Processing of the ores exploited from small low-grade ore bodies, in one hand, and remote location of such mines, on the other hand, have made it a challenge to provide adequate infrastructures for such mines. In many cases, the mentioned challenge have ended up abandoning these mines.
Application of portable mineral processing plants not only makes it possible to exploit such abandoned reserves, but also makes it economically viable to mine small-scale low-grade metal mines in different locations across the country.
As of present, a total of 5,455 mines have been registered and in service in Iran.
The main problem, however, is that, most of the mines in Iran are small in scale, and this has been turned into a chronic pain from which the Iranian mining industry is suffering. The small scale of a mine keeps us from making the mine mechanized, not to say that the use traditional mining methods leads to significantly higher finished cost.
Moreover, development of processing plants besides such small mines cannot be economically justified due to low production rates and lack of the required infrastructures in remote areas. Increased price of energy carriers during the recent years has significantly contributed to higher transportation costs, so that there are cases where the transportation cost of each ton of the ore is several times higher than the value of the ore itself.
The mentioned problems tend to force the producer toward selling raw material, rather than processed products, thereby lowering the value added and overall performance of the business.
This is where economic viability and technical feasibility of establishing portable mineral processing plants are highlighted, so as to reduce the transportation cost and provide the required infrastructures for processing the soil at small moderate-grade mines and hence increase the created value added and productivity.
Advantages of portable mineral processing plants
– Possibility for transporting the plant machineries to the project site on trailers.
– Quick deployment and start-up of the plant within the shortest possible time.
– No need to complex and heavy foundations for the machineries.
– High flexibility of the machineries in terms of the position of each unit.
– Ease of maintenance and quick provision of spare parts.
– Savings in fuel (oil and gas) costs for mineral activities considering the resultant decrease in the required volume of long-range transportation.
– Activation and economic efficiency of small-scale low-grade metal mines which were otherwise abandoned and inactive.
– Low-cost design and construction of portable mineral processing plants, as compared to the mineral prices in international markets.
– Lower damages to fundamental national infrastructures (e.g., environment and roads).
– Empowering the workforce, reinforcing the competitiveness, and guiding the miners toward creating the value added.
– Population stabilization by job creation in deprived areas of the country.