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Minerals
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Recent Advances in Ore Comminution
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Recent Advances in Ore Comminution

A special issue of Minerals (ISSN 2075-163X). This special issue belongs to the section "Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 April 2025) | Viewed by 4196

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Lixia Li

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Resources and Civil Engineering, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, China
Interests: sorting; comminution; mineral liberation; integrated mining and mineral processing
Dr. Lanhao Wang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
State key Laboratory of Coking Coal Resources Green Exploitation, School of Chemical Engineering & Technology, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221000, China
Interests: intelligent control of crushing and grinding; parameter detection and intelligent control of mineral processing
Dr. Jiwei Lu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Resources and Civil Engineering, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, China
Interests: surface modification by comminution; mineral characterization; material physics; solid state physics
Prof. Dr. Daniel Saramak

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Resource Management, AGH University of Science and Technology, Mickiewicza 30 Av., 30-059 Cracow, Poland
Interests: mechanical enrichment; high-pressure comminution; mathematical modeling; optimization of selected operations in mineral processing; effectiveness of beneficiation processes; aggregate processing; economics of mineral processing; environmental footprints of mineral processing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

A comminution process is a material size reduction process that is primarily used in the aggregates and the mineral processing industry. In the mineral processing field, comminution, regularly including crushing and grinding, is one of the first and most significant activities in which the two significant objectives involve the liberation of valuable minerals from gangue minerals and the preparation of particle sizes and mineral surfaces for separation and/or extraction. With orebodies becoming progressively more complex and lower in grade, the mining industry is always seeking to improve productivity and reduce costs. Since comminution is widely acknowledged as the greatest energy consumer in ore-dressing plants, increased attention is being paid to improving the efficiency of highly energy-intensive comminution processes. This Special Issue aims to present the latest cutting-edge advances in the related technologies and practices of ore comminution (for instance, sorting, coarse comminution, fine grinding, high-efficiency classification, circuit design, intelligent control, etc.).

This Special Issue invites submissions that include original academic research and industrial practice so that the reader can readily find information on the current comminution technologies and best practices to evaluate future industry trends. Manuscripts are welcome which discuss topics including, but not limited to:

(1) Innovations in crushing/grinding technologies and practices.

(2) Comminution test development.

(3) Design/optimization of comminution circuits.

(4) Instrumentation/modeling/simulation/intelligent control of comminution operations.

(5) Mine-to-mill optimization.

(6) Sorting technologies.

(7) Efficient classification.

(8) Liberation and breakage.

(9) Innovations and practices in equipment design and spare parts/grinding media material.

(10) Mineral characterization.

This Special Issue seeks to enrich the knowledge of worldwide energy-efficient comminution technologies and best practices, which will be useful to those who are working toward major advances in mining practice.

Prof. Dr. Lixia Li
Dr. Lanhao Wang
Dr. Jiwei Lu
Prof. Dr. Daniel Saramak
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Minerals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • comminution technology
  • energy efficiency
  • sorting
  • comminution circuit design
  • automation control
  • liberation

