Grinding Efficiency Gains Across Mineral Types
Azitec disc technology has demonstrated a consistent grinding efficiency advantage across a broad range of mineral types in controlled IsaMill™ M4 laboratory testing. Across the dataset, including silica, magnetite, zinc, copper, gold and gold/copper samples, Azitec discs showed an average 20.8% efficiency gain compared with standard discs. This improvement was reflected as a reduction in specific grinding energy (SGE) required to achieve a given product size.
About this Project
Challenge
Grinding performance can vary significantly between mineral types, ore competencies, media sizes, solids concentrations and circuit duties. For a disc upgrade to be commercially valuable, the efficiency benefit needs to be repeatable — not limited to one ore type, operating condition or target grind size.
Solution
Azitec’s disc geometry is designed to improve grinding efficiency by enhancing media dynamics, collision frequency and stress intensity within the slurry-media system. The M4 laboratory test program allowed the intrinsic performance of the disc design to be isolated under controlled conditions, reducing the variability often seen in full-scale plant operation.
Outcome
The M4 results showed a systematic improvement in grinding performance across the tested mineral types. The average Azitec efficiency advantage was 20.8%, with no negative outcomes reported across the dataset. This suggests the performance uplift is not tied to one specific mineral characteristic, such as hardness, density or competency, but is instead driven by improved grinding physics created by the disc geometry.
Walker model analysis also showed a consistent reduction in SGE across the practical size reduction range, supporting the conclusion that the benefit is sustained across the grinding curve rather than isolated to a single P80 target.
Key Metrics
- 24/7 Oscillot vibration sensing as primary monitoring.
- Thermal imaging used as a supporting diagnostic tool.
- Daily thermal checks recommended during upgrades.
- FLIR C5 and FLIR E8 cameras used in recent trials.
- Elevated MIDA06 vibration triggered investigation.
- Thermal imaging confirmed abnormal heat activity.
- Several tonnes of excess media removed.
- Vibration and thermal patterns returned to normal.
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