MINERAL
PROCESSING

This working group aims to assist the mining industry by defining methods and best practices for mineral processing.

To join the working group and any of its projects, click here.

WHY IT IS IMPORTANT FOR THE MINING INDUSTRY

Global collaboration in mineral processing is important because, while technology and society are advancing rapidly, this field employs long-term assets that make it challenging to change. Further, processing is energy-intensive, and collaboration is needed to meet the global demand for energy efficiency.

ABOUT THE WORKING GROUP

This working group, formerly the Industrial Comminution Efficiency Working Group, is a community of interest for operators, suppliers, subject-matter experts and other stakeholders with an interest in mineral processing to discuss and address common industry challenges. Potential topics include comminution efficiency, plant improvement and design, emerging technologies, metallurgical accounting and testing procedures.

Proposed Projects:

• Metal Accounting
  Proposed guideline project on operations (performance/inventory monitoring and troubleshooting), design (best practices in accounting system design), and governance (implementing the metal accounting code).
• Process Control
  Developing guidance to address issues such as a lack of standardized operating procedures, very few KPIs, differences between how different operators run the plant, etc. and a general lack of understanding throughout industry about process control and its role.
• Geometallurgy
  Develop guidance on industry best practices in geometallurgy, targeted at young professionals entering the industry, mining company decision-makers and the general mine workforce.
• Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE)
  Proposed guideline on what measures should be for different unit operations and how to select the appropriate availability, performance, and quality components

INDUSTRIAL COMMINUTION EFFICIENCY SUB-COMMITTEE

Comminution is incredibly energy-intensive, and improving efficiency not only saves mining operations money but also reduces their ecological footprint. This working group aims to assist the industry by defining methods and best practices for the industry.

Published Guidelines to Review:

• Determining the Bond Efficiency of Industrial Grinding Circuits
• Morrell method for determining comminution circuit specific energy and assessing energy utilization efficiency of existing circuits.
• Methods to survey and sample grinding circuits for determining energy efficiency

Proposed Projects:

• Fine Grinding Ore Characterization Basis
  The goal of this project is to develop an open-source laboratory test and specific energy basis that mine owners and design engineers can use to both generate first-pass “generic stirred mill” equipment sizes.
• Standard Bond Ball Charge and Bond Test Reference Materials
  These two projects will be carried out concurrently and will provide a source of the standard Bond Ball Mill Test ball charge to the industry and generate reference materials that can be used by the industry to check individual lab results compared to a standard.
• Starkey SAGDesign Guideline for Comminution Testing and Grinding Mill Design
  This project will clearly outline the Starkey SAGDesign test and design methodology and make it widely available for public use, while the patent on the Starkey SAGDesign mill and test method protects Starkey’s ability to earn a living and allowing full public access to the design methods used.
• A Grinding Simulation Program (Millpower2000) using Bond Work Indices
• Grinding Circuit Efficiency

About the Sub-Committee

The Industrial Comminution Efficiency Sub-Committee aims to provide tools for practitioners to measure the energy efficiency of comminution circuits using standardized metrics and methodologies. The guidelines developed by this group aim to define the recommended methods for quantifying grinding circuit efficiency using grinding power analysis, following the approaches developed by Bond (1961) and Morrell (2009). The group is a community of interest that includes operators, suppliers, and subject-matter experts interested in improving comminution efficiency in their operations.

Objectives

• Define standard methods for quantifying grinding circuit efficiency using grinding power analysis
• Coordinate a global network of multi-disciplinary and multi-sector professionals with knowledge on comminution efficiency to share lessons learned, best practices and drive valuable conversations
• Enable a centre of knowledge, training and sharing on the topic of comminution efficiency

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