NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
ECE 3103 – MINERALS PROCESSING
TUTORIAL 2 – 19/09/2024
Question 1
A ball mill 1.2m in diameter is being run at 0.80Hz and it is found that the mill is not working
satisfactorily. Should any modification in the conditions of operation be suggested?
Question 2
Particles A and B with densities ρA and ρB are allowed to settle in a fluid with density ρF. If the
particles are to attain the same terminal velocity, show that the ratio of their diameters reduce
to:
dA/dB = ((ρB-ρF)/( ρA-ρF))0.5
where;
dA – diameter of particle A
dB – diameter of particle B
Question 3
(i) Compare and contrast “free settling” and “hindered settling”.
(ii) State the advantages of wet grinding over dry grinding.
Question 4
a) The following is a description of a grinding circuit at a uranium mine in Canada.
The circuit consists of a 4.42m by 2.0m long SAG mill in open cicuit with a single
sizing screen. Screen oversize reports to a 2.7m diameter by 3m long ball mill. The
ball mill operates in closed circuit with two sizing screens, the undersize from all
these screens reports to the neutral thickener. The feed rate is 65 tonnes/hour and
the feed and product size is 80% passing 300µm and 80% passing 75µm respectively. The work
index of the ore is 23.7 KWh/tonne.
(i) Sketch a flowsheet of the grinding circuit.
(ii) If electrical power is available at 20c/KWh, using Bonds’equation estimate the
power cost in dollars per 24 hour day, required for comminution of the ore. List
the assumptions made in your calculations.
(iii) Using a grinding ball size of 0.1m, calculate the percentage critical speed if the
SAG mill rotates at 13 rpm.
b) With the aid of a diagram, describe the operation of hydrocyclones in the separation of
particles of different sizes.
Question 5
a) Tumbling mills are typically employed in the mineral processing industry for grinding
purposes. With the aid of a diagram describe the motion of charge in a tumbling mill.
b) Differentiate between autogenous (AG) and semi-autogenous (SAG) mills.
c) One of the major developments in the mineral processing industry is the use of AG
and ASG mills, what are the main advantages of these mills over traditional grinding
mills?
Question 6
The milling section of a South African porphyry copper plant has an SAG mill followed by a
hydrocyclone and a ball mill. All of the SAG mill product passes through the ball mill before it is
pumped to the hydrocyclone.
The hydrocyclone has a 75 micron cut size. The hydrocyclone underflow is recycled back to the
ball mill, and the overflow goes on to flotation. The plant personnel consider the SAG mill
product as consisting of only two particle size classes; that which is finer than 75 microns (10%
of the material coming from the SAG mill), and the rest, which is coarser than 75 microns.
Only 70% of all the material that is coarser than 75 microns entering the ball mill is broken to
become finer than 75 microns. Of the feed to the hydrocyclone, 25% of the particles finer than
75 microns and 100% of the coarse material (greater than 75 microns) are returned to the ball
mill from the hydrocyclone underflow.
The tonnage to the flotation plant is 1000 tonnes per hour.
a) The SAG mill takes a feed from the crushers that is 80% finer than 2.5cm, and produces a
product that is 80% finer than 500 microns. The ore has typical hardness. Estimate the power
drawn by the SAG mill. (2 marks)
b) If the crushers are improved, and the feed to the SAG mill becomes 80% finer than 1cm, what
is the change in the power the SAG mill consumes? Is this significant? (2 marks)
c) Draw the flowsheet, labelling each unit operation and each stream. (3 marks)
d) What are the flow rates of the material finer and coarser than 75 microns, and
the total mass flow rate coming out of the ball mill and the cyclone underflow? (6 marks)
After a few months, the hydrocyclone performance changes and 10% of the coarse material
(>75 microns) now goes to flotation.
e) What could have happened to the hydro cyclones over time?
