REPORT ON THE DG PLANT

INDUSTRIAL REPORT ON THE DRY GRINDING PLANT.

Institution Zimbabwe School Of

mines
Period of engagement in a Section 4 Weeks

Report Distribution Mr. G. Chipepera

Mr. E. Mutandiro
Mr. T. Mufumi
Mrs. M. Musarurwa

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ACRONYMYS
DGP-Dry Grinding Plant

DMS-Dense Medium Separation

SHE-Safety, Health &Environment

1.0 BACKGROUND
Grinding (Milling) is the last stage in the process of comminution which reduces particle size of
material by a combination of impact and abrasion in a wet or a dry process. There are two Dry
Grinding Plants at Bikita minerals for an enhanced production, DGP1 which was set up in 1983
and DGP2 which configured in the year 2002. These plants well-nigh operate with the same
principle, both receiving their pre-concentrated feed from the two DMS plants on site. This
report basically expounds on the objectives, major equipment, process flow description and the
SHE aspects of this section.

2.0 OBJECTIVES
1. To mill DMS outputs into the required mesh sizes depending on customer specifications
for example (80#, 200#, 52#&25#).
2. To produce an output which conforms to customer specifications chemically that is
(HAP,LAP and STD PET among other products), meaning it should have the required
metal content (mainly the specified Lithium content and very low Iron content)

3.0 SECTIONAL SHE ASPECTS

Safety is of utmost importance in the DGP plants and the fact that there are many intense risks in
this work place is inevitable, therefore our aim is to eliminate all accidents and incidents causing
personal injury, property damage and environmental pollution. I highly recommend that the SHE
department revisit this section and make a big fuss about the appropriate procedures that must be
followed for the upkeep of workers and their equipment.

Risk Effect Mitigation

Extremely high noise levels  Loss of hearing.  Must wear ear protection
(higher than 90db)  Diseases such as hypertension and preferably earmuffs.
ischemic heart disease.
 Eardrum damages.

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Extremely high dust levels(
mainly at the Rotex screen
and bagging area)
Inhaling(CO) carbon
monoxide (formed in
incomplete combustion of
charcoal at gas plant)
Tripping hazards (steps
leading to the DGP1 control
room, metal scrap& rejects,
empty tonne bags, spillages
at mill area)
REPORT ON THE DG PLANT
 Suffocation.
 A group of diseases such as silicosis
and pneumoconiosis.
 It is highly toxic
 combines irreversibly with
haemoglobin in blood resulting in
inadequate oxygen transportation
therefore leading to death.
 Falling causing body injury
 Must wear respirator at all
times (not disposable dust
masks).
 Campaign on impotance how
to use respirators (which
cartages to use).
 Wear safety googles at all
times.
 Have a gas dictator in the
plant.
 Regular inspections on proper
housekeeping in the plant.
 Remove planks mounted on
steps.
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4.0 MAJOR EQUIPMENT USED FOR MILLING AT BIKITA MINERALS

4.1 Rotex screen
4.2 Grinding mill
4.3 Drum magnets
4.4 Classifier
4.5 Bag filter chamber
4.6 Heat exchanger
4.7 Loma heat
4.8 Compressor
4.9 Blower fan

5.0 PROCESS FLOW DESCRIPTION

5.1 DGP1 Process flow diagram

5.2 DGP1 Process flow description

After assessment of results of the samples taken throughout the shift (DMS plants) the appropriate
pre-concentrated feed from the two DMS plants is deposited into the circular bin by haulage
equipment. Feed is discharged from the circular bin onto conveyor three via a vibro feeder before
entering the Loesche mill at a feed rate which is controlled by double flaps. Upon introduction into

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the mill, feed enters the distribution pot on the rotating table. Hot air enters the mill via the louvers
on the mill side and dries up the feed hence name dry grinding. The ore is then drawn out to the
boundaries of the mill under centrifugal forces thereby being grinded by the rotating tires
Evolving table ,verticals axis

Feed is dried by hot air entering through louvers at the sides of the Mill. Centrifugal forces cause
the stone particles to move to the mill peripheries where they are grinded by the rotating wheels.
The Fan blows the mill product up to the classifier which rotates at a set speed which determines
the size fraction of particles which can leave the mill. Oversize material cannot move past the
classifier and as a result they return into the mill for re-grinding until they reach the required
particle size. Mill product is transported pneumatically through a duct to the Cyclone using
compressed air. The cyclone separates -325micrometer product from coarser product. Coarser
product exit the cyclone via the cyclone discharge valve at the bottom to magnets number 3 and
4.-325 particle size fraction particles exit the cyclone from the top and is fed into the filter bag
chamber where they are trapped by bag filters. Bag filters then release the 325microns product
onto a screw conveyor at the base of the chamber. The screw conveyor transports these particles
to drum magnet 5 which traps iron from the 325 product. Magnetics are then transported under
gravity to a bagging section where they are packaged into tonne bags as by-product. The
nonmagnetic -325 micron particles are fed to the Rotex screen. Cyclone undersize stream particles
have its iron removed and enters the Rotex screen where it is mixed with the nonmagnetic -325
micron particles.
The Rotex Screen separates its feed into two products, undersize and oversize. Oversize material
is discharged onto conveyor 3 where it mixes with new feed for regrinding. Screen undersize
material is transported to the discharge hoppers for bagging.
5.3 DGP1 plant start up procedure
A siren is sounded before start-up of the plant. The rotex screen is started from the control room
followed by the drum magnets, cyclone rotary valve, bag filter rotary valve, bag filter rotary seal,
classifier mill motor fan, mill oil pump, hydraulic pump, mill double flap, mill motor mill feeder
conveyor three, extractor fan and mill vibro feeder respectively. The damper valve is opened so
that any product in the mill is lifted up by air produced by compressor. This relieves pressure from
the mill table such that they can be started after the opening of the valve. Gas is then ignited at the
burner in order to raise the temperature of air for drying of feed.
After starting up the plant I would assist the plant supervisor in inspecting every equipment to
ensure that all equipment was functioning in an expected way. Conveyor three vibro feeder is then
started in order to start feeding the plant.
5.4 DGP2 Process flow diagram

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5.5 DGP2 Process flow description

Feed exits the circular bin through the vibro feeder of dgp 2 circular bin and is transported to the mill
using a conveyor belt. It enters the mill through the double flaps which alternate in opening and closing
in order to control feed rate to the mill. The two tyres grind feed. The grinded product is picked up by
the hot air being introduced into the mill through louvers hence dried in the turbulence before being
released through the classifier. The classifier rotates at a speed which can be varied to ensure that
correct size grading is achieved. The product is pneumatically conveyed under suction from the
classifier to a de compression chamber. Coarse product settles to the bottom of the chamber whilst
finer particles are trapped by bag filters which release this product onto a screw conveyor. This mill

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product gravitates to a rotex screen. Screen undersize enter the product discharge hopper. The screen
oversize enters the rejects tonne bag.
The difference between DGP1 and two is that there are no magnetic separators for the removal of iron
from product at DGP 2 .Recycling of oversize is not done continuously as in the DGP 1 plant. In the
DGP 2 plant there is the use of a decompression chamber instead of a cyclone.
9.0 Quality Control
The Particle size distribution of product is monitored after every thirty minutes. A hundred grams of
product is collected at the discharge hopper and sieved through 300 micron and 75 19

micron sieves. For 52mesh product +300 micron particles should be from 0.5-55 % + 75 microns
should be from 50-69 %. Each tonne bag of product is sampled and the samples are assayed to
determine lithium content as well as iron content. Lithium oxide content should be greater than 7.65
percent whilst the iron content should range from 0.07-0.09 %. Bags which do not meet these
specifications are recycled for blending with new feed.
5.6 Plant deviations
The difference between DGP1 and two is that there are no magnetic separators for the removal of
iron from product at DGP 2 .Recycling of oversize is not done continuously as in the DGP 1 plant.
In the DGP 2 plant there is the use of a decompression chamber instead of a cyclone.

6.0 CONTROL PHYLOSOPHY AND PLANT OPTIMIZATION

Activity/setup Reason

 A siren is rung before starting any  To alert everyone and avoid accidents
operation

 The conveyor belts are fitted with pull  To allow emergency belt stoppage
wires

 An interlock system is incorporated in the  To avoid overloading of the machinery hence

conveyor belt systems (belts downstream spillages (Downtime)
will not start if the belts up stream have
not started)

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7.0 RECOMMENDATIONS

8.0 REFERENCE
1. Wills, B., 2006. Mineral processing. 7th ed. s.l.:Elsevier.
2. Yang, W. C., 1998. Fluidisation,solids handling and processing. s.l.:Noyes.
3. Shi, F. and Napier-Munn, T.J. (2002). Effects of slurry rheology on industrial grinding
performance, Int. J.
4. Sloan, R., Parker, S., Craven, J., and Schaffer, M. (2001).Expert systems on SAG circuits,
The University of Queensland.

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