MINERAL

PROCESSING
Minerals are broadly
classified into two types:

1. METALLIC MINERALS

2. NON-METALLIC MINERALS
1. Metallic minerals – minerals from
which a metal is extracted.

2. Non-metallic minerals- minerals

used for industrial purposes for
making cement, refractories, glass
and ceramics, insulators, fertilizers,
etc sometimes called industrial
minerals.
3. Coal- is not a mineral. It is
organic in composition and formed
from decaying vegetation and
mineral matter.
 IMPORTANT
TERMINOLOGY
ROCK – is an aggregation of several
minerals as occurred in the Earth’s crust.

ORE – is an aggregation of several

minerals from which one or more
minerals can be exploited/separated at
profit.
All Ores are Rocks, but all Rocks are not
Ores.

An Ore at one place may be a Rock at

other place.
ORE MINERALS OR VALUABLE MINERALS-
those minerals w/c contain an economically
exploitable quantity of some metal or non-
metal.

GANGUE MINERALS- are usually the non-

metallic minerals associated with ore minerals
w/c are worthless as a source for that metal or
otherwise. These are usually unwanted, waste
or useless minerals. These gangue minerals
ocassionally find use as a source of by-
products.
 ORE DEPOSITS – natural deposits of ore
minerals.

 ORE – is an aggregation of valuable and

gangue minerals.

SIMPLE ORE – from w/c a single metal can

be extracted. Example:
Hematitic ore – only iron can be extracted
Bauxite ore – only aluminum can be extracted.
 COMPLEX ORE – from w/c two or more metals can
be extracted. Example:
lead-zinc-copper ore - lead, zinc and copper
metals

 METAL CONTENT – generally expressed in percent

of metal present in the mineral .

 ASSAY VALUE OR TENOR – percent metal, percent

valuable mineral, or ounces precious metal per
ton depending upon the type of ore involved.
 GRADE – relative term used to represent the
value of an ore.
HIGH GRADE ORE – ore having a high assay
value.
LOW GRADE ORE- ore having a low assay
value.
MEDIUM GRADE ORE- ore having an assay
value between that of high and low value.
RICH ORE- other terms ( ore with high assay
value)
LEAN ORE- other terms (ore with low assay
 BENEFICIATION
 BENEFICIATION – separation of the wanted
part from the aggregation of wanted and
unwanted parts by physical methods.

 MINERAL BENEFICIATION – processing of

raw materials to yield marketable products
and waste by means of physical or
mechanical methods in such a way that the
physical and chemical identity of the
minerals are not destroyed.
 RUN-OF-MINE ORE – is an ore directly taken
from the mine, as it is mined

BENEFITS OF BENEFICIATION:
1. Freight and handling costs reduced
2. Cost of extraction ( smelting ) reduced
3. Loss of metal in slag reduced
The reasons for the increasing importance
of mineral beneficiation are:

1. Reserves of good quality ore ( high grade

ore ) are depleting day by day.
2. In order to use un-mined reserves of a
particular mine selective mining to bulk
mining (cheaper mining method).
3. Inexpensive compared to metallurgical
processes.
The principal steps involved in Mineral
Beneficiation are:

1. Liberation – detachment or freeing of

dissimilar particles from each other i.e.
valuable minerals particles and gangue mineral
particles.
Operations:
Crushing and Grinding
 2. SEPARATION – actual separation of liberated
dissimilar particles.
Operations:
Gravity concentration
Heavy Medium Separation
Jigging
Spiraling
Tabling
Flotation
Magnetic Separation
Electrical Separation
Miscellaneous Operations like hand sorting

Supporting Operations :
Preliminary washing Handling of materials
Screening Storage
Classification Conveying
Thickening Feeding
Filtration Pumping
 UNIT OPERATIONS – the operations conducted on any
material that involve physical changes.

