Minerals Engineering 19 (2006) 1439–1445

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Towards optimising ball-milling capacity: Effect of lifter design

Augustine B. Makokha *, Michael H. Moys
School of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, University of the Witwatersrand, P.O. Private Bag X3, 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa

Received 2 December 2005; accepted 1 March 2006

Available online 27 April 2006

Abstract

The effect of liner/lifter profile on kinetics of batch grinding and the milling capacity in general was assessed using mono-size quartz
material of 30 · 40 mesh (600 + 425 lm) as feed. The liner profiles tested were, (i) bevel with 60 lifter face angle to represent the new
liners, (ii) bevel with 45 lifter face angle to represent the worn liners and (iii) worn bevel modified with cone-lifters. The tests were con-
ducted under identical conditions to allow a comparative analysis of the results. In all cases, the breakage followed the first order hypoth-
esis. The experimental size distribution data was well predicted by the S and B model, thus allowing for estimation of breakage and
selection parameters (i.e., c and aT) for the three liner situations tested. The optimised values of the specific rate of breakage, Si for
the three liner profiles tested were 0.381, 0.287 and 0.365 min1, respectively, which clearly indicates the benefit of cone-lifters. The break-
age distribution function (Bij) values did not vary significantly with liner profile, which echoes the findings by other researchers.
 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Grinding; Comminution; Particle size; Process optimisation

1. Introduction most important parameter. The three major mechanisms

Comminution is an indispensable operation in mineral
processing circuits in that it helps to achieve a certain level
of fineness in the ore material inline with the process
requirements at downstream stages. The process is influ-
enced by a set of factors, which include the mill speed
and liner profile. Since the liner/lifters are the mechanical
link between the mill and the load, their mode of energy
transfer to the grinding media determines the rate of break-
age. Kano et al. (2001) demonstrated that the specific rate
of breakage is proportional to the impact energy of the
grinding media regardless of the media size. Fuerstenau
and Abouzeid (1985) maintain that the grinding rate and
energy consumption in the mill are significantly affected
by the liner design and that the predominance of one
breakage mechanism over the other would depend on
mill conditions, of which liner design constitutes the
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +27 11 717 7558; fax: +27 11 403 1471.
E-mail addresses: augustine_makokha@yahoo.com, amakokha@
prme.wits.ac.za (A.B. Makokha).
of particle breakage are impact, abrasion and attrition.
The rate of breakage is as a result of the combined effect
but when the particles become finer, attrition becomes
prevalent.
Substantial progress has been achieved in the design of
mill liners especially for autogenous (AG) and semi-autog-
enous (SAG) grinding mills for over 35 years now (James
et al., 1990). Today, the concern is slowly shifting from
design of new liners to exploring new techniques of opti-
mising the performance of existing liners/lifters over a
prolonged life. This in effect helps to increase the mill
availability while mitigating the operating costs. In light
of that, an attempt is made in this paper to investigate
how cone-lifters would affect the milling capacity. To assess
this effect, similar tests (under same operating conditions)
were performed for three liner profiles as follows (i) new
(60 face angle), (ii) worn (45 face angle) and (iii) worn
(45 face angle) modified with cone-lifters. The broader
aim is to investigate the possibilities for development of
more efficient liners/lifters and optimisation of the existing
ones to realise higher mill throughputs at lower costs.

0892-6875/$ - see front matter  2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.mineng.2006.03.002
1440 A.B. Makokha, M.H. Moys / Minerals Engineering 19 (2006) 1439–1445

