- Mixers. Agitate slurry to keep solids in suspension during leaching and conditioning. Consistent mixing supports leach kinetics.
- Agitators. Maintain homogeneous slurry conditions in tanks where reaction time and temperature affect metal recovery.
These four units operate together across leaching and dewatering circuits in plants recovering gold and other precious metals.
Materials Handling Equipment
Materials handling moves ore and slurry between processing equipment. Feeders sit at transfer points along the circuit and control the rate at which material moves through the plant, which sets the throughput your downstream equipment runs at.
Our materials handling range includes three feeder types:
- Apron Feeders. Heavy-duty units that handle abrasive, coarse material directly from primary crushers or run-of-mine stockpiles.
- Push Feeders. Used where positive displacement is needed to move sticky or compacted material at a controlled rate.
- Pan Feeders. Suit lighter duties and finer material, often feeding screens or secondary crushers.
The right feeder depends on your material and required throughput, so the spec varies plant to plant.
Pilot Plants
For new ore bodies or process changes, a full-scale plant is rarely the first build. We supply modular pilot plants and modular comminution circuits, allowing your operation to test ore behaviour at a representative scale before committing to a production-sized build. This produces real data on recovery and reagent consumption ahead of capital spend.
Talk to MPT About Your Plant
A mineral processing plant runs on the cumulative performance of every unit in the circuit. Comminution, classification, hydrometallurgy, and materials handling each contribute to overall recovery and operating cost. We manufacture and support mineral processing equipment across all four categories at MechProTech (MPT).
Contact us to discuss your project requirements.