Briquetter solves a pressing problem
A limestone mining and processing plant installs a roll-press briquetter to turn previously wasted fines into valuable product.
Finding a market for process by-products has challenged companies in all industries as competition and cost-cutting goals -- not to mention environmental concerns -- have driven the search for alternatives to landfilling or storage. The mining industry is no different. Linwood Mining & Minerals Corp. has operated a calcium carbonate limestone mining operation near Davenport, Iowa, for more than half a century. It sells aggregate limestone to the construction industry and pebble lime to water treatment plants and the steel industry. Hydrated lime fines were sold for stack purification [desulfurizing] and asphalt paving. Increased production, however, eventually left the plant with more fines than it could sell.