BOND IS BACK!

*Mark Sherman

Fluor Australia Limited

417 St Kilda Road
Melbourne, Australia 3004

BOND IS BACK!

ABSTRACT
One of the main functions of a process technology and engineering services provider is to select
grinding equipment that will meet the clients throughput rate target. Prudent risk mitigation strategies
would suggest that throughput rate estimates be cross-checked using a variety of techniques.
Whilst some comminution circuit designers have estimated specific energy requirements via the
manipulation of the Bond specific power equation e.g. Barratts Grindpower and OMCs FSAG approach,
other designers have opined that the Bond Indices have no role to play in the calculation of SAG mill
specific power. As a result, they have developed their own specific energy estimating methodologies, e.g.
SMCCs Drop Weight based power methodology, SPI, SAGDesign, etc. Each method has its supporters
and its critics.
The challenge facing the engineering provider is how to nominate an SAG mill based circuit
throughput rate estimate when faced with significantly disparate specific energies calculated by the
different methodologies. This challenge is exacerbated via the continuing evolution of contemporary
circuit configurations such as two stage pebble crushing some of which incorporate HPGR technology as
the second stage of pebble crushing.
The methodology presented in this paper shows that the Bond Indices are an excellent tool for
estimating the specific energy requirements for SAG mills in SAB, SABC and SSS circuits. The method
accommodates primary crushed feeds, partial and or fully secondary crushed SAG mill feeds, and emulates
the impact of pebble crushing on SAG specific energy. As a result, the new Bond Index based method has
provided an additional tool for increasing Fluors confidence when predicting SAG mill based circuit
throughput rates. Based on this outcome, the author proposes that the decades old conundrum of using
Bond Indices to calculate SAG specific energies for SAG mill based circuits has been solved.

KEYWORDS
SAG mill circuits, specific energy values, Bond Indices, SAG tph predictions.
INTRODUCTION
One of the main functions of a process technology and engineering services provider is to select
grinding equipment that will meet the clients throughput rate objectives. Along with metal price and
mining cost assumptions, the capacity of the processing plant and therefore its capital and operating costs,
have a pronounced impact on the financial performance of the mine. The selection of an appropriate
comminution circuit is therefore a key element of optimising the financial performance and mitigating the
risk profile of a proposed mining operation.
The owner of the proposed mining project generally has their preferred sources of technical
expertise. These sources are usually involved in the development of a project as either an owners
representative, or a consultant to the owners representative. However the ultimate responsibility for
assigning a name plate capacity to the proposed comminution circuit lies with the engineering company.
Into this mix is thrown the competing desires of minimising plant capital costs on the owners side versus
the engineers desire to, perhaps, invest a little more capital to ensure that the nameplate throughput rate is
achieved.
Prudent design strategies, competing between spending too much capital and not achieving
nameplate throughput targets, requires that the nameplate throughput estimate be cross-checked using a

