QPEC Experience in the Design and Manufacture of Mixer-Settlers

The following is a brief description of Quinn Process Equipment Company’s experience in the area of design for mixer-settler solvent extraction units.

Quinn Process Equipment Company has specialized, for over 25 years, in the design and manufacture of process equipment for pilot plants and small commercial size plants in the minerals industry. Our equipment includes materials handling, crushing, grinding, classification, agitation, conditioning, flotation, filters, pumps, thickeners and mixer-settler solvent extraction equipment.

The majority of our equipment can be supplied in a broad range of materials of construction to meet the needs of the particular application. These include mild steel, many stainless steel alloys, a wide variety of rubber linings, urethane lined, many thermoplastics, fiberglass in numerous resins and other exotic alloys and materials such as titanium, inconel and monel materials.

We have extensive experience in the successful design and manufacture of a broad range of mixer-settlers. The following is a description of our history, installations, personnel of operating plants that you are free to contact (some of these plants are confidential and the client will probably be hesitant to discuss the exact process).

Quinn Process Equipment Company has been the leader in the field of designing and manufacturing complete mixer-settler solvent extraction units for more than 25 years. These units have always included the mixer and settler tank(s) and also the complete mixer mechanism(s).

We have furnished or designed QPEC Mixer-Settler units for flow rates from 100ml/min. to 2000 gpm. Units can be furnished in a wide range of materials of construction including polypropylene, alloy steels, other thermoplastics and a broad selection of FRP resins to suit each application.

The following is a partial list of QPEC Mixer-Settler installations. Our installations, as indicated, cover a wide range of minerals such as copper, molybdenum, indium, germanium, gallium, boron, yttrium, uranium, vanadium, etc.

As can be seen from the above list, QPEC has furnished numerous mixer settlers to a wide range of new and repeat clients. Our units are in use throughout the world with numerous plants in Canada, Southeast Asia, the United States and Chile, to name a few.

Some operating personnel for you to contact for references are as follows:

--- Harold Roberts

International Uranium Corp. (Formerly Energy Fuels)

Phone: (303) 628 7798

--- Bill Ahrens

Consulting Engineer to US Filter

Phone: (520) 743 0663

--- Richard Leiby

East Penn Manufacturing (Pennsylvania)

Phone: (610) 682 6361

--- Maureen Patterson (Project Engineer- Copper Range Mining)

Kvaerner Metals/ Davy International

Phone: (416) 340 1145

--- Randy Scheffel - Consultant- Myanmar Holdings

Phone: (303) 526 2163

--- James King

Placer Dome Mining

Phone: (604) 661 1587

We have furnished units with settlers as large as 25' x 62' and 32' x 62' with mixers for Chevron's Pana Maria plant and Energy Fuels at Blanding, Utah. QPEC units have treated pH's in the 1.0

range and gpm flows from 100 ml/min. to 2000 gpm. We have also designed free-standing FRP mixer-settlers with mixers as large as 13' diameter and 80' x 80' settler tanks.

Our pilot plant units are designed as package systems complete with all interstage piping, and provision for recycles as necessary, mounted on a common structural steel frame complete with electric drive motors in explosion proof construction with VFD speed controls shipped separately for customer installation.

All of the companies shown on the above list purchased the complete mixer-settler units from Quinn Process Equipment Company. All systems started up quickly without complications or failures. They all performed to complete satisfaction without difficulty.

Of interest, James E. Quinn, Chairman of the Board of Quinn Process Equipment Company and Mr. Wayne Hazen initially conceived, developed and put into operation the use of a single pumping turbine to agitate the mixer contents, advance organic and aqueous, and to recycle either phase.

James Quinn also previously spent 26 years with Denver Equipment Company (recently purchased by Svedala). During this period he personally directed the development, design and sales of all their mixer-settler units which encompassed virtually all of such systems installed in the United States during this period. This effort included some 18 systems for USA uranium and vanadium operations plus a 4500 gpm low grade borate project and many others. All of those systems worked extremely well and required little if any alteration.

In our history, 70% of the plants were furnished on projects involving both small and large engineering companies, the others involved working directly with the client.