Chapter 10
TYPES AND CHARACTERISTICS OF COMMON GRINDING CIRCUIT FLOW SHEETS
Earl L. Rau and Robert Craig
Colorado School of Mines Research Institute
Golden, Colorado 80402
Introduction
Grinding circuits are used to re-
duce the particle size of ores to the
size desired for beneficiation or to
grind a concentrate to a size required
for final marketing. Grinding and
classification can be carried out using
either wet or dry circuits. Most sul-
fide ores are ground in wet circuits
using one or more stages of grinding to
obtain the necessary mineral liberation
to produce a final concentrate which
will meet the desired criteria. Iron
ores are ground in circuits applica-
ble to the particular ore using either
wet or dry grinding. Nonmetallic min-
erals frequently present different
requirements. Barite is likely to be
subjected to wet grinding before bene-
ficiating the ore; the concentrate is
dried and then dry ground to meet mar-
ket particle size requirements.
The one thing that most mill oper-
ators will agree to is that there is
no such thing as the "best" configura-
tion of equipment for grinding. The
circuit which works well on one ore may
be totally unsatisfactory for another
ore body. The general trend in the
industry is flow sheet simplication
with fewer parallel circuits instead
of multiple-line circuits using small
mills. This change in philosophy has
been brought about by the saving of
both capital and operating costs that
may be possible with larger equipment.
Remember that comminution is basically
a very inefficient process, and that
the costs can range upwards to 50% of
the total milling costs. It, there-
fore, behooves the mill operator to
carefully design his grinding and
classification circuits. He must as-
certain the optimal economic particle
size for beneficiation and then make
certain he has achieved the best bal-
ance between capital and operating
costs to achieve the desired mesh of
grind.
Equipment
Grinding circuits consist of one or
more pieces of equipment to grind the
solids. Generally, these circuits
include one or more grinding mills,
classification equipment, and the nec-
essary materials handling equipment
such as pumps, pipelines, and convey-
ors. There are many different types
of equipment available which are used
to grind and classify ores and miner-
als. Following is a tabulation of
most of the equipment used for wet
and/or dry grinding.
 DESIGN, INSTALLATION OF COMMINUTION CIRCUITS
Grinding Equipment
Rod M i l l
Ball M i l l
Tube M i l l
Autogenous M i l l
Semiautogenous M i l l
Pebble M i l l
Vibrating M i l l
Tower M i l l
Hammer M i l l
Impact M i l l
Pin M i l l
Cage M i l l
Roller M i l l
J e t Pulverizer
C l a s s i f i c a t i o n Equipment
Cyclones
Spiral Classifier
Rake C l a s s i f i e r
Screens
Air C l a s s i f i e r
Hukkii C l a s s i f i e r
Hydraulic S i z e r
Rod m i l l s and b a l l m i l l s a r e t h e
predominant p i e c e s of g r i n d i n g equip-
ment used i n m i n e r a l s b e n e f i c i a t i o n
p l a n t s . There i s a n i n c r e a s i n g t r e n d
t o u t i l i z e autogenous o r semiautogen-
ous g r i n d i n g m i l l s i n p l a c e of secon-
d a r y and t e r t i a r y c r u s h i n g and primary
grinding.
The most common t y p e of rod m i l l
i s t h e overflow m i l l , which i s used f o r
wet g r i n d i n g . Less common a r e p e r i p h -
e r a l - d i s c h a r g e rod m i l l s , i n which t h e
ground m a t e r i a l d i s c h a r g e s through
p o r t s i n t h e s h e l l . These m i l l s a r e
used f o r wet o r d r y g r i n d i n g and d i s -
charge e i t h e r a t t h e end o r a t t h e cen-
t e r . With t h e c e n t e r - d i s c h a r g e m i l l ,
new feed i s i n t r o d u c e d through b o t h
ends of t h e m i l l .
Two main t y p e s of b a l l m i l l s a r e
u s e d : overflow d i s c h a r g e and g r a t e o r
diaphragm d i s c h a r g e . The overflow-dis-
charge m i l l i s g e n e r a l l y o p e r a t e d wet
and has gained f a v o r i n l a r g e g r i n d i n g
m i l l s t o reduce l i n e r and g r i n d i n g med-
i a replacement c o s t s . The g r a t e - d i s -
charge m i l l i s used f o r wet o r d r y
g r i n d i n g and i s c o n s i d e r e d t o g i v e
b e t t e r s i z e c o n t r o l , thereby reducing
overgrinding.
Cyclones a r e t h e predominant s i z e
c l a s s i f i c a t i o n equipment used i n mod-
