Support for Chair in Comminution (67)

Project Status: Complete
Project Participants: BHP Billiton, University of Queensland
Project Leader: Malcolm Powell (University of Queensland)

For a significant research effort on one of the industry’s most important processes, top class leadership is required to realise the full potential of the Energy Efficient Liberation and Comminution Program (probably the largest effort on this topic worldwide). CSRP’s Governing Board encouraged the appointment of a professional research fellow to lead the Comminution Program and provide oversight and ensure the maximum benefits to the sponsors and the industry as a whole. This culminated with the appointment of Professor Malcolm Powell as the inaugural Alban Lynch Chair in Sustainable Comminution based at the University of Queensland.

Several projects were developed within CSRP to link areas of research and to take advantage of positive findings that have arisen from CSRP projects. These focussed on energy efficient circuits through adapting existing circuit equipment and expanding circuits in novel manners.

There were several areas of activity during 2009/10:

Three new staff members were involved in CSRP's project work and Dr Simon Michaux was mentored to take over the mineral processing comminution undergraduate course at the University of Queensland. A visiting student and two vacation students were supervised in core projects and one of the previous students, Tom Perkins, later joined the CSRP staff as a researcher.

Prof Malcolm Powell provided general leadership in the comminution and sustainability areas, with a leadership/guidance role in over 20 sub-projects and extensive input into continuing programs that build on CSRP's outputs:

• Site work on linking mill performance to mill liner profile and on modelling the wear of mill liners.
• A number of weeks were spent on Australian and international mine sites delivering training on process control and optimisation, conducting practical site demonstrations – such as operating the mills over extended periods – collecting data for and developing improved process optimisation techniques.
• Supervised work on human interface control was aimed at improving the operation at the working face of mine sites – it is the operators who have the influence of actual operating efficiency.
• The construction of an abrasion testing mill has been completed and the testing of five ore types collected from associated full-scale survey work will be commencing shortly.
• Leader of the AMIRA P9O comminution research program.
• Co-supervising a student and postdoctoral fellow through the links developed within the Sustainable Minerals Institute at the University of Queensland.
• Technical advisor for the Comminution 2010 conference in Cape Town, attracting the largest conference attendance ever.
• Guest editor for the 2010 comminution special edition for the Minerals Engineering Journal – the world's highest ranked minerals processing journal.

For the third year, the topic of comminution was promoted through running an interactive practical course at the University of Queensland that utilised a wide range of equipment, with input from a range of expert JKMRC personnel, at the JKMRC pilot facilities.

Progress is being made in linking sustainability measures with plant operation through the project conducted by the University of Queensland research student, Daniel Tuazon. This has formed a first test case study that is demonstrating the gap between company policy and application in operations. Positive outcomes are arising from utilising sustainability measures to enhance profitability while addressing environmental and social issues.

Various publications on energy efficient and water efficient circuits were produced under this project, with over 12 publications in 2009/10.

Prof Powell was chair of the Sustainable Minerals Institute research committee and a member of the University of Queensland research committee. He was an invited plenary speaker at the European Comminution and Classification Symposium held in Helsinki, Finland during September 2009; and was involved in re-establishing the International Comminution Research Association (ICRA) and then
elected as the international chairman. Prof Powell was appointed to the steering committee of Positron Emission Particle Tracking (PEPT) facility in Cape Town and was organiser of the highly successful ICRA workshop on PEPT, held in Cape Town in April 2010.