PROPOSAL FOR THE USE OF SCAW’s FORGED MILL BALLS IN SAG MILLS

INTRODUCTION:
As a grinding media manufacturer, we hereby outline the benefits of using our forged mill balls in
your SAG mills. Since the grinding function comprises one of the highest cost component at an
operating mine, it’s imperative that the right choice of grinding media be made to attenuate that
cost element. Many mine operators use cast mill balls in their SAG mills with detrimental effects. The
immense pressures encountered at the toe of a tumbling “crop load” dictates that only a forged mill
ball is suitable in such application. Broken balls (from cast balls) accumulated in the SAG mills are the
main cause of poor mill efficiency. Broken balls that have exited the mill lead to increased wear in
pumps, pipes and cyclones. Our close proximity to your operation means that you can practice just-
in-time delivery. Our technical competence, ISO accreditation and half a century of manufacturing
experience present you with a competent partner to work with.

CAST MILL BALLS:

Cast mill balls were the predominant grinding media used in the mining industry until the mid-
1980’s. They had the following advantages:
 Low tech manufacturing
 Cheap raw materials (scrap steel)
 Manufacturing could be carried out in-house, and
 Production cost was extremely low
The disadvantages being:
 Quality control was non-existent
 The quality of the balls varied considerably, depending on the source of scrap
 HSE practices were abysmal, and
 Costing of the manufacturing process was inaccurate
This technology was then centralised in the country with industrial scale foundries emerging. Quality
control was enhanced, HSE complied with industry’s regulations and scrap was carefully blended to
produce balls of consistent quality. Inevitably, such balls were more expensive. Alloying with metals
such as molybdenum and chrome resulted in superior cast balls.

Cast balls are still manufactured today and are found most suited for ball and regrind mills (narrow
diameter mills). Such balls have inherent properties which make them unsuitable for SAG (large
diameter) mills. Those deleterious properties are:
1. Soft core emerging from the manufacturing process. This leads to accelerated wear once the
ball has been ground down to a certain size. Figures 1 and 2. This is evident when one
inspects the ball charge in a SAG mill which has been running on cast balls. A single size
predominates, Figure 3. Other evidence of a softer centre is the dimpling of worn mill balls
and uneven wear pattern, Figure 4.

2. Depending on the quality of raw materials used in manufacturing, balls can emerge porous
from the casting wheel, Figure 5. Such porosity acts as the conduit for stress transmission,
when in use, and accelerates shattering, Figure 6. Such broken fragments have numerous
disadvantages, such as:
a. Filling up the mill with pieces of steel which are too small to do useful work. In the
process, they consume power and restrict mill throughput.
 b. They get wedged in the opening of discharge grates and caused peening of the
grates, Figure 7.
c. Fragments small enough to pass through the discharge grates then lead to
accelerated wear of cyclone feed pumps, pipelines and hydrocyclones, and
d. The Fe ions generated by wear of these broken fragments act as a sulphide mineral
depressant in the flotation process.

3. Inability to sustain stress. The toe of the tumbling crop load in a SAG mill could encounter a
pressure of 5-7 bars, depending on the size of the mill. Being a cast ball, its molecular
structure can’t withstand such immense stress and shatter when the stress is released, e.g.
mill trip out or shut down, Figure 8. Such stored stress could continue to rupture mill balls up
to 2 weeks after they have been removed from the mill.

Astute mill operators spotted these defects and started experimenting with forged balls. As
dwindling ore head grades compelled higher throughputs to sustain profitability. SAG mills became
fashionable. These two effects lead to the escalation in the manufacture of forged mill balls.

FORGED MILL BALLS:

Forging is executed in the grinding media manufacturing by two processes namely:
1. Roll forging (Figures 9 and 10), and

2. Hammer (Drop) forging (Figure 11 and 12)

Both have the same effect, that of strengthening of the mill ball by aligning the micro crystals within
the ball. As a result forged balls are:
 Harder and more resilient
 Can accommodate immense change in stress because the micro crystals can realign to store
the excess energy when stressed and release it when relieved. This prevents fracturing. As a
result, it’s not uncommon to find an entire spectrum of ball sizes in a SAG mill running on
forged mill balls, Figure 13.
 As can be seen in Figure 13, a forged ball maintains its sphericity compared to a cast ball,
Figure 14. It’s well documented how sphericity assists grinding in a SAG mill. Two spinning
balls, coated with pulp, on colliding act like roll crushers. Such action contributes
significantly to fine grinding in a SAG mill.
 Don’t contribute to dead load in a mill (caused by fractured cast balls). As a consequence,
mill throughput is increased and power consumption is reduced.
 The absence of broken ball fragments does not lead to peening of discharge grates and
excessive wear of pumps, pipelines and cyclones.
 Of uniform hardness across the entire ball, Figure 15. This is a consequence of the alignment
of the micro crystals during the forging process. Compare with that for a cast ball, Figure 1.
 Devoid of porosity. This is eliminated during the forging process.
 Easier to charge in a SAG mill then cast balls, and
 Scats exiting the SAG mill can be sorted and used in the ball and regrind mills.

