Charge segregation and slurry transport in long SAG mills

S. Mwansa
Mineral Processing Research Unit, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, 7700, South Africa
sonny@chemeng.uct.ac.za

P. Condori
Mineral Processing Research Unit, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, 7700, South Africa

M. S. Powell
Mineral Processing Research Unit, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, 7700, South Africa

ABSTRACT. The findings from emptying out and sizing 62 tons of charge, from a 4.7m by 3.5m diameter
South African style SAG mill, into four axial segments are presented. Results reveal strong progressive
segregation of the total solids along the mill, becoming substantially finer towards the discharge. Slurry and
bigger rocks had the strongest segregation, whilst mid-sized rocks showed no segregation.
Steel balls showed no segregation, suggesting that wear rate is critical to the observed segregation.
Breakage tests showed strong segregation by competence of the ore along the mill. It is postulated that
competence may be more significant than size in axial segregation.
Residence time distribution studies were conducted in an autogenous mill using painted pebbles classified
into three sizes. The results show progressive increments of mean residence time with pebble size, however,
the difference between the RTD of “critical size pebbles” and liquid was insignificant.

1 INTRODUCTION
Slurry and solids transport through a mill and the
mixedness or “segregation” of the charge are key
drivers in the operation of tumbling mills. However,
even though segregation along mills has been
observed in previous and current research, no
quantitative studies have been conducted to
determine the extent to which this phenomenon
occurs.
In this work, the focus was on the segregation
and slurry transport occurring in low aspect
Autogenous and Semi-autogenous (AG/SAG)
grinding mills. Low aspect AG/SAG mills are those
mills whose length is larger than the diameter. When
they are in closed circuit as single stage they are
commonly referred to as “South African style
AG/SAG mills”. Segregation of particles and
detailed slurry flow has generally been omitted from
modelling descriptions of AG/SAG mills due to the
difficult task of conducting these studies. The
biggest obstacle has been finding suitable methods
of collecting mill samples without excessive
disruption of plant operation and mill downtime.
2 BACKGROUND
Axial segregation and material transport of particles
in mineral processing systems have received some
Mwansa, Condori, Powell
attention in the last four decades. The quest has been
to improve the understanding of charge behaviour
and residence time.
2.1 Segregation in tumbling devices
The first observation of segregation was reported by
Oyama (1939) who noticed that a binary mixture of
large and small grained sand segregated into axial
bands when tumbled in a horizontal drum mixer. A
more comprehensive study was conducted by
Donald & Roseman (1962) who observed
segregation in three forms; core segregation, end-
longitudinal segregation, and banding segregation.
Later, Shoji et al. (1973) observed segregation in
batch balls mills caused by low material filling and
low ball loads. Hogg (1984) conducted a thorough
study of material transport in ball mills and observed
segregation by particle size attributed to internal mill
classification.
The drivers of segregation are thought to be the
particle characteristics (size, density, hardness, etc.)
and the mill operation (speed, length, filling, etc.).
The transport of solids through the charge also
affects segregation.
2.2 Residence Time Distribution of solids
The use of residence time distribution (RTD) to
1
obtain the nature of material transport inside a
rotating drum started in the early forties when soda
ash was used as a tracer. Subsequently a wide range
of tracers were used including radioactive tracers.
Most of the RTD studies have been carried out in
laboratory mills and small-scale pilot mills (Rogers
et al. 1982, Weller et al. 2000) and a few of them
were done in industrial rod and ball mills (Marchand
et al. 1980, Rogovin et al. 1988). No RTD studies
on AG/SAG mills have been reported elsewhere.
Austin et al. (1987) go so far as to suggest that the
simple concept of residence time distribution loses
meaning in SAG/AG mills because the residence
time is determined by the rate of breakage of feed
material to less than the grate size, so it is a complex
function of the feed size distribution and specific
rates of breakage.
Unlike the high aspect ratio type mills, for low
aspect ratio mills the degree of mixing differs
significantly from that of a perfectly mixed reactor,
Condori & Powell (2005). In addition, they show a
marked degree of segregation, Mwansa (2004).
Since the particles breakage processes are closely
related to the time they spend in the mill, the
residence time of particles in the mill can be
considered as an extra input for modelling the
transport behaviour.
To describe the transport in grinding mills some
authors have used different mathematical models
that describe RTD’s. Among the two parameter
models used are the axial dispersion model and the
tanks in series model explained in detail by
Levenspiel (1962).
2.3 The JK AG/SAG mill model
The model developed by Leung (1987) has been
popular for its versatility and for its prediction of
high aspect ratio mills. However, the limitations of
the model are its applicability to long mills where
segregation might exist. Because of the perfect
mixing assumption, the AG/SAG mill model
assumes that the mill product (pi) is equal to the mill
contents (Si) multiplied by the discharge function,
giving the relationship; pi = diSi. The mill contents
are experimentally difficult to collect on a regular
basis so they are substituted by pi / di in the steady-
state perfect mixing model mass balance equation to
obtain the AG/SAG mill model, (Equation 1.
i a r p 
ri pi
fi      pi 
ij j j
(Equation 1)
j 1 
 d j  di
Where;
f i  flowrate of feed material in size i (tph)
Mwansa, Condori, Powell
pi  flowrate of discharge material in size i (tph)
ri  breakage rate of particles of size i (hr-1)
aij  appearance function representing particle
breakage from size j into size i and
Si = mill contents in size i (tph)
It is proposed that this assumption can be
updated in a future model in order to better cover a
wider spectrum of AG/SAG mills.
The understanding of slurry transport behaviour
along the AG/SAG mills will allow modelling of the
slurry and solids transport characteristics more
accurately. For instance, slurry flow is affected by
two regions in the mill i.e. the mill contents – the
effect of which is strongly related to mill length -
and the discharge region. With these two slurry
transport effects, it is believed that a model can be
developed in the future taking into account both
regions.
With an improved understanding of solids and
slurry flow, and particle segregation along mills, a
more accurate measure of what material is presented
to the discharge grate will be obtained. The
discharge function can then be more realistic and
scaleable, as it will not have to accommodate the
perfect mixing assumption on the material presented
to the grate.
3 EXPERIMENTAL
Two distinct sets of surveys were conducted at two
separate concentrators. The emptying out of the
charge was at Amandelbult and that for RTD studies
was at PPL, both of Anglo Platinum, South Africa.
3.1 Emptying out entire mill charge
The charge was emptied out from a SAG mill
treating open cast UG2 ore. The mill is a single-
stage RoM overflow SAG mill closed with a cyclone
and a flash float cell with a re-circulating load of
130 %.
Slurry was collected before emptying out the
charge. In this novel method, bolts were removed
and the holes plugged, and the mill then barred to
position the holes at the bottom. The plugs were
knocked out to drain the slurry simultaneously from
the four slices along the mill, Figure 1. Although
care was exercised in collecting this sample, spillage
occurred and an estimate of this was made through
back-calculations. An estimated 8600 ℓ of slurry was
drained out from the mill - including the spillage.
The processed slurry weighed 1.5 tons dry mass.
2

