“We were looking for fundamental innovation and not just incremental improvements to existing technologies.”
Felix Scharfe, Managing Partner
Searching for a better way to separate ore minerals from waste and metals from slags
The idea was to use physical methods to crush and separate ores or slags. We changed the geometry of the axle from horizontal to vertical and maximized the momentum transfer from hammer tools into the ore through multiple high-velocity impacts.
The challenge: efficient particle liberation
The international mining community is faced with a problem: most of the high-grade ores were mined a long time ago. Now new methods are needed to extract the ore minerals and thus valuable metal resources from increasingly low-grade and more complex ores both efficiently and profitably. Additionally, there is the challenging issue of incomplete particle liberation, which causes problems in subsequent froth flotation and costly loss of commodity minerals.
The VeRoLiberator® Technology
The heart of the VeRoLiberator® is a vertical axle-in-axle system. The vertical axles with three levels of impact tools rotate at very high speeds. These special steel hammer tools rotate clockwise and counterclockwise against each other, multiplying the impact forces on the materials. The particle flow in the comminution chamber is highly turbulent and the disintegration of the ore happens predominantly without contact with the tool due to the highly efficient momentum transfer. Most of the breakage occurs along particle boundaries, which is the most energy efficient way to comminute ore and liberate the commodity minerals from the barren waste.
The main principle behind the VeRoLiberator® is high-velocity rotation. The ore passes gravitationally and continuously through the comminution cylinder, where it is subjected to high-frequency, high-velocity impacts. The axles turn both clockwise and counterclockwise against each other, multiplying the already high impact forces.