01V108G

Adjusting Blasting to Increase SAG Mill Throughput at the Red Dog Mine
by N. Paley and T. Kojovic
Abstract
An engineering project was undertaken at the Cominco Alaska Red Dog Mine to determine the extent
that Semi-Autogenous Grinding (SAG) mill throughput could be increased by blasting differently. The
Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Center (JKMRC) blast fragmentation, jaw crusher, and SAG mill
breakage models were used to relate changes in the blast design to the SAG mill performance. For
optimum performance a SAG mill requires a particular size distribution; a number of large rocks to
facilitate breakage by impact, as few as possible middle size rocks that become critical size, and the
maximum fines which will pass quickly through an open-circuit mill. Physical constraints of drill and
charging equipment size limit the extent that pattern geometry can be changed and the powder factor
increased to maximize fines. However, JKMRC research had shown that it appeared possible to
increase primary breakage by blasting to such an extent that SAG mill throughput could reach a plateau
or even begin to decrease. Modeling was carried out on a range of blast pattern geometries and
emulsion explosive blends to determine if a plateau existed and at what powder factor it would be
reached. It was found that the relationship between powder factor and grinding throughput was
nonlinear. Modeling was also used to compare the SAG mill throughput which could be expected from
different emulsion explosive blends to determine which blends should be used in dry and wet holes to
provide similar fragmentation. For heavy-ANFO mixtures, the highest modeled throughput was at a
ratio of 30/70, with ratios on either side indicating lower throughput. For emulsion blends, the highest
modeled throughput was at a ratio of 80/20; however, ratios from 80/20 to lOO/O were similar. Crusher
product size distributions were obtained from belt cuts early in the analysis to confirm model
predictions. At later stages, actual SAG mill throughput was compared to predicted. The economic
benetit from the different blast designs was calculated by accounting for the reduction in recovery due to
the higher throughput and the additional drilling and blasting costs. Increasing the powder factor by
150% from the 0.29kg/t {0.58lb/st] being used to 0.72kg/t { 1.44lb/st}, the maximum feasible with mine
equipment, could provide a sign&ant net benefit of $3OWyr due to the increased concentrate
production. However, because the relationship between throughput and recovery is affected by other
factors which were not modeled, a more conservative approach was taken. The powder factor was
instead increased by 50°h, providing 45% of the gain. This was possible because the relationship
between powder factor and grinding throughput was nonlinear.
Introduction
Red Dog is a deposit of base metal sulfides and oxides. Operations began in 1989 and are currently
designed to annually mine 3.2Mt of ore and produce 95OKt of zinc concentrate and 15OKt of lead
concentrate. To even out the mill feed grade, ROM ore is blended via 225,000t to 250,OOOt stockpiles
prior to being fed to the mill. At present the mining is at a rate of 8,77Ot/day of ore and 9,9OOt/day
waste, The tonnage based strip ratio is 0.86:l. Mine haulage equipment consist of six Cat 777 trucks
(75t) and three Cat 992 loaders with llm3 buckets. The mine has two IR 165mm {6%“} diameter
blasthole rigs. The ore is stratiform and hosted in black shales. A major portion of ore body is massive
and the waste rock is highly structured. The geotechnical properties of ore and waste are given in Table
1.
Copyright © 2001 International Society of Explosives Engineers

2001G Volume 1 - Adjusting Blasting to Increase SAG Mill Throughput at the Red Dog Mile - P 65 1 of 17
Table 1 - Red Dog Mine rock properties
The JKMRC collaborated with Red Dog Operations in a modeling study to follow breakage from the
mine to the mill. Though the mill has three SAG mills in primary grinding, the work concentrated on
the 2010 SAG No.3 circuit which was commissioned in April 1998. The circuit consists of a primary
jaw crusher, followed by a single-stage semi-autogenous mill and a ball mill in closed circuit with 15”
{38cm} diameter hydrocyclones. To minimize the wear in the ball mill cyclones the SAG mill
discharge is classified in 26” {66cm} scalping cyclones, the underflow reporting directly to the ball mill
feed and the overflow going to the ball mill discharge pump box. A schematic of the SAG No. 3 circuit
is shown in Figure 1. The SAG mill circuit was designed to treat 145stph { 132tph} (dry) of ore from the
Main deposit open cut. The target grind size for the circuit is a flotation feed P80 of 55-6Ol_tm.
, To Pre-Float Circuit
I
Figure 1 - Flowsheet of Red Dog Operations SAG No. 3 grinding circuit, July 1999
A Modeling Approach
The ability to examine the dependency of the traditional comminution stages on breakage in the mine
using simulation requires models to predict the extent of breakage at each of the identified stages. The
model used here was developed by the JKMRC and is based on a development of the Kuz-Ram model
proposed by Cunningham (1983, 1987). The Kuz-Ram model has proved successful for the estimation
of the coarse end of the fragment size distribution. The generation of fines arises from different
breakage mechanisms and thus does not strictly follow the Rosin-Rammler description. The JKMRC
has therefore developed a technique for modeling the tine end of the distribution based upon estimating
the extent of the crushed zone around the borehole from the detonation pressure and UCS of the rock
(Kanchibotla et al., 1998). In recent JKMRC work, there has been considerable success in applying this

approach to correctly predict the ROM size distribution from mining operations, including Highland
Valley Copper, Cadia Hill, and KCGM. The results were then used as input to the existing and well-
proven JKSimMet comminution simulator to predict final product size. This approach was used to
simulate the ROM size distributions to the 2010 SAG circuit for a number of blast designs proposed by
Red Dog mining staff.
ANFO Blast Pattern Evaluation
ANFO for dry holes and packaged emulsion chubbs for wet holes have been the used at the Red Dog
mine since startup in November 1989. However, hole size and pattern have changed a few times as
shown in Table 2. Initially 7 7/8” {2OOmm] holes were drilled, however the results were not
satisfactory with the 25ft {7.6m} high benches and the hole size was soon reduced to 6%” { 16Smm]. In
late 1996 the pattern was altered by staggering the holes and it was found that the pattern could be
expanded without affecting mill throughput. However, after an expansion of milling capacity in late
1998, it was found that the mills were no longer performing as expected in terms of throughput.
Table 2 - Historical Red Dog Mine blast parameters
Period Pattern tvpe

