Journal of Mining and Metallurgy, 38 (1-4) A (2002) 49-66.

MINE TO MILL OPTIMISATION FOR CONVENTIONAL GRINDING CIRCUITS A SCOPING STUDY A. Jankovic and W. Valery,
JKMRC, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

(Received 18 June 2002; accepted 6 October 2002)

Abstract
The scoping study a for a Mine to Mill optimisation program was carried out in a gold mine in Australia. The specific objective of this scoping study was to identify the problems and potential benefits for a Mine to Mill optimisation project. Available mining and milling data were collected during the visit and preliminary analysis was conducted to identify the potential benefits and best course of action during a Mine to Mill optimisation program. The main conclusions from the scoping study were: Preliminary blast fragmentation modelling confirms that finer ROM size distributions could be generated with significant reduction in the amount of oversize material. Assessment of crushing and milling operating strategies and preliminary simulations using JKMRC and Bond methodologies indicated possibility of 45% increase in milling throughput and better energy utilisation. Key words: Crushing, Milling, Mass balance, simulation, modeling.

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1. Background
As a general practice, blasting engineers design production blasts to achieve optimal shape and swell of the muckpiles and size of fragmentation primarily for increased shovel and truck productivity. This is in addition to ensuring that the same blasts produce minimum negative impact on dilution and on the integrity of adjacent pit walls and floors. It is however now recognized that blast results can be made to satisfy not only the digging, handling and grade control requirements but also crushing and milling requirements. This has been demonstrated to have a significant and positive impact on the overall economics of mining operations. However, to achieve this requires a disciplined implementation of the Mine to Mill concept. With respect to milling, the capacity and efficiency of comminution processes are strongly influenced by the ROM fragmentation distribution which in turn is influenced by the blasting [3, 6, 7, 9, 12, 14, 16]. Throughput gains of 5-15% have been recorded and confirmed at operations with SAG mills such as Highland Valley Copper (Canada), Minera Alumbrera (Argentina) and Cadia (Newcrest Mining in Australia) through implementation of the Mine to Mill concepts. Current "Mine to Mill" trials being conducted at Escondida (Chile), Porgera (Placer Dome in Papua New Guinea), OK Tedi (BHP in Papua New Guinea), are indicating similar gains. Throughput gains and an increase in crusher availability should be achievable with the crushing and ball milling circuit (without SAG mills) if a disciplined Mine to Mill approach is introduced and properly managed. This involves modifications to current mining, crushing and milling practices without necessarily compromising some of the mining requirements such as productivity, good grade control and integrity of the intermediate and final walls.

2. Crushing circuit survey

In order to estimate performance and to model the crushing circuit, a detailed survey was carried out. Tonnages and power draw from the crushers were monitored and samples from different streams were collected for sizing. Measurement of the size distributions of the streams around the crusher circuit was also carried using the SPLIT image analysis system.
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Images of the crusher circuit products were obtained using a video camera. Still camera pictures were taken of the grizzly oversize stockpile The video and still images were used for size distribution analysis using the SPLIT system. The oversize and primary crusher feed size distributions obtained from the SPLIT system were combined to estimate the ROM size distribution.

3. Size analyses from the SPLIT system

Using conventional methods to size coarse material such as ROM ore, muckpiles, primary crusher products, etc., is extremely difficult and costly. At the same time, accurate information about the ore fragmentation is essential for the Mine to Mill optimisation process. Image analysis techniques such as those used in the SPLIT system enable fragmentation to be estimated with reasonable accuracy and with relative ease [1, 16]. The size distribution of the grizzly oversize was estimated based on still photographs taken from the oversize stockpile. Video images were used to analyse the products from the crushing circuit.

Fig. 1: An example of photograph of the oversize stockpile used for SPLIT system analysis

Figure 1 shows an example of the photograph taken from the oversize stockpile. The SPLIT system sizing results obtained from several photographs are presented in Figure 2. It can be seen that the most of the
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oversize is in the 0.5 - 2 m size range. A significant proportion of the ore (up to 20%) is larger than 1.5 m.