ORE FORMATION (1950, BATEMAN )

1. Magmatic concentration 7. Residual and mechanical
concentration
2. Sublimation 8. Oxidation and supergene
enrivhment
3. Contact metasomatism 9. Metamorphism
4. Hydrothermal processes
5. Sedimentation
6. Evaporation
 IDENTIFICATION OF
1. MINERALS
Characters dependent upon light
a. Colour e. Phosphorescence
b. Streak f. Fluorescence
c. Lustre
d. Transparency

2. Taste, odour and feel

3. State of aggregation
a. Form – solid crystalline object that is bounded
by
a set of flat faces that are related to one
another by symmetry
- Cubic, Hexagonal . . .

b. Habit – tendency for specimons of a mineral to

repeatedly grow into characteristics shape
- botryoidal , acicular , dendritic…
 c. Pseudomorphism – is the existence of a mineral that
has the appearance of another mineral.
- false form
- occurs when a mineral is attend in such a way that
its internal structure and chemical composition is
changed but its external form preserved

d. Polymorphism – many form

- it means that a single chemical composition can exist
with 2 or more different crystal structures.
Cleavage
Fracture
Hardness
Tenacity
Specific Gravity ( density)
Magnetic Susceptibility
Electrical Susceptibility
Radioactivity
Surface Property
Surface Property

Hydrophobicity – the contact angle is defined as the

angle subtended at equilibrium between the solid
surface and the liquid(water) droplet and is measured
using a goniometer
Surface porosity
Wettability
Surface area
Frictional resistance
Magnetic Property/Susceptibility

- refers to the ways which minerals react when

placed in a magnetic field

 Diamagnetic – slightly repelled

 Paramagnetic – weakly attracted
 Ferromagnetic – strongly attracted
Texture of mineral occurrences is an
important property useful for separation of
valuable minerals from their ores.

Fine – grainded < 1mm Coarse- grained

> 5mm
Medium – grained 1-5 mm
MINERAL ANALYSIS

2 TYPES OF CHEMICAL ANALYSIS

1 . Qualitative Analysis – elements present in
the sample are identified.

2. Quantitative Analysis – the quantity of

element, or compounds, present in the
sample is estimated.
 COMMUNITION
 SIZE REDUCTION – the operation of applying a
force on the particle to break it.

 COMMINUTION- a general term for size

reduction that may be applied without regard
to the actual breakage mechanism involved
 Industrial Communication operaction can be
can be analyzed only in terms of a
distribution
of feed particles and product particles.
FRACTURE
When a force is applied on a particle, stress will develop
within the particles.

COMPRESSIVE FORCE – can be applied at either a fast or a

slow
rate.
Slow Rate ( slow compression)
- energy applied is just sufficient to load comparatively few
regions of the particle to the fracture point
- few particles result
- size is comparatively close to the original size

Rapid Loading
- such as high velocity impact
- applied energy is well in excess of that required for
fracture
- many areas in the particle are overloaded and the
result is a comparatively large numbers of particles
with a wide
size distribution.
 IMPORT CAUSES IMMEDIATE FRACTURE WITH
NO RESIDUAL STRESSES

Residual stresses is a stress that remain in a solid

material after the original cause of the stress have
been remoeved.
MECHANISM OF FRACTURE
Attrition or Abrasion Fracture – occurs when a
force (shear force) acts parallel to the
surface of the particle.
- insufficient energy applied on the particle
- localized stress occurs and small area is
fractured
- very fine particles
Chipping – edges or corners of a particle will
break due to the application of oblique
forces ,generally impact forces on the
particle.