e r n wet g r i n d i n g m i l l c i r c u i t s . Screw
c l a s s i f i e r s s t i l l have t h e i r p l a c e ,
especially f o r coarse s i z e classifica-
t i o n . Screens a r e gaining favor f o r
s p e c i f i c a p p l i c a t i o n s . They a r e f r e -
q u e n t l y employed f o r coarse s i z i n g i n
semiautogenous g r i n d i n g c i r c u i t s , i n
most uranium o r e g r i n d i n g c i r c u i t s ,
and i n c i r c u i t s where a c l o s e top par-
t i c l e s i z e s e p a r a t i o n i s advantageous.
Most d r y g r i n d i n g c i r c u i t s use
some t y p e of cyclone t o c l a s s i f y and/
o r t o s e p a r a t e p a r t i c l e s from t h e a i r
s t r e a m . F a c t o r s such a s type of o r e ,
o r e f e e d s i z e , product s i z e require-
ments, and o r e g r i n d i n g c h a r a c t e r i s -
t i c s must be considered i n designing
a grinding c i r c u i t .
Wet Grinding C i r c u i t Flow Sheets
Open-Circuit Grinding
Open-circuit g r i n d i n g c o n s i s t s of a
g r i n d i n g m i l l i n which o r e and water
a r e f e d t o t h e m i l l and t h e f i n a l
ground product d i s c h a r g e s from t h e
m i l l . An open c i r c u i t may c o n s i s t of
one o r more m i l l s without s i z e c l a s s i -
f i c a t i o n . M i l l s which a r e most com-
monly considered f o r o p e n - c i r c u i t
g r i n d i n g a r e autogenous, semiautogen-
o u s , p e b b l e , rod, b a l l , o r tube m i l l s .
Tube m i l l s o f f e r t h e b e s t design
using a single m i l l f o r open-circuit
g r i n d i n g . These m i l l s have a length-
to-diameter r a t i o a s high a s 4 t o 1.
Many a r e divided i n t o compartments t o
o b t a i n good g r i n d i n g e f f i c i e n c y . The
f i r s t compartment can be charged w i t h
rods o r l a r g e b a l l s t o grind t h e
c o a r s e f e e d . The second compartment
i s charged w i t h s m a l l e r media f o r
f i n e r g r i n d i n g . Tube m i l l s a r e f r e -
q u e n t l y employed i n wet cement p l a n t s .
R e s u l t s comparable t o those of a
t u b e m i l l can be obtained by using two
m i l l s i n s e r i e s , such a s a rod m i l l
and a b a l l m i l l o r two b a l l m i l l s .
Typical circuits are shown in Figure 1.
CRUDE ORE FEED
T regrind mill.
ROD M l L L
BALL MlLL
CRUDE ORE F E E D
I Closed-circuit grinding is the most
ROD M l L L
CRUDE ORE FEED
BALL MtLL
Figure 1. Open-Circuit Grinding
The principal advantages of open-
circuit grinding are a minimum equip-
ment requirement and a high pulp den-
sity product. High pulp density ground
ore slurries are frequently required
for subsequent leaching or processing
operations. Typically, uranium ores
and gold-silver ores are leached at
high pulp densities.
Other conditions which favor open-
circuit grinding are as follows:
1. The particle reduction
ratio is small.
2. The material is reduced
to a coarse natural grain
size such as a sand.
3. The middling material
from cleaner flotation
is recirculated to the
4. The particle size dis-
tribution of the final
product is not critical
where some oversize and
undersize material can
be tolerated.
Closed-Circuit Grinding
common grinding circuit in minerals
processing. This type of circuit con-
sists of one or more grinding mills
and classifiers and will efficiently
produce a product with a controlled
top size and a minimum of overground
material. The ground material, which
discharges from the grinding mill, is
separated into coarse and fine size
fractions by a classifier. The fine
material is either a final product or
goes to further processing, and the
coarse material is returned to the
grinding mill. The size of the parti-
cle separation is controlled by the
operation of the classifier.
In most mineral beneficiation oper-
ations, a relatively coarse primary
grind size is first used to maximize
mineral recovery. Overgrinding is
avoided to minimize grinding costs
and to minimize the production of ex-
cessively fine particles which fre-
quently interfere with mineral recov-
ery processes. Regrinding is common-
ly used to obtain final mineral lib-
ation to produce a final concentrate.
Single-Stage, Closed-
Circuit Grinding
Single-stage, closed-circuit grind-
ing can be conducted using all types
of wet grinding mills and wet classi-
fiers. This type of circuit is used
 DESIGN, INSTALLATION OF COMMINUTION CIRCUITS

