Going beyond design at Newmont Boddington gold

C McCamley1, P Petrucci2 and K Blay3

1. MAusIMM, Production Metallurgist, Newmont Mining Corp, Boddington WA 6390,
conor.mccamley@newmont.com
2. MAusIMM, Senior Metallurgist, Newmont Mining Corp, Boddington WA 6390,
paul.petrucci@newmont.com
3. Manager - Process Control Pilot, Newmont Mining Corp, Subiaco WA 6008, kane.blay@newmont.com

ABSTRACT
The Newmont Boddington Gold (NBG) processing plant was designed for 35Mt/y with ball mills expected to
deliver a combined new mill feed rate of 4837 tonnes/hr. Since beginning commercial production in late
2009, the plant has steadily increased throughput to meet design capacity in 2014 and reached 37 Mt/y in
2015. Through improved efficiencies, changes to the milling circuit have taken place since commissioning to
take the plant beyond its design to an actual throughput of 39.0 Mt in 2017 and a budgeted throughput of
39.4 Mt/y this year.
The NBG milling circuit has four parallel ball mills, each consisting of a 7.9 x 13.4 m ball mill with twin
7.5 MW fixed speed motors in closed circuit with twelve 650 mm cyclones. Each mill is fed by two wet
screens with the undersize gravitating to a mill discharge hopper where it is combined with the ball mill
discharge and pumped to hydrocyclones for classification. The cyclone underflow is re-ground to a target P 80
of 150 µm.
This paper will focus on process improvements made to the NBG milling circuit which include cyclone
reconfiguration, fine screen panel redesign, implementation of an expert control system, mill power draw
increase and grinding media changes to take NBG beyond its design throughput.

INTRODUCTION
Newmont Boddington Gold is situated 12 km north-west of the town of Boddington and 130 km south-east of
Perth in Western Australia. Gold was discovered at Boddington in 1980. Production from the oxide material
began in August 1987 at a throughput rate of 3.0 Mt/y. Oxide ore treatment continued with circuit expansions
and the addition of a facility to treat supergene and high-grade basement ores until 2001, at which time the
operation was placed under care and maintenance. The current mining operations at NBG commenced in
2008, and commissioning of the processing plant started in the latter half of 2009. It has since been ramping
up to its nameplate design of 35 Mt/y with mill production reaching design capacity in 2014, then 37 Mt/y by
2015, 37.9 Mt/y by 2016 and 39.0Mt/y by 2017. In order to achieve these gains in processing rate, small
incremental in-house projects were completed such as cyclone component reconfiguration, fine screen panel
redesign, implementation of an expert control system, mill power draw increase and grinding media changes.

Comminution circuit
The NBG primary crushing circuit comprises two 1.5 x 2.9 m XHD primary gyratory crushers located at the
edge of the mine with a nominal capacity of 3670 t/h each at an open side setting (OSS) of 175 mm. The
crushed product (nominal P80 of 150 mm) is conveyed 2.5 km to the coarse ore stockpile (COS) located at
the plant facility. The COS has a live capacity of 40 000 t and a total capacity of nearly 400 000 t, when
bulldozed to the side. Coarse ore is reclaimed via any one of three reclaim feeders onto the secondary
crusher feed conveyor. The secondary crushing circuit comprises six secondary crusher feed surge bins and
six secondary (MP1000) cone crushers. Un-scalped ore drawn from the COS is fed to the secondary
crushers which are in closed circuit with four 3.6 x 7.3 m single deck banana screens with an aperture of
approximately 50 mm. The secondary crusher closing screen undersize is sent to the tertiary crushing circuit.
The tertiary crushing circuit comprises four feed bins and four 2.4 m diameter by 1.65 m wide high pressure
grinding rolls (HPGRs) each fitted with two 2.8 MW variable speed drives. The HPGR product is conveyed to
and stored in four fine ore bins with a combined live capacity of 20 000 t (up to four hours of live mill feed
surge capacity). The four HPGRs operate in closed circuit with eight 3.66 x 7.93 m wet screens
(two per mill). Wet screen oversize is returned to the HPGR circuit and the wet screen undersize reports to
the grinding circuit. The circuit is summarised below in Figure 1.

14th AusIMM Mill Operators' Conference 2018 / Brisbane, Qld, 29–31 August 2018
Figure 1 – Original NBG comminution circuit flow sheet.

