METHOD AND EQUIPMENT FOR PREPARING ORE CONCENTRATE FOR PELLETIZING

A method and equipment for preparing ore concentrate for pelletizing. The method com- prises a) feeding the concentrate to a grinder (2); b) grinding the concentrate in a grinder (2) together with an amount of water, if needed,and possibly added additives to obtain a mixture;c) mixing the mixture in a slurry mixer (3);d) filtering the mixture in a filter (4);e) conveying the mixture on a first conveyor (5) from the filter (4) to a buffer bin (6a);f) buffer storing the mixture in the buffer bin (6a); g) conveying the mixture on a second convey- or (7) while adding additives from additive bins (6b,c, d), to a mixer (8),h) mixing the mixture and the additives in the mixer (8);i) if needed, feeding an amount of water to the mixer (8);j) transferring the mixture to a pelletizing device (9);and k) pelletizing the mixture in a pelletizing device (9) to form green pellets. The moisture content of the mixture is continuously measured by an online measurement method with sensors (10) during at least one of the method steps d) to j), and the amount of water to be fed into the mixer (8) in the mixing step h) is continuously regulated by a control unit (14) on the basis of said measured moisture content value to ensure that the mixture has a predetermined moisture content to produce green pellets having a predetermined pellet size and/or strength.