2. Fundamental theory of milling
The theory of milling is well covered in literature, hence
this paper will only outline on the fundamentals. Basically,
for efficient particle breakage events (normal breakage), the
size reduction process follows the first order law (Deniz,
2004). According to the law, the specific rate of breakage
does not vary with grinding time over a range of particle
size (i.e., an average rate of breakage, Si is assumed over
the total grinding time). The size of the particlespisffiffiffi defined
pffiffiffi
by screen intervals separated in a sequence of 2 or 4 2.
For breakage of mono-size material, the process can be
described by the following kinetic equation:
dw1
¼ S 1 w1 ðtÞ;
dt
where, S1 is the specific rate of breakage of the feed size
material (i.e., i = 1) and w1(t) is the mass fraction of the
material remaining in the feed size interval after time t.
As breakage proceeds over a longer period, the material be-
comes finer and breakage slows down. At this stage, the
non-first order breakage ensues (abnormal breakage). This
is in line with Griffith’s fracture theory whereby it is diffi-
cult to initiate breakage in smaller particles as compared
to larger particles because of the presence of pre-existing
flaws in the larger particles. To determine the variation of
specific rate of breakage Si with particle size, Austin
et al. (1984) used the following model:
S i ¼ aT xai Qi ,
where, xi is the maximum limit in the screen size interval i
(mm), and aT and a are characteristic constants which are
dependent on material properties. The parameter aT is also
dependent on mill conditions. Qi is the correction factor
(taken as unity for lower size intervals, i.e., xi  dball). In
this study, xi < 1 mm hence Qi is taken as unity.
Increasing aT and Si increases the effective breakage rate
of the original particle in size class i to undersize. Hence, a
high value of aT implies a faster grinding process. The
parameter a in Eq. (2) is a material property which is inde-
pendent of mill conditions (Austin et al., 1984).
When a material of any given size undergoes primary
breakage, a set of primary fragments are produced which
would in turn have a probability of being re-broken. The
progeny fragments resulting from primary breakage can
be described by a cumulative breakage distribution func-
tion (Bij), determined from the product size distributions.
Basically Bij is the sum of the mass fractions of material
broken out of size j that is smaller than the upper size of
interval i (Tangsathitkulchai, 2003). The duration of grind-
ing over which the Bij values can be determined is chosen
such that only 20–30% breakage occurs in the top size
interval to minimize re-breakage of smaller particles. The
following expression was used to determine the Bij values
(Austin et al., 1984):
log ½ð1  pi ð0ÞÞ=ð1  pi ðtÞÞ
Bij ¼  ; i > j; ð3Þ
log ð1  pjþ1 ð0ÞÞ=ð1  pjþ1 ðtÞÞ
ð1Þ where Pi(t) is the weight fraction of the material in the mill
less than size xi at time t. The Bij values can be fitted to an
empirical function proposed by Austin et al. (1984) which
is presented as follows:
Bij ¼ /j ½xi1 =xj c þ ð1  /j Þ½xi1 =xj b ; n P i P j P 1.
ð4Þ
The model parameters (/j, c, b) are characteristic material
properties for a given ore.
3. Experimental
3.1. Batch equipment configuration
ð2Þ
A laboratory scale mill measuring 526 mm in diameter
(inside liners) and 400 mm long was utilised in the experi-
mental work. The mill configurations and test conditions
are described in Table 1. Fig. 1 illustrates the details of
the bevel liners used in the experimental work. The liners
were cast with integral lifters having a face angle of 60 tan-
gent to the mill shell on one side and 45 on the other,
which replicates the profile of the new and worn liners,
respectively. This configuration further allows the experi-
mental work to be performed with both worn and unworn
profiles by simply reversing the liners or direction of mill
rotation.
Fig. 2 shows the details of the cone-lifter design and the
installation criterion. The cone-lifters have a face angle of
60 and height of 16 mm with a 7 mm bore to facilitate

