Joda East Iron Mine is the jewel in the crown of the Mines Division. Starting with a rated capacity of 2 million tones per anum (Mtpa) ore processing capability, the plant has undergone several de-bottlenecking exercise to increase its capacity gradually to around 2.5Mtpa. The quest for improvement has always driven the Joda Team - in the past and even now.
The process of ore washing involves crushing and screening to separate the run of mine (ROM) ore into sized ore and fines. The fines (-10mm) go through a screw classifier and dewateriser before storage. It was frequently noticed that the classifier was getting overloaded forcing a reduction in the feed rate, which reduced the overall throughput. This was a concern for everyone in the plant. "How do we increase the capability of the twin classifiers?" "Do we need all the ore fines to go through these bottleneck stations?"
An idea was mooted. " Can we seperate
part of the fines which need not go through the classifiers so that the overall load is
reduced?" This suggestion involved the use of a double deck screen to divertthe
-10 + 6 mm fraction of fineness directly to the product conveyor while the -6 mm
material would be processed through the normal route. The search for available structures
and equipment took the Team to an unused portion of a similar plant in Noamindi, The TOP
Team at Noamundi and got the necessary approvals to shift the re - usable parts from
Noamundi and construct the by-pass arrangement at Joda.The story has a happy ending - laughter and joy all around. The throughput rate has increased to ~50 tonnes per hour. Satisfied? No. Now "yeh dil maange more" ore. |