Survey of Milling and Mill-Lining Practice on South African Gold Mines

摘要

The report presents an analysis of the results of a survey of milling and mill-lining practice on South African gold mines. Questionnaires were sent to 53 active reduction plants, and replies were received from all of them. Because the Physical Metallurgy Division of the Council for Mineral Technology (Mintek) is particularly interested in matters pertaining to mill liners, the results of that section of the survey were analyzed in detail. A comparison of the rates of wear of different types of liners shows that Osborne bars have the highest, and grids the lowest, rate of loss in mass. The wear rate of white iron is about twice as high as that of austenitic manganese steel. Lifter bars appear to increase the life of linings by about 60%. The results of this survey allow the efficiency, cost, and usage of different milling and mill-lining practices to be compared, and the most efficient and cost-effective methods of reduction to be identified.