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Development of operation strategies for variable speed ball mills

University of British Columbia

Mineral processing productivity relates to a range of operating parameters, including production rate, product grind size, and energy efficiency. Variations in ore properties and operating conditions change the comminution dynamics, resulting in a constant deviation from operational goals. Although most processing facilities currently use fixed speed grinding mills, variable speed drive is considered to provide an important control variable that can contribute to achieving operational objectives. This thesis examines variable speed ball mill performance under changing operating conditions to recommend operating conditions for the Copper Mountain Mine. JK SimMet, a very powerful predictive tool, was used to estimate grinding circuit performance and mill power consumption. Samples and operating data were collected directly from the Copper Mountain Mine to build a calibrated model. Appearance (breakage distribution) functions of different geo-samples were measured and used to predict plant performance under different ore property variations. The results indicate that higher mill speed and lower ball load operating strategies are preferable with respect to energy savings in variable speed ball mill operations. Ore characteristic variations at the Copper Mountain Mine are significant and can cause large oscillations within mill operations. Thus, ore blending in Copper Mountain should be done carefully and cautiously. However, in combination with traditional optimization methods, ball mill grinding speed can be used to control energy input and offset the influences of ore variability. Optimum ball mill operating conditions can be determined based on circuit design and operating dynamics for any given run-of-mine ore.

Text

2018-04-23

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/65576

Mining Engineering

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/