De Beers' diamond technology unit broadens its market

| Friday September 17, 2010 00:00

Further, a number of sorting units will be on display. Until 2008, the division's products and services were only made available to the De Beers' family of companies around the world, including those in Botswana, Tanzania, Canada and Namibia, as well as South Africa.

DebTech marketing manager Nico van Zyl tells Mining Weekly that the availability of its products on the open market coincided with the fall in world financial markets, with many operations significantly reducing output during 2009. 'Even though this has been the case, DebTech has managed to achieve all its financial targets for the past two years and was able to sell the first sorting units to outside companies. Electronic sorting remains our main focus and is supplemented by magnetic separation and security tech- nologies,' says Van Zyl.He reports that the MagRoll magnetic separator is now fully qualified to be used in a wet or dry diamond application. Its redesigned dense-medium controller (DMC) has been upgraded to broaden its application, making it applicable to dense-medium separation for coal, diamonds, andalusite and iron-ore plants.

'New business development initiatives have shown potential in a number of areas where diamond-specific technology could be applied with minimal adaptation. As mentioned, the DMC, which was designed for a diamond application, is now applicable to iron-ore, coal and andalusite processes,' explains Van Zyl.

He adds that the MagRoll design caters for a wide-sized range in a diamond application and was therefore designed with a large diameter roll with extremely high magnetic forces and force gradient. This makes it suitable to many other ore types, where a strong magnetic field is required. A number of new applications, for example, in iron-ore, andalusite and mineral sands, are being explored with the MagRoll. The vision-size frequency distribution (VSFD) unit has also been applied in other ore types where a need exists to model particle shape and size.

In terms of recent technological developments, DebTech has developed a microtomography facility, which enables three-dimensional (3-D) analysis of structures and objects down to submillimetre scale.

The concept of this technology is also known as a CAT scan in the medical field. However, microtomography enables visualisation of much finer elements compared with the medical units. It is a non-destructive detection and characterisation tool for small mechanical components. Metrology determination can be performed on complex shapes, internally as well as externally. It is also able to identify and measure concealed objects, which would otherwise require destruction of the matrix to conduct these measurements. Van Zyl reports that this technology service will soon become available to conduct measurements and 3-D modelling of components. He adds that a strong marketing drive is under way to expose the security industry to the capability of the Scannex low-dose full-body X-ray scanner.

This technology was showcased at the Counter Terror Expo, in London, in April, as well as the Securex Expo, in Johannesburg, in August. 'Airport security, precious metals and other secure instal- lations are being targeted. We have been approached by a number of companies, locally and overseas, which are interested in becoming sales agents for the Scannex product,' says Van Zyl.

Earlier this year, DebTech also exhibited its products at the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum conference and exhibition, in Vancouver. 'Canada has a strong emerging diamond-mining sector and may have many opportunities for DebTech products,' concludes Van Zyl.