Glencore Technology has revealed new developments in its IsaMill line that cut costs and fill a gap in its range.

The fine grinding mill has been redesigned to reduce civil infrastructure costs up to 28 per cent.

And a new 1600-2200 kW ‘M7500’ IsaMill has been introduced to sit between the M5000 and the M10000.

Engineering manager Nick van Heerden said the smaller plant configuration had been achieved by lowering the IsaMill by between 2m for an M3000/M5000 and 3m for an M10000.

“Several changes incrementally saved 22-28 per cent of costs to the client through a reduction in steel and concrete,” he said.

For example, the media hopper was moved from under the IsaMill to the side.  Due to the backpressure created from the rotor, it was possible to utilize this to pump media out of the IsaMill during its maintenance shutdown sequence rather than drop it to the hopper below.

And tying the gland and IsaCharger waters directly into the plant water eliminated the need for a separate tanks and their corresponding additional pumps.

Glencore Technology says the new design means that the required mill-and-access footprints of equivalently specified IsaMill and HIG mills are the same, while the IsaMill is roughly a third the height of the HIG mill.

Technology lead Mike Hourn said adding the M7500 to the range was a significant win for operations needing 1600-2200 kW of power but wanting the availability, safety and product consistency of an IsaMill.

“These are huge wins for operations and for engineering firms wanting to specify the best fit,” he said.

“We’ve already installed the smaller configuration in Minsur and Woodlawn. 

“But the new M7500 mill has only just been made available now.  And like all our IsaMills, the M7500 is guaranteed to scale-up with 100 per cent accuracy.  We certainly look forward to installing our first.”