Recovery Technology Support

Ignite, a division of De Beers Group, provides world-class diamond processing products and services across the globe. Ignite’s team of specialised technicians ensure that a high standard of product support is maintained.

A number of functions are performed by the product support team throughout the product life-cycle. These include the provision of specialised skills during the manufacturing, assembly and testing of the actual products. Both factory acceptance, site commissioning and testing are performed with the clients to demonstrate the performance of the product in accordance with machines specification.

In formal operational and maintenance training is sometimes provided to metallurgists and technicians before and during machine hand over, whereas formal training and knowledge transfer takes place during subsequent plant visits.

Scheduled inspections are performed on sorting machines to ensure a high standard of separation efficiency. These inspections also serve as a standardised plant audit that provides management with an unbiased view of the performance of the diamond recovery plant. De Beers Group Technology technicians normally perform these duties alongside the plant technicians, to ensure that optimal knowledge transfer and training takes place during these activities. Repairs can be performed as part of the service depending on the
requirements of the client.

First level repairs are sometimes performed by mine personnel while the Ignite team is geared to perform second level repairs. Certain modules or machine parts can be returned to De Beers Group Ignite for repair. The team then liaise with mine personnel to determine whether to repair or replace an item. The Ignite technicians also respond to occasional breakdowns on request from the operations.

Continuous improvement to the machine design takes place based on feedback from field technicians and end users. Unit life cycle management forms an integral part of the product development. Some De Beers Group Ignite -produced machines have been in operation for more than 20 years.