RUBBER LINERS IN THE SERVICE OF LARGE DIAMETER BALL MILL AT HUDBAY,

CONSTANCIA MINE, PERU

*Raj Rajamani1, Jose A. Delgadillo2, Pramod Kumar3, Matt Hurley3, Hugo Granados4, Manuel Sanchez4,
and Marcial Medina4
1
Metallurgical Engineering Department, University of Utah
135 South 1460 East
Salt Lake City, Utah-84112, USA
(*Corresponding author: raj.rajamani@utah.edu)
2
Universidad Autnoma de San Luis Potos
lvalaro Obergin #64, Centro
78000 San Luis, SLP, Mexico
3
Polycorp Limited
33 York St. West
Elora, Ontario N0B 1S0, Canada
4
Hudbay Minerals, Constancia Mine
Edificio Empresarial Cronos
Av. El Derby 055, Torre 3, Piso 4
Santiago de Surco
Lima, Peru

ABSTRACT

Large-diameter ball mills have traditionally used steel linerssteel being a highly durable
material that can be shaped into any desired geometry, among which the double-wave has been the
preferred design. Such a design produces a purely cascading charge motion, which is ideal for the shearing
action needed to produce a finer product. Today, however, rubber liners, which have been in existence for
over forty years, are now preferred over traditional steel, largely because they weigh less and are easier to
maintain. In this paper, we show the operating data from the Hudbay Minerals Constancia Mine, wherein
the liners on a 26-by-40-foot mill were changed from conventional steel liners to PolyStl liners. It is then
shown that this change reduced the amount of energy consumed whilst being able to maintain previous
grind and throughput levels. The design is verified via discrete element simulations.

KEYWORDS

Ball mill, Liner design, PolyStl liners, Millsoft simulation, Mill power

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 49th Annual Canadian Mineral Processors Operators Conference, Ottawa, Ontario, January 17-19, 2017

INTRODUCTION

The Constancia Mine (Our Business: Peru, 2016) is located in the southeastern Andes of Peru,
at an elevation of approximately 4,200 m. It can be accessed via the CU-126 road, about 95 km from the
town of Espinar in Espinar Province. The mine also contains both the Constancia and Pampacancha
deposits in the Province of Chumbivilcas. Hudbay Minerals, Inc. acquired the mine in 2011, through the
purchase of Norsemont Mining, Inc. and currently retains sole ownership of the property. Production of the
Constancia Mine began in 2014, with commercial production levels being achieved in April 2015.

The Constancia and Pampacancha deposits primarily include hypogene, supergene, and skarn
ores. The Mines main products, however, are copper concentrate, with silver contents, and molybdenum
concentrate. These mineral reserves are expected to last approximately 22 years. Constancias open-pit
mine supplies a processing plant that is designed for 81,900 metric tons per day of throughput. Average
annual copper production is estimated to be 82,000 mT (contained metal in concentrate). Actual plant
production can be found in Table 1.

Table 1 Annual Ore Tonnage Processed at Constancia

Date Avg. TPD Annual Total mT Comments
(approx.) (approx.)
Design 81,900 29 million At 100% availability
Capacity
2014 N/A 172,000 Commissioning
2015 64,400 23,522,000 Commissioning
completed

PROCESS DESCRIPTION

The processing plant at the Constancia Mine utilizes classic single-stage crushing, SAG, and ball
mill circuits. Flotation circuits produce concentrates of copper and molybdenum. The resultant copper and
molybdenum concentrates are eventually transported by truck to the Matarani Seaport. The concentrator
plant has two separate lines, each formed by a SAG mill, a ball mill, and a flotation circuit rougher; the
flotation circuit has three cleaning stages that receive the concentrate before it is reground in an IsaMillTM
mill. The concentrate produced in the third cleaning stage is sent to a thickener. It is then fed to the
molybdenum plant to float the molybdenum and depress the copper species. Both concentrates are
thickened, filtered, and then sent to the Port of Matarani for marketing.

Crushing circuit

The crushing and grinding circuits of the Constancia plant is shown in Figure 1. There are two
identical grinding lines in parallel. As noted above, the crushing circuit at Constancia uses a single-stage
open-circuit arrangement. The primary crusher, a single 1600 x 3000 FLSmidth, Inc., is a gyratory unit
with an installed power of 1,000 kW. Trucks feed the ore to a crusher, which discharges onto conveyors
that transport the mineral to a stockpile. Product size from crushing is currently at 115 mm (P80), on the
average (transfer size to SAG mill).