for primary grinding and for regrind- tion. These circuits not only allow
ing. Figure 2 is a typical flow sheet. for a high degree of freedom to select
the optimum configuration for each
application, but also provide greater
PRODUCT efficiency because the size reduction
is accomplished in stages rather than
CYCLONE as a large reduction in one mill.
Following are typical flow sheets of
CRUDE 'i \ the most common circuits considered
ORE \ for primary grinding.

Rod-mill, ball-mill, classification

circuits have been the basic grinding
circuits used to grind ore from a two-
or three-stage crushing plant. With
many ores, the power required to re-
duce the ball-mill feed to ball-mill
ROD M l L L product size is about twice the power
required for the rod-mill stage.
PRODUCT Thus, it is common practice to use
one rod mill and two ball mills in a
CYCLONE
single circuit. However, rod mills
CH UDE apparently have reached their maximum
size. The longest rod that will not
flex in the mill is about 6 . 1 m. TO
prevent tangling of the rods in the
mill certain range of diameter-to-
length ratios must be adhered to.
Thus, the largest rod mills are about
4 . 5 7 m diam by 6 . 4 m long. A typical
circuit is shown in Figure 3.
PRODUCT
BALL MiLL

Figure 2. Single-Stage CYCLONE

Closed-Circuit Grinding

Single-stage, primary rod-mill or

ball-mill grinding is typically applied
CRUDE ORE FEED
I \
to relatively fine tertiary-crushed ore
feed material. Some operating plants
use autogenous mills or semiautogenous
BALL M l L L
mills to grind coarse ore (203 mm) to
final product size. Such circuits gen- PRODUCT
erally use a minimum number of pieces
of equipment and provide a simple lay-
out or design configuration, but opera-
tional flexibility may be sacrificed.