Table 1
Experimental specifications and test conditions for the batch milling tests
Specifications Test A1 Test A2 Test A3
Liners Number 24 24 24
Profile Worn Worn + cone-lifters New
Cone-lifters Configuration – Staggered –
Number (Per row) None 12 None
Number of rows circumferential None 5 None
Ball media Diameter (mm) 10–6 10–6 10–6
Mill diameter (inside liners), D = 526 mm; mill length, L = 400 mm; load volume, J = 20%; speed, N = 75% of critical (58.8 rpm); interstitial powder
filling, U = 0.6.
 A.B. Makokha, M.H. Moys / Minerals Engineering 19 (2006) 1439–1445
Mill Radius
New (60˚)
(R273)
Worn (45˚)
69 400
Fig. 1. Laboratory version of the bevel liners used in the experimental
work.
installation on the worn liner profile. The height of 16 mm
was just sufficient to project the balls onto the bed of the
charge at the toe region rather than on the mill liner wall.
The latter would promote further wear of liners. The cone-
lifters were designed to slightly overlap the worn liner pro-
file upon installation, which adds to their strength. It also
allows the cone-lifters to be firmly held in position. The siz-
ing was established numerically by discrete element simula-
tion (Moys et al., 2000) at the point of mill optimal
performance, for typical mill operating conditions of
J = 20% of mill volume and N = 75% of critical speed as
found in ball mills at Matimba power station in South
Africa. The cone-lifters were installed at axial and diagonal
centre to centre distances of 150 and 70 mm, respectively,
as shown in Fig. 2 (i.e., the diagonal pattern results from
the staggered arrangement of cone-lifters). They were
secured onto the liner surface using Allen screws of 6 mm
in diameter which also lock the liners onto the mill shell.
The resultant cone-lifter height to spacing ratio in the diag-
onal direction was 4.375, which lies within the conventional
range of lifter spacing of 3.5–4.5 as reported in literature by
Bigg and Raabe (1996).
3.2. Batch milling tests
3.2.1. Experimental design
The experiments were designed with two independent
variables, i.e., liner/lifter profile and grinding time. The
selection function (S1) and the breakage distribution (Bi1)
Fig. 2. Snapshot of the experimental mill showing the worn bevel liners fitted with cone-lifters in staggered mode (h = 45, h = 5 mm).
1441
were estimated. Three duplicate experiments designated
as A1, A2 and A3 were performed each for a given period
of grinding time. Three liner profiles whose configuration
details are given in Table 1 were tested. The mill speed
and filling were kept constant during the tests. The aim
was to compare the grinding rates obtained with the three
liner/lifter profiles and to assess any influence on the selec-
tion and breakage parameters. The summary of the exper-
imental mill characteristics and test conditions are given in
Table 1.
3.2.2. Feed material
The feed samples used in the test work were part of the
quartz material that had been used in many of our previous
experiments, owing to the consistent milling and sieving
properties. The material had been sieved to 97% retention
of the top size in the screen interval of 30 · 40 mesh
(600 + 425 lm). For each experimental run, a portion
of the material representing a fractional interstitial filling,
U = 0.6 (for load porosity, eL = 0.4) was used. This level
was carefully chosen to avoid powder ‘pooling’ and ‘cush-
ioning’ effects that result from high level of U. Very low lev-
els of U will however propagate the media wear due to
direct impacts between the balls. The weight of the material
(powder) used was calculated as 6.1 kg for a mill length of
400 mm. The specific gravity of the powder is 2.5 while the
bulk density was measured as 1.48 g/cm3.
3.2.3. Experimental procedures
The experiments were performed in a batch wise mode.
In all the tests, the quartz material was ground for a total
period of 4 min. Samples were collected from the mill after
grinding times of 1, 2 and 4 min. This allowed for sufficient
grinding to occur between successive sampling intervals. A
portion of between 200 and 250 g from each sample col-
lected from the mill was split to obtain a sample that is rep-
resentative of the properties of both coarser and finer
materials in the mill. A representative sample of about
50–60 g was then wet washed on the screen size (38 lm)
to remove the fines. The wet samples were then dried in
an oven, which was followed by dry screening of each sam-
ple for 20 min in separate runs but using the same sieves on
the shaker machine. The screens were nested (stacked) in
decreasing order of size from 600 to 38 lm at an interval
1442
pffiffiffi
of 2. The reason for maintaining the same sieves in all the
test runs is to ensure consistency in the results. This is given
the fact that different sieves have different reliabilities
despite having same nominal aperture size.
4. Results and discussion
4.1. Comparison of grinding rates
To assess the performance of the three liner profiles
under investigation, a comparison of the grinding data
was made. This data is graphically presented in Fig. 3,
where the mass percentage retained on the top screen is
plotted against grinding time t on a log–linear scale. The
results indicate that grinding follows the first order hypoth-
esis (normal breakage). The slope of each line represents
the specific rate of breakage, i.e., the selection function
(S1). This parameter is generally used in milling practice
to give the fractional rate of breakage out of initial size j.
The results further indicate a significant improvement in
milling rate for the worn liner profile upon modification
with cone-lifters (i.e., by retrofitting). This implies that
the performance of worn liners could be optimised using
cone-lifters; but it is noteworthy that on full scale mills
the cone lifters protrude aggressively into the load and
therefore will be subject to a high wear rate leading to a life
substantially lower than the originally installed liners.
However, replacement of the cone-lifters will be very easy
to do, and the cone-lifters themselves should be substan-
tially cheaper than the liners, so lower overall liner cost
would be expected over several cone-lifters lifetimes.
4.2. Determination of breakage and selection parameters
4.2.1. Determination of S1 values
The first order plots of experimental data for the three
liner profiles tested are presented in Fig. 3. The data dis-
plays mild but noticeable nonlinear behaviour after 2 min
with the breakage rate beginning to slow down, possibly
100
Mass % retained (-600 +425)μm
S = 0.27 min-1
S = 0.36 min-1
30
Worn liner (45° )
Worn + Cone-lifter
New liner ( 60° )
10
0 1 2 3
Grinding time (mins)
Fig. 3. Results of the batch test of first order grinding for mono-size
quartz material (600 + 425 lm), N = 75% of critical, J = 20%.
A.B. Makokha, M.H. Moys / Minerals Engineering 19 (2006) 1439–1445
due to the cushioning effect by the fines. The phenomenon
of cushioning is discussed in details elsewhere by Austin
et al. (1984). In the first order region, the specific rates of
breakage, S1 for the cases of worn liner profile, worn liner
modified with cone-lifters and new liner profile are
obtained as 0.27, 0.34 and 0.36 min1, respectively. This
signifies an improvement of about 26% in milling rate with
the worn liner upon modification with cone-lifters.
4.2.2. Determination of Bi1 values
Fig. 4 shows the experimental results where the values of
