In 2014, a producer of mineral sands in India was having production difficulties at its processing plant with a dredge used for raw material acquisition. The plant's target annual production is 200,000 tons per year of ilmenite from 1.8mm tons of ore. The plant's employees were facing a potential layoff due to lack of product.
Consequently, the mIneral sands producer awarded an excavation contract to a local dredge contractor to increase production. The dredge contractor immediately contacted KEHAN International, the professional manufacturer of cutter suction dredges. The contractor and KEHAN International jointly determined that the standard KHCSD250 dredger was the most economical way to save the project. The KHCSD250 is powered by a single Cummins diesel engine rated at 336kw and can excavate to 8 meters below the surface. KEHAN built the Series 250 for inventory and had a new unit plus spares on a vessel headed to Bombay within 6 days of receiving the order. The dredger and spares were transported on two trucks from the Port of Bombay to the site. Under the supervision of an KEHAN field service engineer, the contractor installed the dredger with two cranes in the same pit where the older dredger was operating. The Series 250 dredge was in full operation within hours of arriving at the site with fantastic results. The Series 250 has a
12" x 10" (300mm x 250mm) pump, smaller than the unit it was replacing. Nevertheless, according to the chief executive, in 2 days of operation the Series 250 produced more sand than the other larger unit produced in 3 months!
The Series 250 is currently pumping medium to coarse sand approximately 300 meters to a sand processing plant. The sand is separated into two types of sand, red and black, and five minerals are extracted in the process. The finished product is sold in India and overseas. The product is utilized in the building trades and the manufacture of glass.
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