Fundamental investigation of particle-fluid flow in IsaMill

The Australian mining and minerals processing industries generated exports of around $56 billion in 2004/5, representing approximately 44 per cent of Australia?s total exports. Grinding is one of basic operations in minerals processing, liberating valuables from the host rock. However, the conventional grinding technologies are very low efficient. The newly developed IsaMill technique greatly improves the power efficiency. This project aims to understand the flow within IsaMill through combined experimental and numerical studies, leading to improved grinding performance and less energy consumption. Such work will provide a significant economic benefit not only to Xstrata but also Australian mineral industry as a whole.