PROCESS IMPROVEMENTS
Cyclone reconfiguration
Early ball mill performance at NBG was characterised by a high recirculating load with the 650 mm primary
cyclones providing a cut size finer than the desired P 80 of 150 µm. The design configuration included a
165 mm apex and 255 mm vortex finder.
Commissioning spares included vortex finders up to 305 mm in size. The vortex finder size were
progressively increased using the available commissioning spares to 280 mm at first followed by 305 mm in
an attempt to coarsen the grind and reduce the recirculating load. The 305 mm vortex finders were unable to
achieve the required coarse cut size and it remained at approximately 50 µm lower than the design. The
largest vortex finder able to be fitted into a standard configuration 650 mm cyclone is 305 mm. The standard
cyclone model being used by the vendor was predicting the desired cut size would be achieved, but failed to
correct for the very low viscosity of the slurry being treated at NBG.
With the 305 mm vortex finders not yielding the desired plant performance it was decided to source a
modified top plate arrangement that could accommodate larger vortex finders as shown by Figure 2. The
modified top plate arrangement had been used at another site previously. A single converted cyclone was
trialled with a 355 mm vortex finder and products from it were sampled several times to confirm the desired
increase in cut size would be achieved. Understanding the performance may have been biased by the single
converted cyclone operating in combination with cyclones with 305 mm vortex finders in the remainder of the
cluster an assessment concluded that all 48 cyclones should be modified across the four ball mills as the
vortex finder size could readily be reduced from 355 mm should this prove too large.

14th AusIMM Mill Operators' Conference 2018 / Brisbane, Qld, 29–31 August 2018
Figure 2 – Original top plate and 305mm overflow configuration (left) and modified top plate and 355 mm
overflow configuration (right).
The conversion kits purchased for this included an increased diameter overflow pipe which reduced the wear
causing the smaller overflow pipes to hole. After installation of the 355 mm vortex finders the grind became
coarser than target and the amount of oversize being captured by the downstream trash screens became
excessive. Upon reviewing the survey conducted during the 355 mm vortex finder trial, a small increase in
the fraction of top size material was found. Whilst this represented less than 0.1% of the total mass of mill
throughput at NBG, it equated to a significant amount of grit being removed by the trash screens
(approximately 5tph or 120tpd).
The decision was then made to install 330 mm vortex finders and this remains the current configuration.
However as the focus was cut size and reducing recirculating load, the initial changes did not consider the
lower sections of the cyclone. Specifically in failing to change the apex when changing the vortex finder, the
cyclones were placed in a configuration where small changes in feed pressure and/or feed density would
result in roping. Upon reviewing the literature, it was found the apex ratio to vortex finder had changed from
the originally configured 0.65 to 0.5 and thus was in a region of rope or spray, depending on pressure
(Napier-Munn, 2005). With the increase in vortex diameter the required apex diameter was calculated at
200 mm for a ratio of 0.61. Initially there were insufficient 200 mm apex inserts and housings available from
the cyclone vendor so both 190 mm and 200 mm apex inserts were purchased to move the ratio back into
the desired range. As the 190 mm and 200 mm rubber apex inserts wore they were progressively replaced
with 200 mm reaction bonded ceramic units.
The outcome of the cyclone configuration changes resulted in partial debottlenecking of the classification
circuit reducing ball mill recirculating load and increasing ball mill throughput.

Fine screen panel redesign

During commissioning, the fine screens at NBG were fitted with 11 x 23 mm slots with flow aperture panels
and an open area of 26.3% at the feed end, transitioning to 10.5 mm light duty VR type aperture panels with
weirs at the discharge end. Due to high wear rates of the light duty VR type panels which was resulting in
weekly fine screen outages, the fine screens were changed to slotted aperture panels across the entire
surface to improve the time between maintenance with an accepted loss of screen efficiency as slotted
panels are prone to pegging with near size material at the discharge end.
In order to utilise a higher proportion of the installed power of the HPGR circuit and reduce the recirculating
load in the milling circuit, smaller apertures in the fine screens were trialled. The fine screen panel vendor
provided a list of available tooling and panels in stock and from this the most readily available panel with
reduced aperture width, similar slot length and the same thickness and working depth was chosen. One ball
mill had both fine screens feeding it fitted with 8.5 x 23 mm slots with flow aperture panels. Analysis of the
increase in the recirculating load back to the HPGR determined this change across all four ball mills would
exceed the capacity of the fine screen oversize conveyor. The data analysis indicated a panel at near the
mid-point between 8.5 and 11mm would be required. Tooling was created for a 10mm slotted panel based
on the 11mm slotted panel layout. Another trial commenced with a further two fine screens on a second mill
fitted with 10 x 23 mm slots with flow aperture panels. Following the success of this trial all fine screens were