100 80
Cum % Pass

60 40 20 0 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500

Size (mm)

image 1

image2

image 3

image 4

image 5

image 6

image 7

average

Fig. 2: SPLIT system analysis of the oversize stockpile

100 80

Cum % Pass

60 40 20 0
1 10 100 1000

Size (mm)

Fig. 3: SPLIT on-line results primary crusher product J. Min. Met. 38 (1 4) A (2002)

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Figure 3 presents the size distributions from the on-line SPLIT system analyses of the primary crusher product. A large envelope of the size distributions can be observed. This variability comes from the ROM material feed to the grizzly as well as the material flow pattern trough the grizzly feed chute.

4. Crushing circuit mass balance

In order to determine the throughputs of the secondary and tertiary crushers and to check the quality of the crushing circuit survey data, a mass balancing procedure was carried out. The mass balancing flowsheet constructed in JKSimMet is shown in Figure 4. A summary of the mass balancing results is presented in Table 1.

Fig. 4: Mass balance flowsheet

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The total circuit SSQ (the sum of differences squared, between the experimental and mass balance data) was 275.3 i.e. 34.4 per stream which is considered as satisfactory for this survey considering the method of sample collection and the variability of the primary crusher feed.
Table 1: Mass balance summary Stream Throughput (t/h) EXP MB P80 size (mm) EXP 223.6 128.9 40.1 13.7 99.4 21.5 48.3 6.8 MB 223.6 121.5 44.8 13.2 105.6 21.1 52.2 6.8

Primary crusher feed / 489.6 Primary crusher product / 489.6 Secondary crusher product / 644.6 Tertiary crusher product / 445.7 Screen O/S 1 / 644.6 Screen O/S 2 / 445.7 Screen feed 1550 1580 Final crushing product 490 489.6 Note: EXP = experimental; MB = mass balance

5. Model fitting of the crushing circuit

The grinding software simulator JKSimMet [11] was used for the circuit modelling and simulation. The throughputs obtained from the mass balance procedure and the experimental size distributions were used to fit the model parameters of the crushers and the screens. The primary crusher model was fitted separately using the feed size distribution obtained from the SPLIT system and the product size distribution obtained from the belt cut sample. The secondary and the tertiary crusher and screens model constants were fitted simultaneously. A summary of the model constants obtained from the fitting procedures is presented in Table 2. The predictions of the tertiary and secondary crusher power were in agreement with the survey information. This is important for the simulations of the crushing circuit under the different operating conditions.

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Mine to mill optimisation for conventional... Table 2: Summary of model fitting results Model constants Primary crusher, CSS 120 mm Secondary crusher, CSS 3538 mm Tertiary crusher, CSS 12-15 mm Screen Deck 1, 38 mm aperture Deck 2, 11 mm aperture K1 129.9 31.8 12.0 7.0 6.5 K2 249.4 76.6 17.2 K3 2.3 2.3 2.3 d50c 28.7 9.6 t10 7.6 16.0 30.8

55

6. Blasting simulations
During the crushing circuit survey the ROM ore was not monitored. An estimate of the ROM size distribution was obtained from the primary crusher feed and the grizzly oversize sizing (from the SPLIT system). Based on the primary crusher down time it was estimated that a maximum of 10%
100 90 80 70
current BIF, frag sim current volcanoclastic, frag sim 10 m BIF, frag sim 5m BIF, frag sim ROM JK, estimated

cum%pass

60 50 40 30 20 10 0 1

10

100

1000

10000

size (mm)

Fig. 5: ROM size distribution: estimated from the survey data and simulated using blasting simulation software

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of the ROM is coarser than the grizzly size (600 mm). The calculated ROM size distribution is shown in Figure 6. The ROM ore size distribution was also simulated by using the JKMRC blast fragmentation model [4, 5, 6, 7, 8]. It can be seen from Figure 5 that a coarser product was predicted by the blasting model simulation (labelled as current, frag sim) compared to the estimated one (labelled as ROM JK, estimated). It is important that agreement is good for particle sizes below 20 mm. The predicted ROM size distributions for the modified blast design (5 and 10 m B/F, frag sim) show significant increases in 20 mm material and only around 2% material coarser than 600 mm. With this type of material as ROM much lower crusher down time could be expected, as well as improved crushing circuit throughput.

