Unearthed Sydney 2016
20 Aug - 22 AugFrom Idea to Prototype on Resource Challenges in just a Weekend
This competition has finished.
Find the sweet spot - Optimise the grinding circuit throughput of a gold processing plant.
Background:
SAG Mills and Ball Mills are the work horses of most mineral processing plants. Their purpose is to reduce the ore to a size that allows separation of the valuable minerals (e.g. gold) from the waste rock. The yield/recovery of gold from downstream processing stages improves if the solids are ground finer in the grinding circuit. However, this requires more power and slows the overall throughput. A 5% improvement in throughput would produce an additional 25,000 ounces of gold per year ($44m AUD)
Ideal Outcome: