Minerals Engineering 73 (2015) 4452

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Minerals Engineering
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/mineng

VertiMill Preparing the feed within oatable regime at lower specic

energy
Samayamutthirian Palaniandy a,, Malcolm Powell a, Marko Hilden a, Jonathan Allen b,
Kamran Kermanshahi c, Bill Oats d, Mark Lollback d
a

JKMRC, SMI, University of Queensland, 40 Isles Road, Indooroopilly, QLD 4068, Australia
Metso Mining and Construction Technology, 2715 Pleasant Valley Road, York, PA 17402, USA
Metso Minerals Ltd, 16 Lidco Street, Arndell Park, NSW 2148, Australia
d
Cannington Mine, BHP Billiton, PO Box 5874, Townsville, QLD 4810, Australia
b
c

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 11 September 2014
Revised 13 November 2014
Accepted 14 November 2014
Available online 27 January 2015
Keywords:
VertiMill
Stirred mill
Grinding

a b s t r a c t
A substantial proportion of large industrial mines process low grade nely disseminated ore bodies that
require ne grinding to liberate valuable minerals. In response to increasing energy costs, the industry is
seeking energy efciency milling technologies that can process large tonnages. Stirred mills are an attractive option as they have the ability to grind to ne sizes (below 100 lm) at lower energy consumption
than ball mills. The VTM is one type of stirred mill that has been used in mineral processing for secondary,
tertiary and regrind duties and can be used in large throughput circuits at lower specic energy. The
JKMRC has conducted an intensive survey program on VTM circuits in various grinding duties under
the Collaborative Research in Stirred Milling Technology project funded by Metso Minerals. The survey
outcomes demonstrate that the VTM uses a low specic energy to reduce the particle size into the oatable regime by eliminating the coarser particles without producing excessive nes. This paper presents
data on the performance of VTMs in secondary and tertiary grind duties that prepare feed for rougher
otation.
2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
It is widely reported that comminution consumes the greatest
proportion of energy in most mineral processing plants. For mines
processing low grade, hard and/or nely disseminated ore bodies,
or where there are declining metal prices, it becomes a challenge
to design and operate comminution circuits at lower specic
energy and cost without jeopardizing metal recovery. Typical comminution circuits consist of AG/SAG in primary grinding stage and
followed by ball mill in secondary/tertiary grinding, preparing the
feed for rougher stages.
With many ore types, the ore mineralogy dictates that ne
grinding is essential for effective liberation. In the past, ball mills
have been used for ne grinding but stirred mills have been shown
to grind ner at lower specic energy. It has been reported that
stirred mills consume 30% less energy in coarser ne grinding
and approximately 50% in ultra-ne grinding regime (Davey,
2006; Rahal et al., 2011). These factors have led to a steady increase
in the number of stirred mill installations in various grinding
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: s.palaniandy@uq.edu.au (S. Palaniandy).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mineng.2014.11.014
0892-6875/ 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

duties of mineral processing plants. Furthermore, mill suppliers

have been developing and manufacturing larger-sized stirred mills
in order to satisfy demand for high-throughput applications.
The main objective of ne grinding is usually to prepare the
feed for downstream otation processes. It is essential to both liberate the valuable minerals and prepare particles into sizes suitable for otation. Typically, a narrow size distribution lacking
excessive slimes (10 lm) or coarse (+150 lm) particles is
desirable.
The Metso VERTIMILL (VTM) is a low intensity stirred mill
with a tip speed of 3 m/s. These have been installed in a wide range
of secondary, tertiary and regrinding duties receiving feed from AG,
SAG and ball mills. More than 400 VertiMill have been installed
globally with total installed power of 227 MW. VTM installations
can be categorised based on their grinding duties and circuit conguration. VTM installations can be congured in open or closed
(hydrocyclone or screen) circuit; with or without separating tank
and recirculation pump; and either top or bottom mill feed inlet.
The circuit conguration is chosen based on the required throughput, reduction ratio and feed size.
The JKMRC has been engaged by Metso Minerals to carry out a
research project on Collaborative Research in Stirred Miling

45

S. Palaniandy et al. / Minerals Engineering 73 (2015) 4452

Technology focusing on the VTM technology. The main goal of this

research is to evaluate the performance of industrial scale VTM
installations, and to develop improved process models and scaleup methodology for the VTM. BHP Billitons Cannington Mine (Cannington) and a goldcopper mine in New South Wales, Australia
(Site A) have agreed to participate in this collaborative research
program by supporting extended surveys of VTM circuits at their
respective sites.
Both Cannington and Site A have led the industry by adopting
VTM in installations that were novel at the time. Cannington
installed two VTM 1500-WB (1500 horsepower) units for secondary grinding of AG mill product, an application traditionally performed using ball mills. Site A installed the largest VTM to date,
a 3000-WB in a tertiary grind duty to cope high throughput and
harder ore in order to improve rougher stage recovery. Both sites
also operate the VTMs in more traditional regrinding applications
and are successful VTM showcases for operating at low specic
energy in various grinding duties i.e. secondary, tertiary and
regrind duties. The VTM survey conducted by Palaniandy et al.
(2013) shows that the VTM-3000-WB installation at Site A successfully preparing feed to rougher circuit at 2.75 kW h/t.
The aim of this paper is to present industrial performance data
for VTMs in secondary, tertiary and regrind duties, and assess their
ability to prepare feed for rougher and cleaner otation stages at
low specic energy.

2. VTM surveys and methodology

Surveys at Cannington and Site A included most of the VTMs on
these sites allowing data to be collected for secondary, tertiary and
regrind duties. Prior to surveying, the circuits were inspected in
order to evaluate sample access and recommend any necessary
modications. Generally, the sampling points in these circuits were
accessible and suitable for collecting representative samples. Steady
state conditions were achieved by maintaining the relative standard
deviation (RSD) of the circuit operating variables such as AG/SAG
throughput, cyclone feed ow rate, cyclone pressure, mill power
draw and water addition below 5%. The plant was held at steady
state condition for at least two hours, prior to conducting a survey.
2.1. BHP Billiton Cannington Mine
Cannington, located in northwest Queensland, Australia, is one
of the world largest and lowest cost AgPbZn mine. Table 1 shows
the typical mineral composition of Cannington ore. Cannington has
ve installed VTMs: two VTM-1250-WB in the secondary duty,
two VTM-800-WB regrind mills in the lead circuit and one VTM800-WB regrind mill in the zinc circuit. This paper will focus on
the secondary mills and the zinc regrind mill.
Fig. 1 shows the secondary grinding circuit at Cannington Mine
and the locations of the sampling points. This circuit receives feed

Table 1
Survey conditions.
Circuit

Survey

Tph

Cyclone

Water addition

Power draw (kW)

Flowrate (m3/h)

Pressure (kPa)

Cyclone feed (m3/h)

Mill (m3/h)

Secondary

1
2

458 (6.9)
386 (9.2)

1418 (5.1)
2028 (0.3)

127 (2.8)
129 (1.8)

35 (56)

43.8 (12.7)
50 (1.4)

47.9 (4.7)
40 (1.0)

Tertiary

1
2

756 (2.2)
829 (0.6)

3708 (0.6)
2283 (2.1)

139 (0.6)
156 (0.9)

178 (8.2)
210 (51)

2082 (0.2)
2054 (0.3)

Regrind

226 (0.3)

175 (0.1)

42.8 (5.2)

No ow meter

573 (0.5)

36.8

Fig. 1. Cannington secondary circuit.

1996 (0.7)
1715 (0.6)

46

S. Palaniandy et al. / Minerals Engineering 73 (2015) 4452

Fig. 2. Cannington mine zinc regrind circuit.