-* BxS Hole size PF 1
Cf9 6-4 (in) (mm) (lb/St) (kg/t)
Nov ‘89 to Dee ‘9 1 rectangular 12 x 14 3.7 x 4.3 7 718 200 0.92 0.46
Jan ‘92 to Nov ‘96 rectangular lox 12 3.0 x 3.7 6 lJ2 165 0.84 0.42
Nov ‘96 to May ‘99 staggered 9.4 x 18 2.9 x 5.5 6 112 165 0.58 0.29
The JKMRC blast and jaw crusher fragmentation models were used to evaluate the staggered, ANFO
blast pattern which was used as the base case. Two higher powder factor ANFO blast patterns were
simulated to determine the effect of hole geometry and powder factor on grinding throughput,
particularly the amount of fines and critical size in the feed to the mills. The two patterns were a smaller
staggered pattern of 7.6xl6ft (0.82lb/st) {2.3x4.9m (0.4lkg/t)} and a 10.4xl2fi (0.8Olb/st) {3,2x3.7m
(0.4Okg/t)] equilateral triangle pattern. The simulations were carried out by the JKMRC as part of
ongoing research sponsored by Cominco Alaska.
The blast design information used in the ROM fragmentation simulations is summarized in Table 3.
The stemming length was decreased slightly as the burden was less in the tighter patterns. Note that the
RWS was downgraded for all blasts by 10% to reflect the use of drill cuttings for stemming which,
unlike aggregate, do not contain as much explosive energy as possible in the rock. Mine drilling and
blasting costs were used to estimate the costs per tonne of ore blasted in each design, Rock properties,
required by the blasting model, were for the Main deposit exhalite ore. Figure 2 shows the expected
SAG mill feed sizings for the existing pattern and the two higher powder factor patterns. Table 4
summarises the ROM sizing results in detail.
The Red Dog 42x48 Double Toggle primary jaw crusher (700stph rated capacity, 15Omm {6”} typical
setting, throw 38mm {1.5”}) was simulated, based on the settings and ore breakage charact+tics
obtained from drop-weight tests on ore samples collected in July 1999. The crusher model parameter
tlo, which defines the degree of reduction in the crusher, was scaled to reflect the different ROM
distributions shown in Table 4. These scaling relationships were based on results reported in the
AMIRA P483 project, “Optimisation of Mine Fragmentation for Downstream Processing”.

IO 100 1000
Sieve Aperture (mm)
2 - Comparison of SAG feed size distributions expected from low and high
powder factors using ANFO
Table 3 - Summary of simulated blast design parameters for ANFO patterns
Blast Design Parameter Variable Base B 7.6’ B 10.4’

Case S 16’ s 12’
ANFO ANFO ANFO
Type of Pattern Staggered Staggered Eq. Tri.
Burden, m B 2.87 2.32 3.17
Spacing, m S 5.49 4.88 3.66
Bench Height, m H 7.6 7.6 7.6
Charge Length, m L 7.3 7.4 7.4
Hole Diameter, mm D 165 165 165
Stemming Length, m 1.8 1.7 1.7
Sub-drill, m I.5 I.5 1.5
Powder Factor, kg/m3 K 1.10 1.55 1.49
Powder Factor, kg/t 0.29 0.41 0.40
Relative Weight Strength RWS* 90 90 90
kg of Explosive/Hole, kg Q 133 134 134
Explosive Density, kg/m3 850 850 850
Explosive VOD, m/s 3944 3944 3944
Total Costs, US$/tonne 0.45 0.63 0.61
* ANFO = 100

Table 4 - Summary of simulated ROM size distributions for ANFO patterns
Size Base B 7.6’ B 10.4’

(mm) Case S 16’ s 12’
ANFO ANFO ANFO
1000 100.0 100.0 100.0
750 100.0 100.0 100.0
500 96.4 99.9 98.0
400 86.6 98.3 91.9
250 50.1 72.9 63.6
150 40.5 55.4 49.3
100 32.6 37.8 36.6
50 22.7 27.2 26.3
20 13.7 17.1 16.5
10 9.1 11.8 11.4
5 6.1 8.1 7.8
1 2.3 3.3 3.1
F95 (mm) 478 353 437
.
Jaw Crusher Product/Mill Feea
P80 (mm) 125.0 121.2 123.5
% -19nlnl 20.1 22.9 22.0
oh -100+5Omm 30 28 28
As a check on the validity of the JKMRC blast model, the mill feed expected from the existing blast
design and crusher settings was compared with the average measured SAG feed size distribution (see
Figure 3). The close agreement between model and experimental data, despite probable segregation
issues in sampling, suggested that the model would provide realistic estimates of ROM and subsequently
the primary crusher product distribution which is fed to the SAG mills.
,
8 I I
1 10 100 1000
Sieve Aperture (mm)
Figure 3 - Comparison of model predicted and measured SAG feed distributions (ANFO, 9.4xl8ft)