technique other than that which was used for the design of the plant. This is usually followed up by an
independent review of the assumptions and calculation methodologies used by the engineer to design the
plant.
A recent study resulted in the nameplate throughput rate of a proposed plant being calculated by
Fluor to be 27 Mt/yr. The introduction of an additional consultant on the owners team resulted in the
grinding data being passed onto their preferred comminution consultant whose analysis returned a
throughput rate of approximately 13 Mt/yr. The significant difference between throughput rate estimates
generated some unease on the owners team, who requested that additional test work be carried out to
generate the data required for checks using other specific energy calculation techniques.
Completion of the additional test work program, using samples obtained from diamond drill holes
that twinned the original sample holes, resulted in all of the major SAG specific energy calculation
techniques being used to estimate nameplate throughput, e.g. SMCCs Drop Weight, SPI, SAGDesign,
JK SimMET using the full drop weight test results, and Barratts Grindpower. The five estimates of
throughput ranged from the low of 13 Mt/yr up to a maximum of 28.4 Mt/yr.
The significant differences between some of the throughput rate estimates indicated to Fluor that
future studies would likely be faced with the same challenges, i.e. depending on which testing protocol was
used to determine the ores specific energy requirements, the differences in throughput rate predicted by
the different testing protocols could lie well outside the usual engineering design contingency of 15%.
In addition to the competing SAG testing technology challenges faced by the project team, the
continuing evolution of SAG mill based circuit design now incorporates full or partial secondary feed
crushing, two stage pebble crushing circuits with HPGRs used for second stage of crushing, as well as
HPGRs used to prepare a significant portion of the SAG mills feed. How well the various SAG testing
technologies specific energy calculation methodologies catered for the new circuit configurations was
unknown by Fluor, and unlikely to be readily resolved given the intellectual property rights surrounding
some of the technologies.
All of these issues prompted Fluor to review their SAG specific energy calculation methodology.
Fluors investigations focussed on opportunities for improving the Bond work index based SAG specific
energy calculations due to the Bond Work Index offering a simple measure of ore hardness over a range of
particle sizes which is uncomplicated and less prone to erroneous interpretation. The key finding generated
by the review and subsequent renovation of the calculation methodology was that the Bond Indices were an
effective tool for estimating the specific energy requirements for SAG mill based circuits.
The new SAG mill specific energy calculation methodology still uses all three Bond indices, i.e.
the Crusher, Rod and Ball Mill indices for calculating the energy requirements of SAG mill based grinding
circuits. The new method for calculating SAG specific energy requirements is dominated by the Rod Mill
Work Index, with the Crusher work index playing a lesser role, whilst the Ball Mill Work Index maintains
its traditional role as the pre-eminent method for calculating Ball Milling specific energy needs. Because
the new calculation method is not reliant on the Crusher Work index being determined for each and every
sample, the new calculation method offers reductions in drilling, sampling, and characterization testwork
costs consistent with the alternative SAG testing protocols.
Benchmarking of the new Bond Index based method against a wide range of SAG mill based
circuits, ranging from Single Stage SAG through partial and full secondary crushed feed SAGs and all the
way to hard ore SABC circuits, has increased Fluors confidence in predicting throughput rates for all
contemporary SAG circuit configurations. Both the engineering and the owners teams can review, discuss,
and interpret a data set that the majority of them are already familiar with, i.e. the traditional Bond Indices.

SAG SPECIFIC ENERGY PREDICTION

Fluors preferred SAG specific energy calculation method, up to the early years of the last decade,
was Barratts Grindpower calculation. This method utilised the Bond work indices and had served the
industrys needs well from the mid 1980s through to the close of the last millennium.
Grindpower: 1985 2000
The Grindpower equation has been published previously and can be found in the 1989 proceedings of this
conference. The basis of the calculation was the use of the three Bond comminution indices to calculate the
specific energy requirements using the appropriate Bond index for the respective size ranges e.g. the
Crusher, Rod and Ball milling indices from the proposed F80 feed size to the SAG mill down to the final
grind size produced by the ball milling circuit. A factor was applied to the sum of the Crusher, Rod and
Ball mill energies to allow for the additional energy requirements deemed to be necessary to capture the
inefficiencies of SAG milling. The ball milling specific energy was then calculated, based on the
engineers estimate of the transfer size between the SAG and ball mills, and this energy subtracted from the
overall energy requirement to provide the SAG milling specific energy requirement (Doll, 1994).
This method was not without its criticism ranging from those who questioned the engineers
choice of transfer size between the SAG and Ball milling circuits through to those who questioned the
validity of the Bond indices and their application to predicting SAG specific energy requirements.
Nonetheless, the Grindpower approach was used to design a large number of circuits, many of which were
built and went on to meet the owners throughput rate expectations.
Grindpower: 2000 2010
The diminution of mining study budgets over the last two decades exerted significant pressures on
study and engineering teams to reduce their costs in delivering projects to the owners team. Concurrent
with the reduced budgets was the industrys learnings on the importance of embracing a geometallurgical
approach to understanding the ore body, i.e. more precise definitions of the various ore types found in an
ore body, which usually required more sampling. The result was that both sampling and ore
characterization costs were outgrowing the available project budgets. These pressures impacted on the
Grindpower approach due to its need for the Bond Low Impact Crusher Work Index, which required PQ
diameter core (85mm diameter) that was both more expensive and slower to drill than smaller diameter
diamond core.
To cut costs, the market went in search of a cheaper method to characterize an ore body. What the
market wants, the market usually gets: there are now at least three test protocols that offer cheap and fast
ore characterization tests that use small diameter core, or samples cut from small diameter core, to
determine the SAG specific energy requirements, e.g. SMCCs Drop Weight test, SPI, and SAGDesign.
The many critics of the Grindpower approach, or any approach that used the Bond work indices as
a basis for the calculation of the SAG specific energy, presented numerous discussions on the shortcomings
of the Bond approach. The proponents of the alternative SAG testing methodologies questioned the
applicability of the Bond equations use of the inverse square root, originally used to describe crack tip
propagation in a homogenous substance, through to questioning the wide variability in Bond index test
outcomes depending on which laboratory performed the work index test. To the observer of the SAG
milling world, a strong case was being mounted by the promoters of the alternative testing methodologies.
Concurrent with the period of the rising market position of the alternative testing technologies, the
ore bodies that were being studied were also becoming harder. This same period was also noted for the
relative lack of new SAG mill based mining projects being brought on line. Therefore, whilst many studies
had been carried out, few of these had actually progressed into production. From this engineers
perspective, the attraction of the cheaper test methodologies was diminished by the inability to reconcile or

