METALLON GOLD ZIMBABWE (PVT)

LTD
BULAWAYO MINING COMPANY
Creating a golden future

Zimbabwe School of Mines

Serving the SADC Mining Industry

Pamela T. Gozho
April Attachment Report
Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy
Contents
1.0 Introductions ........................................................................................................................ 4
1.1 Functions of the milling section ....................................................................................... 4
1.2 Scope of report ................................................................................................................. 4
2.0 Milling Circuits .................................................................................................................... 5
2.1 Primary Milling Circuit........................................................................................................ 5
2.1.1 Process Flow ................................................................................................................. 5
Figure 1 Primary mill circuit ................................................................................................... 5
2.1.2 Description.................................................................................................................... 5
2.2 Secondary Milling Circuit.................................................................................................... 6
2.2.1 Process Flow ................................................................................................................. 6
Figure 2 Secondary Milling Circuit......................................................................................... 6
2.2.2 Description.................................................................................................................... 7
3.0 Major Equipment ................................................................................................................. 7
3.1 Ball Mills .......................................................................................................................... 8
Figure 3 mill diagram ............................................................................................................. 8
3.1.1 Operating principle of a ball mill ................................................................................. 8
Figure 4 Comminution in a ball mill ....................................................................................... 8
3.2 Knelson concentrator........................................................................................................ 9
3.2.1 Operating principle ....................................................................................................... 9
Figure 5 Cross section of Knelson Concentrator ................................................................. 9
3.3 ACACIA Plant ............................................................................................................... 10
3.3.1 Working Principle....................................................................................................... 10
Figure 6 ACACIA Plant layout ............................................................................................. 10
3.4 Hydro-cyclone ................................................................................................................ 12
Figure 6 hydro-cyclone ......................................................................................................... 12
3.5 Screens ........................................................................................................................... 13
3.5.1 Vibrating Screens ....................................................................................................... 13
3.5.2 Linear Screen .............................................................................................................. 13
 Figure 7 linear screen ............................................................................................................ 13
4.0 Safety hazards and controls in the Milling Section ........................................................... 14
5.0 Recommendations ............................................................................................................. 15
Figure 8 shape of the current sample cutter .......................................................................... 15
Figure 9 recommended sampling pot ................................................................................ 15
1.0 Introductions
The student was assigned to the Milling section at the beginning of April. Comminution in the
How Mine milling section is done in two phases, primary and secondary. In primary
comminution, particle size reduction is from <20mm particles to 35-40% passing through 75m
using one ball mill. Particle size reduction in the secondary circuit (re-grind circuit) is to 75-80%
passing 75m using three regrind ball mills.

1.1 Functions of the milling section

To reduce particle size for ease of conveyance to downstream processes through pumping
To liberate and concentrate gold
To control the particle size being fed downstream through classification
To remove trash from slurry that may potentially affect downstream processes
To condition the slurry for further processing through the addition of lime

1.2 Scope of report

This report will mainly focus on

General process flow

Safety hazards and controls in the milling section
Major equipment and their functions in the milling section and their principle of
operation
Recommendations
2.0 Milling Circuits
There are two milling circuits in the milling circuit, the primary circuit being the first stage of
grinding and the secondary circuit which is mainly the re-grind circuit.

2.1 Primary Milling Circuit

2.1.1 Process Flow

Figure 1 Primary mill circuit

2.1.2 Description
Ore from the fine ore bin is fed onto Conveyor belt 1 through volumetric chutes and is
discharged onto conveyor 2 (incline conveyor). Conveyor 2 feeds Conveyor 3 (jump conveyor)
which in turn feeds conveyor 4. Ore on Conveyor 4 goes into the banana chute together with mill
feed water and oversize from the vibratory screen. 100mm steel balls are manually fed onto
conveyor 2 and are conveyed together with the ore until they go into the mill.steel ball addition is
done on morning shift and 2 tonnes are added daily.
Primary mill discharge is diluted and pumped to the vibratory screen. Oversize from the screen
goes back into the mill while underflow becomes Knelson Concentrator feed. Knelson
concentrator concentrates are deposited into a concentrates box and are later further processed in
the Acacia Plant. Knelson Concentrator tailings form Primary Mill Cyclone Feed. The Primary
mill cyclone overflow is discharged in the Regrind 1 and 2 mill discharge sumps while the
underflow becomes regrind 1, 2 and 3 feed.

2.2 Secondary Milling Circuit

2.2.1 Process Flow

Figure 2 Secondary Milling Circuit

2.2.2 Description
Primary mill cyclone underflow is split into three forming feed for the three regrind mills. A
tonne of 60mm steel balls are added to each regrind mill a day. Regrind mill 1 and 2 have similar
circuits where the mill discharge goes to the Knelson concentrator and tailings from there
become the cyclone feed. Underflow from each respective cyclone is fed back into the mill and
the overflow goes to the Delko Screen for trash removal. The underflow becomes the final
product that goes to downstream processes.

