Segregation of Fines in Lump Ore Due to Vibration on a Conveyor Belt

Abstract

A 1.2m wide conveyor belt carrying lump ore and some associated fines was sampled to determine the rate and degree of size segregation that occurred due to the vibration of particles on the belt. It was found that most of the segregation occurred within the first 40m. No noticeable increase in segregation was observed beyond that obtained after 300m. Size analyses showed that the plus 16mm lump migrates preferentially to the top of the bed of material on the conveyor belt, and minus 6mm material preferentially reports to the lower sections. Hence, a small proportion of the material on the conveyor belt would result in a substantial reduction in the level of fines. Typically, if the fines rich lower than 20% of the material on the conveyor belt was rescreened, the amount of total fines would be reduced by approximately 50%, whereas rescreening the top 35 percent of the material on the conveyor would reduce the fines content by less than 5%.