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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17 pages, 5998 KiB  
Article
Antimony Ore Identification Method for Small Sample X-Ray Images with Random Distribution
by Lanhao Wang, Chen Ding, Hongdong Hu, Hongyan Wang and Wei Dai
Minerals 2025, 15(5), 483; https://doi.org/10.3390/min15050483 - 5 May 2025
Viewed by 224
Abstract
The performance of image processing is crucial for accurately sorting antimony ore, yet several challenges persist. Existing image segmentation methods struggle with X-ray ore images that contain high noise and interference. Additionally, traditional classification methods primarily utilize single physical properties, such as the [...] Read more.
The performance of image processing is crucial for accurately sorting antimony ore, yet several challenges persist. Existing image segmentation methods struggle with X-ray ore images that contain high noise and interference. Additionally, traditional classification methods primarily utilize single physical properties, such as the R-value, leading to low accuracy. To address segmentation issues, this paper proposes an improved method based on concave detection. This involves obtaining a binary image of antimony ore through adaptive threshold segmentation, extracting the ore contour, and detecting concave points using advanced techniques. The influence of interfering concave points is minimized with the three-wire method, while noise points are reduced through morphological operations based on area calculations. This results in accurate segmentation of the adherent antimony ore. For classification, this paper introduces a training method that combines transfer learning with shallow partial initialization. Transfer learning is employed to mitigate the challenges of limited antimony ore datasets when using deep learning models. The pre-trained model is then partially re-initialized according to a tailored strategy. Finally, fine-tuning is performed on the antimony ore dataset to achieve optimal results. Experimental results show that the antimony ore segmentation method proposed in this paper achieves accurate segmentation (96.27% correct segmentation rate). The antimony ore classification model training method proposed in this paper can effectively release some redundant parameters of the pre-training model, and has better classification performance on the target dataset (86.76% accuracy). Both methods are superior to traditional methods. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Ore Comminution)
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22 pages, 7582 KiB  
Article
Computational and Experimental Research on Dense Medium Separation of Low-Grade Spodumene
by Shuli Wang, Jun Wang, Guanzhou Qiu, Li Shen, Rui Liao and Lianjun Wu
Minerals 2025, 15(5), 434; https://doi.org/10.3390/min15050434 - 22 Apr 2025
Viewed by 270
Abstract
Due to the increasing demand for lithium resources, the efficient exploitation and utilization of low-grade hard-rock deposits has become an inevitable trend. This study conducted comprehensive heavy liquid separation (HLS), numerical simulation, and dense medium separation (DMS) tests using a laboratory dense medium [...] Read more.
Due to the increasing demand for lithium resources, the efficient exploitation and utilization of low-grade hard-rock deposits has become an inevitable trend. This study conducted comprehensive heavy liquid separation (HLS), numerical simulation, and dense medium separation (DMS) tests using a laboratory dense medium cyclone (DMC) on a low-grade spodumene ore to demonstrate the potential role of DMS technology in this task. HLS tests verified the feasibility of directly producing qualified concentrate and rejecting waste under different separation densities. A two-stage DMS circuit was then proposed, with the influence of key parameters investigated by numerical simulations using the two-fluid model and dispersed model. The optimized set of structural and operational parameters was finally identified by DMS tests. A continuously operated test conducted on −8 + 0.5 mm ore produced a spodumene concentrate grading 5.68% Li2O with over 80% lithium recovery while rejecting 0.13% Li2O waste to tailings with ~70% disposal rate but only 7.44% lithium losses. The middling with a yield of 12.66% can be further subjected to a traditional grinding-flotation process. The findings underscore the importance of parameter matching in the DMS and demonstrate the application potential of DMS in the development of low-grade spodumene from other hard-rock occurrences. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Ore Comminution)
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17 pages, 3450 KiB  
Article
Research on Optimization of Lifter of an SAG Mill Based on DEM Simulation and Orthogonal Tests and Applications
by Guobin Wang, Qingfei Xiao, Xiaojiang Wang, Yunxiao Li, Saizhen Jin, Mengtao Wang, Yunfeng Shao, Qian Zhang, Yingjie Pei and Ruitao Liu
Minerals 2025, 15(2), 193; https://doi.org/10.3390/min15020193 - 19 Feb 2025
Viewed by 441
Abstract
The unreasonable parameters of mill liner lifter bars will not only decrease the operating rate of the mill and increase electricity consumption but, also, seriously restrict the production capacity of the mill. Therefore, optimizing the parameters of liner lifter bars is helpful to [...] Read more.
The unreasonable parameters of mill liner lifter bars will not only decrease the operating rate of the mill and increase electricity consumption but, also, seriously restrict the production capacity of the mill. Therefore, optimizing the parameters of liner lifter bars is helpful to save energy, improve its production capacity, and increase benefits for enterprises. Given the unreasonable parameters of the lifter bars of the semi-autogenous grinding (SAG) mill in a beneficiation plant in Yunnan (China), the distinct element method (DEM) with orthogonal tests was used to conduct simulation, the simulation results demonstrating that the three parameters all had significant influence on the collision energy, with the order of group numbers > angles > heights by the analysis of range and variance, and the optimal parameters combination, with angles of 20°, groups of 12, and heights of 210 mm, was obtained. Then, the lifer bars optimized were applied in industrial tests to verify their effect, and the results illustrated that all of the service life of lifter bars, the operating rate, production capacity, and electricity consumption were significantly improved at 159 days, 92.32%, 54.37 t/h, and 21.45 kW·h/t, respectively. This paper proposes a reference for the similar design and optimization of lifter bars for the other beneficiation plants. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Ore Comminution)
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14 pages, 2534 KiB  
Article
Effect of Different Crushing Methods on Chalcopyrite Liberation and Heavy Media Preconcentration
by Jian Xu, Hailiang Wang, Chunqing Gao, Lin Zhang, Hanxu Yang, Mingyu Sai, Jun Hu, Qiuju Huang and Hongzhen Luo
Minerals 2025, 15(2), 179; https://doi.org/10.3390/min15020179 - 14 Feb 2025
Viewed by 541
Abstract
In order to find a short, economically feasible process for chalcopyrite preconcentration and to provide a reference for the preconcentration of similar copper sulfide ores, the particle size characteristics of the crushed products from a high-pressure grinding roller (HPGR) and jaw crusher (JC) [...] Read more.
In order to find a short, economically feasible process for chalcopyrite preconcentration and to provide a reference for the preconcentration of similar copper sulfide ores, the particle size characteristics of the crushed products from a high-pressure grinding roller (HPGR) and jaw crusher (JC) were analyzed, as well as the liberation degree and fracture characteristics of the chalcopyrite. The float–sink test (FST) was carried out on the crushed products, and the effects of the two crushing methods on the FSTs of the crushed products were compared. The research results show that at the same crushing fineness, the chalcopyrite liberation in HPGR products can be enhanced by 14%~18% compared with the JC. The single-particle crushing of the JC tends to produce intergranular fracturing of chalcopyrite, while the lamination crushing of the HPGR produces more transgranular fracturing of chalcopyrite; the chalcopyrite in the −5 + 0.5 mm size fraction mainly produces intergranular fracturing, and the chalcopyrite in the −0.5 mm size fraction mainly produces transgranular fracturing. The FST results show that heavy media preconcentration was suitable for chalcopyrite, and, in the optimal conditions of a size fraction of −3 + 0.5 mm and separation density of 2.55 g/cm3, the grade and distribution rate of Cu in the sinks obtained by HPGR-FST were 0.35% and 89.86%, respectively, and the floats yield was 24.76%, with a better enrichment of sinks and higher floats yields, which was better when compared with that of the JC-FST. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Ore Comminution)
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Review

