A new high intensity grinding technology has been developed and is now being commercialized by Hicom International of Australia. The design of the Hicom mill is unique. Based on a high speed centrifugal motion of the grinding chamber, very high power intensity is delivered to the grinding process. After a number of years of design and testing, two commercial mills are now in operation in South Africa and the northwest territories of canada.
A new high intensity grinding technology has been developed and is now being commercialized by Hicom International of Australia. The design of the Hicom mill is unique. Based on a high speed centrifugal motion of the grinding chamber, very high power intensity is delivered to the grinding process. After a number of years of design and testing, two commercial mills are now in operation in South Africa and the northwest territories of canada.
A new high intensity grinding technology has been developed and is now being commercialized by Hicom International of Australia. The design of the Hicom mill is unique. Based on a high speed centrifugal motion of the grinding chamber, very high power intensity is delivered to the grinding process. After a number of years of design and testing, two commercial mills are now in operation in South Africa and the northwest territories of canada.
March 1-3, 1999, Denver, Colorado Preprint 99-115 THE DEVELOPMENT AND COMMERCIALIZATION OF THE HICOM HIGH INTENSITY GRINDING MILL T. A. E. Breen Hicom Intl. Pty. Ltd. Sydney, NSW, Australia ABSTRACT A new high intensity grinding technology has been developed and is now being commercialized by Hicom International of Australia. This has led to the development and manufacture of Hicom 120 grinding mills which are now being sold internationally for a range of mining industry applications. The first commercial process application has been for the diamond sector, where the ability of the mill to remove host kimberlite rock by attritioning, with no damage to the thereby liberated diamonds, is seen to be a most beneficial attribute. There are, however, many other mineral industry applications for this mill. The design of the Hicom mill is unique. Based on a high speed centrifugal motion of the grinding chamber, very high power intensity is delivered to the grinding process. Most significantly, a high acceleration field, 50 times stronger than gravity is produced, creating very high power input per unit of mill volume, and exceptionally fast particle breakage rates, typically 50 - 100 times greater than those in conventional tumbling mills. A mill developing such forces has significant implications to comminution technology and practice. Hicom high intensity grinding mills are now available to the mining industry for evaluation and purchase. After a number of years of design and testing, two commercial mills are now in operation. The first is in South Africa, and for over 2 years this mill has been processing diamond bearing marine gravel. The second mill is in the Northwest Territories of Canada, at BHP's Ekati Diamond Mine. The mill was purchased by BHP and commissioned in October, 1998. It selectively grinds away the kimberlite in a DMS concentrate stream, thereby reducing by some 50% - 60% of the mass of material requiring treatment in downstream x-ray sorting plant. The important quality that characterizes the Hicom mill in this application is its ability to liberate any diamonds present in the feed, without damage to them. There are several other mineral process applications for which the Hicom mill has been designed, including the fine grinding of ores, mineral concentrates, and industrial minerals. This paper will describe the technology and construction of the mill, examine its commercial applications and development to date, and provide details on the mobile demonstration Hicom mills now available for on-site performance trials by the mineral process industry. INTRODUCTION History & Current Status of Development Charles Warman - Inventor of the Hicom Mill: The Hicom mill was originally conceived and designed by Charles Warman, the founder of the C H Warman Group, of which Hicom International is a part. Dr. Warman is best known for the invention and commercial development of the Warman slurry pump while working as a young mining engineer on the Kalgoorlie gold fields of Western Australia over 50 years ago. Charles Warman's aim was to create from centrifugal milling theory a mill that was eminently practical and cost effective and which solved the problems associated with previous (and subsequently unsuccessful) attempts to design a mill utilizing high speed centrifugal forces. The Hicom mill has been developed as a progression from centrifugal or planetary mills. These earlier mills, when used in a continuous mode of operation, had to cope with unmanageable and awkward feeding and discharge arrangements. Over the past decade the original concepts of Charles Warman grew into prototypes and then pilot plants, and in Copyright 1999 by SME 2 the last few years have commercially matured into the Hicom high intensity grinding mill (sometimes