benchmark the new testing methodologies against production actually achieved. The problem became more
pronounced if the funds that were saved in SAG testing costs the first time around were surpassed by the
cost of additional testwork, and more reviews, that ultimately failed to reconcile the different throughput
rate predictions.
Bond and SAG Mill Specific Energy: 2010 2011
The basis of the new Bond approach has been influenced by observations made by the author
whilst optimising SAG milling circuits, familiarity with the original Grindpower calculation methodology
as well as other model based approaches, interpretation of ore characterization test results, and monitoring
of the developments in comminution theory. Issues that the new methodology would have to effectively
resolve, in order to generate the most confidence in the outcome, were:
The use of one size parameter, such as Bonds F80, did not adequately describe the feed
size presented to a SAG mill. That being the case, how would the new calculation
method treat the energy requirements for a fully, or partially secondary crushed SAG
mill feed, with or without pebble crushing?
Personal observation of a large number of circuits had identified that the application of a
pebble crushing factor, e.g. 12% to 15% for hard ores and 5% to 10% for soft ores, to
discount SAG specific energy as a result of introducing Pebble crushing into a circuit,
was inadequate. The effect of pebble crushing on SAG performance has been noted to be
as high as 30% for some circuits, so under what conditions were pebble crushers going to
have a significant, or a less than significant impact, on SAG specific energy? How would
the new calculation method account for crushing the pebbles to a finer or coarser product
size? How would the new calculation method account for sending the fine portion of the
crushed pebbles to the ball milling circuit?
Given the substantially different grinding environments in the Bond Rod and Ball mills,
the author agreed, in principle, with other comminution researchers claims that Bonds
Ball Mill work index had no role to play in the calculation of SAG milling specific
energy. Given that the original Grindpower calculation utilised the ball mill work index
to calculate SAG energy by difference, i.e. total energy minus ball milling energy
requirements, how could the real SAG specific energy requirements, i.e. those observed
in practice, be calculated using only Bonds Crusher and Rod Mill work indices, i.e.
without using the ball mill work index?
Feed Size
The work of Bond and Rowland identified that the appropriate application of Bond Work indices
was to use the index that best reflected the hardness of the size fraction being considered. The best example
of this was their Single Stage Ball Milling calculation methodology where the Rod Mill Work Index was
used to calculate the energy requirements for the size fraction -13.2mm + 2.1mm and the Ball Mill work
index was used to calculate the energy requirements for the -2.1mm material down to final grind size.
Rowland published the efficiency factors that allowed for changes in grinding energy requirements to
reflect the effect of coarse feeds, different reduction ratios etc on the efficiency of the Single Stage Ball
milling process.
The original Grindpower calculation adopted a similar approach, i.e. the use of the appropriate
Bond Work index to calculate the energy requirements for the reduction of specific size ranges e.g. the
Crusher Work Index for SAG F 80 down to a theoretical Rod Mill feed size, followed by calculation of the
Rod milling energy component down to a Ball Mill feed size, followed by the calculation of the Ball
milling energy component down to final grind size. The Grindpower counterpart to the Rowland Efficiency