14th AusIMM Mill Operators' Conference 2018 / Brisbane, Qld, 29–31 August 2018
changed to 10 x 23 mm slotted panels with an open area of 25.1% at the feed end and 8.5 x 23 mm slotted
panels at the discharge end.
In time it was noted the 8.5 x 23 mm slots were prone to pegging which resulted in the fine screen oversize
conveyor becoming a bottle neck. The 8.5 x 23 mm slots were removed from service and the screens fitted
with 10 x 23 mm slotted panels across the entire surface. With wear still causing frequent panel changes,
and low screen efficiency still resulting in bottlenecks on the fine screen oversize conveyor, as mill
throughput was pushed ever higher, a Six Sigma project was undertaken to evaluate the fine screen panel
performance. The project resulted in the feed end aperture panels increasing in thickness whilst still retaining
the same working depth as shown in Figure 3. This allowed more wear material before the screen fixing pin
was reached which would result in the panels dislodging. The discharge end panels were changed to
11.2 mm heavy duty VR panels with an open area of 30.5% which resulted in improved screen efficiency.

15mm
of
wear

Cross Section
40mm Thick Panel
Panel Pin
25mm
of wear
before
panel
pin fails

Cross Section Material added

50mm Thick Panel to perimeter
Panel Pin
Figure 3 – Panel thickness change.
Subsequent to this, a number of other trials including the re-introduction of weirs, panels with deflectors and
slotted VR type panels all resulted in poor service lives through increased wear rates.
Following upgrades in conveyor capacity, and an increased understanding that slot aspect ratio and open
area had an important part to play, a review of the available panel designs and tooling resulted in the
selection of 8 x 26 mm slotted panels with 34% open area at the feed end and 9 mm heavy duty VR panels
with an open area of 30.3% at the discharge end for trial. One of each pair of screens for each ball mill was
fitted with the finer panel arrangement for the trial. The improvement in screen efficiency observed partially
offset the expected increase in oversize reporting back to the HPGR circuit. This configuration was then
implemented as standard across all eight fine screens. The outcome of the changes to the fine screen panel
configuration resulted in partial debottlenecking of the classification circuit, reducing the ball mill recirculating
load and increasing ball mill throughput.

Expert control system

In late 2011/early 2012, advanced process control for the milling area was explored to help improve
instantaneous throughput and achieve a standard operating performance across four crews. Two techniques
were considered, the fuzzy rule based “expert system” and multivariable model predictive control. The
multivariable model predictive control (MVC) was selected because it has an online optimisation function and
will not just automate the current best practice but seek to find the process optimal point. Major vendors with
existing software packages proven in the field were compared and the product ExaSMOC from Yokogawa

14th AusIMM Mill Operators' Conference 2018 / Brisbane, Qld, 29–31 August 2018
was selected for both commercial and technical reasons (Patterson, 2012). The online optimiser for the
multivariable model predictive control was expected to give a greater economic benefit when compared to a
fixed rule based system. A fixed rule based system will only ever automate the current best operator practice
– i.e. it will only ever follow the rules it is given. An MVC strategy with an optimiser will work within the
constraints of a circuit but the system will constantly push towards any available optimisation (Blay, 2012).

Metallurgical considerations
The relationship between mill throughput, grind size and recovery is well understood at NBG from numerous
in-house and external studies (Rees et al, 2012) (Dare, 2012) (Runge, 2012). Figure 4 shows that as
throughput has increased over ramp-up of the operation, the grind size has also increased.

2010 2011 2012

200

150

100

50

0
2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4500 5000 5500 6000
Dry Mill Throughput (t/h)

Figure 4 – Relationship between mill throughput (t/h) and grind size (COF P 80 ) at NBG.
The cyclone overflow (COF) P 80 has a strong correlation with copper and gold recovery. An external review
commissioned by NBG confirmed that an increase in COF P 80 of 10 µm resulted in a recovery decrease of
1.1% for copper and 0.9% for gold (Figure 5). The mechanism behind the decrease in recovery is the
reduction in liberation of the encapsulated copper and gold minerals in non-sulfide gangue, consistently
demonstrated in the monthly composite mineralogy analysis.