Circuit Simulation Constraints
The Red Dog 2010 SAG mill circuit was simulated using a JKSimMet model developed from survey
data collected by Red Dog staff in February 1999. Although Red Dog mine has three SAG mills, the
simulations were done for SAG No. 3 only, which provides approximately 40% of the total throughput.
The assumptions made in performing the simulations are:
l Primary crusher, 15Omm closed side setting, 3 8mm throw

l SAG Mill #3, 12% Ball Load, 5 inch Balls, mill speed 76% C.S.
l SAG tilling 25% of mill volume (typical operating point)
l Ball Mill #4,2 inch Balls
l Maximum Ball Mill #4 Power, 2240 kW at 40% Ball Load
l Ball mill #4 cyclone pressure, 50-90 kPa
l SAG mill scalp cyclone pressure, 10-20 kPa
Ore parameters used in the comminution simulations were estimated from the stockpile release data for
the material treated during the survey, using relationships established between the JKMRC ore breakage
parameters and routine geological characterization results. In JKMRC ore breakage characterisation,
breakage or appearance functions are determined from single particle breakage tests where the degree of
breakage is related to the specific comminution energy (Napier-Munn et al., 1996). These tests were
carried out by Cominco Research in Trail, BC.
The simulations were checked against Bond predictions to see what ball load/power was required to
achieve the 55-60 micron grind, assuming the Bond Work Index is 15kWh/t (typical ore scenario). In
each simulation the SAG feed density was kept constant at 75% solids, while the ball mill cyclone feed
density was held constant at 68% solids. The ball mill cyclone underflow density was kept below 80%
solids and the overflow density was maintained around 55-60°h solids. SAG scalp cyclone feed density
was kept at around 62Oh to maintain sufficient pressure drop across the cyclone. The SAG load was kept
to 25% maximum filling which recognizes the lower operating limits of SAG #1 and #2 (2000 HP c.f.
2750 HP). All of this is in line with grinding circuit survey data.
The predicted mill feed size distributions, shown in Figure 2, suggest that the major effect of going to
higher powder factors is twofold; an increase in the amount of minus grate size material in the ROM and
a slight reduction in the amount of coarse rock. As the Red Dog mine operates SAG mills with
reasonably competent rock, too much coarse rock media in the mill will reduce throughput. This had
been noted in a July 1998 survey of SAG #3 in which 17% of the feed was coarser than 15Omm {6”}.
The ideal mill feed would have as much minus grate size material as possible, little critical size, and
some coarse rock media to supplement the ball charge. As the balance of these fractions ultimately
controls the mill performance, blasting should target this ideal, though in practice it is never achievable.
The results of the feed changes to the grinding circuit are shown in Table 5. The results suggested that
the mine should expect to see similar fragmentation and mill performance for both the 7.6xl6ft
{2.3x4.9m} staggered and the 10.4xl2ft {3.2x3.7m} equilateral patterns. This is not surprising
considering that expected ROM sizings predicted by the blast model were very similar in the tine end,
with only a small change in the coarse end. On both designs SAG#3 should be able treat around 154-
159stph { 140-144tph} (wet) at 25% mill filling. Compared to the existing 9.4xl8ft {2.9x5.5m] pattern,

the mill throughput with either of these patterns should thus be about 5% higher. This is consistent with
the current operating data on the mill.
Table 5 - Effect of changes in ANFO blast design on Red Dog 2010 circuit throughput
Base B 7.6’ B 10.4’

Case S 16’ s 12’
ANFO ANFO ANFO
Feed Rate (dti) 132 141 137
Feed Rate (stph, wet) 148 159 154
- relative change (%) 6.4 3.8
F80 (mm) 125.0 121.2 123.5

% - 19.lmm 20.1 22.9 22.1
SAG Mill #3
% mill load 25 25 25
Trommel Oversize (t/h) 1.3 1.4 1.4
SAG Mill Discharge
P80 (pm) 580 599 590
SAG#3 Cyclones
Number 1 1 I
Pressure @Pa) 11 12 12
Cyclone Feed
Vol. Flowrate (m3/h) 122 127 125
BM#4 Cyclones
Number 3 3 3
Pressure &Pa) 54 60 57
Cyclone Feed
Vol. Flowrate (m3!h) 251 263 258
Cyclone O/F
XI solids 59 59 59
P80 (pm) 56 57 56
Cyclone U/F
s solids 75 76 76
Ball Mill #4
XJ ball load 28 28 28
Solids Flowrate (t/h) 310 323 317
SAG Mill #3 Power (kW) 1610 1610 1610
Ball Mill #4 Power (kW) 1665 1665 1665
The higher powder factor ANFO patterns were used for all the blasts incorporated in several mill feed
stockpiles in late 1998 and early 1999. The jaw crusher product was surveyed in an attempt to verify the
predictions of the JKMRC model. The crusher gap was set at 6 inches { 15Omm] at the time these
stockpiles were fed through the crusher. Recognizing the statistical implications of the results, they
suggested that the overall change to the distribution was predicted by the model, with both staggered and
equilateral triangular patterns giving similar fragmentation, although the actual increase in sub-grate

material, i.e. -19mm {3/4”} was higher in the field than that expected. Indeed, the higher blasting effort
resulted in an average 8Oh increase in Iines, from 21% to 29%. This is somewhat higher than the 5%
expected from the blast model, but the measured results constituted only four samples and statistically
were not expected to be representative of the whole stockpile. However, the trend was consistent.
Emulsion Blast Pattern Evaluation
Red Dog Mine introduced bulk emulsions in October of 1999. The sensitized emulsion is transported to
the mine site in IMO tanks during the summer shipping season. The tanks, containing approximately
20t each, are stored on site all year. The emulsion is transferred to an ARESCO Triple Threat Truck as
required to load the blastholes. The adoption of bulk emulsion allowed blast pattern sizes to be
expanded while maintaining similar fragmentation to that provided by ANFO, thus providing a savings
in drilling as the cost for the explosives was similar. Table 6 summarises the explosive properties used
in the blast fragmentation simulations. The VOD for five of the blends was obtained from
manufacturer’s data and was interpolated for the other cases as the trend was nearly linear.
To determine blasthole pattern geometry, an analysis with respect to drill rig and explosive truck access
perpendicular, parallel, and diagonal to the free face was done. The clearance between the cuttings piles
was measured to determine the range of patterns that were operationally feasible without straddling the
drill holes. This is particularly important in the winter months when the cuttings piles are often frozen
solid due to water in the holes acting as a cement. The analysis also checked for interference between
the rear jack of the production drills and pattern holes since the Red Dog mine drills have a centrally
located rear jack, The analysis indicated that equipment access was wider and that a higher powder
factor would be possible with an equilateral triangular layout than with a 2: 1 ratio, staggered pattern.
Table 6 - Summary of emulsion explosive properties
Ratio Eiay Bulk strength Weight strength RWS VOD