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Figure 1 Crushing and grinding circuit flow sheet

SAG and Ball Mill Circuit

The grinding circuit at Constancia Mine consists of two 36 x 26.5 (10.1 m x 8.1 m) SAG
mills and two 26 x 41 (7.9 m x 12.5 m) overflow ball mills. FLSmidth, Inc. supplied all four mills.
The SAG mills have 13.7 MW of installed power, and the ball mills have 15.2 MW of installed power.
Each mill is operated in a closed circuit, utilizing a battery of hydrocyclones for size classification. The
transfer size between the SAG and ball mills is approximately 1.5 mm to 3.0 mm. The current product size
from the ball mills is approximately 100 micron. The mills are arranged in two SABC circuits, with each
mill processing an average of 40,000 mT/day. A copper regrind mill is also included in the circuit. Both
SAG and ball mill relining is accomplished by using two separate liner handlers: one for the SAG mills and
one for the ball mills. Several hydraulic bolt hammers aid the removal of the liners.

LINER HISTORY

Installation of the concentrator circuit at the Constancia Mine began in 2012. The first production
of concentrate from the circuit began in December 2014, reaching full commercial production in April
2015. We focused on the liner development for Ball mill #4 (seen in Figure 1), which was in one of the two
grinding lines. Ball mill #4 was originally fitted with 52 rows of double-wave steel liners that drew 13,500
kW of power. Hudbay operations made the decision to replace these liners with PolyStl liners, both with
a view to reduce the weight of the mill and to increase mill production.

DESIGN OF POLYSTL LINERS

The original liners in Ball mill #4 were of a high-low double-wave design. The design details of
this particular liner are shown in Figure 2. It is useful to note that the crests of the waves rise above a flat,
76 mm-thick shell. The taller crests peak at 185 mm above the mill shell, while the lower crests peak at 141
mm above the mill shell plate. The net effect is that the ball charge is carried by a high crest, 109 mm in
height, followed by a low crest, 65 mm in height. Finally, there are 52 rows of this high-low design around
the mill shell.

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Figure 2 High-low double-wave steel liner in Ball mill #4 prior to June 2016

The single most compelling reason is that the PolyStl, which is a combination of rubber and
steel, would draw less power and provide the impacts necessary to maintain production. If this is
accomplished, then there is room to add more ball charge and increase the power drawn by the mill.
Drawing more power would, in turn, be reflected in a higher mill throughput. The PolyStl liner design
configuration is shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3 Cross-sectional view of a PolyStl liners steel front and rubber backing

The PolyStl-liner design provides a base of 75 mm above the shell plate. The vertical height of
the back face is 175 mm and the top face is 104 mm wide. The leading face is inclined at 45 degrees to
provide compact ball-throw action. The total width of the liner bar is 210 mm. The PolyStl liner, after
installation, is shown in Figure 4. In the figure, one can see the steel front on the leading face with rubber
backing behind it. The steeper relief angle is also clearly seen in Figure 4.

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 49th Annual Canadian Mineral Processors Operators Conference, Ottawa, Ontario, January 17-19, 2017

Figure 4 Showing steel front and installation of PolyStl liner in a 26-foot ball mill

Millsoft Simulations

In the last 25 years, the design of liners has routinely been accomplished with discrete element
simulation (DEM) software. Besides predicting the power draft of the mill for a specified set of liners, such
software is also capable of animating the motions of both ball and ore particles in a SAG or ball mill.
Inputs contain such relevant information as diameter, length, speed, ball and ore particle-size distribution,
number of rows of liners, and the design of the liners, themselves. The software, using contact-mechanic
algorithms, computes the collision of the moving shell and shell liners on the charge as well as the intra-
charge particle collisions to arrive at the animation of the charge. Hence, it is possible to assess the
efficiency of charge motion. A vigorous cascading motion is preferred for ball mills and a combination of
cataracting and cascading motion is needed for SAG mills.

The first such software code for liner design was published by Rajamani (1990). Known as
Millsoft, the software is capable of simulating a variety of complex liner geometries. This software was
used in 1990 for the design of SAG-mill liners in Alumbrera (Sherman & Rajamani, 1999) and Collahuasi
operations. For the first time, the SAG mill liners were designed with a large relief angle, in the range of
20-30 degrees, that resulted in greater throughput, lesser rows of high liners, longer life, and efficient use
of power draw. Following the success of DEM-based software, other ones have made their mark (Morrison
& Cleary, 2008; Rajamani & Mishra, 2001; Perez & Delgadillo, 2013; Govender, et. al, 2015).