Figure 1: Slurry collection from bolt holes on the mill shell
Removal of the charge commenced after all the
slurry had been drained from the mill. The mill
length of 4.72m was divided into four separate slices
of 1.2m each from the inlet to the discharge. The
four different zones were named 1 from the inlet to 4
for the last segment at the discharge end. The
investigators separated out the segments and ensured
they remained separated as the charge was dug out.
Each section was separately emptied out from the
mill and deposited independently on the drying spot,
according to the respective slices. Colour coded
buckets were used to collect the charge. Figure 2
illustrates the sample collection zones from the mill
and the corresponding zones at the drying spot.
4.5m diameter with exceptionally large pebble ports
was used for this study. The pebble products of the
autogenous mills are very competent and it was
believed that some of them could survive the milling
action.
The pebbles were classified into three class sizes:
(32 – 63 mm), (63 - 90 mm) and (90 – 125 mm) and
they were painted in three colours with a fast drying
paint. Additionally a salt tracer experiment was
conducted.
A great number of painted (tracer) pebbles were
found at the mill discharge. This was only possible
due to the extreme competence of the rock that was
tested, and that the paint soaks into the rock. The
pebbles were recorded with the Lynxx system video
camera and counted visually to obtain the residence
time distribution.
The experimental RTD data was characterized
conveniently by the mixers-in-series model which is
discussed in detail by Levenspiel (1962).
4 RESULTS
The results from emptying out the charge from the
SAG mill and those from RTD studies are given
4.1 Segregation
A summary of the charge masses emptied out from
the SAG mill and the key testwork data is given in
Table 1. The total weight of the emptied out charge
was 62.2 tons making up a total mill (slurry) filling
of 43 % and a ball load of 22 %. The calculated
voidage of the mill charge was 0.38, which closely
matches the accepted standard voidage of 0.4.