Fig. 3. Tertiary grinding circuit at Concentrator 2 Site A.

from the primary grinding circuit which consists of an AG mill

closed with a bank of cyclones. The cyclone underow is split to
the two mills. There are three water addition points in this circuit.
Water is added to cyclone feed sump to control the cyclone feed
density, and water is also added to the bottom of each mill to control the mill charge viscosity.
Fig. 2 shows the zinc regrind circuit and the survey sampling
points. The circuit feed is rougher concentrate and its product is
cleaner feed. There are two water addition points in this circuit:
dilution water at cyclone feed sump and into the bottom of the mill
(see Fig. 2).
2.2. Site A
Site A is one of Australias largest gold mining operations. The
details on this site can be referred in (Palaniandy et al., 2013).
Fig. 3 shows the Site A Concentrator tertiary grind circuit and the

sampling points. The VTM is installed with a separating tank and

is designed to recycle part of the mill discharge into the bottom
of the mill. The separating tank was not operating during the survey period, and therefore all of the mill discharge was directed to
cyclone feed sump. A siphon sampling technique was developed
in order to access the mill discharge stream. The sampling technique is discussed elsewhere (Palaniandy et al. (2013).

3. VTM circuit performance

This section discusses the performance of the industrial VTM
circuits and survey results. Five surveys from the three circuits
were chosen to be presented in this paper i.e. two surveys of the
secondary mills and one survey of the zinc regrind duty at
Cannington; and two surveys of another tertiary grinding circuit
at Site A .

47

S. Palaniandy et al. / Minerals Engineering 73 (2015) 4452

Survey 1 of the secondary circuit was conducted before plant

shutdown (worn liner condition) whilst the second survey was
done with new screw liners. Table 1 shows the survey conditions
which were carried out at base case. The values in the parentheses
show the relative standard deviation of the plant operating data. A
few operational variables were found to uctuate by more than the
desired 5%. Variability in the secondary circuit throughput may
have been caused by the weightometer location which is close to
the transfer point.
One of the major challenges faced by the survey team was
caused by the variability of water addition rates at the cyclone feed
sumps as uctuating water addition inuences the cyclone feed
density. Table 1 shows the relative SD values for water addition
is high.
Although, the variability of the water addition in the secondary
circuit is high, the volume of water added to the cyclone feed sump
is small compared to the circuit throughput and the circulating
load. The large volume of slurry in the cyclone feed sump dampens
the variations in slurry density. In this case, the cyclone feed density was maintained at 76% with a relative SD of 0.2%. Survey 2 at
tertiary grind circuit behaved similarly with the cyclone feed density maintained at 51% with a relative SD of 0.6%.
The uctuation of water addition at the bottom of the secondary
mill is high in the rst survey. The purpose of water addition to the
bottom of the mill is to reduce mill viscosity and some sites report
that it prolongs the life of the screw liner. This is an important

operational characteristic as it inuences the particle residence

time in the mill and mill content density. The water addition also
provides a controllable uprising velocity which contributes to classication of particles in the upper portion of mill body. This form of
classication may reduce overgrinding by causing ne particles to
rise and be removed from the grinding zone, while retaining the
large particles in the charge and ground and is an area of ongoing
investigation.
3.1. Mass balance of survey data
Tables 26 and Figs. 46 show the measured and balanced
data and particle size distribution respectively for each survey.
Generally all data and particle size distribution shows good
agreement between measured and balanced data. Close agreement between measured and balanced data demonstrates that
good sampling practice and survey methodology have been used
for this exercise.
Based on the data, the circuit feed F80 for the secondary mill
ranges from 155 to 190 lm and the tertiary grind receives a feed
F80 between 130 and 150 lm. There circuit products P80 range
between 80 and 100 lm feeding the respective rougher oat circuits. The regrind mill grinds to a P80 of 20 lm to feed the cleaner
otation circuit. An important observation common to each of the
surveys is that the VTMs are effective in reducing the size of coarsest particles in the feed without generating excessive amounts of

Table 2
Measured and balanced data for Survey 1 secondary grind circuit.
Throughput (t/h)

Circuit feed
Cyclone feed
Cyclone U/F
Cyclone O/F
Mill feed A
Mill discharge A
Mill feed B
Mill discharge B

P80 (lm)

% solids

Measured

Balanced

Measured

Balanced

Measured

Balanced

458

458
1704
1246
458
406
406
839
839

67.8
70.3
83.4

83.9
74.4
83.9
77.7

67.8
70.7
83.8
49.5
84.0
74.1
83.8
73.0

155
237
226
93.9
226
212
266
200

157
189
216
93.4
215
204
220
193

458

Table 3
Measured and balanced data for survey 2 secondary grind circuit.
Throughput (t/h)

Circuit feed
Cyclone feed
Cyclone U/F
Cyclone O/F
Mill feed A
Mill discharge A
Mill feed B
Mill discharge B

P80 (lm)

% solids

Measured

Balanced

Measured

Balanced

Measured

Balanced

386

386
1590
1204
386
220
220
984
984

65.6
69.9
80.5

80.5
76.3
80.9
69.2

65.8
69.4
80.7
48.4
80.5
76.3
80.7
69.5

186
240
258
101
271
229
276
227

189
225
262
102
269
231
260
235

386

Table 4
Measured and balance data for survey 1 tertiary grind circuit.
Stream

Circuit feed
Cyclone feed
Cyclone U/F
Cyclone O/F
Mill discharge

Throughput (t/h)

P80 (lm)

% solids

Measured

Balanced

Measured

Balanced

Measured

Balanced

756

756
2392
1636
756
1636

42.1
55.0
67.2
37.5
67.0

42.0
54.2
67.3
38.2
67.2

144
188
213
92.0
179

150
180
206
93.0
189

756

48

S. Palaniandy et al. / Minerals Engineering 73 (2015) 4452

Table 5
Measured and balanced data for survey 2 tertiary grind circuit.
Equipment

Throughput (t/h)

Circuit feed
Hydrocyclone feed
Hydrocyclone U/F
Hydrocyclone O/F
Mill discharge

P80 (lm)

% solids

Measured

Balanced

Measured

Balanced

Measured

Balanced

829

829
2564
1734
829
1734

38.7
51.9
70.5
32.6
69.4

38.2
51.8
70.0
33.5
70.0

128
182
212
76.0
193

129
182
209
78.0
197

829

Table 6
Measured and balanced data for regrind circuit survey.
Equipment

Throughput (t/h)

Circuit feed
Hydrocyclone feed
Hydrocyclone U/F
Hydrocyclone O/F
Mill discharge

Balanced

Measured

Balanced

Measured

Balanced

36.8

36.8
120
82.7
36.8
82.7

34.6
38.0
56.3
19.3
54.5

34.6
35.6
56.3
19.5
54.5

32.0
30.4
36.2
18.9
32.3

31.2
31.5
36.5
20.0
31.5

36.8

100

100

(a)

90

(b)

90
80

70
Circuit feed

60

Cyclone feed

50

Cyclone OF

40

Cyclone UF
Mill feed A

30

cumm. % passing

80

cumm. % passing

P80 (lm)

% solids

Measured

70
60

Circuit feed

50

Cyclone feed
Cyclone OF

40

Cyclone UF

30

Mill feed A

20

Mill feed B

Mill feed B

20

Mill Discharge A

10

Mill Discharge A

10

Mill Discharge B

Mill Discharge B

0
1

10

100

1000

10

100

1000

size (m)

size (m)

Fig. 4. Measured and balanced particle size distribution for secondary circuit (a) 4.36 kW h/t and (b) 4.45 kW h/t.

100
100
90

(a)

90
80

80

70

70
60

Circuit Feed

50

Cyclone feed

% passing

% passing

(b)

60
Circuit feed

50
40

Cyclone feed

30

Cyclone OF

30

Cyclone OF

20

Cyclone UF

20

Cyclone UF

40

10

Mill Discharge

10

Mill Discharge

0
10

100

1000

10000

size (mm)

10

100

1000

10000

size (mm)

Fig. 5. Measured and balanced particle size distribution for tertiary circuit (a) 2.75 kW h/t and (b) 2.48 kW h/t.

nes, as evidence by comparing the feed and cyclone overow

product size distributions for each survey. This characteristic is
key in preparing feed to the otation circuits. This will be discussed
in detail in the next section by evaluating the reduction ratio at
every level of % passing (reduction ratio plot). All the mills were
fed with adequate slurry density that ranges from 55% to 70% for
typical ores and up to 80% for the high-SG Cannington ore. The circulating loads range from 210% to 311%. The circuit reduction ratio
ranges between 1.56 and 1.85 (F80/P80).

3.2. Performance evaluation

This section discusses the performance of the circuit, including
the VTM and hydrocyclone. Most VTM installations are congured
in close circuit, with fresh feed reporting to the cyclone feed sump,
and operating in either top or bottom feed mode. The performance
of the cyclone is essential as the cyclone underow is the mill feed.
Appropriate feed quality (in terms of mill feed rate, % solids and
particle size) is essential for maximising mill performance. In this

49

S. Palaniandy et al. / Minerals Engineering 73 (2015) 4452

case, it is essential to evaluate the performance of the cyclone to

identify where any bottleneck may be in the circuit that affects
the mill performance. The performance of the hydrocyclone were
evaluated based on percent feed to underow, sharpness index
(SI), water split and corrected cut size d50c. The evaluation of a
VTM circuit includes specic energy (SE), Operating Work Index
(OWi), size specic energy (SSE) and reduction ratio plot. The
reduction ratio plot is introduced in this paper as a proposed
means of representing the degree of size reduction in a VTM circuit, or in fact any circuit where using the 80% passing is not
appropriate.

SI

D75
D25

OWi

SE
p10  p10
P80

SSE75

SE
For secondary and tertiary grind
P75  F 75 =100

SSE25

SE
For regrind circuit
P25  F 25 =100

The subscript for SSE refers to the size at which this is calculated, as an appropriate size needed depending on the nal product
size distribution.

Reduction ratio
Mill power draw kW

SE
Circuit throughput ht

F 80

Fi
Pi

where i is percentage passing, from 100% downwards

The plot is for all the values of i, showing how the reduction
ratio changes and enabling the selection of the most appropriate
ratio for the particular application.

100
90

3.2.1. Cyclone performance

Fig. 7 and Table 7 show the efciency curves and performance
index for the respective cyclones in secondary, tertiary and regrind
duties using the stream particle size and mass ow rate data. A correction to remove the effect of the bypass was made for each efciency curve. All cyclones operate with a water split or bypass of
nes to the underow stream. The nes bypass varied from 25%
to 45% for the three surveys. The ne particles ow with the water
in the underow stream. Increased short-circuiting of nes to the
underow stream can be caused by oversize spigots, high cyclone
feed density or low operating pressure. Ntengwe and Witika
(2011) mentioned that when the hydrocyclone is operating with
feed solids concentration above 50% by weight, a small change in
feed density will change the separation performance dramatically.
The secondary and tertiary circuits operate at 70% and 55% solids

cumm. % passing

80
70
Circuit feed

60

Cyclone feed

50

Cyclone OF
40

Cyclone UF

30

Mill discharge

20
10
0
1

10

100

1000

size (m)
Fig. 6. Measured and balanced particle size distribution for regrind circuit.

