A look at how the IsaMill works

The IsaMill is unlike any other grinding mill1:

• It is very high intensity – 300kW/m3, compared with typically 20kW/m3 for ball mills. This means it is easily installed in a small area.

• It produces a very sharp size distribution in open circuit. This is due to 8 grinding chambers in series, closed with an internal centrifugal classifier. The internal classifier means simple operation, no screens to block or maintain, and allows low cost natural grinding media to be used (e. g. sand).

• It has high energy efficiency – because it uses small media suited to the target grind size.

• The inert grinding environment has profound benefits for the chemistry of flotation and leaching. The IsaMill is an intense chemical reactor, creating fresh mineral surface in a closed inert environment. It does this quickly – typical residence time is 90 seconds. This creates a unique opportunity to control the surface chemistry of particles.

• Unlike other stirred mills which are vertical, the horizontal configuration of the IsaMill has allowed rapid scale up, with the latest installation a 3MW unit.

References:

1IsaMill overview. IsaMill website.http://www.isamill.com/index.cfm?action=dsp_content&contentID=24