Moly-Cop Tools, Version 3.

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 (1)

where :

t = media consumption rate, kg/hr

m = ball weight, kg; after t hours in the mill
Ab = surface area of the ball exposed to wear, m2
km = mass wear rate constant, kg/hr/m2.

Equivalently, taking into account the geometry of the grinding body (sphere or cylinder), Equation 1 converts to :

∂(d)/∂(t) = - 2 km / b = - kd (2)

where :

d = size (diameter) of the grinding body, after t hours in the mill charge, mm
b = density of the grinding body, gr/cm3 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)

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 Moly-Cop Tools, Version 3.0
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] (4)

where :

Vap = apparent mill volume occupied by the charge (including interstitial spaces), m3,
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)

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 kdE, 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 (7)
where :

Pgross = gross power draw of the mill (kW) = Pnet / 

 = overall mechanical and electrical transmission efficiency, °/1

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About the Media Charge_Wear & Impact_SAG Mills Spreadsheet ...

D = effective internal diameter of the mill, ft

L = effective internal length of the mill, ft
Nc = rotational mill speed; expressed as a fraction (°/1) of its critical centrifugation speed : Ncrit = 76.6/D0.5
J = 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/m3), 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/m3.
p = slurry density (ton/m3), 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 (10)
equivalent to :

E = 4000 kdE [(dR)3 – (dS)3]/[(dR)4 – (dS)4] (11)

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 Chillán, 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 (12)

where kdB is known as the Benavente Constant.

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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 m2Nc2D + 0.305 mg[(D/2)cos1 + (D/2)cos2] (14)

The equivalent DBT height to attain equal impact energy at both scales
(pilot and industrial) is then obtained as:
1
hDBT, eq /D = 0.0763 Nc2 + 0.153 (cos1 + cos2) (15)

independent of ball size (!). Nc

Figure 1.
2
Then, for projecting the DBTstd ball breakage probability to full industrial scale mills, the standard test value should
be 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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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 3.0)
MEDIA CONSUMPTION ESTIMATOR
(Ball Mills)

Remarks Base Case Example

Power, kW
Mill Dimensions and Operating Conditions 3545 Balls
Eff. Diam. Eff. Length Mill Speed Charge Balls Interstitial Lift 0 Rocks
ft ft % Critical Filling,% Filling,% Slurry Filling,% Angle, (°) 568 Slurry
18.50 25.00 72.00 36.00 36.00 100.00 33.00 4113 Net Total
L/D 1.35 12.82 rpm 5.00 % Losses
% Utilization hr/month 4329 Gross Total
92.00 662.4 2,868 MWh/month
% Solids in the Mill 72.00
Ore Density, ton/m3 2.80 ton/m3
Slurry Density, ton/m3 1.862 ton/m3 Charge Mill Charge Weight, tons Apparent
Ore Feedrate, ton/hr 400.0 ton/hr Volume, Ball O´size Interstitial Density
ton/day 8,832 ton/day m3 Charge Rocks Slurry ton/m3
Energy, kWh/ton (ore) 10.82 kWh/ton (ore) 68.64 319.17 0.00 51.11 5.395
Balls Density, ton/m3 7.75 ton/m3 Eq. # of Balls 172,266
Ball Size, mm 77.00 mm
Scrap Size, mm 12.00 mm

Liner Design : Default Lifting Cavity Filling, m3/lifter 0.045

Number of Lifter Bars 38 36 Voids Fraction in Lifting Cavity, % 35.0
Mill Speed, lifters/min 487 lifters/min
Lifters Spacing, inches 18.35 inches Lifting Capacity :
Lifter Height, inches 4.00 inches Total Balls & Rocks, m3(ap)/hr 1,328
Rocks Lifting Rate, m3(ap)/hr 0
Lifter Width (at base), in 4.62 inches Balls Lifting Rate, m3(ap)/hr 1,328
Lifter Face Angle, (°) 30.0 (°) , ton/hr 6,689
, balls/hr 3,610,705
Load Angle of Repose, (°) 60.0 (°)
Angle at Balls Release, (°) 45.0 (°) Critical Ball on Ball Impacts per hour 3,610,705
Angle at Balls Impact, (°) 45.0 (°) Corr. Breakage Probability, events/impact 0.000E+00
Equiv. DBT Height, m 4.73 m Cushioning Factor 1.000
Breakage Rate, events/hr 0.000

