Financial aspects of comminution in beneficiation plant
The cost of comminution operations is typically a very significant proportion of the total cost for mineral processing. Comminution costs are conveniently divided into two parts: Capital costs (the original cost of equipment and its installation) and operating costs (the day-to-day costs associated with power, wear parts, maintenance, and labor provided by operators). Typical capital costs are shown in Tables 1 and 2 for a copper ore and an iron ore processing operation, respectively. The total investment cost for the copper crushing and grinding plant is about $48.8 million. The total investment cost for the iron ore crushing and grinding plant is about $54.2 million. It should be kept in mind that the hardness of these two ore types differ by 113% and that the final product size of each is different. Copper ore product size required for flotation is about 80% passing 100 mesh, whereas the iron ore size required for making iron ore pellets is approximately 80% passi...