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16 pages, 665 KiB  
Review
Methods for Estimating the Bond Work Index for Ball Mills
by Vladimir Nikolić, Paula Sanchez Ferradal, Jesús Medina Pierres, Juan M. Menéndez-Aguado and Milan Trumić
Minerals 2024, 14(12), 1264; https://doi.org/10.3390/min14121264 - 12 Dec 2024
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2055
Abstract
Mining is a crucial sector in the global economy, providing essential materials for various industries, including construction, electronics, and energy. However, traditional mining practices often have significant negative impacts on the environment. Therefore, integrating sustainable practices into mining has become vital. Grinding is [...] Read more.
Mining is a crucial sector in the global economy, providing essential materials for various industries, including construction, electronics, and energy. However, traditional mining practices often have significant negative impacts on the environment. Therefore, integrating sustainable practices into mining has become vital. Grinding is a crucial stage in the mineral processing industry, essential in liberating valuable minerals from ore. However, it is also one of the most energy-intensive processes in mining operations, consuming a substantial amount of electricity. Understanding and optimising electricity consumption in the grinding process is essential for enhancing energy efficiency and reducing operational costs. The relationship between electricity consumption in the grinding process and the Bond Work Index (BWI) is a crucial aspect of mineral processing and energy management in the mining industry. Understanding this relationship helps optimise grinding operations and improve energy efficiency. This review paper continues a previous work, where possible alternative modified methods for estimating the BWI in a Bond ball mill are presented. An analysis of selected methods is also provided to assess and obtain an accurate value of the BWI, which is essential in the grinding process. The methods for estimating the BWI using the wet method are presented. It is shown how the BWI can be estimated using dynamic elastic parameters and how changes in the Bond ball mill affect the BWI value. New equations for calculating the BWI and alternative procedures for evaluating the BWI in samples of non-standard size are proposed. The paper presents a comparative analysis of all presented methods. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Ore Comminution)
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