Abstract
Over the past several years, the combination of higher energy and steel costs and the recent commercial deployment of high-pressure grinding rolls (HPGR) technology in hard rock mining have led many multinational mining companies to evaluate the suitability of HPGR technology for their particular comminution circuits. HPGR technology is perceived to require a higher capital investment while delivering lower long-term operating costs. This paper undertakes a critical evaluation of this perception. By evaluating the capital and life-of-mine operating costs of competing circuit designs for soft, medium and hard ores, the HPGR break-even point can be identified, at which the incremental capital cost of an HPGR circuit is equivalent to the net present value of the projected operating cost reductions. For ores with hardness parameters above the break-even point, HPGR circuits could offer economic benefits, while for softer ores, SAG mill/ball mill/pebble crushing (SABC) circuits are likely to be more economical and energy efficient. This evaluation considers both an SABC reference circuit and a traditional stage crushing configuration. Other influential factors are also discussed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bond, F., 1961, “Crushing and grinding calculations,” British Chemical Engineering, Vol. 6, No. 8, August, 543–548.
CEMA, 1979, Belt Conveyors for Bulk Materials, 3rd Edition, Conveyor Equipment Manufacturer’s Association.
Daniel, M.J., and Morrell, S., 2004, “HPGR model verification and scale-up,” Minerals Engineering, Vol. 17, 1149–1161.
Doll, A., and Barratt, D., 2009, “Case studies on the effect of sample dimensions on comminution testwork results,” Proceedings of the VI International Mineral Processing Seminar (Procemin 2009), ed. Amelunxen, P., Kracht, W., and Kuyvenhoven, R., Santiago, Chile.
Fuerstenau, D., and De, A., 1995 “Comminution: Assessing and enhancing its energy efficiency,” Mineral Processing — Recent Advances and Future Trends, S. P. Mehrotra and R. Shekar, eds., Allied Publishers Ltd., New Delhi, India, 141–158.
Klymowsky, R., Patzelt, N., Knecht, J., and Burchardt, E., 2002, “Selection and sizing of high-pressure grinding rolls,” Mineral Processing Plant Design, Practice, and Control, Vol. 1, Mular, A., Halbe, D., and Barratt, D., eds., Society of Mining and Engineering, LIttleton, CO, 654–668.
Kosick, G.A., and Bennett, C., 1999, “The value of orebody power requirement profiles for SAG circuit design,” Proceedings of the 31st Annual Canadian Mineral Processors Conference, Ottawa, Canada.
McKen, A., Verret, F.-O., and Williams, S., 2006, “Digging into a large testing database,” Proceedings of the 2006 Conference on Semi-Autogenous Grinding (SAG 2006), Vancouver, Canada.
Morley, C., and Daniel, M., 2009, “HPGR flowsheets–the next generation,” Proceedings of the VI International Mineral Processing Seminar (Procemin 2009), Amelunxen, P., Kracht, W., and Kuyvenhoven, R., eds., Santiago, Chile.
Morrell, S., 1993, The Prediction of Power Draw in Wet Tumbling Mills, Ph. D Thesis, Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Center, Department of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering, University of Queensland.
Morrell, S., 2006, “Rock characterization for high pressure grinding rolls circuit design,” Proceedings of the 2006 Conference on Semi-Autogenous Grinding (SAG 2006), Vancouver, Canada.
Morrell, S., 2009, “Predicting the overall specific energy requirements of crushing, high-pressure grinding roll, and tumbling mill circuits,” Minerals Engineering, Vol. 22, pp. 544–549.
Nichols, J.P., 1982, “The selection and sizing of screens,” Design and Installation of Comminution Circuits, Society for Mining and Engineering, Littleton, CO.
Oestreicher, C., and Spollen, F., 2006, “HPGR versus SAG mill selection for the Los Bronces grinding circuit expansion,” Proceedings of the 2006 Conference on Semi-Autogenous Grinding (SAG 2006), Vancouver, Canada.
Rowland, C.A, 1973, “Comparison of work indices calculated from operating data with those from laboratory test data,” Proceeings of the Tenth International Mineral Processing Congress, London, England.
Rowland, C., 2002, “Selection of rod mills, ball mills, and regrind mills,” Mineral Processing Plant Design, Practice, and Control, Vol. 1, Mular, A., Halbe, D., and Barratt, D., eds., Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration, Inc., Littleton, CO, pp. 710–75.
Starkey, J., and Dobby, G., 1996, “Application of the Minnovex SAG Power Index at five Canadian SAG plants,” Proceedings of the 1996 Conference on Semi-Autogenous Grinding (SAG 1996), Vancouver, Canada.
United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2010, https://doi.org/www.bls.gov/ppi.
Vanderbeek, J., Linde, T., Brack, W., and Marsden, J.O., 2006, “HPGR implementation at Cerro Verde,” Proceedings of the 2006 Conference on Semi-Autogenous Grinding (SAG 2006), Vancouver, Canada.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Paper number MMP-10-018.
Discussion of this peer-reviewed and approved paper is invited and must be submitted to SME Publications Dept. prior to August 31, 2011.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Amelunxen, P., Meadows, D. Not another HPGR trade-off study!. Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration 28, 1–7 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03402317
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03402317