In practice, these events do not occur in

isolation.
 All types of forces exist in any size
reduction operation eventhough individual
size reduction units are predominantly
designed for application of one type of
force.
LAWS OF COMMINUTION

Laws of Comminution – are concerned with the

relationship between energy input, and the size of
feed and product particles.
3 LAWS OF COMMUNITION ENERGY :
1. Rittinger 2. Kick 3. Bond

OBJECTIVES OF COMMUNITION
1. Reduction of large lumps into small pieces.
2. Production of solids of desire size range.
3. Liberation of valuable minerals from gangue minerals.
4. Preparation of feed material for different beneficiation
operations.
5. Increasing the surface area for chemical reaction.
6. Convenience in handling and Transportatin.
 TYPES OF COMMINUTION OPERATIONS
Run- of- mine ore – quite coarse and require 3 or
more stages
- Each stage requires separate equipment

1. Crushing – size reduction operation wherein large

lumps are reduced to fragments or smaller
particles.
2. Grinding – considered as size reduction of
Energy required
relatively to reduce
coarse coaser
particles toparticles is more fineness.
the ultimate than that of
smaller particle.
Crushers – breakage forces are applied either by
compression or impact.

Grinding Mills – shear forces are predominantly

applied
TWO MAJOR OBJECTIVES OF LIBERATION

1. To unlock composite minerals in the raw ore into

more independent particles.
2. To adjust the size for the successive separation
process.

The size reduction is usually carried out to increase the

surface area of the material. This will maximize the area of
solid in contact with the liquid/gas phase around it w/c
enhances reaction, dissolution, catalytic effect etc, thus,
desirable.
DIFFERENT MECHANISMS IN SIZE REDUCTION
1. Impact – particle break by a single rigid force.
2. Compression – particle disintegration by two
rigid forces.
3. Shear – produced by a fluid or by particle-
particle interaction.
4. Attrition – arising from particles scraping
between two surfaces.
ALL 4 are usually used for GRINDING
The laws of comminution proposed by different authors
help us to determine the energy consumed in
comminution that is the creation of the new surface.

Texture – refers to the size, dissemination, association

and shape of the minerals within the ore.

The processing of minerals should always be considered

in the context of the mineralogy of the ore in order to:
1. Predict grinding and concentration requirements
2. Feasible concentrate grades
3. Potential difficulties and separation
Microscopic analysis of concentrate and tailings
products can yield much valuable information
regarding the efficiency of the liberation and
concentration process.
CRUSHING
- operation or group of operations in a Mineral
Beneficiation plant whose object is to reduce large
lumps to fragments, the coarsest particles in the
crushed product being 1/20 inch or more in size. The
size of coarsest particles is ½ inch in many cases.
- first stage of size reduction
- crushed run-of-mine ore
- requires greater force to be applied on the particle.
- dry operation
- performed in 2 or 3 stages
CRUSHERS – designed in such a way they reduce
rock in a manner that all pieces are less than
stated size.
- always produces various sizes of particles
with substantial amount of fines.

REDUCTION RATIO – extent of size reduction achieved by

any crushing operation.
- convenient measure for comparing the
performance of different crushers.
BROADLY DEFINED AS:
the ratio of the maximum size of the particle in the feed to
the maximum size of the particle in the product.

- 2 definitions commonly termed as average reduction ratio

and 80% passing reduction ratio.

Average reduction ratio =

ave. size of the feed particles / ave. size of the product
particles
80% passing reduction ratio =
80% passing size of the feed / 80% passing size of the
product
Crusher can be classified into 5 groups
according to the size of the product they
produce:

Primary Crushers – Jaw crusher, Gyratory Crusher

Secondary Crushers – Reduction gyratory, Cone
crusher, Rolls crusher
Tertiary Crushers – Short-head cone crusher
Fine Crushers – Impact crushers
Special Crushers – Bradford Beaker, Toothed Roll
Crusher (for specific ores)
JAW CRUSHERS
- consist of two jaw plates set at an acute angle, to
each other which forms crushing chamber.
(a) single toggle
(b) double toggle
Single toggle type – has 1 toggle plate. It has less
weight and thus cheap

Double toggle type – has 2 toggle plates and can crush

materials that are brittle,
tough, and abrasive
Parts of a CRUSHER
Single and Double Toggle Jaw
CRUSHER
Single Toggle Jaw CRUSHER
Double Toggle Jaw CRUSHER
Single and Double Toggle Jaw
CRUSHERS
CLASSIFIED BY THE METHOD OF PIVOTING THE
SWING JAWS:

Blake Jaw Crusher – movable jaw is hinged at the top of

the crusher frame.
- maximum amplitude is obtained at the
bottom of the crushing jaws.
- primary crushers in mineral industry.
- fixed receiving area; variable discharge
area
Dodge Jaw Crusher – movable jaw is hinged at the
bottom
- maximum amplitude is at the top of the
crushing plates.
- not for heavy duty ; easily choke
- fixed discharge area and variable receiving
area

Universal Crusher – swing jaw / movable jaw is pivoted

at an intermediate position.
- both variable receiving and discharge area.
In a Blake Crusher,
Gape – distance between the 2 jaw plates at the feed
opening
Set – distance between the 2 jaw plates at the
discharge opening.
Closed Set – minimum distance
Open Set – maximum distance
Throw – maximum amplitude.

Reduction ratio of Jaw crushers varies from 4 to 7

Blake, Dodge and Universal
Crushers
Blake, Dodge and Universal
Crushers
Blake Crusher
 Dodge
Jaw
CRUSHER
 GYRATORY AND CONE CRUSHERS
 Similar in construction and working
 Consist of 2 vertical truncated conical shells
 The hollow conical shell is stationary
 Inner solid conical shell is made to gyrate.

Gyratory Crusher – inner conical shell is pointing up

- outer conical shell is pointing down
- reduction ratio varies from 3 to 10
Gyratory CRUSHER
PARTS of
Gyratory
CRUSHE
R
Reduction gyratory crusher – modification of gyratory
- straight heads and concave reduction gyratory
- curved head and concave reduction gyratory
- secondary crushing

Cone crusher – modified gyratory

- both outer and inner conical shells are pointing
up

Simons cone crusher – most widely used type of cone

crusher
IT HAS 2 FORMS:
(1) Standard Cone Crusher
- outside surface has stepped liners to allow a coarser feed.
- reduction ration 6 to 8

(2) Short- head Cone Crusher

- has steeper head angle to prevent choking of finer
material.
- reduction ratio 4 to 6
Telsmith gyrasphere – has a spherical steel head
- tertiary crushing
Types of CRUSHING
Chamber
PARTS of
Cone
CRUSHER
 Cone
CRUSHER
 ROLL CRUSHERS
- consist of two smooth heavy and horizontal cylinders
revolving towards each other.
 feed material is nipped between the rolls and pulled
downward through the rolls by friction.
 material is crushed one-time only whilst it is passing
through the crushing chamber.
 reduction ratio 2 to 4
 production of fine is minimum
 can handle friable, dry, wet, sticky, frozen, and less
abrasive feeds well.
Smooth – surfaced roll crushers – used for fine crushing
Corrugated or toothed roll crushers – used for coarser
crushing of soft materials.

Angle of nip
In a rockcrushing machine, the maximum angle subtended by its 
approaching jaws or roll surfaces at which a specified piece of ore 
can be gripped.

2 TYPES OF TOOTHED ROLL CRUSHERS ( for crushing coal)

(1) single toothed
(2) double toothed
Roll
CRUSHER
Roll
CRUSHER
 IMPACT CRUSHERS
 Reduce the particles by impact forces applied through
sharp blows of fixed or free swinging hammers revolving
about central rotor at high speed to the free falling
particles against stationary surfaces.

 Used for relatively soft, friable, and sticky ores

 Example : HAMMER HILL

 BRADFORD BREAKER
 Typical machine resembling cylindrical trommel screen
in operation.

 Consists of a slightly inclined cylindrical chamber with a

perforated wall

 Rotated about its axis at low rpm

 Used for primary crushing of run-of-mine coal

 HIGH PRESSURE GRINDING ROLLS ( HPGR)

 Rolls are subjected to high pressure so that

comminution takes place by compressive forces as
well as inter-particle breakage.