7. Crushing simulations
Simulations were carried out using the JKSimMet software to assess the effect of different ROM size distributions on the crushing circuit. The summary of the results is presented in Table 3. The response of the crushing circuit to the estimated ROM based on the SPLIT system measurements (see previous section) and the simulated ROM (see Figure 5, current BIF) was simulated initially. It can be seen from Table 3 that simulations with the estimated ROM (ROM est) gave similar results to the mass balance results (see Table 1). This was expected as the model fitting was carried out using the mass balance data. As the results in Table 3 show, considerably more grizzly oversize material was obtained with the simulated ROM size distribution (ROM sim). The primary crusher feed and the final product throughput were therefore reduced. The secondary and tertiary crusher feed throughput was reduced by approximately 14 %, proportional to the reduction in primary crusher feed. The simulated final product feed size distributions were similar. The above simulation results suggest that the crushing circuit is mainly affected by the amount of coarse (+ 600 mm) and fine (-20 mm) material in ROM. It is relatively insensitive to the size distribution difference in the 600 + 20 mm fraction. Simulations were also carried out with the finer simulated ROM material (5m B/F, frag sim in Figure 5). The current circuit configuration (crusher CSS and screen sizes) was compared to a modified circuit designed to
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produce a finer feed to the ball mill circuit. In the modified circuit the secondary crusher CSS was reduced to around 28 mm, the tertiary crusher CSS to around 10 mm, the top screen size to 30 mm and the bottom screen to 9 mm. These simulation results are presented in Table 4.
Table 3: Crushing circuit simulation results with the estimated and simulated ROM ore Throughput (t/h) P80 size (mm) Stream
ROM est ROM sim ROM est

ROM sim

ROM Grizzly O/S Primary crusher feed Primary crusher product Secondary crusher product Tertiary crusher product Screen O/S 1 Screen O/S 2 Screen feed
Final crushing product

540 49.0 489.6 489.6 644.6 445.7 644.6 445.7 1580

490

540 114 426 426 556 379 556 379 1361

426

284.0 1627 223.6 127 36.6 10.7 114 24.3 49.7

7.33

532 905 352 128 36.6 10.6 116 24.6 50.8

7.24

Note: est = estimated; sim = simulated Table 4: Crushing circuit simulation with the finer ROM and modified crusher gaps and screen sizes
Stream ROM Grizzly O/S Primary crusher feed Primary crusher product Secondary crusher product Tertiary crusher product Screen O/S 1 Screen O/S 2 Screen feed Final crushing product Throughput (t/h) Current Modified circuit circuit 540 450 18.1 15.1 522 435 522 435 627 644 482 434 627 644 482 434 1631 1512 522 435 P80 size (mm) Current Modified circuit circuit 307 307 753 753 292 292 128 128 35.7 30.6 10.6 9.57 120 110 24.9 18.9 50 37.9 7.6 5.7

Note: current current circuit; modified modified circuit

It can be observed from Table 4 that with the finer ROM and current circuit configuration the circuit throughput could be increased to 522 t/h

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compared to the current 490 t/h. The amount of +600 mm material would be reduced significantly which would in turn significantly reduce the primary crusher down time. The secondary and tertiary crusher loads would remain similar to the current situation. The final crushing product would be slightly coarser. The overall positive effect of the finer ROM obtained by the changed blasting practices would be limited to the reduced primary crusher down time. Increase in the crushing circuit throughput (t/h) may not be relevant due to ball milling circuit constraints. On the other hand, with the modified crushing circuit (finer crushing), a significantly finer circuit product size could be obtained (P80=5.7 mm compared to current 7.2 mm). In this case the crusher circuit throughput would be reduced to 435 t/h compared to current 490 t/h. The secondary and tertiary crusher loads would remain similar to the current situation. The reduced crushing circuit capacity may not have a detrimental effect on the whole process as it may be balanced by the increase in crushing circuit availability due to the reduction in primary crusher down time. With the finer feed, the milling circuit throughput could be increased.

8. Milling simulations
The milling circuit consist of the primary and the secondary ball mill as shown in Figure 6. Primary ball mill operates with large 71 mm ball size and the secondary ball mill uses 45 mm balls. The final milling circuit product 80% passing size is around 90 m. The model parameters for the ball mills and hydrocyclones were determined in a previous study and used for the Mine to Mill simulations in this study. Simulations of the milling circuit were carried out with the feed obtained from the finer ROM/finer crushing simulations in order to estimate the increase in throughput which might be obtained when milling this material. The results are compared with the current milling practice in Table 5. The simulation results presented in Table 5 suggest that an 4.8% increase in ball mill circuit throughput would be obtained with the finer milling circuit feed. It can therefore be concluded that the potential benefits from the finer blasting could be increased capacity of the milling circuit as well as increased availability of the crushing circuit.

