Sepro Mineral Systems began over 30 years ago as a small mineral processing equipment provider in British Columbia. Born with a vision to provide the world’s mineral, metal and aggregate industries with solutions to the most complex problems, Sepro has proven to be able to respond to the shifting needs of the mining sector, while providing steady growth for our clients. We’ve learned a lot through the decades, especially when it comes to designing and building the most advanced mineral recovery systems available. There is no better way to show how we’ve grown than by telling you the story of our gravity separation machines, otherwise known as the Falcon Concentrators.

Our First Falcon Gravity Concentrator

It all started with the Falcon B-Bowl. This machine had a simple design, no fluidizing water, and no riffles, just a cavity where concentrate would accumulate. The purpose of this machine was to effectively recover fine particles of gold without the use of fluidizing water. The machine functioned well and had success with recovering fine gold from fine gang particles; however, the B-Bowl was not able to adequately recover fine gold from coarse particles.

We now needed to take the B-Bowl and improve its design. We had to figure out a way to recover the finest particles of gold from coarse particle feed. We knew that our customers would benefit significantly from this development.

The Evolution Of Our Gravity Concentrators

Our research and development team used the B-Bowl as a base model for what we now offer – three powerful gravity separation machines. Depending upon your mineral recovery requirements, we can recommend the perfect gravity concentrator model and size for your project. Here is a quick rundown of these three gravity separators.

Falcon SB Gravity Concentrator

To improve the applications of our gravity concentrator with respect to gravity circuits, the Falcon SB added partial fluidizing water. With a partially fluidized system, we are able to recover both fine and coarse gold particles. There is a zone below the fluidized area where some of the extremely fine gold will accumulate. This zone would typically be flushed out to tails in a fully fluidized system, but with our concentrators, we are able to recover these fine particles. Our Falcon SB Gravity Concentrator can also handle coarser feed than the B-Bowl. It can handle up to 6mm in top size, although for best performance we recommend screening at 2mm ahead of the machine.

Falcon UF Gravity Concentrator

The gravity concentrator that most closely resembles the original B-Bowl is the Falcon UF Gravity Concentrator. With this machine, we can selectively recover particles at size fractions previously unheard of, all the way down to 3 microns in size. The UF stands for ultra-fine.

The Falcon UF Concentrator uses no fluidizing water which helps keep operating costs and environmental impact low. This is our most powerful gravity separator. With an industry-leading maximum force of 600x gravity, you can recover tin, tantalum, and tungsten at the smallest sizes possible.

Falcon C Gravity Concentrator

The final gravity concentrator that came from our original B-Bowl design is the Falcon C model. The C stands for continuous, as it is able to continually produce concentrate without having a rinse cycle. Similar to the Falcon UF, this gravity concentrator does not use any process water during operation. The simple and robust design of the Falcon C means that unit operating costs are the lowest in the industry, typically only a few cents per tonne treated.

For recovery of tin, tantalum, tungsten, chrome, cobalt, iron, fine oxidized coal, and uranium down to 10 microns in size, the Falcon C your ideal choice.

Improving The Gravity Separation Process

Sepro Mineral Systems is always looking to break through the status-quo. Substantial investment in research and design have allowed us to create superior products like the Blackhawk 100 Cone Crusher and our series of Gravity Concentrators. We are currently researching ways to further reduce water and energy consumption in the mining industry to reduce the environmental impacts for our industry.

Looking for gravity separation to help you recover minerals like gold, tin, and tantalum at record highs? Give our mineral system experts a call or send us a message. We’d be happy to help you choose the right equipment for your current project.