3.0 Major Equipment

The major equipment used in the milling section are:

- ball mills

- knelson concentrators

- acacia plant

- vibrating screens

- linear screen

- cyclones

- centrifugal pumps
3.1 Ball Mills

Figure 3 mill diagram

3.1.1 Operating principle of a ball mill

The ball mill is lined to protect the shell from the grinding media, At How Mine, the feed size of
the ball mills is generally fines, therefore interaction of the feed itself does not result in
comminution. Steel balls are fed into the ball mill as grinding media and comminution occurs
due to the interaction between the charge and the steel balls.

Figure 4 Comminution in a ball mill

Comminution is mainly by abrasion, as grinding media is dragged against the shell and impact as
grinding meadia falls to the toe of the mill.
3.2 Knelson concentrator
There are three Knelson concentrators in the plant, KC 48, KC 20 and KC 30. The numbers
denote the size of the diameter in inches

3.2.1 Operating principle

The Knelson concentrator is a high-speed centrifuge that sets a centrifugal force to the particles
in the slurry against a fluidization water flow. The conical shape of the concentrating cone
incorporates a series of rings, increasing in diameter from bottom to top. Around the
circumference of each ring, holes allow the injection of fluidization water into the concentrating
cone. Positioning the concentrating cone inside the rotor housing creates a water cavity.
Fluidization water flows into the cavity through the rotor shaft. Once the cavity fills to capacity,
pressure forces water through the fluidization holes and into the concentrating ring. During
operation, the entire rotor assembly spins at a pre-determined speed according to the size and
model of the unit. This rotational speed creates a centrifugal acceleration.

Concentrating cone

Water cavity

Water inlet

Figure 5 Cross section of Knelson Concentrator

Feed slurry enters the unit through a stationary feed tube. It flows down into the concentrating
cone, where centrifugal force drives it outward to the cone wall. As the solids reach the wall,
they fill each ring starting from the bottom. Once every ring reaches capacity, a concentrating
bed is established. Water injected from the water cavity fluidizes this bed. Optimum fluidization
occurs when inward flow of water through the bed balances with outward forces of solids. This
enables fine grained target heavy mineral particles to sink into the bed through interstitial
trickling. Provided that the flow of fluidization water is maintained, the selection and
concentration of high specific gravity particles and rejection of low specific gravity particles will
continue.

When the concentrating cycle ends, the flush cycle is initiated and the rotor power is shut off.
When the rotor comes to a complete stop, the fluidization water flow valve is opened for several
seconds. Opening the valve while the rotor is stationary allows water flow into each ring to wash
out the concentrates. Concentrates flush out through the bottom of the concentrating cone and
into the concentrate launder.R

3.3 ACACIA Plant

All the concentrates collected from the concentrate boxes of the three Knelson concentrators are
processed in the acacia plant.

3.3.1 Working Principle

Figure 6 ACACIA Plant layout

1. Transfer of Concentrate to the reactor.

Knelson Concentrator gravity concentrate generated over a 24-hour period held in the
concentrate boxes is transferred to the ConSep ACACIA Reactor in bags which are
emptied into the Reaction vessel.
 2. Pre-washing of the gold concentrate to remove ultra-fine solids (slimes)
To ensure the leach overflow solution does not carry suspended solids that interfere with
the subsequent gold electrowinning, and that water and subsequently pregnant solution
can be recovered by drainage, the concentrate solids are fluidized until overflow runs
clear.
Reaction vessel overflow solution containing fine solids is discharge back to the milling
section into the primary mill discharge sump
3. Mixing of the Leach Reagents
The leach solution is made up in the mixing tank
Reagents Added:
Potable water (2.8 m3)
3.5 buckets of Cyanide 53kg
13kg caustic soda
2kg leach aid
4. Leaching of the Concentrate
The leach solution is pumped from the mixing tank to the reaction vessel at a rate
sufficient only to fluidize the concentrate. This ensures that no fine are carried over to in
the pregnant overflow.
The leach solution is circulated through the reaction vessel for about 24 hours.
5. Recovery of Pregnant Solution
At termination of leaching, the reaction vessel overflow is sampled for assay, the flow is
stopped and drainage of the solution through the distributor to the reaction vessel feed
tank is commenced.
6. Transfer of Solution to Electrowinning
The gold bearing solution, which is now all located in the solution tank, is transferred to
direct electrowinning feed tank
7. Discharge of the Leach Residue
The leached residue is fluidized and then discharged to the milling section.
8. Electrowinning
The pregnant solution is pumped to the electrowinning cell feed tank where it is sampled.
The solution in the electrowinning cell feed tank is pumped to the EW cell at controlled
flow rate. Solution is circulated on the cell for a specific period of time determined by the
cell tail assay.
9. Disposal of Electrowinning Tail
The EW tail is transferred in total to the CIL circuit
3.4 Hydro-cyclone
Hydro-cyclones are used for different purposes which include de-chipping, de-watering and
classification, at How Mine however, they are mainly used for classification.

Figure 6 hydro-cyclone

Feed is introduced under pressure through the tangential inlet generating a vortex with a low
pressure zone along the vertical axis. The particles in the feed are subjected to two opposing
forces, an outward centrifugal force and inward dragging force. The centrifugal force accelerates
the settling rate of the particles thereby separating them according to size and density. Heavier
and fast settling particles move to the wall where velocity is lowest and migrate to the apex or
spigot as underflow. The drag force pushes slower settling particles to the zone of low pressure
along the vertical axis where they are forced upwards through the vortex finder and report to the
overflow.

The internal of the hydro-cyclone is lined in order to protect the shell and to increase its life
span. Spigots wear out due to the abrasion forces as the coarse material exits. As a result they
should be measured regularly and replaced when worn out.

The How mine milling section has 4 cyclones, one for each mill and their main function is
classification.
3.5 Screens
Screening is the mechanical separation of particles on the basis of size by passing the particles of
various shape and sizes through holes or slots on the screen surface.

The milling section has two types of screens, the vibrating screen and the linear screen. The
Delko Linear screen is a non-vibrating linear screen.

3.5.1 Vibrating Screens

The screens are mounted with two vibrating motors running in parallel resulting in the whole
screen vibrating linearly at the support of absorbers. The vibrating screen is composed of the
screening box, vibrating motors and an absorber system. Also on the screen are spray water
nozzles to aid in de-sliming the oversize material as it moves along the screen.

3.5.2 Linear Screen

The linear screen is used to remove trash from the regring cyclones overflow. The screen has a
perforated feed box positioned above the wear resistant polyester cloth with an aperture size of
1000m. The screen cloth is driven by a pulley system powered by a motor .The oversize
material (trash) is retained on the screen and is washed off the screen by water sprays into the
discharge chute.

Figure 7 linear screen

4.0 Safety hazards and controls in the Milling Section
High noise levels a lot of noise is produced as steel balls hit against mill liners in the
primary mill, making the milling section a high noise area

Control personnel were issued noise plugs, which effectively reduce the noise
levels detected by the ear and therefore protecting the ear

Working on heights the platform from which cyclone overflow densities are taken is the
highest platform in the whole plant. As such, should a person fall, it can
result in serious injuries and should any tools fall from such a height, the
can potentially cause considerable damage to equipment or personnel
working on lower platforms.

Control personnel should continuously do checks on gratings on all platforms and

those with loose bolts should be reported and fixed. Tools such as
spanners should be tied to secure points so that they do not fall; personnel
should make use of the 3 point contact system on stairs always

Ergonomic hazards due to the coarse material that forms of the bulk of milling section
spillage, housekeeping is mainly done by shoveling the wet coarse ore into
wheelbarrows. This strains the back muscles

Control turns should be taken to shovel and push the wheelbarrows and
overloading wheel barrows should be avoided

Lime addition lime added onto conveyor 2 is very fine and easily taken up by the wind
causing chemical burns in the nose and lungs when inhaled and when it
gets into contact with eyes

Control googles, gloves and dust masks should be worn to avoid contact with lime

Steel balls steel balls are heavy (4kg each for 100mm steel balls) and may bring
ergonomic hazards when they are being loaded onto the belt

Control proper lifting techniques should be used as well as taking turns when
fatigued
5.0 Recommendations
5.1 Sampling

In milling operations, sampling is essential to proper control. This can only be based on the
results obtained from sampling different streams throughout the plant where results then indicate
the effectiveness of the whole process. It is therefore crucial that the sample be representative.

When sampling, the sample cutter should cut through the sample at 90.

Figure 8 shape of the current sample cutter

The current sample cutter has the shape shown above. The mouth is too wide such that when
cutting across a stream, due to pressure, material inside the sampling pot is displaced. What
remains is material collected at the end of the stream.

Figure 9 recommended sampling pot

With the recommended sampling pot, there is no danger of having material displaced from the
sampling pot. Also one would get a much more representative sample due to the narrow width of
the sample cutter. It can collect small amounts of sample all sections of the stream being
sampled.
Compiled by:Gozho Pamela T.

...
Approved by:
Mr. B.Makhurane (Senior Metallurgist)

Mr. O.Gwede (Head of Metallurgy Department)..

Mr. E.Damiso (Senior Training Officier)...