Multistage Grinding
and Classification

Many of the grinding circuits used

in ore processing can be categorized BALL M l L L
as multistage circuits. Such circuits
consist of two or more grinding mills Figure 3. Rod blill-Ball Mill,
and one or more stages of classifica- Closed-Circuit Grinding
 DESIGN, INSTALLATION OF COMMINUTION CIRCUITS
ores. Generally, the objective is to
minimize iron in the fine grinding and
final ground ore. The circuit is simi-
lar to the more conventional rod-ball
mill circuit, but the ball mill is re-
placed by a pebble mill. A pebble mill
uses either coarse ore particles or
purchased natural beach or gravel peb-
bles. Some ores will produce suitable
pebble grinding media, and the media
is collected using screens in the
crushing circuit. One disadvantage of
pebble-mill grinding is the higher cap-
ital cost; the capacity of a given-
sized mill using pebbles is less than
if steel grinding media was used. How-
ever, the higher capital cost may be
offset by the lower cost of the peb-
bles. Figure 7 is a typical flow
sheet.
PRODUCT
CYCLONE
CRUDE ORE FEED
I illustrated in Figure 8.
Mill Grinding
PEBBLE MILL
Figure 7. Rod Mill-Pebble
Autogenous grinding circuits are
applicable to some ores that are uni-
form in character and that are compe-
tent enough to be used as the grinding
media. In autogenous grinding, the
size of the ore is generally reduced in
a primary crusher before feeding to the
mill. The ore must be such that the
grinding media reduces all of the ore
to the final required particle size.
The main potential danger in selecting
an autogenous grinding circuit is that
the ore body may be variable, and it is
not possible to continuously feed ore
that will grind autogenously. If the
beneficiation process incorporates flo-
tation, a second area of concern with
autogenous grinding, particularly of
sulfide ores, is the possibility of
producing a larger percentage of
slime material due to attrition. This
may result in an increase in reagent
consumption and poor flotation re-
sponse of the ore minerals. This may
not be true, however, of autogenously
ground ores in which the size consist
of the ground material is somewhat
coarser because breakage tends to
occur along grain boundaries rather
than across the grain. Investigation
of grinding characteristics should al-
ways be accompanied by laboratory or
pilot-plant flotation testing.
The capital cost for a fully auto-
genous plant may be higher than for a
plant using conventional grinding.
However, the increase in capital costs
may be offset by lower operating
costs. An alternative to a straight
autogenous grinding circuit is an ABC
(autogenous-ball mill-crusher) circuit
or semiautogenous (SAG) mill grinding.
An autogenous grinding circuit is
CRUDE ORE FEED
b- PRODUCT
AUTOOENOUS MILL
Figure 8. Autogenous
Grinding
Autogenous-mill, screen, pebble-
mill classification circuits are used
-
to grind ore without the use of steel
grinding media. The character of the
ore must be such that it will grind
autogenously. Run-of-mine material or
primary crusher product is fed to an
autogenous grinding mill. The auto-
genous mill has ports in the grate to
allow the discharge of coarse parti-
cles. The autogenous mill product is
screened to separate pebble grinding
media, a ball mill feed size material,
and an intermediate size material that
is returned to the autogenous mill.
Pebbles and fine pulp are fed to a
 GRINDING CIRCUIT FLOW SHEETS
pebble m i l l f o r f i n e g r i n d i n g . A typ-
i c a l flow s h e e t i s shown i n F i g u r e 9 .
CRUDE ORE FEED
I AUTOGENOUS MlLL
PEBBLE STORAGE
Figure 9.
PEBBLE M I L L
Autogenous and Pebble
M i l l Grinding
ABC c i r c u i t , autogenous-mill, b a l l -
m i l l , crusher, c l a s s i f i c a t i o n c i r c u i t s
a r e used t o maximize t h e e f f i c i e n c y
and c o s t e f f e c t i v e n e s s of each t y p e of
machine. Many o r e s can be p a r t i a l l y
s i z e reduced by autogenous g r i n d i n g ,
but frequently t h e r e is a c r i t i c a l par-
t i c l e s i z e g e n e r a l l y i n t h e 25.4-mm t o
76.2-mm range t h a t w i l l n o t g r i n d a u t o -
genously. This c r i t i c a l s i z e f r a c t i o n
i s removed through t h e p o r t s and
crushed i n a jaw o r cone c r u s h e r . P r i -
mary c r u s h e r product o r e i s f e d t o t h e
autogenous m i l l . The autogenous m i l l
discharge i s c l a s s i f i e d , g e n e r a l l y
using a s c r e e n . The o v e r s i z e p r o d u c t
i s feed t o a c r u s h e r , and t h e u n d e r s i z e
i s fed t o a b a l l m i l l . The b a l l m i l l
discharge p u l p i s c l a s s i f i e d . The ABC
c i r c u i t i s used t o reduce g r i n d i n g med-
i a consumption and t o maximize t h e
c o s t e f f e c t i v e n e s s of g r i n d i n g b a l l s .
Figure 10 i s a t y p i c a l flow s h e e t .
CRUDE ORE FEED
CYCLONE
- CRUSHER
F i g u r e 10.
BALL M l L L
ABC C i r c u i t
Semiautogenous, b a l l - m i l l , c l a s s i -
f i c a t i o n c i r c u i t s a r e becoming i n -
creasingly popular, l a r g e l y because
of o v e r a l l economics. The semiauto-
genous (SAG) m i l l i s g e n e r a l l y r e p l a c -
i n g t h e second- and t h i r d - s t a g e s of
c r u s h i n g and s c r e e n i n g . Ore from t h e
primary c r u s h e r i s f e d t o t h e SAG m i l l
where commonly it i s reduced t o 19.1
t o 12.7 mm. The SAG m i l l p r o d u c t i s
ground i n a b a l l m i l l t o f i n a l p r o d u c t
size.
SAG m i l l s a r e g e n e r a l l y g r a t e - d i s -
charge m i l l s t h a t p r o v i d e s i z e c o n t r o l
o r c l a s s i f i c a t i o n . SAG m i l l s have a
problem i n c o n t r o l l i n g o r e f f e c t i v e l y
using small b a l l s . Generally, p o r t s
a r e c u t i n t h e discharge g r a t e s t o
a l l o w t h e d i s c h a r g e of a l i m i t e d
amount of b a l l s and c o a r s e o r e . I t
becomes n e c e s s a r y t o s c r e e n t h e m i l l
d i s c h a r g e t o s e p a r a t e b a l l s and
 DESIGN, INSTALLATION OF COMMINUTION CIRCUITS

