Moly-Cop Tools, Version 2.0 About the Media Charge_Wear_Predictor Spreadsheet ...

Scope : The Media Charge_Wear_Predictor spreadsheet was designed to predict grinding media consumption rates in any given Conventional or SAG milling operation, taking into account both normal wear and impact breakage mechanisms.

Theoretical Framework : Grinding Media Wear Kinetics. The most widely accepted approach to characterize the slow, sustained consumption (wear) kinetics of grinding bodies in rotary tumbling mills is known as the Linear Wear Theory; according to which - at every instant t after the grinding body was thrown into the mill charge - its rate of weight loss will be directly proportional to its surface area exposed to gradual abrasion and/or corrosion wear mechanisms : t = (m)/(t) = - km Ab where : t m Ab km = = = = media consumption rate, kg/hr ball weight, kg; after t hours in the mill surface area of the ball exposed to wear, m 2 mass wear rate constant, kg/hr/m 2. (1)

Equivalently, taking into account the geometry of the grinding body (sphere or cylinder), Equation 1 converts to : (d)/(t) = - 2 km / b = - kd where : d = size (diameter) of the grinding body, after t hours in the mill charge, mm b = density of the grinding body, gr/cm 3 or ton/m3 kd = linear wear rate constant, mm/hr. For full scale, continuous mills, in order to maintain a constant inventory (hold-up) of grinding media in the mill - normally measured by the ratio Jb of the apparent volume of balls (i. e., including interstitial spaces in between the balls) to the total effective internal mill volume operators must continuously compensate for the steel being consumed by periodically recharging new balls, preferentially of a single size dR. Given that the wear rate of each grinding body is proportional to its own exposed surface area, the integration of Equation 1 over the whole range of possible ball sizes demonstrates that the overall grinding media consumption rate t (kg steel/operating hour), corresponding to the ensemble of balls ('string') in the mill charge, is consequently proportional to the total area A (m2) exposed by such string : t = - km A = - b kd A / 2 (3) (2)

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Moly-Cop Tools, Version 2.0 About the Media Charge_Wear & Impact_SAG Mills Spreadsheet ...

The Linear Wear Theory referred above allows for the calculation of the total area A, for the simpler case of mono-size recharging policies with balls of diameter dR, from the expression : A = 8000 Vap (1 - fv) [(dR)3 (dS)3]/[(dR)4 (dS)4] where : Vap = apparent mill volume occupied by the charge (including interstitial spaces), m 3, calculated as Wb/b/(1-fv) Wb = total weight of balls in the charge, tons fv = volumetric fraction of interstitial voids; customarily accepted to be 40%. dS = scrap or final rejection size of the worn balls, mm. Substitution in Equation 3 above yields : t = - 4000 kd Wb [(dR)3 (dS)3]/[(dR)4 (dS)4] (5) By direct analogy to mineral particle breakage kinetics, it appears reasonable to postulate that an even more representative and scaleable quality indicator than kd is the Energy Specific Wear Rate Constant, kdE, [m/(kWh/ton)], defined through the expression : kd = kdE (Pb/Wb) / 1000 (6) (4)

where the power intensity ratio (Pb/Wb) corresponds to the contribution to mill net power draw Pb (kW) of every ton of balls in the charge (Wb) to the total net power draw Pnet (kW) of the mill. The underlying theoretical claim is that grinding balls will wear faster in a more power intensive environment. In other words, kdE is equivalent to kd, but proportionally corrected by how much power is being absorbed by each ton of balls in the charge. Therefore, it is to be expected that kdE should be more insensitive than kd to variations in mill operating conditions (that may affect Pb and/or Wb) that may, in turn, produce higher or lower media consumption rates (kg/hr), not caused by variations in grinding media quality. As a practical evaluation criterion, it should then be accepted that the top quality grinding media, in any given application, will be the one that exhibits the lowest value of the Energy Specific Wear Rate Constant k dE, regardless of the mill operating conditions. Due application of Equation 6 creates the need for a mathematical representation of the total Net Power Draw of the mill in terms of its main dimensions and basic operating conditions. And also, how each component of the mill charge (balls, rocks and slurry) contributes to this total net power demand. An expanded version of the simple Hogg and Fuerstenau model serves such purpose well: (see Mill Power_SAG Mills) Pnet = Pgross = 0.238 D3.5 (L/D) Nc ap (J - 1.065 J2) sin where : Pgross = gross power draw of the mill (kW) = Pnet / = overall mechanical and electrical transmission efficiency, /1 (7)

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Moly-Cop Tools, Version 2.0 About the Media Charge_Wear & Impact_SAG Mills Spreadsheet ...

