A Modular Dynamic Simulation Model for Comminution Circuits*

Properly controlling comminution circuits is generally acknowledged to be highly profitable for any mining site's bottom line. On the other hand, the process control problem of comminution circuits is challenging due to circulating loads and non-linear transport/transformation rates. As the performance and robustness of the control system highly rely on a good understanding of the process dynamics, characterizing the deterministic behavior requires a certain level of operation disruption (bump tests). For a grinding circuit, it implies affecting the throughput and product size distributions. The management team can be reluctant to risk obvious consequences on downstream processing stages i.e. inadequate mineral liberation, reduction of product quality, and perhaps even recovery losses. Process simulation becomes in this case an attractive tool to design, assess, and pre-commission advanced control strategies. This paper presents a phenomenological dynamic simulator for comminution circuits developed in Matlab/Simulink®. The block model programming allows changing plant layout or control loops easily, and is flexible for future extensions or model upgrades as any block can be simply added to the library or replaced with its updated version. The flexibility of the modular approach allows testing any control system, from basic PID loops to advanced control schemes. A simulation case study shows how the simulation model can capture the behavior of an actual circuit once properly calibrated.