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Smelting Operations
The smelter produces a high carbon ferrochrome product from two submerged electric arc furnaces with the power ratings of 7.8 MVA and 12.0 MVA.
Charge Car Feeding One of the Furnaces
The furnace tapping takes place after every 3 – 4 hours of full power running. The cascading method of tapping is used where alloy and slag is tapped onto the ground that is prepared with slag fines.
Raw Material Receiving and Preparation
Chrome Ore, fluxes, together with coke and coal are delivered by rail and road. After sizing of ores, the raw materials are fed into storage bins ready for blending. A Weighing Car is used to produce a furnace blend which is stored in furnace charge bins, prior to being fed into the furnaces.
Product Preparation
The molten material is tapped from the furnaces using the cascading method where by slag fines are used to prepare the alloy and slag moulds. The cooled alloy in form of ingots is sent to the product preparation area where it is crushed and sized. A hand picking process in which slag is picked off a sorting belt upgrades the +20mm - 100mm product.
The -20mm product is treated by the magnetic separator, where the magnetic material comes out as clean alloy and the non-magnetic material is then sent for gravity concentration at the jigging plant.
Production Capacity
The Plant has two furnaces with the following production capacities:
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Furnace 1
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Furnace 2
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Furnace Type
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Demag Submerged Arc Furnace
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Demag Submerged Arc Furnace
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Furnace Shell Diameter
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6.3 metres
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8.0 metres
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Transformer Capacity
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7.8 MVA
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12.0 MVA
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Monthly Capacity
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1,080 M/T - Out of Furnace
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1,620 M/T - Out of Furnace
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Saleable
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918 M/T
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1,377 M/T
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Efficiencies
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Ore/Alloy
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3.00
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3.00
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kWh/MT
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4.50
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4.50
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Power Factor
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0.92
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0.88
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