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A cave-to-mill study being conducted at the New Afton block caving operation demonstrated the potential for sensor-based ore sorting equipment to reject waste and improve the grade of feed to the mill. The lack of selectivity and potential for dilution entry associated with the block cave mining method results in many caving operations having to […]

A method for determining the minimum practical energy for comminution was developed and is presented in this paper. An objective of the method was to determine experimentally the energy-breakage relationship for a wide size range in order to evaluate the energy performance of both crushing and grinding processes using one energy benchmarking value. Single-particle compression […]

Over the last 10 years the benefits of optimizing both blast designs and operation of crushing and grinding processes, also known as drill-to-mill optimization, have been shown at a number of mining operations. Significant improvements in production and revenue potential are typically associated with the successful implementation of drill-to-mill strategies. Less information is available on […]

An energy benchmarking method was developed for mineral comminution and trialed at two SAG mill based operations in British Columbia. The method involves subjecting ore samples to single-particle compression testing to determine the minimum practical energy required to carry out the equivalent comminution duty of site crushing and grinding processes. The minimum practical energy is […]

This CEEC Medal-winning paper summarizes a comprehensive energy and cost study comparing an existing SAG mill based circuit at Huckleberry Mine  with two proposed circuits involving comminution technologies which are associated with energy efficiency: high pressure grinding rolls (HPGR) and high speed stirred mills. Results showed that the HPGR – ball mill circuit achieved a 21% reduction in […]