
Opportunities and Challenges in Dry Comminution
High-pressure grinding rolls and vertical roller mills offer several potential benefits to mineral processing operations.
Comminution circuit design has traditionally focused on reliability, ease of operation, CAPEX, and OPEX, with AG/SAG and ball mills the longstanding workhorses in mineral grinding applications. “AG/SAG mills played a crucial role in the evolution of mineral processing, as a single mill can replace two or three crushing changes,” explained Greg Lane, principal consultant at Ausenco, a global engineering consultancy. “These mills operate at high capacities while requiring a much smaller footprint than historic staged crushing plants.”
However, AG/SAG and ball mills consume significant energy when treating competent rock. Grinding ore for mineral liberation is the largest energy consumer and contributor to Scopes 2 and 3 CO2 emissions in minerals processing, with a typical comminution circuit accounting for nearly 40% of an open pit mine project’s total energy use. According to one study, gold and copper ore comminution alone may consume 0.2% of global energy.
According to Lane, improved energy and water efficiency targets have “increased interest in energy-efficient dry comminution technologies and pre-concentration/coarse separation technologies” among mining companies.
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Article by Jonathan Rowland. Published in the November/December 2024 issue of the North American Mining Magazine with contributions from Greg Lane and Bianca Foggiatto (Ausenco), Grant Ballantyne (CEEC International), Stephen Skjonsby and Nick Logan (Weir Minerals), and Stefan J.H. Baaken and Dr. Carsten Gerold (Loesche GmbH).