RE:NewsThis wording is a bit confusing :
“The importance of the placing of the order and payment of the deposit for the long lead time items of the primary crusher and the Sag mill marks a turning point at our Sangdong project. After 4 years of planning, I now look forward to seeing both mills being delivered into place at site within 11 months at the world’s largest Tungsten mine. "
Singular, then plural ?
Anyway, the difference between a ball mill and a sag mill (which we seem to be using) is that the sag mill is larger in diameter, but shorter in length (barrel wise) and uses the introduced ore itself to do the self grinding process with a minimal possible addition of steel balls to help.
The ball mill is longer in length and uses steel balls in the hundreds to do the job.
The sag mill choice just shows again that Almonty knows the ropes as it is much cheaper to run and maintain, ie :
- The sag mill is just rotating mainly ore and water slurry with some added balls of steel if needed, so a much less powerful electric motor / gearbox needed.
The ball mill uses hundreds of steel ball and even to get the machine rolling it some times needs to be rocked back and forth to start the roll. Massive moters and gear boxes needed due to dead weight of the steel balls or rods in the case of rod mills.
- Sag mill has much less wear and tear on the internal wear lining pannels due to a much lesser weight of impact materials in the drum, so longer times between liner replacement. While ball mills are one of the most damaging factors for the drum liners which need to be replaced at every maintenance shutdown or sooner.
God its hard to figure out exactly what the process and equipment is with very little to go on.
I know,