(Emulsion/ANFO) WcrW (Cal/cc) (Cal@ RWS RWS x 90% (m/set)
0~100 0.85 739 869 100 90 3,944
10190 0.94 803 854 98 88 4,077
20~80 1.03 867 842 97 87 4,209
30170 1.20 943 786 90 81 4,393
40160 1.34 1030 769 88 80 4,627
50~50 1.33 1026 771 89 80 4,900
60140 1.30 1020 785 90 81 5,300
,70/30 1.29 1014 786 90 81 5,700
80120 1.28 959 749 86 78 5,781
90110 1.26 905 718 83 74 5,862
1 oo/o 1.25 850 680 78 70 5,944
Equilateral triangular patterns ranging from a large pattern of 14.7xl7ft {4.5x5.2m} down to a small
pattern of 9.5xl lft {2.9x3.4m}, the closest feasible with the current drill and blast equipment, were
modeled. A standard emulsion ratio of 70/30 was used for all patterns. The expected RWS of the 70/30
emulsion blend is nominally 90; however, as before, the RWS was downgraded for all blasts by 10% to
reflect the use of drill cuttings for stemming. The higher powder factor, ANFO, 10.4xl2ft {3.2x3.7m}
equilateral blast pattern adopted from the previous analysis was used as the base case. The blast design

information used in the ROM fragmentation simulations is summarized in Table 7 and the results from
these simulations are compared to the base case pattern in Table 8. For clarity only five of the simulated
mill feed size distributions are plotted in Figure 4.
Table 7 - Summary of simulated blast design parameters for different pattern sizes
Blast Design Parameter Variable B 10.4’ B 14.7’ B 13.9’ B 13’ TiriYzF B 11.3’ B 10.4’ B 9.5’
s 12’ s 17’ S 16’ s 15’ s 14’ s 13’ s 12’ s 11’
ANFO 70130 70130 70130 70130 70130 70130 70130
Type of Pattern Eq. Tri. EqXZ Eq. Tri. Eq. Tri. Eq, Tri. Eq. Tri. Eq. Tri. Eq. Tri.
Burden, m B 3.17 4.49 4.22 3.96 3.70 3.43 3.17 2.90
Spacing, m S 3.66 5.18 4.88 4.57 4.27 3.96 3.66 3.35
Bench Height, m H 7.6 7.6 7.6 7.6 7.6 7.6 7.6 7.6
Charge Length, m L 7.4 7.4 7.4 7.4 7.4 7.4 7.4 7.4
Hole Diameter, mm D 165 165 165 165 165 165 165 165
Stemming Length, m 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.7
Sub-drill, m 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5
Powder Factor, kg/m3 K 1.49 1.03 1.30 1.46 1.69 1.96 2.27 2.72
Powder Factor, kg/t 0.40 0.27 0.35 0.39 0.45 0.52 0.60 0.72
~Relative Weight Strength RWS* 90 81 81 81 81 81 81 81
1kg of Explosive/Hole, kg Q 134 204 204 204 204 204 204 204
Explosive Density, kg/m3 850 1290 1290 1290 1290 1290 1290 1290
Exnlosive VOD, m/s 3944 5700 5700 5700 5700 5700 5700 5700
Toial Costs, US$/tonne 0.61 0.42 0.47 0.53 0.62 0.71 0.83 0.99
* ANFO = 100
Table 8 - Summary of simulated ROM size distributions for different pattern sizes
B 10.4’ B 14.7’ B 13.9’ B 13’ m B 11.3’ B 10.4’

-r
Size B 9.5’
(mm) s 12’ s 17’ S 16’ s 15’ s 14’ s 13’ s 12’ s 11’
ANFO 70130 70130 70130 70130 70130 70130 70130
1000 100.0 99.9 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
750 100.0 98.6 99.4 99.8 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
500 98.0 86.8 91.2 94.4 97.3 99.0 99.7 100.0
400 92.0 73.9 79.9 85.0 90.6 94.9 97.6 99.4
250 63.6 48.3 49.7 54.3 61.9 69.8 77.4 86.3
150 49.3 41.0 42.5 45.5 50.3 55.5 61.0 68.8
100 36.6 35.1 36.7 38.2 40.0 41.8 43.5 45.6
50 26.3 26.9 28.5 30.0 31.9 33.8 35.8 38.2
20 16.5 18.6 20.0 21.4 23.2 25.1 27.1 29.7
10 11.4 13.9 15.1 16.3 18.0 19.8 21.7 24.3
5 7.8 10.3 11.3 12.4 13.9 15.5 17.3 19.7
3.1 5.0 , 5.7 6.4 7.4 8.6 10.0 12.0
437 619, 560 510 453 401 358 307
Jaw t 3usher Product&h Feed
P80 (mm) 123.5 127.5 124.8 122.7 123.5 122.2 121.5 117.2
% -19mm 22.0 24.0 25.6 27.0 28.6 30.3 32.0 34.4
% -100+50mm 28 24 26 26 23 22 21 20

