Minerals Beneficiation - Northern Rhodesia Mufulira Copper Mines Limited Grinding Tests on Conical Trunnion Overflow and Cylindrical Grate Ball Mills

MUFULIRA Copper Mines, Limited, conducted tests on the concentrator in 1942 to determine which type of ball mill, that is, Conical Trunnion overflow or Cylindrical Grate discharge, produced the greater quantity of finished product at the lowest cost. All the data which follows applies to Mufulira ore and to the particular degree of grinding produced with the classifiers installed at Mufulira concentrator. JACK WHITE, Member AIME, is Concentrator Superzntendent, Mufulira Copper Mines, Ltd., Mufulira, Nortltern Rhodesia. Sun Francisco Meeting, February 1949. TP 2729 B. Discussion of this paper (2 copies) may be sent to Transactions AIME before Feb. 28, 1950. Manuscript received Feb. 28, 1949. Test Procedure: The test was carried out using ball mills No. 1 to 9 (conical trunnion overflow) as the standard with which to compare No. 10 (cylindrical grate discharge mill). The conical trunnion overflow ball mills are 10 ft diam by 72 in., and the cylindrical grate discharge mill is a No. 99. Each mill runs in closed circuit with a Dorr type DSFX classifier 8 ft wide by 30 ft long. The feed is considered as being identical to all ten units. The figures for the test were derived as follows. Dry Tons Milled: For No. 10 unit (cylindrical grate discharge mill) this figure was taken from the ball mill weightometer, which was corrected for error, and then for moisture content. The weightorneter was checked twice a week during the test, and the error did not exceed 3 pct at any time. The moisture was obtained from a 24 hr moisture sample taken by the ball mill operator hourly, and placed in a closed bucket. The sample was cut where the conveyor drops the feed into the ball mill chute. The Mill Sampling Department made a daily moisture determination on this sample. To obtain the dry tons on units No. 1 to 9 the No. 10 figure was deducted from the month's dry tons milled figure, which, in turn, was taken from the crusher weightometer tons corrected for weightometer error and moisture. All tons reported in this test are short tons of 2000 lb. Ball Mill Hours: This was taken daily from the Shift Boss reports giving actual running hours for each unit. Screen Analyses: Coarse Heads (Ball Mill Feed): The monthly composite coarse heads screen analysis, done by the Mill Sampling Department, was used for the minus 200 mesh in the feed to the mills. F. X. Classifier Overflow: The ball mill operators took an hourly 24 hr sample of the overflows of units No. 1 to 9. This was a hand sample, but cut with a special cutter, and is believed to be very reliable. On No. 10 unit, an hourly 24 hr sample, and an hourly shift sample were cut in the same way. These five samples were split, filtered, and dried by the Research Department and were then wet screened on a 200 mesh screen. The average of the three shifts samples on No. 10 unit had to check the 24 hr sample within 1.5 pct to be acceptable. A weighted composite was cut each day from both 24 hr samples, and at the end of each month it was screened as follows: Wet screened through 325 mesh, the plus 325 then screened on a rotap for 15 min through 65, 100, 150, 200, and 325. This was done in duplicate. All splitting, drying, and screening of samples was done by one of the Mill Research staff, to insure accuracy. F. X. Classifier Overflow Densities: These were taken from the Shift Boss reports. Densities were taken by the ball mill operator every hour. Circulating Loads: These were taken a number of times during the test both by direct method (weighing a measured portion of classifier rake sand, and deducting moisture) and by calculation using the formula: