A laboratory scale application of the attainable region technique on a platinum ore

• We do batch wet milling of a PGM ore at a laboratory scale.
• We apply the attainable region (AR) method on the PGM ore.
• We show how mass fraction in the intermediate size class and energy can be optimized by use of the AR technique.

We investigated the effects of slurry density, grinding time and grinding energy on the grindability of a typical platinum ore in a tumbling ball mill on a laboratory scale. We then used the Attainable Region (AR) method to find ways of reducing the grinding period and grinding energy required to achieve a specific result; and also of maximizing the amount of material in the desired size range. No work on utilizing the AR technique to optimize the size reduction of a PGM ore in slurry has been published as yet, although researchers have used the method for comminution carried out under dry conditions only. The investigation reported in this paper is not intended to set out ideal operating parameters for industrial mills, but aims to show how the AR technique can be used to develop some ways of improving mill performance. The experimental results we obtained proved that this method could be successfully applied to identifying opportunities for higher efficiency in milling a typical industrial ore. In our particular case, a solids concentration of 33% by mass, milled for between 15 and 30 minutes, gave us the maximum amount of material in the intermediate size class.

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