In order to suppress and prevent dust when extracting minerals, treat and store mining and quarry materiel for use in recycling or other industries Cap Minerals has developed a simple, reliable and high-performing solution with its dust suppression systems.
Our many years of experience have allowed us to adapt our research to specific applications in order to find solutions to the most exacting applications.
We are constantly listening to our customer feedback while striving to grade our techniques upward for optimal results.
 

Dust suppression has become necessary in order to comply with new regulations:
• Protection of personnel in compliance with general regulations in extractive industries
• Improvement of working conditions
• Environmental protection
• A solution to technical constraints in making some types of materials

Labour code article R.231-54 to 58:
Air purification is a prescribed obligation: the average concentration for an 8 hour day at a given work station must be less that 1 mg of dust/m3of air.

By-law 94-784 dated 2 September 1994 and voted on 7 May, 1980 on dustiness completes the general rules and regulations governing extractive industries.
Its objective is to prevent pneumoconiosis caused by inhalation of different types of dust and in particular the risk of silicosis:
➢ By reducing the amount of dust in the atmosphere in the workplace;
➢ By allowing only qualified personnel to work in a dust-filled environment.
 

 Dust is produced when different types of materials are being transported or transferred on conveyor belts, during grinding, sifting, storage of various types of minerals or simply when handling vehicles are in circulation around these installations.

We can define dust as a fine particle that becomes separated from different types of materials because of shocks or air movement, which then frees itself onto a surface or in the atmosphere.

These dust particles, as nearly all air pollutants, are then absorbed by the human respiratory system. The only part of dust that is able to reach the pulmonary alveoli (the alveoli fraction) is made up of the finest particles (< 3µm) and is thus not visible to the naked eye. These particles will react mainly with the alveoli walls and can also enter into the blood system.
Two effects impacting health are thus possible: an irritation and chemical action on alveoli walls and an action impacting the cells of some organs (kidneys, liver, brain, etc.).
Particles with a diameter between 3 and 10µm (thoracic fraction) are collected in the respiratory trunk (tracheobronchitis) where they will be eliminated by natural means (coughing, filtration by respiratory trunk cilia, etc.). Their impact is much more local (windpipe, upper respiratory trunk).
Particles that exceed 10µm are “filtered” by the nasal ciliary system and do not enter the respiratory trunk. They however can be absorbed by the digestive system and consequently can lead to serious side-effects such as cancer.
The largest particles are visible by the naked eye and are often irritating. Except for a few very rare cases, these particles are not harmful for health. (Remember: 1 micrometre (µm) equals 1/1,000,000 metre - 1 µm = 1 micrometre = 0.001mm, also called a micron and written µ.)