Derrick Corporation has been in the iron ore industry since the early 1950s with the first high frequency screen for flux grinding installed at US Steel.
Our pioneering spirit is best demonstrated by our research and development team’s long-term commitment to continuous innovation. Our quest to perpetually reinvent ourselves is exemplified by our ever-growing portfolio in the iron ore market.
For many years Derrick has been a world leader in fine screening technology and this has enabled us to provide solutions for iron ore applications with difficult fine-separation challenges.
Similar to other commodities, iron ore was not spared the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown restrictions which saw the global economy threaten to collapse. The current Russia and Ukraine war is also affecting the iron ore market. According to recent ANZ Research, Ukraine was the world’s fourth-largest exporter of iron ore, second-largest exporter of pig iron or crude iron and third-largest exporter of semi-finished steel. These two major events have disrupted the global iron ore supply and demand.
Derrick Corporation has observed a global drive for fine iron ore screening applications, typically between 2 mm and 38 micron separation. As explained by most of our customers, the drive is pushed by the demand for DRI (Direct Reduction Iron) in the production of iron ore pellets as well as boosting the global economic growth due the current political and health environment. As per latest Fact.MR analysis, the key drivers for iron ore pellets demand are:
• Depletion of high-grade iron ore reserves, which is impacting the growth of iron ore pellets market. • The pellets are preferred to parent ore, pig iron and lump ore because of their uniform particle size, high metallisation rate, increased productivity, lower energy cost, higher yield, increased permeability in blast furnaces, optimum fuel consumption rate and lower maintenance cost. • Increased stricter emission regulations and some of the environmental advantages associated with iron ore pellets are low carbon, sulphur, and nitrogen oxides emissions in blast furnaces. • Vehicle production increase and rise in construction activities to drive global economy
Derrick technology Derrick’s design and application engineers have combined their mechanical and industry knowledge with our innovative separation technology to provide customers with state-of-the-art solutions to meet their ever-changing needs.
The Derrick SuperStack with eight decks operating in parallel and innovative front-to-back (FTB) tensioning system, has a demonstrated capacity of up to three times that of the best fine screens currently available. This added capacity only adds a slight increase in the space required per machine, significantly reducing the total capital and installation cost as well as OPEX for any screening installation.
This has opened a market for high throughput/capacity iron ore operations where screens were not previously considered due the number of screens that would have been required. Derrick dry sizing machines utilise high speed, low amplitude technology to solve countless difficult dry mineral sizing challenges. Derrick’s commitment to this pioneering technology has resulted in the recent evolution of dry screening.
Our new dry sizing machines utilise true linear motion to achieve higher capacity with small footprints. Alternate dry sizing machine designs use a parallel to-flow screen panel tensioning system (FTB tensioning) to achieve even higher capacity.
Long slot, short slot, and square mesh urethane screen panels add the benefits of a life typically 20 times longer than woven wire panels; and of a high open area like that of woven wire panels with anti-blinding surfaces. Derrick recently supplied 88 Multireed screens to an Australian iron ore mine for a sizing application at 38 microns.
Derrick application in African iron ore market
Derrick Corporation has been supplying the African iron ore market since the earlies 1980s with an installation of 60 dry screens in Mauritania for a magnetite sizing application at 1.7 mm cut. These machines are installed in an extreme harsh, remote environment and have stood the test of time to prove their robustness, reliability, and performance.
They are still in operation to date and the client is still receiving support from Derrick to ensure that the screens are operating efficiently. Viewing the performance of the initial 60 screens mentioned, Derrick was approached by the same customer to review their current conventional dry screens due to their sheer size, approximately 11 m long by 4 m wide.
These huge machines failed spectacularly from day one: they suffered from major breakdowns; e.g. gearbox failures, screen frame cracks, inducing resonance to the plant structure, panel blinding combined with high maintenance and downtime.
These conventional screens were installed in an HPGR circuit, where they significantly affected the overall performance of the circuit, resulting in reduced magnetite recovery.
After conducting test work, Derrick was able to offer two dry screens to be retrofitted in the same footprint as one conventional screen to achieve higher screening efficiency of >90%, higher throughput, up to 75% increased capacity and a more robust reliable screen for a separation at 8 mm and 1.7 mm.
The high demand of iron pellet has led one of our clients to expand their existing iron ore operation in Liberia to a 15 Mtpa of concentrate capacity plant. For this expansion the client has introduced 27 Derrick SuperStack screens for a coarse and fine iron ore recovery at 400 and 100 microns, respectively.
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