Mining Mill — You Are Buying Media Consumption, Not Fineness
At plant scale the purchase price is a small part of the cost. Grinding media, liner wear and power per tonne decide whether the circuit makes money.
A different sizing logic entirely
A pigment mill is sized by target fineness and batch time. A mining mill is sized by tonnes per hour, specific energy (kWh/t) and the circulating load of the whole circuit. The machine is one component; the classifier and the pump are not optional extras.
Get the specific energy wrong by 20 % and you have bought either an undersized mill or a very expensive pump. That is why we ask for a locked-cycle test result, not a target number.
Specific energy is the only honest basis for a quote
Two mines can want the same P80 from the same ore and need mills that differ by a factor of two. The difference is in the ore, and it only shows up in a grindability test.
| Basis | What it tells you | What it does not |
|---|---|---|
| Target P80 only | Nothing about the machine size | How much energy your ore needs to get there |
| Bond work index | Ball-mill energy, roughly | Stirred media behaviour in the fine range |
| Specific energy from a lab test (kWh/t) | Direct sizing input | Whether it holds at scale — needs a pilot step |
| Locked-cycle pilot result | The only basis we will guarantee against | Long-term media consumption, which still has to be measured |
What we will not do: quote a guaranteed throughput from a target P80 alone. If a supplier does that without a test, they are either guessing or planning to renegotiate after installation.
Media and liner consumption, per tonne
Over a five-year life, grinding media typically costs more than the mill. It is the number that gets left out of the comparison sheet and the one that decides the project.
| Line item | How it scales | What to ask for |
|---|---|---|
| Grinding media | g per tonne ground — measured, not calculated | A consumption guarantee with a measurement method |
| Rotor and liner wear | mm per 1 000 h, strongly ore-dependent | Wear-part price list with lead times, before you sign |
| Power | kWh/t at the design P80 | Specific energy at the guarantee point, not at best case |
| Availability | % uptime, dominated by wear-part changes | How long a liner change takes and how many people it needs |
PM-X series
| Model | Throughput | Installed power | Media | Typical P80 | Application |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PM-X200 | 1 – 5 t/h | 200 kW | 3 – 6 mm | 15 – 45 µm | Regrind, tailings retreatment |
| PM-X500 | 5 – 20 t/h | 500 kW | 4 – 8 mm | 20 – 60 µm | Primary regrind |
| PM-X1000 | 20 – 60 t/h | 1 000 kW | 6 – 12 mm | 25 – 75 µm | Main grind, large circuit |
Throughput figures here assume a specific ore test. Stirred media mill throughput is not a property of the machine — it is a property of the ore you put through it.
What a serious enquiry contains
| What | Why |
|---|---|
| Circuit flowsheet | Tells us where the mill sits and what it has to work with |
| Feed F80 and target P80 | The two numbers that define the duty |
| Throughput, t/h (dry solids) | Sizes the mill, the pump and the classifier |
| Ore type and Bond work index | First estimate of specific energy |
| Specific gravity and % solids | Sets slurry velocity and residence time |
| Site constraints — altitude, power supply, ambient | Derating is real and often forgotten |
Realistic timeline: a mining mill is not a catalogue purchase. Test work, flowsheet review, design, manufacture and site commissioning is a multi-month project. If you need something running this quarter, tell us now and we will say whether that is achievable rather than discovering it later.