Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Magotteaux methodology
Wear mechanisms analysis and mill condition
There are three main parameters that influence the wear of
grinding media in a tumbling mill, ie abrasion, corrosion
and impact wear. Each grinding ball in a tumbling mill,
independent of its composition is subject to a combination
of the aforementioned wear mechanisms. An extreme case
1. MAusIMM, Metallurgy Manager, OZ Minerals Ltd, Prominent Hill, Ground Floor, 170 Greenhill Road, Parkside SA 5063. Email: mark.weidenbach@ozminerals.com
2. Head of Process Management, Magotteaux International, Avenue Einstein 14 Louvain-la-Neuve 1348, Belgium. Email: alfred.vandenbosch@magotteaux.com
3. Process Manager, Magotteaux International, Avenue Einstein 14, Louvain-la-Neuve 1348, Belgium. Email: alex.bruwier@magotteaux.com
4. Senior Project Metallurgist, OZ Minerals Ltd Prominent Hill, Ground Floor, 170 Greenhill Road, Parkside SA 5063. Email: Tien.Ly@ozminerals.com
5. Regional Manager, Magotteaux Australia, Suite 4/ 83 Havelock Street, West Perth WA 6005. Email: Philippe.de_bosscher@magotteaux.com
6. Ceramic Business Development Manager, Magotteaux International, Rue A Dumont, Vaux-Sous-Chevremont, Belgium. Email: christophe.philippe@magotteaux.com
105
M WEIDENBACH et al
A second method is to empty the old load from the mill and
introduce a new graded ball charge of the new alloy. Doing
this will avoid the purging period which in a normal ball mill
can be from three months to nine months. Whilst the upfront
investment will be higher the advantage of this method is that
the wear rate comparison and cost calculation can be made
immediately after the new alloy has been charged. Changes
in the milling conditions during the evaluation period have to
be analysed and integrated in the wear and cost calculation.
FORGING AHEAD A COLLABORATION BETWEEN THE OZ MINERALS PROMINENT HILL CONCENTRATOR AND MAGOTTEAUX
7.3
10.4
Overflow
Reverse closed
12000
10300
33
70
1220
High low design
10% 80 mm + 90% 65 mm
410
forged steel
2360
770
TABLE 2
Marked ball test results.
quartz (18.3 per cent) and chalcopyrite (2.5 per cent). The
water, which was decanted from the pulp sample, revealed
a pH of 7.37, a chloride content of 4982 ppm and a sulfate
content of 2024 ppm.
Based on this information the wear conditions inside the
ball mill at Prominent Hill were classified as follows; abrasion
medium to high, corrosion medium to low and impact low.
Wear reduction
versus steel forged
balls (%)
100
Duromax T
57.5
42.5
Duromax U
66.2
33.8
Duromax U HT2
66.7
33.3
Duromax K
58.5
41.5
Duromax K HT2
57.5
42.5
Duromax R
59.5
40.5
107
M WEIDENBACH et al
The steel forged grinding media in the marked ball test has
different properties compared to the industrially supplied
steel forged grinding media at Prominent Hill. The latter
outperforms the steel forged media in the marked ball trial by
approximately ten per cent.
Conclusion
FIG 3 - Prominent Hills industrial grinding media wear rate data in gram per
tonne milled for both semi-autogenous grinding mill and ball mill.
TABLE 3
Comparing the industrial wear rate results before and after the conversion from
steel forged alloy to cast Duromax grinding media.
Prominent Hill media wear (gram/tonne milled)
Semi-autogenous
grinding mill
Period 1
Period 2
436.7
504.6
Ball mill
108
410.1
311.0
FORGING AHEAD A COLLABORATION BETWEEN THE OZ MINERALS PROMINENT HILL CONCENTRATOR AND MAGOTTEAUX
TABLE 5
Industrial trial result of Keramax-MT1 and Keramax-MTX in the
IsaMill at Prominent Hill.
Unit
Value
Plant Throughput
Mt/a
9.8
g/t
40.0
kg/a
392 000
Plant throughput
Mt/a
9.8
g/t
17.0
kg/a
166 600
TABLE 4
Material specification of Keramax-MTX.
Grain fineness
<1 m
% ZrO2
>9%
Sintering temperature
>1550C
Temperature variation
<5C
57.5
<8%
% SiO2
Parameter
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank OZ Minerals Prominent Hill
and Magotteaux for the permission to publish the paper and
plant data.
REFERENCES
CONCLUSION
Since the new Prominent Hill concentrator in South Australia
was commissioned, Magotteaux and OZ Minerals have been
109