DBT Test Results BALL CONSUMPTION RATES

gr/kWh gr/kWh
Total # of Balls # of Broken Events/ gr/ton (gross) (balls) kg/hr ton/month %
# of Drops in Tube Balls Impact Caused by Breakage
10,000 24 0 0.000E+00 0.0 0.00 0.00 0.0 0.0 0.0
Caused by Wear
575.9 53.21 64.97 230.4 152.6 100.0
Spec. Area, m2/m3 (app) 62.14 m2/m3 (app) Overall
Total Charge Area, m2 4265 m2 575.9 53.21 64.97 230.4 152.6 100.0
Purge Time, hrs 4,681 hrs
Default SCRAP GENERATION
Wear Rate Constants, Values Nuclei Fragments Overall
Bond's Abrasion Index 0.22 0.22 kg/hr % kg/hr % kg/hr
Fresh Feed F80, mm 5000 5000 0.9 100.0 0.0 0.0 0.9
Slurry pH 10.5 10.5
Benavente Constant, kdB 1.29
kdE 1.250 mm/[kWh/ton]
kd 0.0139 mm/hr

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 Moly-Cop Tools TM
(Version 3.0)
MEDIA CONSUMPTION ESTIMATOR
(SAG Mills)

Remarks Base Case Example

Power, kW
Mill Dimensions and Operating Conditions 10824 Balls
Eff. Diam. Eff. Length Mill Speed Charge Balls Interstitial Lift 2793 Rocks
ft ft % Critical Filling,% Filling,% Slurry Filling,% Angle, (°) 2081 Slurry
37.30 23.00 78.00 24.00 14.00 65.00 38.00 15699 Net Total
L/D 0.62 9.78 rpm 5.00 % Losses
% Utilization hr/month 16525 Gross Total
92.00 662.4 10,946 MWh/month
% Solids in the Mill 78.00
Ore Density, ton/m3 2.80 ton/m3
Slurry Density, ton/m3 2.006 ton/m3 Charge Mill Charge Weight, tons Apparent
Ore Feedrate, ton/hr 1574.1 ton/hr Volume, Ball O´size Interstitial Density
ton/day 34,756 ton/day m3 Charge Rocks Slurry ton/m3
Energy, kWh/ton (ore) 10.50 kWh/ton (ore) 171.14 464.21 119.80 89.25 3.934
Balls Density, ton/m3 7.75 ton/m3 Eq. # of Balls 55,840
Ball Size, mm 127.00 mm
Scrap Size, mm 65.00 mm

Liner Design : Default Lifting Cavity Filling, m3/lifter 0.167

Number of Lifter Bars 38 38 Voids Fraction in Lifting Cavity, % 35.0
Mill Speed, lifters/min 372 lifters/min
Lifters Spacing, inches 37.00 inches Lifting Capacity :
Lifter Height, inches 8.00 inches Total Balls & Rocks, m3(ap)/hr 3,728
Rocks Lifting Rate, m3(ap)/hr 1,553
Lifter Width (at base), in 9.24 inches Balls Lifting Rate, m3(ap)/hr 2,175
Lifter Face Angle, (°) 30.0 (°) , ton/hr 10,955
, balls/hr 1,317,987
Load Angle of Repose, (°) 60.0 (°)
Angle at Balls Release, (°) 45.0 (°) Critical Ball on Ball Impacts per hour 768,826
Angle at Balls Impact, (°) 45.0 (°) Corr. Breakage Probability, events/impact 2.042E-05
Equiv. DBT Height, m 9.80 m Cushioning Factor 0.583
Breakage Rate, events/hr 9.159

DBT Test Results BALL CONSUMPTION RATES

gr/kWh gr/kWh
Total # of Balls # of Broken Events/ gr/ton (gross) (balls) kg/hr ton/month %
# of Drops in Tube Balls Impact Caused by Breakage
20,000 24 10 2.083E-05 48.4 4.61 7.03 76.1 50.4 7.0
Caused by Wear
643.6 61.31 93.60 1013.1 671.1 93.0
Spec. Area, m2/m3 (app) 35.14 m2/m3 (app) Overall
Total Charge Area, m2 3508 m2 692.0 65.92 100.63 1089.3 721.5 100.0
Purge Time, hrs 961 hrs
Default SCRAP GENERATION
Wear Rate Constants, Values Nuclei Fragments Overall
Bond's Abrasion Index 0.22 0.22 kg/hr % kg/hr % kg/hr
Fresh Feed F80, mm 100000 100000 135.8 64.1 76.1 35.9 212.0
Slurry pH 10.5 10.5
Benavente Constant, kdB 1.94
kdE 2.768 mm/[kWh/ton]
kd 0.0645 mm/hr

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