2010 2011 2012 2010 2011 2012

100 100
95 95
90
85 90
80 85
75 80
70 75
65 70
60
55 65
50 60
50 70 90 110 130 150 170 190 210 50 70 90 110 130 150 170 190 210
Cyclone Overflow P80 (µm) Cyclone Overflow P80 (µm)

Figure 5 – Copper recovery (left) and overall gold recovery (right) as a function of grind size (COF P 80 ).
Although there is a recovery penalty by maximising throughput, overall metal production increases as
throughput increases (Figure 6). This is also more cost effective as operating at a higher throughput does not
increase the unit cost (with the exception of some maintenance costs). Based on these relationships the
ExaSMOC system will be configured to maximise throughput when the circuit is not constrained upstream or
downstream.

14th AusIMM Mill Operators' Conference 2018 / Brisbane, Qld, 29–31 August 2018
 Copper Production at Various Throughputs and Gold Production at Various Throughputs and Head
Head Grades (%) Grades (g/t)

350 3,500
300 3,000
250 2,500
200 0.09 2,000 0.50
150 1,500
100 0.12 1,000 0.75
50 500
0 0.15 0 1.00
3500 4000 4500 5000 5500 3500 4000 4500 5000 5500
Instanteous Throughput (tph) Instanteous Throughput (tph)

Figure 6 – Modelled copper (left) and gold (right) production at various throughput, head grades and
recoveries.
Although maximising throughput will produce the maximum financial benefit, it is not unusual for the
throughput to be restricted by parts of the plant outside of the milling circuit. The ExaSMOC system was
configured to minimise grind size when operating on restricted throughput owing to upstream and
downstream limitations. This was performed by minimising the cyclone feed density while maintaining a high
mill feed density where possible. Plant surveys and operational data supported this operating philosophy,
showing a reduction in COF P80 with reduced cyclone feed density for a given throughput by improved
separating efficiency as shown below in Figure 7.

Cyclone Feed Density Vs Cyclone Overflow P80

250
230
210
190
170
150
130
110
90
70
50
40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80
Cyclone Feed Density (% solids)

Figure 7 – Cyclone feed density versus cyclone overflow P 80.

The objective function thus gives the following outcomes, when the system constraints are satisfied:
increasing throughput outweighs all other optimisation considerations;
if the system is at the maximum tonnage allowed by the control room operator, it will try to lower the
cyclone feed density; and
in lowering the cyclone feed density, it will prefer to increase the mill discharge hopper water before
increasing the flash flotation/mill feed water.

Implementation
Due to the potential impact on production and its impracticality, randomised ‘on/off’ style trials to quantify the
benefits of the project were not carried out. Large data sets before and after the implementation of
ExaSMOC was instead used for comparison. This analysis is based upon process data retrieved from the PI
historian. The data was in the form of one hour average values of continuous signals for two years from 20th
February 2011 to 19th February 2013.

14th AusIMM Mill Operators' Conference 2018 / Brisbane, Qld, 29–31 August 2018
Maximising milling capacity
The throughput of the processing plant is rarely limited by the milling capacity alone. There are regularly
other plant areas which limit the maximum throughput. To identify the improvement in the maximum milling
capacity it is necessary to filter the data. To identify times when the plant was ‘available’ the following filters
were used:
at least 4.5 secondary crusher feeders running (hourly average);
at least three coarse screen feeders running (hourly average);
at least 3.5 HPGR feeders running (hourly average);
all mills are running, with at least one feeder running per mill;
three or more trash screens running (hourly average); and
two thickener underflow pumps running (both CIL trains online).
Note that these filters use the feeders for the fines plant equipment, meaning the equipment was not only
available but was operating at the time. When these filters were applied to the data, 18.7% of the samples
conformed to these conditions (1625 with ExaSMOC enabled and 1647 with ExaSMOC disabled).
Various other improvements were made around the plant during the data period analysed. As well as the
ExaSMOC implementation, other projects included increasing the maximum HPGR pressure from 160 to
175 bar and increasing the mill power draw from 15.2 to 15.6 MW. The relative timelines for these
improvements is shown in Figure 8.

