Granulometric Analysis in Comminution Circuits of Sustainable Processing Plant, Case Study Telma Mine Ecuador

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to carry out a short analysis of the comminution circuit carried out in the beneficiation plant that processes the minerals from the Telma mine, exclusively with water without additional reagents. For this, an analysis of the current comminution process in the beneficiation plant is carried out, generating the FlowSheet of the system with the help of the illustration program called Adobe Illustrator CS6 in order to understand the process of the comminution circuit. Then, a review of the operational parameters of the crushers, vibrating sieves and mills, together with the evaluation of the distribution of their particles in the meshes, both in crushing and grinding, were carried out. The granulometric analyzes are carried out both in the beneficiation plant and in the Mining Laboratory of the ´Escuela Superior Politécnica del Chimborazo´ ESPOCH, to superimpose data; in the first stage of mineral reduction, the reduction results were 90% of the ore; on the other hand, the analysis of granulometry distribution carried out in the discharge of the cyanidation tank, was executed in the ESPOCH mining laboratory showing that only 57.66% of the mineral has a 120 mesh particle size. Therefore, the mineral delivered by the size reduction circuit carried out in the beneficiation plant that processes the minerals from the shaft mine does not correspond to the ideal particle size, according to the required feed percentage F80 for the fines hopper. Finally, as the main recommendation, 120 mesh separators should be implemented to separate coarse particles.