Factor was the application of an overall efficiency factor of 1.25 to the SAG mill component of the energy
calculation.
The concept of breaking the SAG feed size distribution down into chunks made sense although
the SAG F80 as a starting point was debatable, given the volume of work published to date that shows that
the F 80 does not adequately describe a typical SAG mill feed size distribution. Regardless of the dubious
relationship between the SAG F80 feed size and the rest of the feed size distribution, at typical SAG F 80
sizes for primary crusher fed circuits, e.g. approximately 100mm or greater, the value of the reciprocal of
the square root of the F80 size tended to zero, therefore its impact on the equation was negligible. Circuit
operators had a heightened awareness that worn primary crusher liners detrimentally impacted on circuit
throughput rates; however this was not always readily reflected by changes in only the SAG F80 value. Any
SAG specific energy calculation that used the SAG F80 value as the defining value would, therefore, be
challenged in replicating the effect of worn crusher liners, or a larger closed side setting value, on SAG
throughput.
An added complication arose when one considered the impact of pebble crushers on SAG milling:
if the pebbles ejected from the mill were crushed by a pebble crushing circuit, then it could be argued that
the SAG mill is not using energy to break those pebbles: the pebble crusher is.
Figure 1, below, presents the weight % retained values for a SAG mill feed with and without the
pebble crusher circuit. This operation treats a competent ore with approximately 25% of the material
discharged from the mill reporting to the pebble crushing circuit. In both cases, the SAG F 80 is similar,
being approximately 100 mm, however the remainder of the size distribution is markedly different, as is
the SAG mills performance when operating with and without the pebble crushers.

SAG Feed Wt% Retained

20
18

14
12
10
8
6
4
2

Size, microns

No Pebble Crushing

With Pebble Crushing

Figure 1 - SAG feed, expressed as % weight retained, per size interval.

38

75

0
15

0
30

0
60

23

00

00
63

00
0
10

20
0
13

00
0
20

50
0
31

00
0
50

00
0
75

00
0
15

00
0

25

Wt% Retained

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Pebble Crushing
One experience common to all SABC circuits, and especially noticeable for circuits treating hard
and competent ores, is the diminution of SAG mill performance as the pebble crushers liner set wears. The
gradual coarsening of the crushed pebble product can be tracked readily in terms of increasing SAG
specific energy requirements and decreasing SAG throughput rates. Given that the difference between new
and worn crusher liners is a Closed Side Setting change of only 10mm to 12mm, the effect of pebble
crusher discharge product size is pronounced over a relatively narrow size range.
Based on these observations, the new calculation method would have to be able to emulate the
significant reductions in SAG grinding energy attributable to changes in a fairly narrow size range, relative
to the feed size distribution. This would require the partitioning of the SAG feed size distribution into
numerous, well defined size fractions.
Bonds Crusher and Rod Mill Work Indices
Bonds Low Energy Impact Crusher work index was developed to determine the energy required
to break a rock, of specific dimensions and shape, under pure impact conditions. As SAG mills are known
to grind ore using a combination of impact, abrasion and attrition breakage mechanisms, with the last two
mechanisms predominating, the Crusher Work index would have a limited contribution to determining the
SAG specific energy requirements. However, the Bond Rod Mill work index test is carried out in a
tumbling mill where the ore is exposed to a similar combination of forces as those present in a SAG mill.
Some commentators have claimed that the Rod Mill index, like the ball mill work index, also has
no role to play in SAG milling energy due to the differences in steel loads used in laboratory Rod mills and
operating SAG mills. However, a check of the Bond Rod laboratory mills steel load reveals a 12% by
volume media charge, which aligns well with a large number of operating SAG mills. Although the ore
volume and rotational speeds were different, the Bond Rod Mill work index appeared to have the most
potential for use in the calculation of SAG mill specific energy.
Investigations aimed at identifying any additional similarities between SAG mills and the
laboratory Rod Mill identified another phenomenon of significant interest: the convergence of the
laboratory and operational SAG mills product particle size distributions (PSDs). Figure 2 below presents a
plot of the SAG mill discharge size distributions, from a number of operations from different parts of the
world across different eras, compared to the laboratory mills discharge particle size distribution.
% Wt Passing
80
70