Table 1: Key testwork data

Emptied out dry charge masses
Figure 2: Four sample zones from the mill and outside spot Weight, tons
Steel balls 46.6
Solid particles 14.1
Drained slurry 1.5
It took four days to completely empty the mill. The Total 62.2
drums of slurry were allowed to settle and then the Mill measurements
water siphoned off, prior to oven drying and then Mill Length, m 4.7
screening. The balls were screened down to 4 mm. Mill diameter, m 3.5
The complete rock charge was screened down to 1 Mill volume, m3 45.8
mm, after which it was split for fine screening. Mill Speed, % critical 70.9
Slurry filling, % 43.2
Fractional mill filling, % 23.0
3.2 RTD procedure Ball load, % 21.6
Steel ball size, mm 90
To continue with the segregation studies and the Average Ore SG 3.96
validation in a wide range of mills, experiments Voidage as after grind out 0.38
using pebbles of different sizes have been carried
out with an open cast platinum ore. An autogenous
mill with internal dimensions of 5.8m length by The segregation results of total rock solids emptied
Mwansa, Condori, Powell 3
out from the mill are shown in Figure 3. There was a 100
90 125

similar size distribution for the combined feed to the 90

mill and slice 1. A strong progressive segregation is 80

63

revealed where the solid particles become

Cummulative % passing .
70

substantially finer towards slice 4. The observed 60

large difference in the size distribution between slice 50
Slice 1

Slice 2
4 and the mill product can be attributed to the 40 Slice 3
discharge classification function. 30
45
Slice 4

20

10
100
0
90 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130

Size (mm)
Cummulative % passing

80

70 Figure 4: +45 mm rocks size distribution

60 Slice 1

50 Slice 2
Slice 3
40
Slice 4
30 total
20 Mill product
RoM feed
10
Combined feed
0
0.01 0.1 1 10 100 1000
Size (mm)

Figure 3: Size distribution of total mill solids

It is apparent from Figure 3 that the finer material,

sub 1 mm, dominates the charge, forming 80% of
the solids content. Therefore, it was decided to split
Figure 5: Segregation shown by S80 for rocks and slurry
the rocks from slurry to give a more meaningful
analysis. Slurry was considered to be solid particles
less than 1 mm in size because this was the
100
maximum size in the discharge. Also, Napier-Munn
90
et al. (1999) refers to slurry as particles less than 1
80
Cummulative % passing

mm. The charge was divided into size ranges of; -1

70
mm, 1-16 mm, 16-45 mm, and + 45 mm rocks. The
60
segregation of 1-16 mm was similar to that of 16-45
50
mm size range so they are grouped into one size Slice 1
40 Slice 2
class. Interestingly, this corresponds to the averaged Slice 3
30
critical size range for SAG mills, given as 25-50 mm 20
Slice 4
Total
by Napier-Munn et al. (1999). 10
The S80 is defined as the size in mm of which 80 0
percent by mass of particles passes. Figure 5 shows 1 10 100 1000
Size (mm)
segregation by size for the big rocks and slurry.
Classifying the particles into different size ranges Figure 6: Steel balls axial size distribution
showed that the bigger rocks, larger than 45 mm,
revealed the most segregation, as shown in Figure 4,
and summarized in Figure 5. Fine particles (slurry) Steel balls showed no segregation along the mill as
also revealed strong segregation towards the mill shown in Figure 6 and by the S80’s in Figure 8. The
discharge end, (Figure 5). This is attributed to middle sized rocks “critical size” shown in Figure 7
segregation due to particle size only. did not reveal consistent segregation along the mill.
The centre slices are finer than the ends of the mill
as shown by the curve of combined slices 2 and 3.
This is attributed to more competent “critical size”
rocks present in this size range.