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Fig. 6: Milling circuit simulation flowsheet Table 5: Ball mill circuit simulations
Feed New Feed Solids mass flow (t/h) % Solids P80 (mm) Primary ball mill product Solids mass flow (t/h) % Solids P80 (mm) Primary Cyclone Feed Solids mass flow (t/h) % Solids P80 (mm) Primary Cyclone U/F Slurry volume flow (m3/h) % Solids P80 (mm) Primary Cyclone O/F Solids mass flow (t/h) % Solids P80 (mm) Current 353 99 7.5 639 78 1.36 639 68 1.36 286 80 4.9 353 61 0.42 Finer 370 99 5.7 646 78 1.1 646 68 1.1 276 80 3.2 Current Finer Secondary ball mill product 602 628 71 71 0.246 0.250 Secondary Cyclone Feed 955 60 0.292 998 60 0.294

Secondary Cyclone U/F 602 629 73 74 0.396 0.40 Secondary Cyclone O/F 353 370 45 45 0.093 0.093

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9. Evaluation of possible mine to mill benefits using Bond methodology

The efficiency of the crushing and grinding can be estimated using the Bond based methodology [2,13]. It was found in the crushing area that there are significant differences between the real plant data and the Bond calculations and therefore empirical corrections were introduced. The following modified Bond equation was proposed for crushing [10]: 10 10 A Wc = ) (1) Wi ( P F P where: Wc is energy consumed in crushing (kWh/t), Wi is Bond rod mill work index (kWh/t), P is sieve size passing 80% of the ore after crushing (m), F is sieve size passing 80% of the ore before crushing (m), A is a empirical coefficient, dependant on the ore and the crusher properties For the tumbling mills the correction factors[2,13] were introduced to calculate specific grinding energy: 10 10 Wr = K7 K4 K3 Wi ( ) (2) P1 P where: Wr is energy consumed in milling (kWh/t), P1 is sieve size passing 80% of the mill product (m), P is sieve size passing 80% of the mill feed (m), K4 is correction factor if the ore feed size is coarser then the optimum size K7 is correction factor for the size reduction ratio in the ball mill K3 is correction factor for the mill diameter The correction factor K4 for the ore feed size is calculated as follows: P P0 K4 = [Rr + (Wi - 7) ( )] / Rr (3) P0 13 0.5 ) for rod mills P0 = 16000 ( (4) Wi

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P0 = 4000 ( Rr = P/P1

13 0.5 ) Wi

for ball mills

where: Rr size reduction ratio P0 optimum mill feed size (m), P actual mill feed size (m), P1 mill product size (m), From equation (5) an optimum primary ball mill feed size (Wi=18.5 kWh/t) is calculated, P0 =3.15 mm. The correction factor is therefore applied for the feed sizes P > 3.15 mm. The correction factor K7 for the size reduction ratio in the ball mill is calculated as follows: 2(R r 1.35) + 0.26 (7) K7 = 2(R r 1.35) where: Rr size reduction ratio in the ball mill
The need to use size reduction factor would not occur often as this only applies when the size reduction ratio is less than 6. The correction factor K3 for the mill diameter is calculated as follow: 2.44 0.2 2.44 0.2 (8) ) =( ) = 0.87 K3 = ( D 5.0 where: D mill diameter inside liners (m)

10. Modelling methodology

To create a Bond based energy-size reduction model of the crushing operation, results from the survey were used. The relevant information extracted from the survey is presented in Table 6. The energy consumption for each crushing stage is calculated using two methods: 1. the Bond formula assuming Wi=21 kWh/t and the product sizes presented in Table 6.

