Selective Comminution for Improved Liberation and Reduced Energy Usage

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The goal of comminution is to liberate minerals into discrete particles so that they may be upgraded during subsequent mineral separation processes. Comminution is energy-intensive and non-selective. The Canadian Mining Innovation Council has identified energy efficiency as a key strategic area for mining research. As an example, in provinces such as British Columbia, about 5% of the total electrical energy generated in the province is used by mining operations. Of this energy, comminution uses about 70%. Therefore research that will lead to more energy efficient comminution can have the greatest impact toward improving the energy efficiency of a mining system. Another issue is that comminution is not selective - the goal is to liberate the valuable mineral particles so that they can be separated. Grinding breaks all minerals and often leads to over grinding of soft mineral constituents, creating particles that are difficult to separate and under grinding of harder particles that are composed of valuable minerals and gangue that contaminate the product or lead to poor recoveries.