coarse ore from fine ore, and a magnet
separates the balls from the coarse
ore. The coarse ore is returned to the
SAG mill. The balls that pass the
ports are either used in the ball-mill
circuit or wasted. A typical circuit
is shown in Figure 11.
Autogenous grinding and air classi-
fication circuits have been used ex-
tensively in iron-ore grinding prior
to beneficiation. Semiautogenous
grinding could be used in place of
straight autogenous grinding. Dry
grinding has lost favor in recent
years to wet grinding of iron ore. A

1
CRUDE ORE SUPPLY
typical flow sheet is shown in Figure
12.
SEMI
AUT06Em)US M l L L
CRUDE ORE SUPPLY

m I AUTOGENOUS MlLL

BALL MILL
BALL STORAGE

Figure 11. Semiautogenous-Ball

?,lillGrinding

Dry Grinding Circuit Flow Sheets

Major dry grinding applications are

for iron ore and in the cement industry
as far as tonnage processed is concern-
ed. Large tonnages of coal are pulver-
ized by dry grinding for firing boil-
ers. Most other applications of dry
grinding are to prepare a final mineral
product to meet a market specification.
This is especially true for many non-
metallic minerals such as barite, clay,
feldspar, silica, talc, etc. The
CYCLONE

I
grinding equipment selection is made
on the basis of capacity requirements,
specific mineral or ore, product size,
and contamination by grinding media
that might cause the material not to
meet impurity or color specifications.
Capital and operating costs are also
key factors in selection of any grind-
I
PRODUCT

