COMMINUTION & CRUSHING
Fluor and joint venture partner Petrosea – through the Fluor Petrosea Joint Organisation – have previously worked on a project to install a new grinding mill in Papua , Indonesia
impact the performance of the ball mill . Then there are stirred mills of all sizes to consider , with power ratings on this equipment having doubled over the last 10-15 years , going from 3.3 MW to 6.5 MW .
Interest in stirred mills is increasing as they offer lower media consumption rates than ball mills , while consuming approximately 20-35 % less power than a ball mill to achieve the same product size , depending on the grinding duty ( secondary grinding and concentrate regrinding duties , respectively ), Sherman said .
In recent projects and studies , the combination of reduced power and grinding media consumption rates significantly reduces the carbon footprint of a stirred mill circuit
SAM Semi-autogenous and Autogenous Mills
Christian Pfeiffer specializes in producing customized AG / SAG mills and ball mills that are designed to meet the specific requirements .
We also offer the flexibility to adapt the design to existing foundations making it easier to replace existing mills .
Contact us today for more information on our tailored mill solutions .
www . christianpfeiffer . com flotation concentrator , is currently in the final stages of design .
Like stirred mills , the challenge for VRM technology will be to supply large-capacity machines to meet the future needs of the industry , Sherman said .
Given the broad range of stimuli imparted on the minerals industry – ie rising power , construction , and consumable costs , falling head grades , the need to process harder ores at higher capacity while reducing the operation ’ s carbon compared to the traditional ball mill operating in footprint , etc – the future of the comminution closed circuit with a hydrocyclone classifier , industry is ready for another era of changes , according to Sherman . Fluor concludes that the Sherman said . stirred mill is a superior grinding option for the “ Some industry practitioners are pursuing project and or study team ’ s consideration .
HPGRs feeding stirred mills as the ‘ circuit of the
In direct comparison with a traditional circuit , future ’, while others pursue VRMs as a low Fluor has quantified the benefits of a stirred mill operating cost alternative ,” he said . “ Owners of producing fewer slimes , which will become more large tonnage , eg plus-150,000 t / d circuits , will important as the head grades of deposits still find a place for large diameter grinding continue to fall and the host rock becomes mills due to their relatively low installation harder . Overgrinding of the target minerals has a costs , higher utilisation rates , and the detrimental effect on flotation circuit potential for further improvements in power performance due to more of the target mineral efficiency and reductions in operating costs ,
As is discussed throughout this article , the protection of SAG mills is an important part of achieving immediate energy-efficiency gains for mining companies . Mill liners – whether they are metallic or made up of some sort of hybrid material – are relied on for this , offering increased equipment uptime .
ME Elecmetal recently achieved a significant increase in wear life of shell liners at a SAG mill operation it had an existing relationship with .
After the customer approached the company with a desire to improve the life of its SAG mill casing liners , ME Elecmetal – the sole supplier of these liners since the SAG mill was commissioned – came up with an alternative solution . The goal was to match the life of the liners to the life of the head liners , in addition to reducing the number of liner change-outs performed during the year .
Dulguun Erdenedorj , Account Manager Eurasia , explained : “ All mills require unique design solutions based on their operation parameters and ore characteristics . Our role is to find the most optimum design solution for that specific equipment without compromising the operational parameters and customer requirements .”
After proposing several options , ME Elecmetal technicians and the customer settled on a change to the use of the WS-170FP alloy , from the WS-140 alloy previously used ; the installation of a thick plate in the high-wear area of the lining ; and removal of part of the materials from the low-wear area to reduce the final weight and remain within the 2,500 kg capacity of the liner manipulator . The results speak for themselves . The original shell liners worked for 137 days , with 91 % mill availability . Over that period , 3.28 Mt of ore was processed .
The new liners worked for 158 days , processing a total of 3.78 Mt of ore , implying a 15 % increase in the wear life – which the client was looking to achieve – and the amount of processed ore , ME Elecmetal said .
being lost to tailings , and a reduction in flotation achieved via the implementation of synergistic kinetics , which reduces the grade of the material technologies .” reporting to the regrind and cleaner circuits .
As the complexities in factors impacting
Some operators recognise grinding media comminution studies grows , the completion of a costs as a major component of their milling thorough trade-off assessment during the study costs , which has led them to investigate the use phase is critical . The highly efficient comminution of vertical roller mills ( VRMs ), which do not use circuits Fluor is developing not only save owners grinding media , as their preferred choice of costs and reduce maintenance time , they also comminution technology . shrink the environmental footprint of the The newest VRM installation , for a 10-12 Mt / y operation as well , Sherman said .
38 International Mining | SEPTEMBER 2023