MINERAL PROCESSING

MIN211 LECTURE
28/09/2015

ESSENTIAL STAGES

PROSPECTING
EXPLORATION

DEVELOPMENT
ROCK
BREAKING
HAULING

CRUSHING
GRINDING
PROCESSING
METALLURG
Y

REFININ
G
FINAL PRODUCT

TYPES OF FEEDERS
PRIMARY
Vibrating Grizzly
Stepdeck Grizzly
Apron
Reciprocating Plate

SECONDARY
Vibrating Pan
Reciprocating Plate
Conveyor Belt

Primary Feeders: Vibrating

Grizzly Feeder
Mechanically actuated, low in cost, self-cleaning
Design Considerations
Typically horizontal, however an increase of slope of 5
results in in approximately 20% increase in capacity
Bottom of feed hopper should be parallel to the grizzly
Feeder skirt assemblies should be bolted to the hopper
floor and allow the removal for ease of service
Feeder should be long enough to provide sufficient room
to accept a truck load without overflowing into the
crusher
Should be long enough to provide uniform feed to the
crusher

Primary Feeders: Apron Feeder

Continuous steel belt unit made of
overlapping flights supported on steel
chains or bars
Suited toward handling heavy, coarse,
or lumpy materials
Can provide close control of feed rate
Design Considerations
Usually inclined 10-15
Slope has little effect on feeder capacity,
but may increase horsepower required

Secondary Feeders: Vibrating

Pan Feeders
Sloped trough with a flat or slightly rounded bottom
having shallow sides and an open end
Usually self-cleaning
Handle a wide range of particle sizes
Design Considerations
Capacity

Influenced by pan width

Material Depth
Inclination of the pan
Characteristics and density of the material
Amplitude and frequency of vibration
For any pan width, capacity is directly related to material weight and
bed depth

Vibrating motion
Electromagnetic feeders use high frequency, low amplitude motion to
impart velocity to the feed

Secondary Feeders: Conveyor

Belt Feeders
Provide positive, easily regulated, continuous method of
feed control
Constructed with standard conveyor components, but
can be made with troughed carrying idlers
Best served with smaller sized materials
Design considerations:
Moisture higher than 5 to 6% typically requires a return belt
cleaner
Large particles or particles with sharp edges can damage belts
Capacity varies with gate opening and belt speed
Belt speed is typically limited to 150 fpm
Skirts should be divergent from feed end to discharge end to
provide less friction

Conveyors
Factors determining Selection
1.
2.
3.
.
.

Capacity
Length and lift
Material weight and size
Normal range of belt speeds is between 300 and 600 fpm
Belt width is a compromise between speed selected and capacity to
be handled
. Conveyor Idlers are used for support

Design Considerations
. Belt selection is influenced by drive horsepower and nature of
material being handled
. Typical inclinations up to 18
. Special belts can handle 25 or more
. Transfer points should be at about 5 to 10, sloping upward in a
radial curve

Elevators and Screw Conveyors

Elevators
Bucket elevators can convey material vertically in a
minimal horizontal space for small, free flowing
materials

Screw Conveyors
Fine, free flowing materials are often handled by screw
conveyors
Have pitched auger flights on a rotating shaft that is
enclosed by a tube or U shaped housing
Performance characteristics depend on selection of the
unit
Typically used for materials finer than minux No. 8 sieve

Chutes and Hoppers

Openings should be at least four times as
great as the largest particle handled
Chutes should be at least 0.60m wide to
provide maintenance access
Chutes should have easily removable covers
for replacing linings or clearing plug-ups
Flowing material should always be turned by
a shelf that retains the material, and placed
onto the center of a belt through a divergent
opening

Measuring
Weight
Trucks
Weight of trucks are tared before loading and
weight of aggregate is determined after second
weight is taken

Rail
On-site rail scales are certified by the railroad
Off site rail scales are typically agreed upon an
average weight agreement

Scales
Primary Scales
Most accurate and certified

Secondary Scales
Used for internal control of loading process
Typically accurate 1% of total weight

Other Processing Equipment:

Rock Breaker
Pneumatically (pressurized air) or
hydraulically controlled
Piston actuated reciprocating
hammers fractures oversized
particles to prevent bridging of near
size pieces in the feed to the primary
crusher

Removal of Metal
Magnets
Protect crushers from damage by tramp metal (unwanted metal)
Strong electromagnets remove ferrous metal from the flow without
flow disruption
Magnets should be placed as close to the conveyor as possible
without impeding flow for maximum efficiency

Metal Detectors
Detect metallic particles
If metal is detected belt stops and metal is removed

Metal Detectors and Magnets are often both used to

minimize flow disruption
An automated divert or following a metal detector can
bypass a segment of contaminated material with minimal
flow disruption

Plant Design Example

Processing plant flow sheet
Model that attempts to predict plant
performance
Objective of following example is to
produce 500 tph of minus 1 in. sized
product from a biotite granite quarry
Quantitative values are from
manufacturers, design experience, or
experimentation

Primary Crusher Selection

First step in flow sheet preparation
Compressive strength and abrasiveness of granite
suggests that compression type machines
throughout the plant
500 tph is within the range of a jaw primary crusher
fed with a vibrating grizzly feeder
Approximately 35% of the stone passes a 150mm
Opening and is small enough to bypass the primary
crusher
Feeder Grizzlies are typically inefficient, so assume that
only 20% (100 tph) bypasses the primary jaw crusher
Remaining 400 tph is processed through the jaw crushers

Secondary Crusher Selection

Jaw crusher product and bypass
product are combined on a conveyor
and sent to secondary screening and
crushing process
Aggregates are then blended
Table 8.7 shows the capacities of
various cone crushers used as
secondary crushers

Tertiary Crushing
Tertiary crusher flow path is a closed
circuit system
Stone not passing the 1 in. top deck is fed
into the tertiary crusher
Stone is repeatedly fed into the tertiary
crusher until it passes the 1 in. top deck
screen

Circulating Load

Surges
Surge piles limit issues from erratic production rate from
the primary crusher station

Primary Crusher Surge Protection

Secondary Crusher Surge Protection

Primary crushers often have consistent flow problems

Surge bin in the Secondary Crushing Station increases plant
productivity

Surge Pile for Tertiary Crusher

A hopper capable of holding several truck loads provides surge

protection between time periods of reloading

Tertiary crusher must be sensitive to market demands which

determine amount of each size product required

Primary surge piles segregate aggregate during

reclamation

Fine material is fed first followed by coarse material

Despite this surge piles after primary crushers are necessary

Fractioning
Process of Screening finished product into closely
sized fractions

Advantages and Disadvantages

Flexibility in responding to market demands

Quality control improvements

1. Tightly sized fractions minimize segregation

2. blending tightly sized fractions produces more
consistent product gradation
3. Final rinse stations can be implemented into blending
systems loadout, assuring a clean product
. Automated loadout systems can be centralized for many
products
. Surplus coarse aggregate can be reprocessed to control
inventory