Rio Tinto in discussions with SFO over Simandou probe

Rio Tinto is in discussions with the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) about a possible deal under which the miner would avoid prosecution on bribery allegations over dealings for the giant Simandou iron mine in Guinea, the Financial Times reported.

At two billion tonnes of iron ore with some of the highest grades in the industry, Simandou is one of the world’s biggest and richest reserves of the steelmaking material, but it has a controversial past.

The Office is reportedly seeking a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) over a payment Rio Tinto made that came under scrutiny in 2016. The world’s no. 2 miner  fired two senior managers over a questionable $10.5 million payment made to a consultant who helped the company secure the two blocks and alerted authorities, including the US Department of Justice and the UK’s Serious Fraud Office.

Rio Tinto had previously held rights to develop all four blocks of Simandou before being stripped of the rights to blocks 1 and 2 in 2008.

Emails from 2011 that were posted online showed senior Rio executives discussing the payment to Combret.

The messages indicate that Combret helped the company to secure its claim to half of Simandou with a $700 million payment to the then new government of Alpha Condé.

For negotiations to begin under a DPA, a company must agree to terms that include paying a fine and co-operating with future prosecutions.

According to information published by the SFO after a freedom of information request, 66 individuals were interviewed under caution in relation to DPAs between 2014 and April 2020 and 11 charged, but none have been convicted, the Financial Times reported.

Cone Crusher Cavity Types Performance and Improvement

Cone crusher is important equipment for crushing stone. Because of its high production efficiency, fine and uniform discharge, it is widely used in stone processing in mining and construction industries. It can break the stone from the following grades of particles. In order to produce different grades of products, crushing can be divided into medium crushing, medium-fine crushing, and fine crushing. The corresponding cavity shapes are standard, intermediate and short head. Our study of cavity-type is the study of the shape of the cone crusher liner.

The difference between various cavity types

The so-called cone crusher cavity, that is the space and shape enclosed by the cone crusher mantle and cone crusher concave. Cone crusher cavities include: standard cavity, middle cavity, and short head cavity. Such as 7 ft cone crusher, tight parallel bands length 240mm, feed inlet width 105mm as fine cavity; tight parallel bands length 163mm, feed inlet width 334mm as standard cavity.

Change and influence of cavity-type in operation

After cone liner and bowl liner had installed, its span life just some days. During the production wear process, the cavity shape continuously changes with the wear of the liner. The differences between them appear to be smaller and smaller, and their performance changes with the cavity type. If it regularly exchanges the cone crusher liners, it is ok. However, such as 7 Ft cone crusher, After 2 months working, the crusher liners also can work, but the processing capacity has been greatly reduced, so we need to study and change the cavity to suit.

Cavity Change Regular Pattern

Fine Cavity Change Regular Pattern

7ft fine cavity cone crusher as an example, when a new set cone crusher liners have installed, the cavity shape like the following figure (a); After one month working, the cavity shape like the following figure (b); After three months working, the cavity shape like the following figure (c):

Medium Cavity Change Regular Pattern

7ft medium cavity cone crusher as an example, when a new set cone crusher liners have installed, the cavity shape like the following figure (a); After one month working, the cavity shape like the following figure (b); After three months working, the cavity shape like the following figure (c):

@Nick Sun    NICK@XZHUAGANG.COM