ing circuit. Figure 12. Dry Grinding

 Rod-mill, b a l l - m i l l , t u b e - m i l l ,
pebble-mill g r i n d i n g , c l a s s i f i c a t i o n
c i r c u i t s a r e a p r e v a l e n t t y p e of c i r -
c u i t used f o r a wide v a r i e t y of a p p l i -
c a t i o n s . The s i z e of a v a i l a b l e equip-
ment can range from a few kilograms p e r
hour t o more t h a n a tonne p e r hour.
The m i l l and media s e l e c t i o n w i l l de-
pend mainly on product s i z e r e q u i r e -
ments and product contamination. I f
i r o n cannot be t o l e r a t e d i n t h e f i n a l
product, i t i s p o s s i b l e t o use rubber-
o r ceramic-lined m i l l s and ceramic o r
n a t u r a l pebbles f o r g r i n d i n g media. A
typical c i r c u i t is similar t o that
shown i n F i g u r e 7 .
R o l l e r m i l l s and a i r c l a s s i f i c a t i o n
c i r c u i t s a r e f r e q u e n t l y used t o f i n e
grind products such a s b a r i t e f o r
d r i l l i n g mud. R o l l e r m i l l s a r e a l s o
used e x t e n s i v e l y f o r c o a l p u l v e r i z i n g ,
and many a r e equipped w i t h h e a t e r s t o
provide a d d i t i o n a l d r y i n g of t h e mate-
r i a l . These m i l l s can g e n e r a l l y handle
m a t e r i a l t h a t t e n d s t o pack on f i n e
grinding. A c i r c u i t is s i m i l a r t o t h a t
shown i n F i g u r e 1 2 .
Other t y p e s of dry g r i n d i n g m i l l s
can be operated i n open c i r c u i t o r i n
closed c i r c u i t w i t h a i r c l a s s i f y i n g
equipment. Some of t h e equipment
a v a i l a b l e a r e impact m i l l s , hammer
m i l l s , p i n m i l l s , and j e t p u l v e r i z e r s .
e r a l l y , t h e hammer m i l l i s o p e r a t e d
i n open c i r c u i t .
P i n m i l l s a r e a t y p e of cage m i l l
which u s e s impact t o b r e a k t h e p a r t i -
c l e s . There a r e two p a r a l l e l p l a t e s
w i t h p i n s o r b a r s p r o t r u d i n g from
each p l a t e . The p i n s o r b a r s a r e i n
rows of c o n c e n t r i c c i r c l e s w i t h a l t e r -
n a t e rows on each p l a t e . One p l a t e
o r b o t h p l a t e s can r o t a t e . I f b o t h
p l a t e s r o t a t e , t h e y go i n o p p o s i t e
d i r e c t i o n s . Feed e n t e r s t h e c e n t e r of
t h e p l a t e s and is thrown outward and
impacted a g a i n s t a l t e r n a t e rows of
p i n s o r b a r s . Machines a r e designed
with internal c l a s s i f i c a t i o n o r f o r
separate external classification.
J e t pulverizers a r e devices t h a t
use steam o r a i r t o b r e a k p a r t i c l e s
by impingement. The p a r t i c l e s may be
impinged on a f i x e d b r e a k e r s u r f a c e .
Another approach i s t o use two opposed
s t r e a m s of p a r t i c l e s so t h a t t h e p a r -
t i c l e s impinge upon each o t h e r . Gen-
e r a l l y , a f t e r impingement t h e p a r t i -
c l e s a r e a i r c l a s s i f i e d , and f i n i s h e d
f i n e p a r t i c l e s a r e recovered from t h e
g a s stream by cyclones and baghouses.
The o v e r s i z e p a r t i c l e s a r e r e c y c l e d .

An impact m i l l has a r o t o r w i t h
e i t h e r f i x e d o r swinging hammers t h a t
throw t h e p a r t i c l e s a g a i n s t b r e a k e r
p l a t e s . The f i n e p a r t i c l e s d i s c h a r g e
from t h e m i l l through an opening i n t h e
bottom. The m i l l i s o p e r a t e d t o pro-
duce a f i n a l p r o d u c t i n one p a s s o r t h e
product i s s i z e d and o v e r s i z e m a t e r i a l
returned t o t h e m i l l . P a r t i c l e s i z i n g
i s g e n e r a l l y c o n t r o l l e d by s c r e e n s o r
a i r c l a s s i f i e r s . The o p e r a t i n g condi-
t i o n s of t h e m i l l can be c o n t r o l l e d t o
some e x t e n t by r o t o r speed and by
breaker s e t t i n g .

A hammer m i l l i s e s s e n t i a l l y an i m -
pact m i l l with g r a t e b a r s o r a screen
on t h e d i s c h a r g e opening t o c o n t r o l
p a r t i c l e s i z e . The opening of t h e
g r a t e o r s c r e e n and t h e r o t o r speed
c o n t r o l t h e f i n a l product s i z e . Gen-