Cum%Wt Passing

60
50
40
30
20
10
0
850

600

425

300

212

150

106

75

53

38

size, microns
Sof t SE Asian Cu Au ore

Hard Aussie Cu Au ore low mill load

Hard Aussie Cu Au hi mill load

SW USA Cu 1970s

Central Asian hard Cu porph lab

Med Sof t Pacif ic Isles Cu porph lab

Figure 2 - Laboratory discharge PSDs vs. SABC circuit PSDs

Note that the laboratory Rod Mill product PSDs are not sized over the same number of fractions
as that typically reported in grinding surveys. For grinding survey purposes, the SAG Mill discharge
samples are typically sized over the range from 20 mm down to 38 micron whereas laboratory mill
discharge is sized over five screens typically ranging from 1mm down to 500 micron, or 300 micron at best.
Therefore, there is a loss of resolution when comparing laboratory mill discharge PSDs to SAG mill PSDs
for size ranges finer than 500 microns. Nonetheless, the convergence in PSDs between a number of
operating SAG mills from across the globe and the laboratory Rod Mill PSDs is of interest, specifically
because the convergence occurs in the size range falling between 600 microns and 850 microns.
Fluors interest in this size range was heightened because it straddled the 750 micron dividing line
that Morrell had used to separate tumbling mill energy calculations into coarse and fine categories.
Although Morrell noted that the 750 micron dividing line gave the best overall fit for his tumbling mill
power calculation (Morrell 2008), there was no explanation offered for why the 750 micron size may be
driving the calculation outcomes. The probability of the outcome of Fluors investigations into SAG and
laboratory mill PSDs aligning with the best fit mathematical outcome for an alternate specific energy
calculation approach, given the spread of data from across the globe was low, which suggested that this
was outcome not a coincidence.
SAG mills use grates of widely variable apertures dimensions with, or without pebble ports,
whilst a Bond laboratory Rod mill is typically closed with an 1180 micron screen. Initially it seemed to be
a far fetched proposition that the two sets of mills are producing a product with converging PSDs falling
into the 600 micron to 850 micron range, given the significantly different classification mechanisms in use.
One possible explanation for the fine classification mechanism in a full size SAG mill is that the
grates are covered by a layer of balls and coarser than grate aperture rocks. This layer of balls and rock are,
in turn, classifying the material presented to the grates, i.e. the media and rock act in a manner similar to
the ragging layer in a mineral jig. The only material that would flow through the grates under these
circumstances, in addition to the ragging that has worn down to sub grate aperture size, is the material
that managed to work its way through the voids between the balls and the rock that cover the grates.
The basis for reconciling the laboratory and production mills behaviours was now starting to
evolve via the similarity in grinding actions between an operating SAG and laboratory Rod mill, and the
zone of convergence in the particle size distributions discharged from both mills. The remaining question
to be answered was how to account for the difference in a SAG mills ability to grind different feed sizes
given that years of operating experience had identified the presence of a critical size fraction for SAG
milling.
Efficiency factors
During the early 1970s, Rowland reported on Efficiency Factors that were to be used for
calculating Rod and Ball milling specific energies. These factors were based on his studies of Operating
Work index versus laboratory work index determinations for a number of different sites using both open
and closed crushing circuits to prepare both Rod Mill and Ball mill feed. These factors allowed Rowland to
calculate how much extra power was to be added to Bonds work index based power calculation to
compensate for coarser than optimum feed size distributions (Rowland 1973). However, because the feed
size to both the Rod and Ball mill circuits was significantly finer than that presented to SAG mills, the
established efficiency factors could not be used for estimating an ore samples SAG mill specific energy
requirement.
The only option left was to step outside the world of Bond and into the world of the population
balance based models, i.e. JK SimMet et al. These models use a number of functions to predict SAG mill
throughput rates, however the function that was of particular interest to this investigation was the breakage
rate function. This function described how rapidly a size fraction was broken inside a SAG mill and was
usually presented as a plot of breakage rate versus size, an example of which is presented in Figure 3.