D L Nc J

= = = =

effective internal diameter of the mill, ft effective internal length of the mill, ft rotational mill speed; expressed as a fraction (/1) of its critical centrifugation speed : Ncrit = 76.6/D0.5 apparent mill filling, /1 (including balls, rocks, slurry and the interstitial spaces, with respect to the total effective mill volume) = charge lifting angle (defines the dynamic positioning of the center of gravity of the mill load (the kidney) with respect to the vertical direction, typically with values in the range of 30 to 40.

and where ap denotes the apparent density of the charge (ton/m 3), which may be evaluated on the basis of the indicated charge components (balls, rocks and interstitial slurry): ap = { (1-fv) b Jb + (1-fv) m (J Jb) + p Jp fv J } / J (8) with : Jb = apparent ball filling (/1) (including balls and the interstitial voids in between such balls). Jp = interstitial slurry filling (/1), corresponding to the fraction of the available interstitial voids (in between the balls and rocks in the charge) actually occupied by the slurry of finer particles. m = mineral particle density, ton/m 3. p = slurry density (ton/m 3), directly related to the weight % solids of the slurry ( fs) by : 1/[(fs/m) + (1 - fs)]. Substitution of Equation 8 into Equation 7 allows for the decomposition of the total net power draw of the mill, in terms of the charge components (see Mill Power_SAG Mills). In particular, the contribution by the balls in the charge becomes: Pb = [(1-fv) b Jb / ap J] Pnet (9)

Referring back to Equations 5 and 6, an additional formula for the Energy Specific Media Consumption Rate, E (grs of steel/kWh drawn), may be derived : E = 1000 t / Pb equivalent to : E = 4000 kdE [(dR)3 (dS)3]/[(dR)4 (dS)4] (11) (10)

On this basis, kdE may be easily back-calculated from actual operating records or estimates of E, dR and dS, recalling that the top quality grinding media - in any given application - will be the one that exhibits the lowest value of the Energy Specific Wear Rate Constant kdE, regardless of most mill(s) operating conditions. Recently, H. Benavente (Moly-Cop 2006 : X Simposio sobre Procesamiento de Minerales, Termas de Chilln, Chile) proposed an empirical correlation for the calculation of kdE, as a function of the Bond's Abrasion Index (54th Annual Meeting of AICHE, 1963) of the ore, the F80 feed size and the slurry pH : kdE = kdB [(AI - 0.02)/0.2]0.331 (F80/5000)0.13 (pH/10)-0.677 where kdB is known as the Benavente Constant. (12)

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Moly-Cop Tools, Version 2.0 About the Media Charge_Wear & Impact_SAG Mills Spreadsheet ... Impact Breakage Kinetics: In operations where noticeable ball breakage is to be expected like in high-impact, SAG applications an expanded, conceptual model, based on pilot Drop Ball Testing (DBT) results has been proposed to incorporate breakage as a potentially significant grinding media consumption mechanism. The DBT is a standard, pilot scale testing procedure, originally designed by the U. S. Bureau of Mines and later adapted by the Moly-Cop Grinding Systems organization to assess the resistance of any given sample or lot of balls to repeated severe ball-to-ball impacts. Briefly, the DBT facility consists of a 10 m-high, J-shaped tube of slightly larger internal diameter than the size of the balls being tested. The curved, bottom part of the tube is filled with a constant number of balls (for instance, 24 when testing 5" balls). When another ball is dropped through the tube from a height of 10 m above, the top ball retained below in the tube suffers the direct impact of the falling ball, which is replicated through the whole line of balls retained in the curve at the bottom of the J-tube, originating the removal (through the lower tip of the J-tube) of the first ball in the line, which is so replaced by the last ball dropped. The balls removed from the tube are continuously lifted via a bucket elevator - back to the top of the tube to be dropped down once again. The DBT is run until a certain maximum number of balls are broken (say, 10 broken balls) or a reasonable number of total cycles have been completed (say, 20,000 drops). The main outcome of a DBT test is the Average Breakage Probability, DBTstd, simply calculated as: DBTstd = (# of broken balls) / (total drops * # balls in J-tube) (13)

With reference to Figure 1, in a full scale mill, the most critical, outer trajectory of a ball is that of a ball of mass m being lifted to a position defined by the angle 1 in the upper-right quadrant of the section of a mill of diameter D (ft) and then allowed to free-fall down to impact the toe of the mill charge kidney at a position 2, in the lower-left quadrant. In such case, the associated impact energy may be estimated by: Emax = 0.07581 m2Nc2D + 0.305 mg[(D/2)cos1 + (D/2)cos2] (14) The equivalent DBT height to attain equal impact energy at both scales (pilot and industrial) is then obtained as: hDBT, eq /D = 0.0763 Nc2 + 0.153 (cos1 + cos2) independent of ball size (!). Figure N1. c (15)