 Product is fine

 Can replace the conventional secondary and tertiary

crushers.
 CRUSHING OPERATION
Crushers – usually operated dry.
Material fed to the crusher at
a SLOW RATE.
Material fed to the crusher is at a HIGH RATE

Crusher is CHOKED
Individual particles are
crushed freely
Prevents complete discharge of crushed product

Crushing between the ore particle and crushing surface ;

• Avoid productions of as well as between ore particles.
excessive fines by limiting
the number of contacts. • Preferred in some cases as it reduces the reduction
stages.
• Increases amount of fines produced.
 OPEN CIRCUIT AND CLOSED CIRCUIT OPERATIONS
Open circuit crushing operation
 The feed material is reduced by one crusher.
 Product is screened.
 Only oversize material is crushed by another crusher of
small size as the throughput ( the quantity of material
crushed in a given time) is less.
 Crushed product from second crusher and undersize
material from the screen together form the final
product.
 2 size reduction machines used.
Closed circuit crushing operation
- oversize from the screen is fed to the same crusher
- circulating load ( quantity of the oversize material fed
back to the crusher.
- Initially, final product is less than feed material.
- As it proceeds further, final product = feed material
after same time.
- Quantity of the final product is always equal to the
quantity of the feed material; and the circulating load is
constant .
Circulating load – expressed as a percentage of the
quantity of the feed

OBJECTICTIVES OF CLOSED CIRCUIT OPERATION

 Minimize the production of fines.
 Reduce energy consumption by avoiding size reduction
of already reduced particles to the required size.
 GRINDING
 Last stage of comminution process.
 3/8 inch ( maximum upper feed size ) to between 35
mesh and 200 mesh ( upper limiting product size ) ( 420
microns and 74 microns )
 Performed in rotating vessels known as tumbling mills or
grinding mills.

GRINDING MILL – consists of a horizontal rotating steel

shell supported by end bearing on which hallow trunnions
revolve.
GRINDING MEDIUM
 Loose crushing bodies
 Placed inside the shell
 Either steel balls, rods, pebbles
 Free to move inside the rotating shell making the particles break
by repetitive blows and rolling and sliding over the other.

ATTRITION OR SHEARING
 Forces which result from the application of forces by rolling and
sliding bodies.
 Tend to produce more fine particles than impact forces applied
on particles by repetitive blows.
GRINDING MILLS
 Can be operated wet or dry
 Batch-wise or continuously
 High in power consumption
 Require expensive foundations
 Normally loaded to approximately 50% of its volume
with grinding mediums.

INTERIOR OF TUMBLING MILL

 Lined by replaceable liners
 Made of alloy steel or rubber
TYPES OF LINERS
 smooth, shiplap, wave, wedge, bar, rib,
stepped.

SMOOTH LINERS
 Favour abrasion
 Results in fine grinding
 High metal wear
Lines other than smooth are designed to help in
lifting the ball load as the mill is revolved.
Sometimes, to minimize the slip between the layers
of the ball.

Lines protect the mill body from wear and damage

DRY GRINDING
- feed is by vibrating feeder

WET GRINDING
- spout, drum, and scoop feeders

SPOUT FEEDER
- material is fed by gravity through the spout.
DRUM FEEDER
- entire mill feed enters the drum
- internal spiral carries it (the feed) and fed to the mill
- grinding balls conveniently added through this feeder
during operation.

SCOOP FEEDER
- material is fed to the drum
- scoop pick it (the feed) up and fed to the mill
Grinding mills is classified on the basis of grinding
medium and shell proportions. Ball mill, Rod mill, Tube or
Pebble mill and Autogenous mill.

BALL MILL
 Uses steel or iron balls
 Have a length to diameter ratio of 1.5 to 1.0
 Classified as:
(1) cyclocylindrical mill
(2) cylindrical mill
GRINDING OF ORE PARTICLES:
- Cascading (simple rolling of one ball over the other)
- Cataracting ( free fall of balls )

CENTRIFUGING
- speed of mill increases, balls are lifted higher
- stage is reached where the balls are carried around
the shell and never allowed to fall
- ball rotate as if they are part of the shell
CRITICAL SPEED
- speed at which centrifuging occurs

 Mill should be operated at a speed below the critical

speed
 Usual range is: 60-80 %

BALLS
- vary in size from 1-6 inches
- largest balls is for coarser grinding
SEASONED CHARGE
- start of ball mill, ball of various sizes are introduced
- balls wear out gradually, only the largest ball are
added as
make up media.

ROD MILL
 Uses rods as a grinding medium
 Length to diameter ratio is between 1.5 and 2.5
 Rods are shorter than the length of the mill.
 Kept apart by the coarsest particles
Rod Mill
 Grinding action results from line contact of the rods on
the ore particles and is exerted preferentially on the
coarsest particles
 Smaller and fine particles do not grind till the coarsest
particle is reduced in size
 Produces a more closely sized product with little
oversize or slimes
 Coarse grinding machine
ROD MILLS are classified according to
the method of the discharge of ground
product:
(a) Peripheral discharge mill

a.1 End peripheral discharge mill

- material is fed at one end of the mill
- ground product is discharged from the other end
a.2 centre peripheral discharge mill
- material is fed at both ends of the mill
- ground product is discharged through circumferential port at the
center of the shell
(b) Overflow discharge mills
- material is fed one end
- product is discharged through the other end by overflow

(c) Grate discharge mills

- discharge grates are fitted through which pulp flows
freely and lifted up to the level of the discharge trunnion

Rod mills normally run at 50% - 65% of the

critical speed. Rod cascade rather than cataract.
TUBE or PEBBLE MILL
 Length to diameter ratio is 3 to 5
 Uses ceramic pebbles made of flint or porcelain as the grinding
media
 Pebbles are fragile, pebble mills are smaller in diameter
 Low specific gravity of pebbles, large quantity of pebbles has to be
used to attain required grinding for equivalent duty as compared to
ball mills
 Used when iron contamination in the product is highly objectionable
such as in the manufacture of paints, pigments, cosmetics, etv.
 Used dry to grind cement clinker, gypsum and phosphate
AUTOGENOUS MILL

 Use coarse particles as grinding medium

 Grinding by the action of ore particles on each other when
particles of different sizes are rotated together in a tumbling
mill (attrition > impact)
 Mill is of very large in diameter
 Larger particles in the feed must be sufficient in size and
number to break down smaller particles as fast as they
themselves are broken in the mill
 Only for limited no. of ore types
AUTOGENOUS MILL
Advantages:

(1) Reduces metal wear

(2) Reduces no. of crushing and grinding stages
(3) Large capital savings and operating costs

- Breakage is more confined to zones of weakness in the rock,

such as crystal surfaces and fine cracks. It has grate
discharges to retain the coarse grinding media in the mill
- For dry and wet drying
SEMI-AUTOGENOUS MILL (SAG MILL)

 Uses combination of the ore and a reduced

charge of balls or rods as grinding medium to
overcome the difficulties encountered in
autogenous grinding
 WET AND DRY GRINDING

WET GRINDING

- usually carried out with 20 – 35% water by weight

- increase capacity (as much as 15%) for a given size of
equipment and less power consumption per ton of the product
- low power consumption due to penetration of water into
the cracks of the particles which reduces the bond strength at
the crack tip
DRY GRINDING

- used whenever physical/chemical changes in the

material occur when water is added
- less wear on the liners and grinding media
- employed to produce an extremely fine product
- high settling speed of solids suspended in air compared
with solids suspended in water
 Objective of grinding mill is to reduce all
particles to the stated size

Mesh of grind
- Is the term used to designate the size of the grounded
product in terms of the material passing through a given size
of mesh
 Material of the required size is
removed by a classifier from the
ground product to send to the
subsequent operation and
oversize is returned to the same
grinding mill

Circulating load
- amount of
solids by weight fed
back to the grinding
mill
Overgrinding
is avoided