+ Staggered 7.6xl6ft, ANFO
80 bEqui.Tri, 14.7xl7ft, 70/30 blend
1 10 100 1000
Sieve Aperture (mm)
Figure 4- Comparison of simulated mill feed size distributions for selected ANFO and 70/30 blasts
The key results of the grinding circuit feed changes, for SAG #3 only, are shown in Table 9. It is
evident that as the powder factor goes up, the grinding throughput increases; however, less evident is
that it does so in a nonlinear manner. The first five equilateral triangle patterns with emulsions show an
interesting change in throughput with powder factor. It seems that once 0.4Okg/t {O.SOlb/st} is reached,
further increases in energy to OS5kg/t {l. lOlb/st} do not achieve as much gain in throughput. This
result is suggesting that the additional blasting effort is negating the benefit of increased fines by
producing more rock of a size that passes through the crusher with minimal breakage. Hence it seems
that there would be an optimum in terms of blasting effort, cost and throughput capacity of the mill. The
results suggested that Red Dog should expect to see similar fragmentation and mill performance by
going to emulsions near the middle of the range, thus with the lZ.lxl4ft {3.7x4.3mj pattern.
Table 9 - Effect of changes in pattern size on Red Dog 2010 circuit throughput
B 10.4’ B 14.7’ B 13.9’ B 13’ B 12.1’ B 11.3’ B 10.4’ B 9.5’

s 12’ s 17’ S 16’ s 1.5’ s 14’ s 13’ s 12’ s 11’
ANFO 70130 70130 70130 70130 70130 70130 70130
Feed Rate (dt/h) 137 125 141 145 142 146 151 165
Feed Rate (stph, wet) 154 141 159 163 160 164 170 186
- relative change (%) 3.8 -5.3 6.8 9.8 7.6 10.6 14.4 25.0
F80 (mm) 123.5 127.5 124.8 122.7 123.5 122.2 121.5 117.2
% - 19.lmm 22.0 24.0 25.6 27.0 28.6 30.3 32.0 34.4
As a check on the validity of the JKMRC SAG mill model, the SAG mill throughput expected from the

simulations was compared with actual average measured throughput (see Table 10). The agreement
between model and experimental data is close and the trends are similar, This would suggest that the
model can provide realistic estimates of the throughput expected due to variation in the size distribution
of the stockpile material being fed to the SAG mills.
Table 10 - Comparison of model simulated and actual SAG mill throughput
e12.lxl4ft, 70/30 em&ion blend
Economic Analysis
The potential increase in earnings due to the higher concentrate production from greater ore throughput
was calculated for each pattern. The cost of the additional drilling and blasting required to provide the
increased mill feed per year was subtracted from the additional revenue. Because more ore would be
mined each year, more waste would also be required to be mined to maintain the strip ratio. The cost of
the removal of this extra waste was also deducted from the concentrate revenue. As plant throughput
affects recovery, the contained zinc and lead in the ore would not be turned into concentrates at the same
recoveries experienced at lower grinding throughputs. An approximate relationship between throughput
and recovery to zinc concentrate was provided by the metallurgy department and used to model the plant
performance. It was assumed that this relationship would apply over the range of throughputs modeled
for the purpose of this analysis. Project prices of 47e/lb Zn and 23e/lb Pb were used to determine
concentrate value. The base case for the economic analysis was the 9.4xl8ft {2.9x5.5m] staggered
ANFO pattern having a powder factor in ore of 0.29kg/t {0.5Slb/st}. The waste pattern for the bulk
emulsion explosive was expanded on the basis of maintaining a similar waste fragmentation size
distribution to that produced from the ANFO pattern used in waste rather than maintaining a similar
powder factor. This was done because the explosive distribution becomes poorer as a pattern is
expanded, thus the powder factor could not be made as low as with the closer spaced ANFO holes. On
the basis of powder factor, a 18.2x2lft {5.5x6.4m} pattern could be used with an emulsion blend in
waste, however a 16.5xl9ft {5.Ox5.8m} pattern was used instead to maintain the waste fragmentation.
The results of the economic analysis are shown relative to the base case in Table 11. It is evident that
even with the highest powder factor pattern the potential net benefit of the additional concentrate
production, even at lower recovery, is substantially more than the additional drilling, blasting, and waste
haulage costs. The net benetits for different patterns using only bulk emulsion explosives are graphed in
Figure 5. The plateau noted in the throughput rates in Table 8 is strongly evident in the graph.
Increasing the powder factor by 150% from the 0.29kg/t {0.58lb/st} being used to 0.72kg/t { 1.44lb/st},
the maximum feasible with mine equipment, could provide a significant net benefit of $3OM/yr due to
the increased concentrate production. However, because the relationship between throughput and
recovery is affected by other factors which were not modeled, a more conservative approach was taken.
The powder factor was instead increased by 50% to the start of the plateau at 0.45kg/t {0.9Olb/st],
nominally providing 45% of the gain. It can be seen that the powder factor would need to increase from
this point to 0.72kg/t { 1.44lb/st} before a substantial additional benefit was realized.

Table ll- Blast pattern vs. net benefit (SAG #3)
Pattern B x S (ft) Explosive Powder factor (kg/t) Throughput Net benefit

Ore Waste Ore Waste (dt’h) GM)
9.4 x 18 11.1 x23 ANFO 0.29 0.24 132 $0
7.6 x 16 11.1 x23 ANFO 0.41 0.24 141 $7.6
10.4 x 12 14.7 x 17 ANFO 0.40 0.25 127 $4.0
14.7 x 17 16.5 x 19 70130 0.27 0.30 125 -$6.2
13.9 x 16 16.5 x 19 70130 0.35 0.30 141 $8.8
13 x 15 16.5 x 19 70130 0.39 0.30 145 $12.2
12.1 x 14 16.5 x 19 70130 0.45 0.30 142 $9.2
11.3 x 13 16.5 x 19 70130 0.52 0.30 146 $12.5
10.4 x 12 16.5 x 19 70130 0.60 0.30 151 $16.5
9.5 x 11 16.5 x 19 70130 0.72 0.30 165 $29.6
$30
$25 jJ,
I
$20 i
02 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 08