There are a number of empirical power models available for estimating the power drawn by ball
mills. These models are based on the torque required to suspend the entire ball charge on the mill shell
from its resting position due to the motion of the shell. Although these correlations have come very close to
predicting actual operating power, they lack in one respect: they are incapable of distinguishing between

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 49th Annual Canadian Mineral Processors Operators Conference, Ottawa, Ontario, January 17-19, 2017

different shell liners imbedded in the mill shell. Here is the distinguishing feature of the discrete element
method. The collision on the adjacent layer of grinding balls, next to the liner, is influenced by the
geometrical design of the liner. Hence, the power draft is also reflected by the liner design. This feature is
especially helpful when a new design is considered as a replacement for the older design.

In the following paragraphs, we will first describe the MillsoftTM simulation of Constancia Ball
mill #4 operating with steel liners and then with PolyStl liners. The operating conditions imposed on the
simulations include mill diameter, length, mill speed at 11.27 rpm, 67 mm top ball size, and mill filling of
32%. Finally, the precise geometry of the double-wave and PolyStl liners on the 52 rows are carefully
constructed in the simulation software.

The result of the simulation for the double-wave steel liner is shown in Figure 5. This figure also
shows the location of the ball charge and ball velocity vectors. The power draw for this liner was computed
to be 15,295 kW.

Figure 5 Profile of ball charge motion with steel liners (32% ball charge by volume)

It is generally believed in the industry that double-wave liners are well suited for ball mills
because they invariably produce a cascading charge motion. Furthermore, the cascading charge descends
on itself at around 7:00 on the clock-circle. The descending charge location is a vital signature of the
observed charge motion, since any charge motion that descends away from the toe of the charge and onto
the exposed mill shell, is wasted energy. In other words, the ball strike on the mill shell does not result in
any grinding of the mineral ore. In fact, in Ball mill #4, it has been shown that the ore is ground by
shearing action between layers-of-balls and not at all by direct impact. This shearing action occurs in the
cascading charge. More importantly, the shear rate is larger in the outer cascading layers and it diminishes,
gradually, to the kidney-shaped mass of the charge. Hence, in the case of Constancias Ball mill #4, one
observes a number of ball strikes on the mill shell between 7:00 and 8:00 on the clock-circle. These strikes

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 49th Annual Canadian Mineral Processors Operators Conference, Ottawa, Ontario, January 17-19, 2017

are an anomaly, given that the shell liners are rounded, but it must be due to the relative height of the high-
crest compared to the low-crest.

Figure 6 Snapshots of charge motion with PolyStl liner

Next, we look at the performance of the PolyStl-liner induced charge motion, as shown in
Figure 6. This liner produces a tight cascading motion, with descending cascade falling within the charge
in the toe region. Thus all of the energy transmitted into the mill shell is converted into purely cascading
charge motion, that is to say 100% shearing action within the charge. The computed power is 15,690 kW at
32% ball filling. In other words, the power draw is identical if not more than the steel liners. A lower
release and compact-charge indicate very efficient fine grinding. This charge motion is ideal for fine feed
and smaller ball size. It remains to be seen, however, if this liner can increase mill throughput as a result of
pure cascading action. To compare two liners in terms of the throughput they would achieve is really a
complex question, requiring ore breakage tests that were not carried out here. Even so, these differences
will be borne out during the plant operations, which are explained later in this manuscript. Also, since there
are no impacts against a bare shell, the PolyStl liner is expected to last longer in service.

At this point, it is useful to outline the physical differences between the two liners. The steel liner
occupies 5.86% of the total mill volume whereas the PolyStl liner occupies 5.85%. The steel-liner set
weighs 289,250 kg whereas the PolyStl weighs 128,750 kg, which is 56% less than the weight of the
steel liner. When selecting a liner, its weight is a significant factor. The mass of the liner exerts a
downward force on the bearing blocks, which results in a torque that must overcome the frictional force
within the bearing block. As such, a lightweight liner would draw less power to spin the empty mill shell.
The differences could be significanteven to the order of a few hundred kilowatts. Additionally, the
effective lift of the steel liner is 110 mm, versus 129 mm for the PolyStl liner. Thus, the PolyStl liner
was fabricated with the approach to optimize power draw and provide a greater release angle. It also
maintains the same liner volume as steel, giving it a longer wear-life.