the cumulative breakage distribution function (Bi1) are
plotted against size on the log–log scale. The Bi1 values
were evaluated using Eq. (3). The grinding data obtained
after 1 min of grinding, which was just sufficient for mini-
mum secondary breakage of material in the top size was
utilised in the evaluation. From the results presented in
Fig. 4, the difference between the Bi1 values for the three
liner profiles is indiscernible. This observation adds to the
general consensus in literature (e.g., Austin et al., 1984)
that Bij function (where j = 1 in the present case) is inde-
pendent of the mill conditions. The parameters (/, c, b)
can be obtained from the Bi1 curve as illustrated in the fig-
ure where the slope of the lower part of the curve gives the
value of c while / is the intercept at (xi1/x1) = 1. The
value of b is obtained as a slope of Bi1  /[xi1/x1]c
{= (1  /)[xi1/x1]b from Eq. (4)}, whose intercept is
(1  /) at (xi1/x1) = 1 (King, 2000).
The parameter c characterises the relative amount of
fines produced from the breakage of the top size material
and therefore directly relates to the efficiency of the grind-
ing process. A higher value of c implies that the progeny
fragments are coarser, i.e., their size is closer to the size
of the parent material being broken and that grinding is
taking place at a slow rate. On the other hand, a lower
value of c would imply more effective breakage action with
high production of fines. In general, softer materials would
display lower values of c as compared to harder materials.
1 1
100 Φ = 0.55
Cumulative breakage function (Bij)
0.3 0.3
γ
0.1 0.1
β
30
0.03 0.03
0.01 0.01
101 3x101 102 3x102 103
10
4 5 Size (xi) μm
Fig. 4. Breakage distribution function for 97% single size quartz feed
(600 + 425) for a grinding time of 1 min (U = 0.6, N = 75% of critical,
J = 20%).
 A.B. Makokha, M.H. Moys / Minerals Engineering 19 (2006) 1439–1445
4.2.3. Parameter estimation using a numerical method
A software tool (BALL-PARAM) from ‘Moly Cop’
was used to estimate the values of the parameters aT and
c that would characterise the grinding process. The exper-
imental size distributions of the products at times t1, t2
and t4 corresponding to grinding times of 1, 2 and 4 min,
respectively, and the feed were used as the input (raw data)
to the model. The parameters aT and c were then estimated
by minimising the square of the differences between the
experimental and predicted Pi(t) values assuming normal
breakage. The objective function is given as the weighted
sum of the normalised errors (%) over the total grinding
time as
X4 X n  2
wi P iðexpÞ  P iðmodÞ
SSE ¼  100%; ð5Þ
t¼1 i¼1
W P iðmodÞ
where Pi is the size distribution of the mill product retained
on screen i, n is the number of screen intervals used, wi is
the weight factor that quantifies the reliability of the data
for each screen interval with respect to data from other
screens and W is the total sum of the weight factors. The
values of wi are known to vary within a narrow margin
but generally the reliabilities of top and bottom screens
are lower than the intermediate screens. The range of wi
values used in the fitting algorithm is given in Table 2.
The fitting algorithm searches for the best combination
of parameters that minimise the residual error between
the experimental and predicted size distributions. The liter-
ature values of / (denoted as / 0 ) and b by Austin et al.
(1984) were taken as initial estimates to the model in the fit-
ting process. As a rule of thumb, the number of parameters
was reduced so as to obtain the value of aT that would give
the best fit. This was accomplished by fixing the parame-
ters, a, / (as / 0 ) and b since they are generally regarded
as characteristic constants of the material, which for nor-
mal breakage do not vary with mill conditions. In this case,
the sensitivity of only two parameters to the milling condi-
tions, i.e., (aT and c) was investigated. Table 3 gives a sum-
mary of the values of the breakage and selection
parameters whose combination yielded the best fit to the
experimental data. From the fitted parameters (shown in
Table 3), there was no significant variation in the values
of c for the three liner situations.
To estimate the parameter aT, it was considered appro-
priate to use an average value of c (i.e., c 0 = 1.104), since its
Table 2
The weight factors, wi in the parameter fitting algorithm (BALL_
PARAM)
Screen i Mesh wi
1 600 + 425 3
2 425 + 300 4
3 300 + 212 5 process.
4 212 + 150 5 For reliable data, the root mean square of residuals
5 150 + 106 5 (RMSR) based on experimental errors associated with siev-
6 106 + 75 4 ing should not exceed the value of 0.01, at 99% confidence
7 75 + 53 3
1443
Table 3
Summary of the fitted parameters (selection and breakage)
Characteristic Worn liner Worn liner + New liner
constant profile (45) cone-lifters profile (60)
aT 0.432 0.550 0.573
c0 1.104 1.104 1.104
c 1.106 1.103 1.102
/0 0.505 0.505 0.505
/ 0.55 0.7 0.8
a 0.80 0.80 0.80
b 3.9 3.9 3.9
S1 0.287 0.365 0.381
variation was only minor. This value compares closely to
those established in literature by other researchers includ-
ing Yekeler et al. (2001) who reported an optimised value
of c = 1.20 for wet milling of quartz and Austin et al.
(1984) who obtained an average value of c = 1.1 for dry
grinding of quartz.
The fitted values of parameter aT (min1) for the three
liner profiles tested are presented in Table 3. The grinding
data obtained with the liner profile which had been modi-
fied with cone-lifters gave a higher value of aT (i.e., 1.27
times) as compared to the case without cone-lifters. This
implies that grinding process would proceed in a faster rate
with cone-lifters than without. The new liner profile on the
other hand gave the highest value of aT (i.e., 1.33 times the
worn liner). Note that the S1 values were calculated from
Eq. (2) using the fitted values of aT. In view of these find-
ings, it seems probable that the rate of disappearance of
material from the top size interval is dependent on the level
of cataracting in the mill, which is a function of mill speed
and liner/lifter profile among other factors. In essence,
cataracting media produce high-energy impacts, which
are utilised in breaking larger particles during normal
breakage thereby enhancing the breakage rate. This result
is consistent with other observed trends in literature. It
can therefore be deduced that the specific rate of breakage
of a given material is significantly influenced by the mill
liner/lifter profile.
Figs. 5–7 show the comparisons of the experimental and
predicted results of the particle size distributions of quartz
material obtained at different grinding times. The results of
grinding up to 4 min were compared. The predicted size
distributions relate to the values of the characteristic
parameters shown in Table 3 obtained using the parameter
fitting algorithm. From the results, good agreements can be
observed between experimental and predicted data within
the limits of experimental error. No significant deviation
is observed in the nonlinear region despite assuming first
order breakage in the fitting algorithm over the entire
grinding duration. Presumably the nonlinear effect had
not strongly set in to have a clear impact on the grinding
level (Herbst and Fuerstenau, 1973). In our estimations the
1444 A.B. Makokha, M.H. Moys / Minerals Engineering 19 (2006) 1439–1445