-$5 l
Powderf bctor (kg/t)
..
-$lO ’
Figure 5 - Net benefit at constant feed and concentrate grades versus blast powder factor
EmulsionExplosiveBlendEvaluation
Different blend ratios of emulsion to ANFO are used depending on whether the blast holes are wet or
dry. In wet holes where water resistance is a necessity, emulsion blends are used. These are mixtures of
emulsion to ANFO fi-om 50% up to 99Oh emulsion by weight In dry holes where little water resistance
is required, Heavy-ANFOs are used. These are mixtures of emulsion to ANFO fi-om 1% to 50%
emulsion by weight Within the limits of Emulsion Blends and Heavy-ANFOs is a spectrum of
explosives of varying density, velocity of detonation (VOD), and energy. Up to approximately 45’h
emulsion, increasing the proportion of emulsion increases the explosive VOD and density while
reducing the relative weight strength (RWS). Beyond this point, increasing the proportion of emulsion
continues to increase the VOD, but now reduces the density and the RWS. One would like to maximize
the use of the explosive which costs the least, which generally means ANFO, however this may not
always be the case. For example, one may want to ensure that the fragmentation from the explosive

loaded into the dry holes will be similar to the fi-agmentation from the explosive loaded into the wet
holes.
Initially a 30/70 blend of emulsion to ANFO for dry holes and a 70130 blend for wet holes were selected,
but it was not clear whether this selection was the optimum. To that end, simulations using the JKMRC
models were run to check how changes to the emulsion blend ratios would be expected to affect the blast
fragmentation and the subsequent SAG mill throughput. Heavy-ANFO blends of 20/80, 30/70, and
40/60, emulsion blends of 70/30, 80120, and 90/10, and 100% emulsion were modeled and compared to
the ANFO pattern result.
The blast design information used in the ROM fragmentation simulations is summarized in Table 12.
The simulations include the 10.4xl2ft {3.2x3.7m} equilateral triangle pattern with ANFO as the base
case. All the emulsion patterns use the previously selected 12.lxl4ft {3,7x4.3m} equilateral triangle
pattern. Again the RWS was downgraded by 10% for all explosives to reflect the use of drill cuttings
for stemming. Red Dog mine drilling and blasting costs were used in estimating the costs per tonne of
ore blasted in each design and the rock properties, required by the blasting model, were of Main deposit
exhalite ore. Table 13 summarizes the ROM sizing results in detail.
Table 12 - Summary of simulated blast design parameters for different explosives
Blast Design Parameter Variable B 10.4’ B 12.1’ B 12.1’ B 12.1’ B 12.1’ B 12.1’ m inm
s 12’ s 14’ s 14’ s 14’ s 14’ s 14 s 14’ s 14’
ANFO 2OlSO 30170 40160 70130 80120 go/10 10010
Type of Pattern Eq. Tri. m &-ZYi. m Eq. Tri. i?QZ. m &?iZ
Burden, m B 3.17 3.70 3.70 3.70 3.70 3.70 3.70 3.70
Spacing, m S 3.66 4.27 4.27 4.27 4.27 4.27 4.27 4.27
Bench Height, m H 7.6 7.6 7.6 7.6 7.6 7.6 7.6 7.6
Charge Length, m L 7.4 7.4 7.4 7.4 7.4 7.4 7.4 7.4
Hole Diameter, mm D 165 165 165 165 165 165 165 165
Stemming Length, m 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.7
Sub-drill, m 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5
Powder Factor, kg/m3 K 1.49 1.35 1.57 1.75 1.69 1.68 1.65 1.64
Powder Factor, kg/t 0.40 0.36 0.42 0.47 0.45 0.45 0.44 0.44
Relative Weight Strength RWS* 90 87 81 SO 81 78 74 70
kg of Explosive/Hole, kg Q 134 163 190 212 204 203 199 198
Explosive Density, kg/m3 # 850 1030 1200 1340 1290 1280 1260 1250
Explosive VOD, m/s 3944 4209 4393 4627 5700 5781 5862 5944
Total Costs. US$/tonne - 0.61 0.50 0.54 0.58 0.59 0.60 0.61 0.61
* ANFO= iO0
The effect of increasing the proportion of emulsion in Heavy-MO blends is to increase VOD and
density, but lower the RWS. Increasing the emulsion from 20% to 40% increases the density by 30%,
while the RWS only drops 10%. This causes the Kuz-Ram X50 size to drop from 232mm to 207mm
{9.1” to 8.1 ‘I}. The slope ‘n’ remains constant at 1.91 as the pattern geometry remains constant. The net
result is that the muckpile becomes finer in the coarse end. As the borehole pressure is slightly higher
due to the increased VOD, the expected percent minus lmm increases slightly as well from 3.1 to 5.1%.
The overall result is a little more fines and a finer curve above X50, as illustrated in Figure 6.

