Securing raw materials

Ulrike Mehl
Editor of AT MINERAL PROCESSING

We use products and services every day from morning to night that would be unthinkable without an adequate supply of raw materials. Their long-term and uninterrupted availability is therefore an indispensable basis for the smooth functioning of all manufacturing processes in a wide range of industrial sectors, for our mobility, the transformation of the energy industry, the construction industry and much more. In this respect, the issue of securing raw materials is an omnipresent topic.

The Saxon Raw Materials Day 2024 was held under the motto “Raw materials management as reflected by industry and geopolitics and its effect on Germany and Saxony as a business location”. Against the background of the presentations, this report examines the views on the further development of independent securing raw materials and value chains, particularly in Saxony – on the one hand from the perspective of local companies, and on the other from the perspective of foreign investors. In addition to the framework conditions set by the EU and Germany, the strategies of non-European raw materials and industrial policy were also discussed.

The technical paper by Prof. Dr Unland entitled “Analytical determination of the horizontal radial force application point on the conical head of a gyratory crusher” deals with the optimum dimensioning of high-performance gyratory crushers on the basis of the analytical method, in which functional correlations can be developed and assessed. The properties of the machine, the crusher product, the crusher feed and the interactions between them must be taken into account. While material, geometry and kinematics of the crusher are given and defined and can only be changed within narrow boundaries or by modification, the material can vary widely, even within one deposit.

Another focus of this issue of AT MINREAL PROCESSING is the presentation of the Competence Center with new roller press at Christian Pfeiffer Maschinenfabrik GmbH headquarters in Beckum. In an interview, Hendrik Kruse, Head of the Competence Center, provides information about the tasks and test facilities of the Competence Centre. One focus is on the further development of the company‘s own machines, while a second focus is on customer enquiries regarding the grindability of minerals.  

For the current year 2025, we wish you many successful projects as well as exciting encounters and interesting impulses during the upcoming trade fairs and conferences, which we will inform you about in the usual way.