Benchmarking: Meadowbank ball mill model

Benchmarking: Ball Mill Power Draw - Meadowbank

• Muteb, P. & Allaire, J., Meadowbank Mine Process Plant Throughput Increase, Proceedings of the Canadian Mineral Processors Annual General Meeting, Ottawa, Canada, January 2013.

The ball mill design given as:

• Diameter inside shell: 18 ft
• Length (assumed to be flange-to-flange length): 29 ft
• Effective grinding length: 28.5 ft (using rule-of-thumb half-foot basis)
• Motor size: 6,000 horsepower (4,474 kW)
• Overflow mill with synchronous motor assumed

The operating conditions of the May 2012 survey, including the pre-crushing circuit given as:

• Mill speed 14.19 rpm (75% critical)
• Volumetric filling 30.6% v/v
• Ball charge 30.6% v/v
• Ore density 2.93 kg/L
• Grindability: A×b 38.6; Wi_BM 10.9 kWh/t

Liners assumed to be an effective thickness of 3 inches. DCS power is assumed to be indicated (mill power measurements × 0.985 pinion × 0.96 motor eff equals power "at mill shell"). Model power measurements are shown "at DCS".

	DCS Power, kW	Mill filling	Morrell Model, kW	Nordberg model, kW density correction	Nordberg model, kW no density correction
May 2012	4,341	30.6% v/v	4,765 (+9.3%)	4,753 (+9.5%)	4,426 (+1.9%)