18% Reduction in Grinding Media Consumption at South American Copper Mine
Client: Cerro Grande Mining (Chile)
Challenge:
Grinding medium-hard copper ore in secondary ball mills, the forged steel balls used had high out-of-round rates and a breakage rate exceeding 2%, leading to unstable grinding efficiency and high media addition rates.
Solution:
Introduced our "Taurus" series high-chromium wear-resistant cast balls (Material: Cr18%, Hardness: ≥62 HRC). Optimized metallographic structure through precision casting and special tempering processes.
Data & Results:
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Consumption Rate: Ball consumption dropped from 850 g/ton of ore to 700 g/ton of ore, an 18% reduction.
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Breakage Rate: Controlled breakage rate below 0.5%.
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Grinding Efficiency: Achieved a 5% increase in throughput per kWh under the same fineness requirement. Annual savings on grinding media exceeded USD 150,000.