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2. using the actual crusher power draws (screening energy not included) and the plant throughput.
Table 6: Crushing data
crushing stage primary secondary tertiary crusher type Jaw C140 HP500 HP500 CSS (mm) 110-120 35-38 12-15 Crusher power (kW) 70 350 700 Throughput (t/h) 500 500 500 F80 (mm) 450 125 25 P80 (mm) 125 25 7

Note: CSS - crusher close site setting

The calculated energy consumption is presented is Table 7. It can be seen that differences exist between two methods. The Bond Formula overestimates the energy consumption for primary crushing two times, while the Bond calculations for the secondary and tertiary crushing were similar to the actual plant data.
Table 7: Energy consumption for crushing (screening energy not included)
Product 80% passing size (mm) 125 25 7 crushing energy method 2 kWh/t 0.14 0.7 1.4 cumulative crushing energy method 2 kWh/t 0.14 0.84 2.24 crushing energy method 1 kWh/t 0.28 0.73 1.18 cumulative crushing energy method 1 kWh/t 0.28 1.01 2.20

Crusher primary secondary tertiary

The cumulative crushing energy calculated using the actual crusher power draws and the plant throughput (method 2) represents the real Sunrise dam ore crushing energy and it was used to estimate the coefficient A in equation (1). The estimated value was A = 100. The energy consumption for the Sunrise dam ore crushing + primary ball milling can be estimated using the following Bond based model:

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Wcr = Wc + Wr Wcr =

P P0 10 10 100 W ( ) + 0.87 {[R + (Wi -7) ( )] / Rr } r i P F P0 P 0.5

10 2(R r 1.35) + 0.26 10 ) Wi ( ) 2(R r 1.35) P1 P

It should be emphasized that correction factors are applied in the model only if the criteria given by Bond are met [2, 13]. The model predictions of the energy consumption for the crushing and primary ball milling for the different crushing product and primary ball mill product sizes are presented in Figure 7. Figure 7 shows that the energy consumption decreases with decreasing the crushing product size, i.e. ball mill feed size. The model predicts that the decrease in ball milling energy consumption would outweigh the increase in energy consumption from finer crushing. This trend is dominated by the correction factor for ball mill feed size (K4). The optimum feed size for the primary ball mill is 3.15 mm and (K4) increases significantly for the coarser feed. The model predicts that the energy consumption could be reduced by 4% if the crusher product size is reduced from the current 7 mm to 6 mm.
18 17

predicted kWh/t
specific energy (kWh/t)
16
P1 =0.8mm

15 14 13 12

P1=0.6mm
P1=0.4 mm

actual kWh/t

P1=0.3mm

actual crushing product

11 10 4 6 8 10 12 14

crushing product size P (mm)

Fig. 7: Total energy consumption for crushing and primary ball milling

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It can be seen from Figure 7, that the model predicts higher energy consumption (14.6 kwh/t) than the actual plant (13.7 kWh/t) for the product size P1 = 0.4 mm. This is mainly due to over-prediction of the crushing power. It suggest that a better model for crushing is required. The predicted primary ball mill kWh/t is close to the actual. The primary ball mill operating work index was calculated based on the survey data Wi0 = 29.35 kWh/t. The corrected Bond index was calculated based on the laboratory Bond test index Wi = 18.5 kWh/t and appropriate correction factors (K4 , K3), Wic = 27.8 kWh/t. Comparing the operating work index and the corrected Bond index, 94.7% efficiency of the primary ball mill circuit can be calculated. It suggest that the primary ball performs close to its Bond best for the given conditions. In summary, using the developed model based on the Bond calculations, analysis of the crushing primary ball milling circuit was carried out to determine the potential benefits of a mine to mill optimisation and optimum crushing product size. It was found that the comminution circuit power consumption decreases as crushing product size decreases. By reducing the crusher product 80% passing size (P) from 7 mm to 6 mm, the power consumption may be reduced by around 4%. This gains are in line with those indicated by JKMRC methodology and simulations presented in the previous section of this report. Note that the above calculations do not include screening power and capacity. Separate calculations are required to estimate the cost benefits from finer crushing which would include increased operational and maintenance costs.