Figure 3: JKMRCs effect of ball charge volume on pilot SAG mill breakage rates
Figure 3 was originally published as Figure 7.19 by Napier-Munn et al 1996. Here, the two red
lines have been superimposed to demonstrate how the typical Bond Rod Mill F80 feed size relates to the
pilot SAG mill breakage rates, with a specific focus on the 12% volume ball charge breakage rates: the
peak breakage rates for the 12% volume ball charge SAG curve aligned closely with the typical F 80 feed
size to the Bond Rod mill test.
Although operational SAG mills were reported as being incapable of replicating the very high
coarse particle breakage rates recorded in pilot mills (Morrell 2004), Figure 4 illustrated that the peak
breakage rate for full-scale AG/SAG mills and the pilot mills aligned for the -10 mm size range.
Additionally, Fluor noted that the shape of the full scale AG/SAG mill breakage rate curve, specifically the
critical size portion of the curve, also aligned with the 12% ball charge volume breakage rate published by
Napier-Munn et al.
Conceptually, the breakage rate plot shown in Figure 3 identified the areas of high and low SAG
efficiency, with the low efficiency area being the critical size range, and the high efficiency areas being
the -10 mm +5 mm size range, and the 100 mm size fraction. By converting the breakage rates for the
specific size fractions located on the curve to a multiple of the peak breakage rate, a faux Efficiency Factor
could be created.

Figure 4: Morrells comparison of pilot plant to full-scale AG/SAG Mill Breakage Rates (from
Morrell 2004)
Thus, the key elements of a new Bond Rod mill index based SAG milling specific energy
calculation method were identified:
The laboratory Rod Mill work index value kWh/tonne, when determined using an 1180
micron closing screen, corresponded to the energy that aligned with a SAG mills peak
breakage rate;
The SAG mills feed size distribution would be classified into various size classes and
each size class would have an Efficiency Factor attributed to it, based on the relationship
between the breakage rate for the size class of interest and the peak breakage rate. The
specific energy demand for each size class would be calculated, using the Bond equation
in the same manner as the Single Stage Ball milling calculation, from feed size down to
intermediate size 1, from intermediate size 1 to intermediate size 2, and so on until the
product size was reached. Each size class would then have its contribution to the total
SAG specific energy requirement weighted based on the mass percent that each size class
represented of the total SAG mill feed, and the Efficiency Factor attributable to the size
class.
The calculation method assumes that the SAG mill operates in a normal manner, i.e. without
packed lifters, inappropriate liner design, pegged grates, excessively high density or too small a make-up
ball size. If any of the aforementioned conditions apply, then the SAG mill product size would be expected
to be significantly finer than that produced by a laboratory mill.
The above calculation approach has been used to calculate the SAG specific energy requirements
for a number of circuits where Fluor was in possession of the required information and the mills were
known to be operated in the normal manner. A number of different circuit configurations and different

10

operating conditions, e.g. SABC, with and without pebble crusher, primary and partial secondary crush,
and Single Stage SAG milling were specifically pursued to benchmark the calculations against actual
operational data. A graphical representation of the results is presented in Figure 5 below.
Utilising the same Bond work index based calculation methodology to test for the effect of pebble
crushing on a well operated SABC circuit treating a hard, competent Australian copper gold ore, the
calculation returned a value of an increase in SAG mill specific energy demands of 25%, relative to the
energy requirements of the circuit operating in SABC mode. Discussions with the site operating team
identified that, on the rare occasions when the circuit was forced to operate with both pebble crushers offline, circuit throughput rate dropped by 20% - 25%.
Bond Index SAG kWh/t vs Actual kWh/t
25