2 test value should be Then, for projecting the DBTstd ball breakage probability to full industrial scale mills, the standard corrected as follows, for every ball size 'd':
DBTind = DBTstd * (hDBT, eq / hDBT, std) * (d/dR)g * (Jb/J)2 (16)

In this expression, the first correction factor accounts for the difference in maximum impact energies between the standard test and the full scale conditions. The second correction factor accounts for the fact that the breakage probability of any given ball is being proven to be lower and lower as such ball wears down in the charge, simply because it has not been broken yet. Parameter g is estimated to take values around 4. Finally, the third correction

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Moly-Cop Tools, Version 2.0 About the Media Charge_Wear & Impact_SAG Mills Spreadsheet ... factor may be considered a cushioning factor: the probability of a falling ball hitting directly another ball surrounded mostly by other balls (most severe impact condition). On the other hand, based on the geometry of the mill liners, one can estimate the lifting capacity of any given lifting cavity; i. e. how many tons/hr of charge (a 'Jb/J' fraction of which would be just balls) are being lifted and allowed to impact back over the charge 'kidney'. The resulting formulas are quite cumbersome and may be explored by the interested Moly-Cop Tools user directly in each corresponding cell in the Data_File spreadsheet. Finally, the combination of the tons of balls per hour subject to impact and the probability of these balls being broken allow for the calculation of the balls breakage rate, which added to the projected ball wear rate provides an estimate of the overall grinding media consumption rate.

Data Input : All data required by the calculation routine must be defined in each corresponding unprotected white background cell of the here attached Data_File worksheet. Gray background cells contain the results of the corresponding formulas there defined and are protected to avoid any accidental editing. You may tune the wear model to actual operational data - that is, find the proper value of the Benavente Constant kdB that projects exactly the observed ball consumption rate (whenever available) in either gr/ton (Cell H50) or gr/kWh (Cell I50) or kg/hr (Cell K50) or ton/month (Cell L50) - use the Excel Goal Seek function setting the corresponding cell equal to the observed value, by changing Cell E57. New Moly-Cop Tools users are invited to explore the brief comments inserted in each relevant cell, rendering the whole utilization of the worksheet self-explanatory. Eventually, the user may wish to remove the view of the comments by selecting Tools / Options / View / Comments / None.

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Moly-Cop Tools

TM

(Version 2.0) MEDIA CONSUMPTION ESTIMATOR (Ball Mills)

Remarks

Base Case Example

Mill Dimensions and Operating Conditions Eff. Diam. Eff. Length Mill Speed Charge ft ft % Critical Filling,% 18.50 25.00 72.00 36.00 L/D 1.35 12.82 rpm

Balls Interstitial Filling,% Slurry Filling,% 36.00 100.00 % Utilization 92.00

Power, kW 3545 Lift 0 Angle, () 568 33.00 4113 5.00 hr/month 4329 662.4 2,868

Balls Rocks Slurry Net Total % Losses Gross Total MWh/month

% Solids in the Mill Ore Density, ton/m3 Slurry Density, ton/m3 Ore Feedrate, ton/hr ton/day Energy, kWh/ton (ore) Balls Density, ton/m3 Ball Size, mm Scrap Size, mm Liner Design : Number of Lifter Bars Mill Speed, lifters/min Lifters Spacing, inches Lifter Height, inches Lifter Width (at base), in Lifter Face Angle, () Load Angle of Repose, () Angle at Balls Release, () Angle at Balls Impact, () Equiv. DBT Height, m

72.00 2.80 1.862 400.0 8,832 10.82 7.75 77.00 12.00

ton/m3 ton/m3 ton/hr ton/day kWh/ton (ore) ton/m3 mm mm

Charge Volume, m3 68.64 Eq. # of Balls

Mill Charge Weight, tons Ball Osize Interstitial Charge Rocks Slurry 319.17 0.00 51.11 172,266

Apparent Density ton/m3 5.395

38 36 487 lifters/min 18.35 inches 4.00 inches 4.62 inches 30.0 () 60.0 45.0 45.0 4.73 () () () m

Lifting Cavity Filling, m3/lifter Voids Fraction in Lifting Cavity, % Lifting Capacity : Total Balls & Rocks, m3(ap)/hr Rocks Lifting Rate, m3(ap)/hr Balls Lifting Rate, m3(ap)/hr , ton/hr , balls/hr