Data Set Timeframe and other improvements

Long Data Sample

Short Data Sample

Milling Advanced Process Control Commissioning

HPGR Pressure Increase On/Off Trials and Testing

Mill Power Increase Trialling

20/02/2011 31/05/2011 8/09/2011 17/12/2011 26/03/2012 4/07/2012 12/10/2012 20/01/2013

Figure 8 – Data set timelines.

The results with ExaSMOC enabled, show an increase in all metrics as the controller drives the process
closer to the operational constraints. Figure 9 shows the distribution of mill feed rates over all of the filtered
samples (all times when the plant is otherwise online). Throughput rates when the ExaSMOC controller was
enabled were 193 t/h higher on average, and resulted in a 3.3% decrease in standard deviation.

Total Mill Dry Feed (Un-reconciled) Distribution from 20/02/11 to 19/02/13

Filtered for Plant Availability
16.0% 100%
14.0% 90%
80%
12.0%
70%
10.0% 60%
8.0% 50%
6.0% 40%
30%
4.0%
20%
2.0% 10%
0.0% 0%

Mill Throughput (t/h)

Non-SMOC Samples SMOC Samples Non-SMOC Cumulative SMOC Cumulative

Figure 9 – Milling throughput distribution.

14th AusIMM Mill Operators' Conference 2018 / Brisbane, Qld, 29–31 August 2018
Figure 10 shows the comparison of cyclone feed flow rates for the sample period. There is a 10% increase in
the average flow rate to the cyclone cluster.

Cyclone Feed Flow Distribution from 20/02/11 to 19/02/13

Filtered for Plant Availability
25.0% 100%

20.0% 80%

15.0% 60%

10.0% 40%

5.0% 20%

0.0% 0%

Cyc Feed Flow (m3/h)

Non-SMOC Samples SMOC Samples Non-SMOC Cumulative SMOC Cumulative

Figure 10 – Cyclone feed flow distribution.

Figure 11 shows the change in cyclone feed pump current draw for the sample period. Due to the stability
improvement, while under ExaSMOC control the pumps can more safely approach the full load current of
445 A. The samples for which the ExaSMOC controller was enabled displayed an increase of 9.9% in the
average current draw for these pumps.

Cyclone Feed Pump Amps Distribution from 20/02/11 to 19/02/13

Filtered for Plant Availability
40.0% 100%
35.0% 90%
80%
30.0%
70%
25.0% 60%
20.0% 50%
15.0% 40%
30%
10.0%
20%
5.0% 10%
0.0% 0%

Cyc Feed Pump (Amps)

Non-SMOC Samples SMOC Samples Non-SMOC Cumulative SMOC Cumulative

Figure 11 – Cyclone feed pump amps distribution.

Process stability improvements

The nature of the model predictive controller is to drive the system towards process constraints. One of the
key constraints to the milling circuit is the cyclone feed density. Metallurgical trials and sampling were carried
out to determine the maximum ‘safe’ cyclone feed density. Above the maximum safe cyclone feed density
the cyclones classification performance deteriorates as the air core may collapse. This became one of the
critical limiting factors to the throughput of the milling circuit. Prior to the implementation of the ExaSMOC
controller the density was a part of the existing control scheme but was rarely enabled by the operators, due
to stability concerns. Instead the control room operator would manually adjust the tonnage feed rate to
maintain stable cyclone operation. Being able to maintain the system in these high-density ranges was key
to the ExaSMOC controller’s ability to maximise the milling throughput.
Figure 12 shows that while the mean cyclone feed density was increased; the occurrence of instances above
the safe operating level of 72% solids was decreased. This was achieved by decreasing the standard
deviation of the cyclone feed density by 39%.

14th AusIMM Mill Operators' Conference 2018 / Brisbane, Qld, 29–31 August 2018
 Cyclone Feed Density Distribution from 20/02/11 to 19/02/13
Filtered for Plant Availability
25.0% 100%
90%
20.0% 80%
70%
15.0% 60%
50%
10.0% 40%
30%
5.0% 20%
10%
0.0% 0%

Cyc Feed Density (% solids)

Non-SMOC Samples SMOC Samples Non-SMOC Cumulative SMOC Cumulative

Figure 12 – Cyclone feed density distribution.

Operational consistency and confidence

The overall controller utilisation (online time) for the Milling ExaSMOC system has been 98% since the
system was completed in March 2012. Figure 13 shows the utilisation of ExaSMOC compared with the times
that the mill feeders are online. It is uncommon for the system to operate under conventional control for
extended periods of time.