Bond kWh/t

20
15
10
5
0
0

10

15

20

25

Actual kWh/t
Hard Aussie SABC

Moderate Aussie SABC

Soft SE Asian SABC 1

African SSS

V Hard Aussie SABC

V Hard Aussie SABC 2ry Crush

Soft SE Asian SABC 2

Linear

Figure 5: Actual versus calculated SAG kWh/t using the new Bond Work Index method
The key index for the new method of calculating the SAG mill specific energy is the Rod Mill
Work Index. The Crusher Work index value is used for calculating the coarser end of the feed size
distribution, as per Bonds recommendation to use the most appropriate work index for the particle size
range being investigated. Due to the Crusher Work indexs application to the coarse end of the size
distribution and Bonds use of the inverse square root function in his Third Law equation, the result is that
the Crusher Work Index is only a minor contributor to the overall SAG specific energy requirement. The
Ball Mill Work Index maintains its traditional role as the pre-eminent method for calculating Ball Milling
specific energy calculation and is not used in the calculation of a SAG mills specific energy requirements
in SAB or SABC circuits.
Because of its minor contribution to the total SAG specific energy requirements, the effect of the
Crusher Work Index can be calculated in a manner similar to a sensitivity case, i.e. calculated using a
number of hypothetical Crusher Work indices to determine how much the overall SAG specific energy
demand changes by. In most cases, it would be readily absorbed by normal engineering design contingency.
However, it is recommended that the Bond Low Impact Crusher Work index still be determined for the
major ore lithotypes to provide reference points for the coarser end of the feed size distribution.

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CONCLUSIONS
As an engineering provider, Fluor has developed a technique that overcomes the challenges
presented when faced with diverging SAG mill circuit capacity estimates resulting from the use of different
SAG characterization methodologies.
Fluors investigations focussed on opportunities for improving the Bond work index based SAG
specific energy calculations due to the Bond Work Index offering a simple measure of ore hardness over a
range of particle sizes which is uncomplicated and less prone to erroneous interpretation. Fluors new
methodology, whilst markedly different to the previous in-house standard of the original Grindpower
calculation, has stayed true to the ethos of the Bond work index, i.e. splitting the feed size distribution into
different size ranges followed by the application of the appropriate work index to the size range being
investigated.
However, in order to account for well established SAG milling phenomenon, the new method has
also had to borrow one key element of the population balance modelling approach, i.e. the breakage rate
function, in order to develop the different Efficiency Factors for the different size fractions.
The key index for the new SAG specific energy calculation method is the Rod Mill Work Index
followed by the Crusher Work index. The key role played by the Bond Rod Mill index may have also
inadvertently uncovered a plausible explanation as to why Morrells 2008 calculation method generated the
best results when the coarse and fine tumbling mill energies were defined by the 750 micron size: the
interstitial voids between the steel and rock media is classifying the material before it is presented to the
grate in a manner similar to the ragging layer in a mineral jig.
The removal of the need for the Bond Low Impact Crusher Work Index for each and every sample
reduces the need for large volumes of PQ core, which offers reductions in drilling, sampling, and
characterization testwork costs consistent with the new generation of ore characterization methodologies.
Note, however, that Bonds Crusher Work index test is still recommended for the ore bodys major
lithotypes.
Whilst limited data is available within Fluor to benchmark the new calculation methodology, the
early indications are very encouraging, with the new Bond method aligning well with all styles of SAG
mill based circuits as well as emulating the effect of turning Pebble Crushers on or off in hard ore SABC
circuits. The new method also allows both the engineering and the owners teams to review, discuss, and
interpret a data set that the majority of them are already familiar with, i.e. the traditional Bond Indices. The
new method increases Fluors confidence to estimate, and therefore cross-check, the SAG milling energy
requirements for any current circuit configuration using the Bond indices welcome back, Mr Bond!
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author thanks the entire Fluor team for providing the information required, and the opportunity, to
review the Grindpower program. Thanks, as always, to both Derek Barratt and Dr. Stephen Morrell for
being the Yin and Yang of all things related to SAG milling ore characterisation and grinding energy
estimation. Many thanks to the 2011 Organising Committee for keeping the pressure on to complete this
paper and, finally, thanks to the owners and operators of SAG mill based circuits who always want more.

REFERENCES
Doll, A. , (1994), Grindpower Senior Engineers Manual, Rev 1.3: Fluor Daniel Wright.
Morrel S, (2008), A method for predicting the specific energy requirement of comminution circuits and
assessing their energy utilisation efficiency, Minerals Engineering, Vol 21, Issue 3, pp. 224 233.

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Morrel S, (2004), A new Autogenous and Semi Autogenous mill model for scale-up, design, and
optimisation, Minerals Engineering, Vol 27, Issue 3, pp. 437 445.

Rowland, C. A., (1973) Comparison of Work Indices Calculated from Operating Data with those from
Laboratory Test Data Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, Tenth International Mineral Processing
Congress.
Napier-Munn T, Morrell S, Morrison R, Kojovic T., (1996), Mineral Comminution Circuits: Their
Operation and Optimisation, The University of Queensland.

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