Table 13 - Summary of simulated ROM size distributions for different explosives
Size B 10.4’ B 12.1’ B 12.1’ B 12.1’ B 12.1’ B 12.1’ B 12.1’ m

(mm) s 12’ s 14’ s 14’ s 14’ s 14’ s 14’ s 14’ s 14’
ANFO 20180 30170 40160 70130 80120 90110 lOO/O
1000 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
750 100.0 99.9 99.9 100.0 100.0 99.9 99.9 99.8
500 98.0 95.1 96.4 97.6 97.3 96.8 95.7 94.6
400 92.0 86.0 88.6 91.3 90.6 89.4 87.2 85.2
250 63.6 55.1 58.7 63.0 61.9 60.0 56.8 54.1
150 49.3 44.2 47.0 50.0 50.3 49.2 47.4 45.9
100 36.6 35.1 36.9 38.5 40.0 39.8 39.4 39.1
50 26.3 25.4 27.4 29.4 31.9 31.8 31.6 31.4
20 16.5 16.1 18.0 20.0 23.2 23.2 23.1 23.2
10 11.4 11.2 12.9 14.7 18.0 18.1 18.1 18.2
5 7.8 7.8 9.2 10.7 13.9 14.0 14.0 14.2
1 3.1 3.2 4.1 5.1 7.4 7.6 7.7 7.8
F95 (mm) 437 498 474 446 453 465 487 507
Feed
P80 (mm) 123.5 125.0 123.5 124.7
% -19mm 22.0 21.8 23.6 25.4
oh -100+5Omm 28 28 27 24
10 100
Sieve Aperture (mm)
Figure 6 - Comparison of low % emulsion blends on ROM distribution with 12.lxl4ft pattern
The effect of increasing the proportion of emulsion in the Emulsion Blends is to increase VOD, but

lower the density and RWS. Increasing the emulsion above 45%, reduces the RWS significantly and
hence increases the Kuz-Ram X50 size from 210mm to 235mm {8.3” to 9.3”). Again the slope ‘n’ stays
constant at 1.91 as the pattern geometry is constant. The net result is the muckpile becomes coarser in
the coarse end. As the borehole pressure is slightly higher for the increased VOD, despite the marginal
reduction in density, the expected percent minus lmm increases slightly from 7.4 to 7.8Oh. The overall
result is a negligible increase in fines but a coarser curve above X50, as illustrated in Figure 7.
100
-a- 80120 blend

+ 9Oh 0 blend
-A- 100% emulsion
1 10 100 1000
Sieve Aperture (mm)
Figure 7 - Effect of increasing % emulsion in blend on ROM distribution with 12.lxl4ft pattern
Note that the predicted ROM size distribution curves have an inflection point at X50. This is because
the current blast model simply adds two distributions at X50, the fines part coming from a Rosin-
Rammler extrapolation to the expected percent passing lmm in the crushed zone, and the coarse end
being predicted by the Kuz-Ram model.
These predicted mill feed size distributions show that the effect of increasing the proportion of emulsion
in the blend from 20/80 to 40/60 will increase the amount of minus grate size material by 3.6%.
However, although increasing the emulsion in the blend reduces the top size of the rock in the ROM, the
40/60 blend gives a coarser top size. The reason for this is that the higher powder factor ultimately
makes more of the primary crusher feed tine enough to by-pass the 6 inch { 15Omm} gap. This has the
effect of making the crusher product top size coarser than desired, resulting in the mill throughput being
negatively affected. To overcome this problem, the crusher gap should be closed as tight as possible, in
the case of the Red Dog crusher this is 5 inches {13Omm). ConverseIy, the predicted mill feed size
distributions show that the effect of increasing the proportion of emulsion in the blend from 80/20 to
lOO/O will be small in terms of both the amount of minus grate size material and coarse rock, This
indicates the throughput capacity of the mills should not be significantly affected. The key results of the
blasting simulations are summarized in Table 14.

Table 14 - Effect of different explosives on Red Dog 2010 circuit throughput
B 10.4’ B 12.1’ B 12.1’ B 12.1’ B 12.1’ m iFizT B 12.1’ =I!mT

s 12’ s 14’ s 14’ s 14’ s 14’ s 14’ s 14’ s 14’ s 14’
ANFO 20/80 30170 40160 40/60* 70130 80120 go/10 lOO/O
RWS 90 86 80 78 78 78 75 72 68
Feed Rate (dt/h) 137 135 139 136 148 142 150 150 149
Feed Rate (stph, wet) 154 152 156 153 166 160 169 169 168
- relative change (%) 3.8 2.3 5.3 3.0 12.1 7.6 13.6 13.6 12.9
F80 (mm) 123.5 125.0 123.5 124.7 104.6 123.5 121.0 121.4 121.7
% - i9rnk 1 22.0 1 21.8 1 23.6 1 25.4 25.9 28.6 28.7 28.6 28.8
* jaw crusher gap = 125mm (5”)
The simulation results suggest that the maximum throughput for SAG #3, at 25% mill tilling, with
heavy-ANFO blends will be 139dt/h { 126dstph} with the 30/70 blend, the other two blends being close
at 136 and 135dt/h { 123 and 122dstph}, respectively. The lower density 20/80 ratio did not produce as
many sub-grate size particles, thus causing a reduction in SAG throughput. Whereas the higher density
40/60 ratio shifted more particles below the 6 inch { 15Ommj gap size of the crusher, in effect canceling
out the benefit of the increased tines. To maintain a similar throughput, the 40/60 emulsion blend would
need the primary crusher gap to be reduced to 5 inches { 13Omm} to avoid material in the blast from by-
passing the crusher and causing the crusher product distribution to coarsen.
For emulsion blends above 50%, the simulation results suggest that increasing the emulsion % in the
blend from 70/30 to towards 1 OO/O using equilateral’ triangle patterns will affect the mill throughput, due
mainly to a reduction in coarse rock in the feed. Maximum throughput was 15Odt/h { 136dstph) with
both the 80/20 and 90/10 blends, with the lOO/O at 149dt/h { 135dstph} and the 70/30 at 142dt/h
{129dstph}. Note that as the proportion of emulsion was increased beyond 90/10, more particles that
were sub-grate size were produced, but the number of particles below the 6 inch { 15Omm} gap size of
the crusher also increased, balancing each other to some degree and reducing the impact on throughput.
It seems that the increase in mill throughput due to the reduction in coarse rock in the mill feed can be
achieved by reducing the crusher gap from 6 to 5 inches {15Omm to 13Omm} instead. Hence in practice
this would be a more cost effective option than further increasing the emulsion % in the blend from
70/30. This practice is in place at the Red Dog operations.
Conclusions
The Red Dog 2010 SAG mill circuit has been simulated using a JKSimMet model developed from
survey data collected by Red Dog and JKMRC staff in July 1998. Ore parameters were determined by
Cominco Research in Trail. Changes in blast design were investigated with the aim of improving circuit
throughput.
The results suggested that Red Dog could expect to increase the throughput by changes to fragmentation
of the ore that can be made in the mine relatively inexpensively. Reducing the pattern to 7.6xl6fi
{2.3x4.9m} increased the throughput by at least 5%. The adoption of bulk emulsion allowed blast
pattern sizes to be expanded to maintain similar or better fragmentation to that provided by ANFO, thus
providing a savings in drilling. Low emulsion ratio blends have been compared to high emulsion ratio

