A laboratory scale application of the attainable region technique on a platinum ore

Journal article

Authors / Editors

Danha, Gwiranai

Research Areas

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Publication Details

Author list: Danha G, Hildebrandt D, Glasser D, Bhondayi C

Publisher: Elsevier

Place: AMSTERDAM

Publication year: 2015

Journal: Powder Technology (0032-5910)

Journal acronym: POWDER TECHNOL

Volume number: 274

Start page: 14

End page: 19

Number of pages: 6

ISSN: 0032-5910

eISSN: 1873-328X

Languages: English-Great Britain (EN-GB)

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Abstract

We investigated the effects of slurry density, grinding time and grinding energy on the grindability of a typical platinum ore in a tumbling ball mill on a laboratory scale. We then used the Attainable Region (AR) method to find ways of reducing the grinding period and grinding energy required to achieve a specific result; and also of maximizing the amount of material in the desired size range. No work on utilizing the AR technique to optimize the size reduction of a PGM ore in slurry has been published as yet, although researchers have used the method for comminution carried out under dry conditions only. The investigation reported in this paper is not intended to set out ideal operating parameters for industrial mills, but aims to show how the AR technique can be used to develop some ways of improving mill performance. The experimental results we obtained proved that this method could be successfully applied to identifying opportunities for higher efficiency in milling a typical industrial ore. In our particular case, a solids concentration of 33% by mass, milled for between 15 and 30 minutes, gave us the maximum amount of material in the intermediate size class. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords

Attainable region, Selective grinding, Wet milling

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