11. Conclusions
The scoping study simulations indicated that the predicted finer ROM size distribution could result in primary crusher throughput increase to 522 t/h compared to the current 490 t/h. The amount of +600 mm material would be reduced significantly which would in turn significantly reduce the primary crusher down time. The secondary and tertiary crusher loads would remain similar to the current situation. The final crushing product would be slightly coarser. The overall positive effect of the finer ROM obtained by the changed blasting practices would be limited to the reduced primary crusher down time. Increase in the crushing circuit throughput (t/h) is not relevant due to ball milling circuit constraints.
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On the other hand, with a modified crushing circuit (finer crushing), a significantly finer circuit product size could be obtained (P80=5.7 mm compared to current 7.2 mm). Simulations indicate that in this case the crusher circuit throughput would be reduced to 435 t/h compared to current 490 t/h. The secondary and tertiary crusher loads would remain similar to the current situation. The reduced crushing circuit capacity would not have a detrimental effect on the whole process as it would be balanced by the increase in crushing circuit availability due to the reduction in primary crusher down time. The simulation results using JKMRC methodology suggest that an 4.8% increase in ball mill circuit throughput (370 t/h vs. current 353 t/h) would be obtained with the finer milling circuit feed from the modified crushing circuit. Therefore, the potential benefits from the finer blasting are increased capacity of the milling circuit and increased availability of the crushing circuit. A similar increase in throughput and better energy utilisation was predicted using Bond based calculations.

References
1. Y.Atasoy, I.Brunton, F.Tapia-Vergara and S. S.Kanchibotla, 1998, Implementation of Split to Estimate the Size Distribution of Rocks in Mining and Milling Operations, Proc. of Mine to Mill Conference, AusIMM, Brisbane. 2. F.C.Bond, , 1985. Testing and Calculations. SME Mineral Processing Handbook , Norman L. Weiss, Editor in Chief. 3. B.Bulow, P.Smallbone and P.Walker, 1998, , Blasting for reduced process plant costs at Argyle Diamond Mine, Proc. of Mine to Mill Conference, AusIMM, Brisbane. 4. C.Grundstrom, S.S. Kanchibotla, A.Jankovic and D.Thornton, (2001) Blast Fragmentation for Maximising the Sag Mill Throughput at Porgera Gold Mine Proceedings of the Twenty-Seventh Annual Conference on Explosives and Blasting Technique, Orlando, USA 5. JKMRC, 1995. The assessment and control of coal damage and loss, ACARP Project Report C3017, JKMRC. 6. S.S.Kanchibotla, S.Morrell, W.Valery and P.OLoughlin , 1998, Exploring the effect of blast design on throughput at KCGM, Proc. of Mine to Mill Conference, AusIMM, Brisbane

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7. S.S.Kanchibotla, W.Valery and S.Morrell, (1998), Modelling fines in blast fragmentation and its impact on crushing and grinding, Proc. Explo-99 Conf. Kalgoorlie, Nov (in press). 8. S.S.Kanchibotla, 1994. Models for assessing the blasting performance of explosives. Ph.D Thesis, University of Queensland (JKMRC). 9. M.Lam, A. Jankovic, W.Valery, S.S.Kanchibotla, (2001) Increasing SAG Mill Circuit Throughput at Porgera Gold Mine by Optimising Blast Fragmentation. SAG2001 - SAG mill circuit. International Conference on Autogenous and Semiautogenous Grinding Technology, 1, p., Vancouver, Canada 10. N.Magdalinovic et al., 1990. Mathematical Model for Determination of an Optimal Crusher Product size. Aufbereitungs-Technik 31, No 5. 11. R.Morrison and W.Valery, (1999) JKTech software for process design and optimisation. IRR Crushing and Grinding Conference, Perth, WA 29-31 March. 12. K.Nielsen, (1998), Economic optimisation of the blasting-crushingcomminution process in a low-grade iron ore (Taconite) operation, Proc. Mine to Mill Conf., Brisbane. 13. C.A.Rowland, Grinding Calculations Related to the Application of large Rod and Ball Mills. Allis-Chalmers Publication 22P4704. 14. R.Simkus, and A.Dance, 1998, Tracking Hardness and Size: Measuring and Monitoring ROM Ore Properties at Highland Valley Copper, Proc. of Mine to Mill Conference, AusIMM, Brisbane 15. W.Valery et al., (2001) Mine to mill optimisation and case studies presented at VI Southern Hemisphere Conference on Minerals Technology in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 27-30 May. 16. W.Valery, T.Kojovic, F.Tapia-Vergara and S.Morrell, (1999) Optimisation of blasting and sag mill feed size by application of online size analysis. IRR Crushing and Grinding Conference, Perth, WA 29-31 March.

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