blends using the JKMRC Blast Model, and the effect on the 2010 circuit performance was simulated
using JKSimMet. The simulation results suggest that changing the pattern from the initial staggered
ANFO one to one using equilateral triangle patterns with 70/30 will increase the mill throughput by 8%.
To maintain a similar throughput, the 40/60 emulsion blend would need the primary crusher gap to be
reduced to 5 inches { 13Omm} to avoid material in the blast from by-passing the crusher and causing the
crusher product to coarsen.
The Red Dog study presented in this paper leads to two important conclusions. The first is that an
inappropriate size distribution provided by a mine can have very detrimental effects on subsequent SAG
mill throughput. The dependence is a classic example of the “mine-mill” link. A second outcome is the
demonstration that it is feasible to model size reduction from the mining operation through to the mill
product. Such a capability provides a very powerful planning and investigation tool for mining
engineers and metallurgists. This tool can provide a means of analyzing aspects of the productivity of a
total operation. In the case considered, the model allowed identification of a “best” mine fragmentation
which optimizes mill performance. This point is not necessarily the economic optimum for the entire
operation. The challenge will then be to develop the procedures to define the “best” economic operating
point. Consideration of this issue will require an increased degree of cooperation between mining
engineers and metallurgists.
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to acknowledge Cominco Alaska for their permission to publish the information
contained in this paper. Particular thanks are due to the Mill Operations and Technical staff who were
involved in the size distribution surveys and subsequent sample analysis and the Mine Drill & Blast
crew who carried out the many different pattern drilling and loading combinations.
References
Cunningham, C.V.B., 1983, “The Kuz-Ram model for prediction of fragmentation from blasting”, lst
International Symposium of Rock Fragmentation by Blasting, Lulea, Sweden, pp 439-453.
Cunningham, C.V.B., 1987, “Fragmentation estimations and the Kuz-Ram Model - four years on”, 2nd
International Symposium of Rock Fragmentation by Blasting, Colorado, U.S.A., pp 475-487.
Kanchibotla, S.S., Morrell, S., Valery, W. and O’Loughlin, P., 1998, “Exploring the effect of blast
design on SAG mill throughput at KCGM”, Proceedings Mine to Mill Conference, AusIMM, Brisbane,
Australia, ~~153-157.
Napier-Munn, T.J., Morrell, S., Morrison, R.D. and Kojovic, T., 1996, “Mineral Comminution Circuits:
Their Operation and Optimisation”, JKMRC, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, 413 pp.


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Adjusting Blasting to Increase SAG Mill Throughput at the Red Dog Mine

by N. Paley and T. Kojovic

Copyright © 2001 International Society of Explosives Engineers

Copyright © 2001 International Society of Explosives Engineers

ANFO Blast Pattern Evaluation

Table 2 - Historical Red Dog Mine blast parameters

Period Pattern tvpe

Copyright © 2001 International Society of Explosives Engineers

Table 3 - Summary of simulated blast design parameters for ANFO patterns

Blast Design Parameter Variable Base B 7.6’ B 10.4’

Copyright © 2001 International Society of Explosives Engineers

Size Base B 7.6’ B 10.4’

Copyright © 2001 International Society of Explosives Engineers

l Primary crusher, 15Omm closed side setting, 3 8mm throw

Copyright © 2001 International Society of Explosives Engineers

Base B 7.6’ B 10.4’

F80 (mm) 125.0 121.2 123.5

Copyright © 2001 International Society of Explosives Engineers

Emulsion Blast Pattern Evaluation

Table 6 - Summary of emulsion explosive properties

Ratio Eiay Bulk strength Weight strength RWS VOD

Copyright © 2001 International Society of Explosives Engineers

B 10.4’ B 14.7’ B 13.9’ B 13’ m B 11.3’ B 10.4’

Copyright © 2001 International Society of Explosives Engineers

B 10.4’ B 14.7’ B 13.9’ B 13’ B 12.1’ B 11.3’ B 10.4’ B 9.5’

Copyright © 2001 International Society of Explosives Engineers

Table 10 - Comparison of model simulated and actual SAG mill throughput

e12.lxl4ft, 70/30 em&ion blend

Copyright © 2001 International Society of Explosives Engineers

Pattern B x S (ft) Explosive Powder factor (kg/t) Throughput Net benefit

02 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 08

Copyright © 2001 International Society of Explosives Engineers

Table 12 - Summary of simulated blast design parameters for different explosives

Copyright © 2001 International Society of Explosives Engineers

Size B 10.4’ B 12.1’ B 12.1’ B 12.1’ B 12.1’ B 12.1’ B 12.1’ m

Copyright © 2001 International Society of Explosives Engineers

-a- 80120 blend

Copyright © 2001 International Society of Explosives Engineers

B 10.4’ B 12.1’ B 12.1’ B 12.1’ B 12.1’ m iFizT B 12.1’ =I!mT

Copyright © 2001 International Society of Explosives Engineers

Copyright © 2001 International Society of Explosives Engineers

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