SCAW’s CONTRIBUTION, PROMOTING FORGED MILL BALLS:

At SCAW, we are ready to partner with your mine to supply forged mill balls for use in your SAG mill.
Choosing SCAW has numerous advantages, such as:
1. We’ve been in the ball manufacturing business for over half of a century. We’re ISO
accredited so our experience and quality assurance are second to none.

2. Our business is in close proximity to your mine, therefore, we can give you the after sales
service and back up which our competitors can’t afford.

3. We are looking at a holistic approach which encompasses the entire grinding circuit. Figure
16 shows an example of this. A gold mine in Queensland, Australia encountered a problem
in which their forged SAG mill balls were wearing in a discoid manner. Our consultant was
called in and negated the effect caused by clay minerals in the ore by manipulating the slurry
rheology in the mill.

In addition, our consultant has achieved 12% and 15% increase in SAG mill throughputs at 2
copper mines by a combination of right choice of forged mill balls and exploitation of slurry
rheology within the SAG mill.

4. We are located a stone’s throw from your mine. This gives you the advantage of
implementing just-in-time delivery of grinding media. This can be very helpful in controlling
your cash flow management.

5. We’ll soon embark on the manufacture of SAG mill liners. In this way, we will be able to
manufacture liners with a hardness that matches our mill balls. Too often, mines buy a
superior ball but don’t assess the quality of their SAG mill liners. As a result, the high-quality
balls “cannibalise” the inferior liners. This will not be the experience with SCAW.

6. We can offer you credit for the scrap you return to us. Our overseas competitors can’t do
such, and

7. We’re committed to a long term partnership with you. We’ll be available 24/7 to assist you
should our expertise be required.
Figure 1: Hardness across a sectioned 80mm cast ball (1989, Luanshya, Zambia)

Figure 2: Evidence of softer centre culminating in an uneven wear pattern

Figure 3: A SAG mill running with cast balls, one size predominates

Figure 4: Soft centre of a cast ball leading to “dimpling”

Figure 5: Porous cast mill ball as a result of using poor quality scrap, accelerated wear

Figure 6: Ensuing premature fracture from a porous mill ball

 Figure 7: Peened discharge grate of a SAG mill caused by broken cast balls

Figure 8: Cast mill balls shattering due to stress, 2 weeks after being removed from the SAG mill
 Figure 9: Schematic diagram of roll forging

Figure 10: Roll forged mill ball (ridge visible from the rolling process)
Figure 11: Hammer forging in a Chinese ball manufacturing foundry

Figure 12: Hammer forged mill ball

Figure 13: Full spectrum of sizes of forged mill balls taken from a SAG mill (perfect sphericity)

Figure 14: Lack of sphericity of a cast mill ball

 Figure 15: Hardness across a pair of 75mm forged mill balls conducted by Mintek, South Africa

Figure 16: Uneven mill ball wear caused by adverse mineralisation in the ore

PROPOSED DELIVERABLES FOR CONSULTANCY WITH SCAW Ltd

The following is proposed to:
 Grow SCAW’s share of the forged and chrome alloy mill balls market in Central Africa
 Unbiased testing, monitoring and reporting when SCAW’s ball is introduced in a
plant to compare it with that of the competitors
 Instil confidence in the customer that SCAW’s manufacturing, post sales follow up
and technical support are superior to those of the competitor(s), and
  SCAW is here for the long term. Its partnership will tailor make mill balls to suit the
ore type and mill geometry

The grinding media business in the region has become extremely competitive. End users
have looked at cost in preference for quality and suitability. It’s not uncommon to find a
mine buying a forged mill ball for its copper mine that was originally developed for a nickel
mine in Madagascar! Milling circuits are so finely balanced that a slight mismatch could lead
to loss of throughput and increased milling cost. Bearing this in mind, SCAW needs to
consolidate its position as a primary grinding media manufacturer in the region. The
roadmap to be used could be as follows:

1. Evaluating the performance of SCAW’s ball vs. that of the competitor

Since it takes 7-10 weeks (3 times the volume of balls in the mill) to completely grind
out the old balls from a SAG mill, its best to test SCAW’s balls in a separate campaign
and compare the results with those of the existing balls. Data that can be measured
and/or calculated are:
 g/t of media consumed
 Mill throughput in tph
 d80 grind size
 Power consumption in kWh/t of feed
 Scats produced in tph (excessive scats restricts the amount of fresh feed),
Figure 17
 $/t of ore treated for the unit operation
 Flotation recovery, and
 Filter cake moisture
There could be short term variation in the hardness and grade of the ore but this will
even out in the longer term.
For the evaluation of high-chrome balls in a ball mill the procedure is easier. The old
ball charge can be dumped and the mill charged with SCAW’s balls. The charging
ratio should be as follows (assuming 80mm balls are used):
80mm (80/230)* total weight of ball charge
60mm (60/230)* total weight of ball charge
40mm (40/230)* total weight of ball charge
30mm (30/230)* total weight of ball charge
20mm (20/230)* total weight of ball charge
Total 230
The empirical formula used is: THE WEIGHT OF THE DIFFERENT SIZED BALLS SHOULD
BE PROPORTIONAL TO THOSE DIAMETERS
Once the new crop of balls has been run for 4 days, testing can commence. The
following can be evaluated:
 g/t of media consumed
 Power consumption kWh/t of fresh feed
 SAG mill throughput in tph
 d80 grind size
  $/t cost of the unit operation
 Flotation recovery, and
 Filter cake moisture

2. Added benefits of using SCAW’s mill balls are to be stressed at every convenient
opportunity. These could include:
a. Our willingness to work with the customer to “tailor make” a ball to suit their
operation (ore hardness and mill size)
b. Our long experience and stringent quality assurance measures. Some of our
competitors in Asia who are supplying cast steel balls operate like a cottage
industry. They supply rural households with induction furnaces (Figure 18)
and scrap steel which they melt and cast into mill balls. The “mill ball
manufacturer” then collects the balls from the various households and
markets it as his. Forged balls manufacturers are more industrial in
outlook..However, they source their steel billets from a common steel plant.
It is for this reason that the balls have the identical chemical composition but
different physical attributes. Procuring mill balls from SCAW circumvents
such irregularities.
c. While monitoring the performance of SCAW’s balls on the client’s plant, we’ll
be on site to assist with parameters such as:
i. Circulating load in a mill
ii. Mill density
iii. Mill power draw
iv. Mill speed
v. d80 grind size, and
vi. Any other parameter the plant operatives find useful
All of the above should contribute to enhanced milling efficiency
d. SCAW’s technical team will conscientiously examine the chemical and
physical properties of the competitor(s) mill balls. A consensus will be arrived
at to make SCAW’s ball superior, should it be lagging

3. Formulating and implementing marketing initiatives.

 Zambian/Congolese ores (ores from the Lufilian Arc) are relatively soft with a
Bond Work Index (BWI) of about 8.5. For such ores, medium-chrome balls
utilised in the ball mill should suffice. A high-chrome ball might just have that
superior edge. We’ll have to convince one plant manager to do a plant trial of
high-chrome mill balls. During such test we’ll have to be on site to ensure
that the results are accurate and unambiguous. If high-chrome proves to be
superior, we’ll publicise it widely. Ball mills operating with rubber liners have
a greater chance of proving high-chrome’s superiority.
 For acidic conditions as used in hydrometallurgical operations, stainless steel
balls (Figure 19) have been proven to be the most suitable. However, the
costs are exorbitant. A molybdenum alloy can be a possible replacement.
 Cost benefit analyses have to be carried out on the 2 types of mill balls for
each application.
 Future prospects could entail transitioning into manufacturing liners for SAG
mills. AIA engineering (chrome ball manufacturers in India) have started
manufacturing SAG mill liners. Liners currently attract twice the sales of mill
balls. When the author visited the plant in 2014, they were manufacturing
SAG mill liners for a new Metso mill in the DR Congo. PT Growth Asia in
Indonesia followed a similar trajectory and their SAG mill liners (Figure 20)
production far outstrips that of mill balls.

Ramoutar (Ken) Seecharran

Processing Consultant

Figure 17: Typical scats conveyor

Figure 18: Small induction furnace supplied to households in rural China to produce mill
balls

Figure 19: Stainless steel mill balls used for grinding in acidic media
Figure 20: SAG mill discharge grate manufactured by PT Growth Asia