Investment in iron ore washing gathers pace in India
India is one of the giants of iron ore production, lying fourth in the global production league behind China, Australia and Brazil. Current production of iron ore in India is around 150 million metric tons per year. While the two countries directly above India in the league table – Australia and Brazil – export over one third of iron ore production, in India the vast majority of material – approximately 90 % – is used in Indian industry. Two of the largest steel producers in India have recently purchased new iron ore washing plants from CDE Global (Fig. 1) through their sister company CDE Asia with headquarters in Kolkata/India.
Bhushan Steel is part of the Bhushan Group and is one of the rising stars in the Indian steel industry. The investment in the new iron ore washing plant from CDE is the latest in a long line of significant investments in new production facilities that have seen Bhushan Steel earn a reputation for bringing new technologies and processes to the industry. The CDE iron ore washing plant will have a capacity of 425 t/h and will be installed at the Bhushan steel plant in Dhenkanal/Orissa. This will be the largest plant installed by CDE in India and the commitment of Bhushan Steel to continuing innovation in iron ore production is demonstrated through the inclusion of the Automat filter press within the processing system. The Automat filter press allows for full closed circuit water recycling which ensures that the environmental impact of this iron ore washing plant is significantly reduced. Through the introduction of the filter press over 90 % of the water used in the washing process will be recycled, significantly reducing the volume of fresh water required to feed the washing plant. In addition, the Automat filter press significantly reduces the footprint of this processing plant by eliminating the requirement for on site ponds or settling lagoons to handle the waste water from the washing plant. A further benefit is that the health and safety risks on site are also significantly reduced.
Another iron ore washing plant will also be installed for the Steel Authority of India (SAIL), a company owned by the Government of India and the country’s largest steel producer. This iron ore washing plant will process tailings from the existing production process to recover high grade ores contained in the smaller particle sizes (Fig. 2) that their existing process does not capture. This will be achieved through the introduction of the CDE NanoWash system – a complex configuration of sumps, dewatering screens, magnetic separators and a cluster of hydrocyclones to effectively recover high grade ores in the finest particle sizes and will be located in the state of Jharkhand.
These two new iron ore washing plants for CDE in India are the latest in a long line of processing systems that have been introduced over the last three years and their significance is recognised by the company.
CDE Ireland Ltd., Cookstown (IRL),
Tel.: +44 28 8676 7900, www.cdeglobal.com
