According to the schedule of scheduled repairs two ball mills have been replaced at the ore beneficiation plant of Central Iron Ore. That work is systematically carried out at the plant to avoid unpredictable failures in the production process.

It took equipment repair specialists 86 hours to replace two large ball mills with drum sizes of 4.5 m by 6 m. During that time, they managed to dismantle the equipment that was to be replaced and install another one with a new lining. This time, the mill, which is involved in the first stage of grinding, that is, located at the "head" of the process chain, was replaced. It accepts ore directly, so it has a durable metal lining that serves the equipment for eight months, and after that it must be replaced. During this time, as a rule, the basic components of the mill wear out, which are also regularly updated. These are the unloading and loading pipes and the feeder housing.

A drum with new lining was also installed at the mill which is used by employees of the ore beneficiation plant at the third stage of grinding. There, the equipment no longer deals with ore, but with an industrial product - iron ore concentrate ground to a powder state mixed with water. A rubber and metal lining is already used here, which is replaced once every three years.

At the same time with the replacement of the mills, a number of important repairs were carried out at the plant, in particular, a leakage of an inclined conveyor was re-lined. This will optimize the operation of the equipment and contribute to the stable operation of the unit. The main repair work was carried out by Metinvest-Promservice specialists.

"The equipment of the ore beneficiation plant is large and diverse. Each of its components is connected to a different process chain. The final result of the workers' of the beneficiation plant work, i.e. the quantity and quality of the obtained iron ore concentrate, depends on the serviceability of each element of the equipment. Therefore, maintaining the equipment in a stable working condition is the main task of the engineering service, which we effectively solve every day," said Serhiy BEZVERSHENKO, Deputy Head for Engineering of the Ore Beneficiation Plant.