100 100 RMSR values for the three cases investigated are less than
the critical value of 0.01 (i.e., 0.0039 for new liner, 0.0042
Cumulative % finer than size (xi)

for worn liner and 0.008 for the worn liner with cone-lift-
30 30 ers). On the basis of these results, it can be admitted that
the model fits the experimental data well. The root mean
square of normalised residuals was obtained as
10 10 rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
4 Min
P P  J n
2
P ijðtÞ exp P ijðtÞpred
j¼1 i¼1 P ijðtÞpred
RMSR ¼ ; ð6Þ
3 2 Min 3 ðn  1ÞJ  1
Experimental
1 Min Predicted where Pi,j,exp and Pi,j,pred are the experimental and pre-
1 1 dicted cumulative fractions finer than size xi for the jth
10 1 3x101 10 2 3x10 2 10 3 combination of operating variables and grinding time.
Particle size (xi) μm
4.3. Comparison of power draw and milling capacity
Fig. 5. Experimental and predicted product size distributions of
600 + 425 quartz feed, ground with 10–6 mm balls (worn liner profile).
It is generally assumed that the energy required for
grinding per tonne of defined product size is approximately
constant. The general practice in milling industry is that, in
order to achieve the highest production rate, the mill must
100 100
draw maximum power. Thus, it is expected that the rate of
breakage will reach a maximum at the point when the mill
Cumulative % finer than size (xi)