100

(a)

90

100

(b)

80
60
50

% feed to UF

70

70
60
50

40

Survey 1 (Actual)

30

Survey 1 (Corrected)

30

20

Survey 2 (Actual)

20

10

Survey 2 (Corrected)

Survey 1 (Actual)

40
Survey 1
(Corrected)
Survey 2 (Actual)
Survey 2
(Corrected)

10
0

10

100

1000

size (m)

10

100

size (m)
100

(c)

90
80

% feed to UF

% feed reports to UF

90
80

70
60
50
40
30
20

Actual

Corrected

10
0
1

10

100

size (m)
Fig. 7. Hydrocyclone efciency curve (a) secondary circuit, (b) tertiary circuit and (c) regrind circuit.

1000

50

S. Palaniandy et al. / Minerals Engineering 73 (2015) 4452

Table 7
Hydrocyclone performance index.

Table 9
Performance criteria of VTM circuit.

Circuit

Survey

Performance index

Circuit

Survey

% water to OF

Sharpness index

d50c

Secondary

1
2

67
59

0.11
0.21

56
64

Secondary

Tertiary

1
2

60
68

0.38
0.44

77
78

1
2

Tertiary

Regrind

70

0.33

10

1
2

Regrind

Performance indicator
SE (kW h/t)

respectively. Jankovic et al. (2006) noted that a ner product was

obtained when the cyclone feed density is lower and stressed that
cyclone feed density is an important variable for product size
control.
All curves show coarse inection which is inuence by particle
size and density. The cut size is inversely proportional to particle
density. The higher particle density will cut at ner size. In multi
component ores, each component follows appropriate efciency
curves based on the particle density. These effects can result in
unusually-shaped efciency curves. Table 8 shows the mineral
composition of the Cannington ore, containing sulphide and nonsulphide mineral that have large differences in terms of density.
Typically the SG of sulphides are; galena (7.4), Sphalerite (4.05),
Pyrite (5.0) and Chalcopyrite (4.2). The SG of most non-sulphide
gangue is 2.7. These differences have led to efciency curves that
do not obey the accepted S-shape. The water split to nes ranges
between 60% and 70% which is considered poor to reasonable.
The cut size for all the cyclones is shown in Table 7.
3.3. Circuit performance
Table 9 shows the performance indicators of the VTM circuits in
each of the surveys. The secondary and tertiary mill circuits are
operating at low specic energy in their duties in preparing the
feed for roughing and cleaning stages. The Bond Ball Mill index
for the secondary and tertiary circuit is 17.2 and 20.8 kW h/t
respectively. The operating work index of the secondary and tertiary circuit is lower than the Bond work index which indicates
that the circuit is achieving exceptional energy efciency. This conrms the observation that stirred mills outperform, at low reduction ratios (<1.8), conventional ball mills used for a similar
duties. Furthermore, the ability of stirred media circuits in producing a sharper size distribution and eliminating the coarse tail,
which should enhance otation recovery, should be noted.
The regrind mill has a signicantly greater specic energy and
operating work index compared to the secondary and tertiary circuits. The key factor that should be considered is that the circuit is
operating in an ultrane grinding regime, reducing the circuit feed
from 30 lm to 20 lm. The unknown in assessing the energy utilisation in regrind duties is the loading of the mill relative to ideal,
i.e. is the mill receiving sufcient feed. Assessing the grinding
response in ne grinding applications as a function of feed rate,
as per the methodology of Powell and Mainza (2006), is an area
of ongoing assessment in the research project.
Another criterion that can be used for evaluating the circuit
performance is the size specic energy. This indicator is a measure
of the amount of energy required to produce new nes below a

OWi
(kW h/t)

SSE (kW h/t of

new 75/25 lm)

4.36
4.45

17.9
16.8

36.7
27.4

2.75
2.48

12.3
9.85

30.3
17.0

31.0

100 (25 lm)

