Metso’s Lokotracks are cost cutting machines

The screening industry is all about performing faster and better. In this fast-paced world, being able to effectively cut costs becomes the corner stone of ensuring a business remains profitable, efficient and relevant, says, Sandro Scherf, CEO of Pilot Crushtec International.

“The Metso Lokotrack ST2.8 and its complimentary counterpart the Metso Lokotrack ST3.5 are necessary tools when screening an array of materials, whether its diamonds, sand, metals or manganese, the ST2.8 and ST3.5 will reduce material handling by up to 50%,” says Scherf.

The Lokotrack ST2.8, unlike other mobile scalping screens, has a two-way split option. This feature combines material flow from the first and second deck to the main conveyor and maximises the capacity and efficiency of the screening process, says Bradley Karolus, Sales Engineer at Pilot Crushtec International.

“When the ST2.8 is utilized in the two-way split mode, the non-working conveyor can be removed. This customisable ability and two-way split means oversize [rocks in diamond mining] goes out onto one conveyor belt, whilst product passes through to the product conveyor. This system eradicates double handling and reduces the amount of time the loader spends collecting material from different sides of the scalper, leading to a reduction in operating costs. Furthermore, the haul trucks are only loaded with product when they leave the loading site. The waste rock screened is left in a single pile on site to be rehabilitated immediately,” Karolus further explains.

Diamond screening applications is more efficient when the ST2.8 is fitted with Metso’s patented bofar bars, which allow the maximisation of the retention of valuable fine material while rejecting unwanted over size products.

“To further customise the sizing of the material processed by the Metso Lokotrack ST2.8 machine, you can have smaller spacing bofar bars at the first step on the top deck and larger spacing bofar bars at the bottom step of the same deck which will allow you to spread the material more evenly at the bottom deck, improving screening efficiency. The bottom deck is the most important screen deck because it’s the one that determines whether you are throwing diamonds into your product or are discarding them as waste product. With various screen media options, the Metso ST2.8 and ST3.5 ensures 100% efficiency at the bottom deck in various applications,” Karolus says.

Whilst most mobile screens tend to blind when dealing with sticky wet material such as clay, and wet sand, the Metso Lokotrack screens get around this problem through the application of Pilot Crushtec’s patented piano wires on the Metso ST3.5 and the Metso ST2.8 Lokotracks’ eccentric throw of 15 mm. Metso Lokotrack is suitable for screening alluvial diamond bearing material, top soil, demolition waste and river gravel. Galvanised walkways, strong steps and great access to all service points on the Metso ST2.8 increases safety, equipment value and longevity and reduces service time, Karolus says.

Metso Lokotrack ST2.8 is 25% lighter than similar machines in the market, making it more economic when it comes to transportation costs.

Despite its size, it can produce 600 tonnes per hour maximum feed.

To compliment this outage, Karolus says the Metso ST2.8 and ST3.5 have the best warranty in the market.

Pilot Crushtec offers a standard 1 year/2000 hours warranty with an optional 5 years/10 000 hours Equipment Protection Service (EPS) which covers major key components for the Metso equipment. Scheduled equipment inspection visits from a Metso-Certified inspector are also part of the EPS programme and ensures that any issues are caught early. Certified technicians and 24-hours parts support, help optimise your equipment’s life cycle and productivity to enable the lowest sustainable cost per ton production, Karolus concludes.