Mill Chutes

Mill feed transfer points and scrubber feed chutes are traditionally considered high wear and high maintenance installations. However, this need not be the case. Through the correct control of the material feed into the mill feed or scrubber it is possible to significantly reduce wear and tear, and consequently maintenance.

The transfer point into the mill feed or scrubber is critical with problems often arising due to the nature of this application as these areas are subjected to high velocity, and excessive wear and tear is linked directly to the speed of the material.

Large quantities of water, required for the milling process, are fed with the material into the mill or scrubber chute. In ball mill applications, balls are also fed through the transfer point or chute into the mill itself. Traditionally, mills are lined with either cast high chrome, manganese or rubber liners, and even though mill chutes may have similar lining materials applied these are not always sufficiently robust to counter the excessive wear caused by the uncontrolled discharge of materials.

Another challenge in this application is the interface between the stationary chute and the rotating mill. Uncontrolled discharge of bulk materials and water will escalate the cost of maintenance, and could result in other related problems, all of which could add up to unnecessary expenditure and added aggravations for the engineers concerned.

By leveraging the Weba Cascade Chute design ensuring the most appropriate configuration in the head section of the chute full control of the material will be achieved with a reduction in wear. With this well-engineered design customers will be able to limit the impact into the lined feed spout section where the water is introduced through a separate flood box. Here, again by controlling the product flow in the Weba chute, customers will significantly reduce the high wear rates that are traditionally experienced in the mill feed spout. This will result in a reduction in the associated costs related to transfer points.