15.6

certain marker size. In this case, 25 lm marker is being used for

regrind circuit and 75 lm is used for secondary and tertiary circuits. The SSE value depends on the ore competency and circuit
operating variables. Work is ongoing at the JKMRC to develop a
laboratory test procedure (similar to Bond test) to characterise
the SSE for a particular ore for a certain grinding duty. Within
the scope of the project, the value from the base case survey will
be used as the benchmark to compare the performance of the circuit as the operating variables changes.
Fig. 8 shows the reduction ratio plot for all three circuits. One of
the key highlight is the maximum reduction ratio was observed at
coarser particle size (i.e. between 95% and 100%). The reduction
ratio drops at the ner size range. This is an important observation
as the VTM is utilising its energy to break the coarser particles
without generating much nes. This was clearly observed in
Figs. 46 where the coarse end tail is being removed (which is in
the non-oatable regime > 150 lm for secondary and tertiary
duties) and regulates a steeper particle size distribution for otation. The tertiary circuit feed has a long tail at the coarser end up
to 850 lm which denitely in the non-oatable regime. These
coarse particles are being removed preparing a oat feed with
top size of 150 lm.
As mentioned in the previous section, the Cannington base case
survey was performed before and after shutdown. The screw has
been relined during the shutdown. Fig. 8 shows the reduction ratio
plots, with high reduction ratio showing where the equipment is
efcient and low ratio showing where it moves out of the ideal
operating regime. The secondary circuit performance is shown in
(a) for before and after screw reline. An important observation is
that the circuit efciency has improved in removing the top particle sizes (between P95 and P100) after the screw reline. There are
two factors that contribute to the performance improvement i.e.
the screw liner and addition of new 19 mm media to top up the
old media. For the regrind mill the performance does not change
after screw reline exhibits similar performance (as shown in
Fig. 8(c)). The effect of screw liner condition on size reduction will
be further investigated in the project. Generally the performance of
the mill improves after relining.
4. Discussion
The VTMs in secondary, tertiary and regrind milling duties are
operated at low specic energy to successfully prepare the feed
to rougher and cleaner circuits. Each of the circuits consists of a
VTM closed with a cyclone cluster. Among the common issues
encountered during the surveys are:

Table 8
Mineral composition of Cannington ore (Holloway et al., 2008).
Mineral

Galena

Sphalerite

Pyrrhotite

Pyrite

Other sulphides

Flourite

Talc

Quartz

Magnetite

Other NSG

Composition (%)

11.7

5.9

2.2

0.8

0.3

5.9

1.5

29.5

7.3

34.9

51

S. Palaniandy et al. / Minerals Engineering 73 (2015) 4452

2.2

Survey 1

(b)

Survey 2
3.0

1.8

reduction ratio

reduction ratio

2.0

3.5

(a)

1.6
1.4
1.2

2.5

Survey 1
Survey 2

2.0

1.5

% passing

1.0
100
98
96
94
92
90
88
86
84
82
80
78
76
74
72
70
68
66
64
62
60
58
56
54
52

100
96
92
88
84
80
76
72
68
64
60
56
52
48
44
40
36
32
28
24
20
16
12
8
4

1.0

% passing
3.0
2.8

(c)

reduction ratio

2.6
2.4
2.2
2.0
1.8
1.6
1.4
1.2
100
96
92
88
84
80
76
72
68
64
60
56
52
48
44
40
36
32
28
24
20

1.0

% passing
Fig. 8. Reduction ratio plot (a) secondary circuit, (b) tertiary circuit and (c) regrind circuit.