Mwansa, Condori, Powell 4

 100 significant effect on axial segregation. Both the A*b
45.0
90 (impact resistance to breakage) and ta (abrasion
80 resistance) parameters reduce significantly towards
Cummulative % passing

70 31.5 slice 4 (mill discharge). For both parameters, a

60 decrease in value indicates an increase in resistance
50
Slice 1
to impact and abrasion respectively.
40
22.4
30 Slices 2 & 3

20
16.0 4.2 RTD results
Slice 4

10 Generally pebble sizing data obtained from inside

0 the mill (after a crash stop) or from the mill product
15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
is a combination of transport and grinding processes,
Size (mm)
and the two phenomena cannot be directly separated.
Figure 7: “Critical size” rocks size distribution However, in this work pebbles of the same size as
those fed into the mill were collected - as was clear
from the painted surfaces still being visible - so the
transport time can be independently derived. It is
therefore possible to deduce the differences in RTD
of different sizes in the feed as shown in Figure 10.
Table 2 gives the data fitted to tanks in series. The
liquid was modelled with a 0.7 minute delay.

Table 2: Mean residence time and modelling results

tracer
size mean res. # mixer variance 1st pebble
2
mm time, min N G (t) min
Liquid (salt) - 8.5 2 5.72 -
Small pebbles 32 - 63 9.0 7 12.16 2.33
Medium pebbles 63 - 90 11.1 9 15.39 4.00
Figure 8: Balls and critical size rocks without segregation Big pebbles 90 - 125 10.8 10 10.90 5.22

Five sized rock samples, from the mill feed and the RTD of pebbles and liquid in autogenous mill
four charge slices, were subjected to the standard JK
Drop Weight test procedure to study the impact and 0.14
Small
abrasion properties of the rocks relative to their 0.12 Medium
Big
position along the mill. 0.1 Liquid

0.08
E(t)

0.06

200 4.0 0.04

193
0.02
180 3.5
Impact parameter (A * b)

0
Abrasion parameter (ta)

160 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
A*b ta 3.0 Time, min
140 128
2.5 Figure 10: RTD of the solids and liquid (experimental data
120
103
represented by N reactors in series model)
97 2.0
100
1.9 85
80
1.7 1.5
1.5 As expected, experimental data shows progressive
1.0
60 increments of mean residence time with pebble size.
0.8 0.6 However, looking at differences between the mean
40 0.5

RoM Feed
Figure 9: Segregation due to ore competence
Results of the rock breakage tests are shown in
Figure 9. This reveals that ore competence has a
Slice 1 Slice 2 Slice 3 Slice 4 residence time of the pebbles of 32-63 mm, which
Sample position are in the range of “critical size”, and the liquid
tracer, an insignificant difference was found. This
finding is in agreement with segregation studies
where no evidence of segregation in the critical size
ore was found. The mean residence time of medium
and bigger size pebbles were in the range of 22 -

Mwansa, Condori, Powell 5

24% greater than the liquid.
5 CONCLUSIONS
The results revealed that the total solids emptied out
from the mill showed clear segregation along the
mill. However, when the charge was separated into
rocks and fine solids (slurry), the fine solids and big
rocks showed segregation whilst the mid-sized,
“critical size”, rocks showed an inconsistent
segregation trend. This behaviour implies that it is
misleading to draw conclusions based on the size
distribution of the total mill solids because of the
bias of more fine solids present. Separating the
material into different size ranges gives a broader
picture of the rocks and fine solids distribution and
hence the segregation of particles along the mill.
The balls had no segregation, which implies that
wear rate is critical to the observed segregation.
Rock breakage tests revealed a progressive and
significant increase in ore competency from the mill
feed to the discharge slice, the A*b dropped from
128 to 85, and the ta from 1.7 to 0.6 along the mill.
As the ‘very competent’ balls were found to not be
segregated, it is tentatively deduced that segregation
is a function of ore competency and that segregation
by ore competency may be more significant than
segregation by size. To have the range in ore
competence shown in Figure 9, the feed ore must
have this range (the ore does not become harder!). It
is therefore postulated that ore with the greatest
range in competence will show the greatest
segregation along a mill, due to preferential
breakage of the softer components.
Progressive increments of mean residence time
with pebble size were found; however, the
difference between the RTD of critical size pebbles
and liquid was insignificant.
The next steps are the mathematical modelling of
segregation in AG/SAG mills and laboratory scale
experiments. The RTD experiments in AG/SAG
mills have been adopted as a standard part of plant
site campaigns.
6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors gratefully acknowledge the permission
of Anglo Platinum for allowing the publication of
this paper. The plant management at Anglo Platinum
Amandelbult concentrator are gratefully thanked for
their support in allowing extended mill downtime for
this test work. PPL concentrator metallurgical staff
is acknowledged for their support. Great
appreciation is extended to Mr. Aubrey Mainza for
his involvement in both sets of testwork.
Mwansa, Condori, Powell
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