Design changes to Glencore Technology’s IsaMill product line provide significant reductions in plant footprint space requirements and associated costs, the company says.
Glencore Technology announced two significant developments in its line of IsaMill fine-grinding mills. According to the company, the product line has been redesigned to reduce civil infrastructure costs up to 28%, and a new 1,600-2,200-kW M7500 has been introduced to fill a gap between the M5000 and the M10000 models.
Engineering Manager Nick van Heerden said, “Several changes incrementally saved 22%-28% of costs to the client through a reduction in steel and concrete.” The new, smaller plant configuration was achieved by lowering the IsaMill 2 m for an M3000/M5000 and 3 m for an M10000. The media hopper was moved from under the IsaMill to the side. Due to the backpressure created from the rotor, it was possible to utilize this to pump media out of the IsaMill during its maintenance shutdown sequence rather than drop it to the hopper below. In addition, tying gland and IsaCharger water directly into the plant water eliminated the need for separate tanks and their corresponding pumps.
The company said the new design allows the mill and access footprints of equivalently specified IsaMill and HIG mills to be the same, while the IsaMill is roughly a third the height of the HIG mill.
Glencore Technology Lead Mike Hourn called the new M7500 “a significant option” for operations that require 1,600-2,200 kW of power yet prefer the availability, safety and product consistency of an IsaMill.
“These are huge wins for operations and for engineering firms wanting to specify the best fit. We’ve already installed the smaller configuration in Minsur and Woodlawn, but the new M7500 mill has only just been made available now. And like all our IsaMills, the M7500 is guaranteed to scale-up with 100% accuracy. We certainly look forward to installing our first.”
