Download MEDIA RELEASE 1st April 2010 Design Review of Existing

MEDIA RELEASE
1st April 2010
Design Review of Existing Centrifugal
Concentrator Applications
Gekko Systems has released the results of a worldwide operational and design
review of all existing centrifugal concentrators. The study compared mineral
recoveries obtained in design testwork against the actual performance obtained
in plant operation. A number of critical parameters were found to have a major
influence on the observed discrepancies. These included the usual suspects
including differences in yield, feed rate, G force, mineral size and sample
selection. However, there was one factor identified which surprised all
participants.
It was found that laboratory testwork carried out in the opposite hemisphere to the
final plant installation was particularly poor in predicting performance. Professor
N. Piqua, who performed the exhaustive statistical analysis stated, “In 58% of
these contra-hemispherical cases the prediction was, well, very poor, almost to
the point of appearing as statistical aberrations, whereas the remaining 42% of
cases were well within the
98% confidence limit. Closer
inspection of the data
revealed a 100% negative
correlation between
predictive accuracy, and
rotational direction
compliance in the data set.
In other words, the prediction
was accurate for plants in the
opposite hemisphere, only if
the direction of rotation was
reversed.”
A review of all data showed the magnitude of the effect was directly related to the
difference in latitude between the test and plant location. Professor Piqua
continued, “the observed effect is due to the interaction between the earth’s
combined rotation and gravitational local field vector and the local rotational and
gravitational field vector exerted by the centrifugal device. This is opposite in the
north and south hemispheres and is similar to the Coriolis effect which
determines the rotational direction of weather systems and bath water.”
Gekko Systems has now relocated its testing facilities as close as practicable to the equator to
neutralise this effect. After close consideration of Kampala in Uganda, Samarinda in Indonesia and
Kismaayo in Somalia, the laboratories have been moved to the Maldives in the Indian Ocean and the
Galapagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean. “We believe these locations will allow us to maximise
testwork effectiveness and will be very influential in attracting customers and staff...due to their ideal
location near the equator and directly opposite each other on the globe ..., of course.”
In a closely related announcement, Gekko Systems has launched its new “TAS” technology,
developed as an offshoot of the centrifugal concentrator survey results, to produce and utilise the
extremely rare crystalline carbon compound, mithium. This naturally occurring compound is an ultra
high molecular mass (UHMM) carbon network with structure and properties combining those of
diamond, graphite and bucky balls.
Mithium was first identified in extremely low
concentrations as a thin passivating layer on
platinum group metal sulfides recovered from only
the deepest mines in South Africa. These layers
prevented economic recovery.
Using extremely high G forces in Gekko Systems’
new GenerationY InLine Spinner (model ISP3000Y)
in the complete absence of the Coriolis field, the
mithium film can be sheared away from the PGM
surface allowing recovery of the contained PGMs
and isolation of the mithium.
During testwork the largest ever quantity of pure
A mithium sheet in its natural state
mithium, 42 mg, was produced allowing further study
of its catalytic properties. Pure mithium has now
been confirmed to control the structure and growth of organic carbon polymers including amino acids
and proteins. The complex surface contours of the mithium sheets can be used to hold organic atoms
in specific arrangements allowing them to bond to each other in that specific arrangement; the new
molecule is then released allowing the active reaction sites to be reused and the process continues as
long as raw material is supplied. Researchers are learning how to use mithium’s electrical properties
to manipulate the shape of the crystal sheet to program the article produced.
In an impressive display of its catalytic properties 10mg of mithium was added to a petri dish. After 15
minutes this had been transformed into a three-course meal of mock turtle soup, roast beef with
potatoes and strawberries and cream. All the mithium was subsequently recovered. Research is
continuing to update the menu to beyond the Victorian era.
In a parallel stream of research, the application of massive electrical currents during the initial stages
of polymerisation is being investigated. However, access to this laboratory was temporarily
suspended after the lead scientist, Professor Steven McKing, had a nervous breakdown and was
isolated in the medical wing muttering over and over again “it creeps, and leaps, and glides and
slides.”
Gekko Systems is seeking new applications for mithium and expressions of interest in the “TAS”
process (Terenic and Autocatalytic Simulation). Interested parties should contact Gekko’s Technical
Director, Sandy Gray.