0.045 35.0

1,328 0 1,328 6,689 3,610,705

Critical Ball on Ball Impacts per hour 3,610,705 Corr. Breakage Probability, events/impact 0.000E+00 Cushioning Factor 1.000 Breakage Rate, events/hr 0.000 BALL CONSUMPTION RATES gr/kWh gr/kWh (gross) (balls) kg/hr ton/month Caused by Breakage 0.00 0.00 0.0 0.0 Caused by Wear 53.21 64.97 230.4 152.6 Overall 53.21 64.97 230.4 152.6 SCRAP GENERATION Fragments % kg/hr % 100.0 0.0 0.0

DBT Test Results Total # of Drops 10,000 # of Balls # of Broken in Tube Balls 24 0 Events/ Impact 0.000E+00 gr/ton 0.0 575.9 Spec. Area, m2/m3 (app) Total Charge Area, m2 Purge Time, hrs Wear Rate Constants, Bond's Abrasion Index Fresh Feed F80, m Slurry pH Benavente Constant, kdB kdE kd
2 3 62.14 m /m (app) 2 4265 m 4,681 hrs

% 0.0 100.0 100.0

575.9

Default Values

Nuclei kg/hr 0.9

0.22 5000 10.5 1.29

0.22 5000 10.5

Overall kg/hr 0.9

1.250 m/[kWh/ton] 0.0139 mm/hr

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Moly-Cop Tools

TM

(Version 2.0) MEDIA CONSUMPTION ESTIMATOR (SAG Mills)

Remarks

Base Case Example

Mill Dimensions and Operating Conditions Eff. Diam. Eff. Length Mill Speed Charge ft ft % Critical Filling,% 37.30 23.00 78.00 24.00 L/D 0.62 9.78 rpm

Balls Interstitial Filling,% Slurry Filling,% 14.00 65.00 % Utilization 92.00

Power, kW 10824 Lift 2793 Angle, () 2081 38.00 15699 5.00 hr/month 16525 662.4 10,946

Balls Rocks Slurry Net Total % Losses Gross Total MWh/month

% Solids in the Mill Ore Density, ton/m3 Slurry Density, ton/m3 Ore Feedrate, ton/hr ton/day Energy, kWh/ton (ore) Balls Density, ton/m3 Ball Size, mm Scrap Size, mm Liner Design : Number of Lifter Bars Mill Speed, lifters/min Lifters Spacing, inches Lifter Height, inches Lifter Width (at base), in Lifter Face Angle, () Load Angle of Repose, () Angle at Balls Release, () Angle at Balls Impact, () Equiv. DBT Height, m

78.00 2.80 2.006 1574.1 34,756 10.50 7.75 127.00 65.00

ton/m3 ton/m3 ton/hr ton/day kWh/ton (ore) ton/m3 mm mm

Charge Volume, m3 171.14 Eq. # of Balls

Mill Charge Weight, tons Ball Osize Interstitial Charge Rocks Slurry 464.21 119.80 89.25 55,840

Apparent Density ton/m3 3.934

38 38 372 lifters/min 37.00 inches 8.00 inches 9.24 inches 30.0 () 60.0 45.0 45.0 9.80 () () () m

Lifting Cavity Filling, m3/lifter Voids Fraction in Lifting Cavity, % Lifting Capacity : Total Balls & Rocks, m3(ap)/hr Rocks Lifting Rate, m3(ap)/hr Balls Lifting Rate, m3(ap)/hr , ton/hr , balls/hr Critical Ball on Ball Impacts per hour Corr. Breakage Probability, events/impact Cushioning Factor Breakage Rate, events/hr

0.167 35.0

3,728 1,553 2,175 10,955 1,317,987 768,826 2.042E-05 0.583 9.159

DBT Test Results Total # of Drops 20,000 # of Balls # of Broken in Tube Balls 24 10 Events/ Impact 2.083E-05 gr/ton 48.4 643.6 Spec. Area, m2/m3 (app) Total Charge Area, m2 Purge Time, hrs Wear Rate Constants, Bond's Abrasion Index Fresh Feed F80, m Slurry pH Benavente Constant, kdB kdE kd
2 3 35.14 m /m (app) 2 3508 m 961 hrs

692.0

BALL CONSUMPTION RATES gr/kWh gr/kWh (gross) (balls) kg/hr ton/month Caused by Breakage 4.61 7.03 76.1 50.4 Caused by Wear 61.31 93.60 1013.1 671.1 Overall 65.92 100.63 1089.3 721.5 SCRAP GENERATION Fragments % kg/hr % 64.1 76.1 35.9

% 7.0 93.0 100.0

Default Values

Nuclei kg/hr 135.8

0.22 100000 10.5 1.94

0.22 100000 10.5

Overall kg/hr 212.0

2.768 m/[kWh/ton] 0.0645 mm/hr

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