is drawing maximum power. On the basis of Bond’s grinda-

30 30
bility tests (Austin et al., 1984), the plot of energy per unit
mass of material (specific energy) versus milling rate should
10 10 give a straight line passing through the origin, which signi-
4 Min fies that at zero power, there is zero breakage. In this study,
2 Min
an attempt is made to assess the relationship between mill
3 Experiment 3
power draw and the parameter aT, which is an indication of
1 Min Predicted the milling rate; given that the other parameters in Si
(a, . . .) in Eq. (2) are fixed. Data obtained during 4 min
1 1 of grinding was used in the analysis bearing in mind that
1 1 2 2 3
10 3x10 10 3x10 10
no significant change in power is expected over this short
Particle size (Xi) μm
period of grinding, as observed from our earlier tests.
Fig. 6. Experimental and predicted product size distributions of
Fig. 8 shows the observed trend in milling rate (indicated
600 + 425 quartz feed, ground with 10–6 mm balls (worn profile by the parameter aT) as a function of the mill power draw.
modified with cone-lifters). Each data point corresponds to a different liner profile.
From the results, it is established that the value of the
parameter aT increases as mill power increases along a linear
path, which conforms to established trends in literature.
100 100
450
Trend of mill power proportional to S
Cumulative % finer than size (xi)

30 30 440
Mill Power (W)

10 4 Min 10 430

2 Min Bevel liner (45°)

420
3 3 Bevel (45°) + cone-lifters
1 Min
Experimental Bevel liner (60°)
Predicted 410

1 1
10 1 3x101 10 2 3x10 2 10 3 0
0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6
Particle size (xi) μm
-1
Parameter aT (min )
Fig. 7. Experimental and predicted product size distributions of
600 + 425 quartz feed, ground with 10–6 mm balls (new liner profile). Fig. 8. Relationship between power draw and breakage parameter aT.
 A.B. Makokha, M.H. Moys / Minerals Engineering 19 (2006) 1439–1445
However, the trend does not pass through the origin; instead
it intercepts the vertical axis at a finite value. This in practi-
cal sense shows how the milling efficiency and capacity are
drastically affected by liner profile as the liners wear down.
5. Conclusions
The study showed that the breakage of single-sized
quartz material follows the first order law but only for a
certain period of grinding. It was further noted that the
liner profile significantly influences the milling rate and
fines production in the mill. The benefit of using cone-lift-
ers was clearly evident. Based on this premise, it remains
clear that possibilities still exist of sustaining the capacity
of milling circuits through liner optimisation. The use of
cone-lifters could be one possible technique. Further, a
good match was observed between experimental and
numerically predicted data. This result signifies that the
use of numerical models in the estimation of breakage
and selection parameters that would result from the change
in mill operating and design conditions may be helpful in
milling circuit optimisation.
Acknowledgement
The authors gratefully acknowledge ESKOM for fund-
ing this research work.
1445
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