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Valve and valve-related product supplier TTV Fluval reports that the mining industry has been a significant consumer of its range of Smart valve positioners since its launch, with products mostly being supplied to gold and platinum mining projects and lately to iron-ore, man-ganese and diamond processing plants.

Henan Hongxing Mining Machinery Co., Ltd is a joint-stock mining machinery manufacturing enterprise integrated in scientific research, production and marketing. It is located at the High & New Technology Industries Development Zone of Zhengzhou,China with an area of 50 thousand m2 which includes 15,000 m2 of standard heavy duty industrial workshop. Equipments are more than 160 pieces, including large and medium sized metal processing, riveting and installing equipments. There are more than 660 workers including 80 administrators with secondary and senior occupational titles and engineering technicians. In order to promote the competitive strength, the advanced technologies have been introduced from America, Germany, Japan and Australia, which established the international advanced production line, first-class modern testing base as well as research centers of sand maker, mill and mine-selecting equipment. Scientific management, advanced processing technology and innovative manufacturing theory make the company become the mining machinery manufacturing and exporting base in China.

The positioners are used to control the opening or closing of electric and pneumatic actuators on automatic control and dart valves.

The largest orders have been placed by platinum-group metals (PGMs) producer Lonmin, the Langer Heinrich uranium mine, in Namibia, Kenmare Resources’ Moma mineral sands mine, in Mozambique, PGMs producer Impala Platinum’s operations, in Rustenburg and Springs, and major platinum producer Anglo American Platinum.

“The range was launched three years ago and the sales growth, since then, has been beyond our expectation and is a clear indication that we have a unique product,” states TTV Fluval MD Frank Olsen.

The newest addition to the Smart valve positioner range is the SS2R, which is more suited to mining environments.

This model features a patented flapper-nozzle coil drive system that enables the positioner to handle large amounts of mois-ture, unlike the conventional SSR positioner that works on a ‘piezo’ valve system – a minia-ture control valve used in conventional Smart positioners that is sensitive to moisture and dirt and may easily clog and cause the positioner to operate erratically.

“The newly improved and designed valve positioner range can handle harsher condi-tions, moisture and dust, making it more robust and ideal for mining applications,” says Olsen.

He notes that introducing a new brand of products to the company’s customers was initially challenging for TTV Fluval as customers have difficulty accepting new brands.

The Smart valve positioner range is manu-factured in Korea by electropneumatic posi- tioner for linear and rotary valves manufac-turer Power Genex for Torqmatic Systems, a subsidiary of the TTV Fluval group of companies, which supplies branded valve automation products and accessories.