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 49th Annual Canadian Mineral Processors Operators Conference, Ottawa, Ontario, January 17-19, 2017

RESULTS FROM POLYSTL LINERS

Ball mill operating variables were monitored from April 1, 2016 to August 30, 2016. During this
time, the steel liners were changed to PolyStl on June 20, 2016. Consequently, the data presented in this
section shows 80 days of operation with steel liners and 65 consecutive days of operation after the
changeover. Figure 7 shows the daily production over 145 consecutive-days.

Figure 7 Daily production tonnage in the 26-foot ball mill before and after the changeover to
PolyStl liners

The 80-day average throughput with the steel liners was 37,016 mT/day. After the change, the
average tonnage over 75 days was 39,516 mT/day, representing a 6.8% increase. On the eighth day, the
steel liner was producing 43,060 mT/day and maintained a similar tonnage until day 43. The tonnage
gradually slipped down until around the 60th day, when the tonnage was 29,600 mT/day. Thereafter, due to
a soft-ore production from the mine, the tonnage increased to 45,800 mT/day. Just after installation, the
PolyStlTM liner produced 39,075 mT/day and maintained a steady 42,500 mT/day over the next 60 days. At
the same time, however, the production dropped down intermittently on many days. The concentrator
operators reasoned this was due to the bottleneck in the SAG mill, which was located ahead of the ball
mill. Subsequently, a lower tonnage was being passed to the ball mill while the operators resolved the
bottleneck in the SAG mill.

Another way of comparing production tonnage before and after the liner changeover is to consider
the cumulative tonnage processed over months of operation. Thus, when taking 71 days-before and 71
days-after the changeover, we find that the steel liner produced 2,623,201 mT and the PolyStl liner
produced 2,696,391 mT. This represents a 2.8% increase in production and allows us to see that a
PolyStl liner could produce more tonnage than a conventional steel liner.

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 49th Annual Canadian Mineral Processors Operators Conference, Ottawa, Ontario, January 17-19, 2017

Figure 8 Daily average power drawn by the ball mill

Next, we analyze the impact of the power drawn by the mill. The ball mill has an installed power
of 15,000 kW, but the daily power draw hovers around 13,250 kW. The lower power draw is attributed to a
ball charge of 24%. Figure 8 shows the mill power drawn for 145 consecutive days. Once again, the
average over the first 80 days is 13,330 kW and the average over 65 days, after the changeover, was 12,820
kW, which represents a saving of 400 kW or 3% in power consumption. The trends shown in Figure 8 are
in agreement with what is generally observed in mills. Towards the end of the steel liners operation, the
power draw decreased rapidly and, upon installation of new liners, the power increased gradually over
seven days. The net effect of increased throughput and decreased power draw was a reduction in energy
consumption. Figure 9 shows the specific energy consumption in the ball mill. The average energy before
the changeover was 7.77 kWh/mT over 80 days and 7.28 kWh/mT afterwards, which represents a 6.3%
reduction.

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 49th Annual Canadian Mineral Processors Operators Conference, Ottawa, Ontario, January 17-19, 2017

Figure 9 Specific energy consumption over 145 consecutive-days of operation

CONCLUSION

In June 2016, Constancias operation of Hudbay Minerals changed the liners from double-waved
steel liners to PolyStl liners with a steeper release angle. The most remarkable attribute of the PolyStl
liner is that it is capable of drawing 13 MW of power, matching the steel liners commonly used today. In
fact, should the ball charge be increased from 24% to 32%, the same liner would draw 15 MW of power.
The design and operation of the PolyStlTM liner was investigated with MillsoftTM simulation software. In
addition, the new liner resulted in a daily production increase of 6.8% while it decreased the power
consumed by the mill by 3%. The net result is a decrease of 6.3% in specific energy consumption.
However, the ball mill operation was constrained by the tonnage that was processed by the SAG mill,
which operated ahead of the ball mill circuit. The PolyStlTM liner weight is 56% less than the weight of the
steel liner. Hence, by increasing the ball charge, the ball mill can draw more power and thereby increase
throughputproviding the SAG mill is set to process a similar tonnage. Furthermore, due to the relief
angle of the PolyStlTM liner, it is capable of maintaining a finer grind.

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