System Utilisation For the first 12 Months:

ExaSMOC enabled for 97.9% of the time Mills are Online.
100.00%
90.00%
80.00%
70.00%
60.00%
50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
20.00%
10.00%
0.00%

Mill Feed On (%) ExaSMOC Enabled ExaSMOC Util (%)

Figure 13 – ExaSMOC utilisation.

Mill power draw increase

NBG has four parallel ball milling lines, each consisting of a 7.9 m x 13.4 m ball mill fitted with twin 7.5MW
drives and operated in closed circuit with twelve 650 mm cyclones. The mills were run initially at a target
power draw of 14.5 MW; however the grind size produced was not satisfactory leading to recovery losses at
the coarser grind sizes. Increasing mill power draw beyond 14.5 MW was hampered by ball charge purging
on start-up following crash stops. During inching and start up after a crash stop on the mills, it was found that
a portion of the ball charge would purge from the mills. This resulted in capping power draw to 14.5 MW in
the first year of operation while ball retaining rings were fitted to the mills. As power draw was increased from
14.5 MW to 15.0 MW it was found that the rings were not completely effective in holding back the charge,
and further investigation found that by stopping the cyclone feed pumps immediately after the mill stopped,
the amount of charge purging from the mill could be reduced. Previously the pumps were allowed to run
during inching to flush material out of the system; however this only caused the charge to migrate to the

14th AusIMM Mill Operators' Conference 2018 / Brisbane, Qld, 29–31 August 2018
discharge end of the mill and then purge when the mill was started. In 2010, investigations commenced with
the vendor to explore whether the power draw could be increased to 15.6 MW (motor input power) or
beyond, however results of this analysis concluded that continued operation above 15.6MW would lead to a
significant reduction in service life of the motor and drive train and hence was not pursued further.
Power draw was increased to 15 MW during 2010 and 2011 as retaining rings were fitted to each mill as
described above. Attempts to increase the power to 15.6 MW in all mills were inhibited due to an imbalance
in the power distribution between the two mill motors. This was eventually traced to differing cable lengths for
the feed supply to each of the two motors. Rectification work commenced in 2011 and by 2012 the mill
power draw was lifted to 15.6 MW following the completion of successful trials. Results showing increased
throughput at the higher power draw are shown below in Figure 14.

Mill 2 Power Increase Trial

1,600

1,500

1,400

1,300

1,200

1,100

1,000
14.4 14.6 14.8 15.0 15.2 15.4 15.6 15.8 16.0
Mill Input Power (MW)

15MW power target 15.6MW power target

Figure 14 – Mill power vs throughput XY plot.

Grinding media changes

The ball mills were first filled with a graded charge consisting of 80 mm, 65 mm, 50 mm and 40 mm balls to
simulate a “seasoned charge” as found in an operating ball mill. The ratios of each size were provided by the
vendor. The initial charge weight was 600 t, ramping up to approximately 1000 t, with the final charge sizes
being 80 mm and 65 mm (split 50% each). The target grind size was 150 µm. The 50:50 80mm and 65 mm
split remained as the recharge blend post commissioning.
After completing a mine to mill full plant survey in 2010 a recommendation to move to 100% 80mm media
was accepted. Final grind size P 80 increased to between 170 µm and 180 µm as throughput rates increased,
and subsequently there was a notable reduction in recovery. As HPGR pressure was increased, conveying
capacity improved and fine screen panel aperture sizes were optimised the ball mill feed size reduced. In
2014, test work was conducted to optimise the ball size now that mill power and fine screen sizes had
stabilised. The test work involved mass balancing survey data from the milling circuit in combination with
experimental batch testing. As the NBG milling circuit runs in parallel, the survey was conducted on one
milling train only. From the data provided it was concluded that; a decrease in ball size from 80 mm to 65 mm
would reduce the grind size by 17 µm at the same throughput rate, or could increase throughput by 9.2%.
However, it was also expected that media consumption could rise by approximately 20% due to the
increased surface area. A decision was made to switch over to 65 mm balls in 2015, and following the ‘purge
period’ (gradual change over of the mill charge over 3 to 4 months), the grind size decreased by 10 µm.
Consumption had not risen, while a 1% increase in overall gold recovery from elevated flotation gold
recovery was attributed to the decrease in grind size as shown by Figure 15.

14th AusIMM Mill Operators' Conference 2018 / Brisbane, Qld, 29–31 August 2018