SINGLE-STAGE AUTOGENOUS GRINDING REVISITED

M. Bueno, B. Foggiatto, G. Lane

SAG Conference Vancouver, Canada September 22 – 26, 2019

ABSTRACT

This paper presents an assessment and trade-off study of high-pressure grinding rolls (HPGR)-based vs. autogenous grinding (AG)-based milling options for a 65 kt/d copper/gold project. The study relied on pilot trials to determine the applicability of potential single-stage (SS) AG flowsheet options and their energy efficiency.

The results showed that the SS-AG option has a higher installed capital cost when compared with the HPGR-based option, mainly because large AG mill shells are required to compensate for the lack of steel grinding media. However, the SS-AG option has lower operating costs when compared the HPGR circuit, mainly due to no grinding media costs.

Keywords

Autogenous grinding, trade-off study

AUTHORS

*Marcos Bueno1, Bianca Foggiatto2, & Greg Lane3

1 The University of Oulu PO Box 3000, FI-900014, Oulu, Finland
2 Ausenco Engineering Canada 855 Homer Street, Vancouver, V6G 2W2, BC, Canada
3 Ausenco 144 Montague Rd, South Brisbane, 4069, QLD, Australia (*Corresponding author: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors wish to acknowledge the mining company who funded the pilot trial and provided the data for this paper. Ausenco is also acknowledged for funding this study and the permission to publish this paper.