- Flow Minerals
- Mineral Processing
- Steelpoort, Limpopo
A Chrome Beneficiation Washplant, Fabricated and Commissioned
Trailored built the steel for Flow Minerals' chrome washplant from drawing to start-up: feed bins, wash bins, slurry distributor heads and an eight-metre spiral support structure, erected and commissioned on site.
An export-grade chrome plant, built to run on a mine site
Lenong Flow Minerals is a black-owned chrome beneficiation company in Steelpoort, on the Eastern Limb of the Bushveld Igneous Complex, where most of the world's ferrochrome originates. They needed a gravity-separation washplant to upgrade run-of-mine chrome ore into export-grade concentrate.
The work called for heavy process vessels and a tall structure that could carry a multi-stage spiral circuit, take constant slurry loading and stand up to a working mine-site environment. Flow Minerals needed the plant fabricated, erected and commissioned, not simply supplied as loose parts.
Steel from drawing to start-up
- Feed bins and wash bins. Rolled and welded mild steel hoppers and vessels with discharge flanges, sized to feed the circuit evenly.
- Slurry distributor heads. Rolled cylindrical vessels with multiple outlet spigots that split feed across the spiral banks.
- Spiral support structure. An approximately eight-metre structural steel tower carrying the multi-stage spiral concentrators.
- Access walkways, platforms and ladders for safe operation and maintenance at height.
- Chutes, launders and slurry pipework tying the circuit together.
- On-site assembly and commissioning, through to running the plant up to steady production.
A feed bin fabricated in the shop, with the rolled hopper transition and discharge flange.
The feed bin and feed conveyor installed on site.
Screen, chute and support frame tying the circuit together.
The spiral support structure assembled on site, with feed bins and access platforms in place.Where the fabrication earned its keep
- Plate rolling and forming. The distributor heads and bin transitions were rolled from plate and welded into watertight, abrasion-facing vessels.
- Structure designed for live load. The tower carries the static mass of the spirals plus the dynamic load of continuous slurry flow, at height, on a mine site.
- Corrosion protection. Components were galvanised and finished in high-visibility paint for a wet, abrasive chrome-processing duty.
- Built to be maintained. Walkways and platforms give operators safe access to every spiral stage for a plant that runs around the clock.
In the shop. The plant is principally mild steel, plate-rolled and welded, then surface-protected.
A slurry distributor head, rolled and welded with its outlet spigots, before finishing.
The same distributor head finished and ready for installation.
The structure carries the spirals above and the wash bins beneath.What it is made of
The plant is fabricated principally in mild steel, plate-rolled and welded, then surface-protected by galvanising and paint for a wet chrome-processing duty.
The spiral concentrators themselves are proprietary gravity-separation units. Trailored fabricated the structure and vessels that carry and feed them, and integrated the complete circuit on site.
The spiral concentrator banks, integrated into the fabricated support structure.
Spiral concentrators and slurry pipework on the platform.
Access walkways run between every spiral bank for safe operation.Fabricated in our workshop, erected on site
Every vessel and the eight-metre spiral support structure was fabricated from raw plate in Trailored's own workshop — cut, rolled, welded and surface-protected in-house, not bought in.
We then loaded the plant onto flatbeds, trucked it to Steelpoort, and assembled and commissioned it on site with our own team.
The spiral support structure under fabrication in our workshop.
Assembling the spirals onto the structure in the shop.
Wash bins and access steelwork, fabricated in-house.
Loading the structure frame for the road to Steelpoort.
Loading out the spiral circuit and components.
Assembly and commissioning on site, by our team.Commissioned, and in production
The washplant was fabricated, erected and commissioned over roughly four months and is in steady production in Steelpoort, running at around three tonnes per hour and producing chrome concentrate at the 40 to 44 percent Cr₂O₃ export grade Flow Minerals supplies to market.
For Trailored, the project is proof of heavy industrial fabrication well beyond transport equipment: large process vessels, an eight-metre structural steel plant, and the on-site assembly and commissioning to make it run.
Commissioning on site, with a front-end loader charging the feed bin.
The completed washplant, in production in Steelpoort.What we can fabricate for you
This is the kind of heavy steel work Trailored builds to order, from your drawings or worked up with you, and erected and commissioned on site:
- Feed bins, wash bins and hoppers
- Slurry distributor and splitter heads
- Spiral support structures and process superstructures
- Chutes, launders and slurry pipework
- Access walkways, platforms and ladders
- Custom mild and stainless steel process vessels
Frequently asked questions about chrome washplant fabrication
How long did the chrome washplant take to fabricate and commission?
Trailored fabricated, erected and commissioned the Flow Minerals washplant over roughly four months — from raw plate in our workshop through to a plant running in steady production on site in Steelpoort.
What throughput does the washplant run at?
The plant runs at around three tonnes per hour, upgrading run-of-mine chrome ore through a multi-stage gravity-separation spiral circuit.
What chrome grade does the plant produce?
It produces chrome concentrate at the 40 to 44 percent Cr₂O₃ export grade that Flow Minerals supplies to market.
Can Trailored fabricate and commission a plant on site?
Yes. Trailored fabricates heavy process vessels and structural steel in-house, then trucks, assembles and commissions the plant on site — as we did for Flow Minerals' eight-metre spiral support structure in Steelpoort.
Have a plant, structure or vessel that needs fabricating?
Trailored fabricates heavy steel for mining and industry, and erects and commissions on site. Tell us what you need built.