 Inconsistent water addition to cyclone feed sump and bottom of

the mill. Most of the sites maintained the sump level by varying
the cyclone feed dilution water. When secondary and tertiary
grind cyclones are operated at feed concentrations of more than
50% solids, it is crucial to maintain a constant density. Slight
changes in the density will affect the cut size that may lead to
inappropriate mill feed quality and uctuating product to otation feed.
 The water addition at the bottom of the mill to dilute the mill
contents may affect the particle residence time in the mill.
 Excessive bypass of nes to underow is another common issue
that was encountered during the survey. Inappropriate spigot
size (possibly in worn condition), high cyclone feed density
and oversize cyclones are the possible cause of this issue. If
too much ne materials enter the mill through underow
stream, there is a possibility of overgrinding and reduced grinding efciency. Reducing the nes bypass in the underow
stream may reduce the circulating load thus potentially increasing the circuit throughput. Maintenance of cyclone parts i.e. spigot and vortex nder is essential to controlling the quality of the
mill feed.
The ability of the VTM to remove the coarse tail may improve
otation performance and recovery. This was observed in all
VTM duties. The reduction ratio plot clearly shows that VTMs
are removing the coarser fractions without generating excessive
slimes. Typically, the circuit performance is evaluated based on
the Bond equation. This equation uses 80% as the marker to evaluate the operating work index. In the case of stirred milling, it may
be the best to evaluate the performance of the mill at 95% or 98% as
most of the energy is being used to break the particles in this size
range. For instance, in many cases the mill reduction ratio observed
by the authors is close to 1% at 80% passing but this value increases
to 1.2% at 98% passing. Development of different marker and
grindability tests are part of ongoing research at the JKMRC. Furthermore the use of SSE will be further explored.

5. Conclusion
VTM circuit installations in secondary, tertiary and regrind
duties can successfully prepare otation feed within the oatable
particle size range by removing the coarse tail (non-oatable particles) at lower specic energy. The good agreement between measured and balanced data indicates that the sampling practice and
procedures are that have been applied to these circuits are suitable.
Based on the survey data, the mills are operating as expected in
their grinding duties, but do show upside potential in terms of classication control.
Acknowledgements
JKMRC would like to thank BHP-Billitons Cannington Mine for
permitting the survey results to be published and the assistance
given for undertaking the successful surveys in 2013. The JKMRC
also would like to thank Metso Minerals for providing the research
funds to undertake the Development in the Stirred Milling Technology project. The authors would like to thank The JKMRC staff
and students who were involve during the surveys and sample processing. The authors also would like to thank Peter Radziszewski
for reviewing this paper.
References
Davey, G., 2006. Fine Grinding Applicants Using the Metso VertiMill Grinding Mill
and the Metso Stirred Media Detritor (SMD) in Gold Processing. In: 38th Annual
Meeting of the Canadian Mineral Processors Ottawa, Canada.
Holloway, B., Clarke, G., Lumsden, B., 2008. Improving Fine Lead and Silver Flotation
Recovery ar BHP-Billitons Cannington Mine. In: 40th Annual Meeting of the
Canadian Mineral Processor, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Jankovic, A., Valery, V., Clarke, G., 2006. Design and implementation of an AVC
grinding circuit at BHP Billiton Cannington. In: Third International Conference
on Autogeneous and Semiautogeneous grinding technology, Vancouver, British
Columbia, Canada.
Ntengwe, F., Witika, L.K., 2011. Optimization of the operating density and particle
size distribution of the cyclone overow to enhance the recovery of the otation

52

S. Palaniandy et al. / Minerals Engineering 73 (2015) 4452

of copper sulphide and oxide minerals. J. Southern Afr. Inst. Min. Metall. 111,
295300.
Palaniandy, S., Powell, M., Hilden, M., Kermanshahi, K., Allen, J., Mwansa, S., 2013.
VertiMill Development of Circuit Survey and Performance Evaluation
Protocols, Metplant 2013, Perth, Australia.

Powell, M., Mainza, A., 2006. Extended grinding curves are essential to the
comparison of milling performance. Min. Eng. 19 (15), 14871494.
Rahal, D., Roberts, K. and Rivett, T., 2011. Knelson-Deswik: Evaluation of Operating
Variables, SME Annual Meeting, Denver, CO.