Spiral separators, or spirals for short, are a versatile method of gravity separation that can deal with a comparatively wide size range. Separation is achieved as a result of centrifugal forces induced by slurry running down the spiral, which forces lighter minerals to the outer bend whilst heavier minerals stay closer to the central axis of the spiral. Different geometries of spiral suit different applications, for instance coal spirals are comparatively wide with shallow angle spirals whilst heavy mineral spirals are narrower and have higher spiral angles. This makes spirals a versatile piece of equipment suited to a wide range of ores.
GSL have five Mineral Technologies spirals to suit the needs of your project:
- MG4 – Generic spiral for <40% heavy minerals
- MG6 – Generic spiral for <40% heavy minerals
- HG – High grade heavy mineral spiral for 20 – 90% heavy minerals feed
- FM1 – Fine mineral spiral for separations in the 30 – 150µm range
- Coal spiral for rejection of silicates and other ash minerals
These single-start spirals are all full plant-scale single-start units, enabling us to perform large scale gravity separations as well as provide design data for spiral separator plants.