referred to as the "nutating" mill). The mill is patented in 60 countries. Recent Developments: The current model, the 110 kW Hicom 120 Mill, although at present of relatively small capacity, with an output typically of between 5 and 15 tph, is the precursor of a series of larger mills now at design stage. These will have a power requirement of up to 1 megawatt, (ten times that of the current model) and be capable of production in the order of 100 tph - 150 tph. The tradition of innovative design and engineering excellence which characterized the design and development of the Warman slurry pump, can also be seen in the design of the Hicom high intensity grinding mill. The development and manufacture of Hicom Mills are being undertaken by Hicom International Pty. Limited, the C H Warman Group's mill division, at the company's headquarters in Sydney, Australia. A significant amount of research and development and application of Hicom technology has also emanated from the Group's operation in South Africa, a geographic factor that goes some way to explain the initial uptake of Hicom technology by the diamond sector of the mining industry. In 1995 the first commercial project that incorporated a Hicom mill in its flow sheet came out of the consulting offices of Bateman, the Johannesburg based minerals process engineers. A Hicom 120 mill was to be incorporated in the diamond recovery plant then being designed and built for diamond producer Alexkor Limited, at Alexander Bay on South Africa's west coast. This mill selectively removes and mills to a slurry substantial amounts of shell and shale which occurs in the marine gravel and dense medium separation (DMS) diamond concentrates treated by Alexkor, prior to x-ray separation of the diamonds. This Hicom mill was commissioned the following year, and in the ensuing period has been operating effectively and performing above its design expectations. Figure 1: Mill Drawing Hicom 120 High Intensity Grinding Mill, Cut-away view Copyright 1999 by SME 3 After an extensive assessment and test milling program by BHP Minerals, the second Hicom 120 mill sold into the diamond sector was commissioned by BHP in September 1998 at its newly developed Ekati diamond mine located just south of the Arctic Circle in Canada's Northwest Territories. The function of the Hicom mill in BHP's state of the art diamond recovery plant is to reduce the bulk of diamond concentrate reporting to the x-ray recovery plant. This is achieved by the selective grinding by the Hicom mill of the kimberlite, a process which liberates additional diamonds from the ore, without any diamond damage. Hicom mills are presently being included in the flow sheets of several planned diamond recovery plants, now at the feasibility stage. These mills are scheduled for supply to diamond projects being developed by leading mining companies in Canada and in South Africa over the next few years. Having quickly established a successful bridgehead into the diamond sector, Hicom International is now turning to more mainstream applications for the mill in the precious and base metals sectors, as well as for the milling of fine and ultra fine industrial minerals. R & D and New Model Development: Current research and development by Hicom International is focussed on two main areas. The first is for optimization of wet and dry milling processes for fine and ultra-fine grinding. The second is to finalize the design and to commence manufacture of prototype 350 kW and 1,000 kW Hicom mills, with a target to have commercial models of these mills available for sale in 2000. DESIGN FEATURES Configuration & Motion of the Grinding Chamber Reference to Figure 1 shows that the grinding chamber of the Hicom mill is a truncated cone with a roughly hemispherical base, and a vertical axis of symmetry. It consists of two corrosion-resistant stainless steel castings bolted to form a thin-walled shell, which contains the replaceable wear-liners. The chamber axis 'nutates' about a fixed nutation point defined by the main bearing, the motion being similar to that of a conical pendulum, in which the top is fixed and the bottom describes a circle, as is shown in Figure 2. {"Nutate" means to nod or oscillate in a manner akin to that of the earth's axis). The motion of the chamber is akin to one swirling a conical flask with one's wrist. Figure 2: Nutation Schematic Diagram of Grinding Chamber Motion There is no critical speed of the tumbling charge in Hicom mills -they can be operated at any speed, limited only by the mechanical strength of the drive. Power Density The magnitude of the acceleration field in which the mill contents tumbles varies with the square of the grinding chamber speed, while the power input varies with the cube of the speed. Typical design values of maximum acceleration intensity for Hicom mills are in the range 40-50g, giving power densities up to about 2,500 kW per m 3 of mill volume. This compares with power densities of 300 kW per m 3 of mill volume for stirred mills and 30 kW per m 3 of mill volume for conventional ball mills. Put another way, this means that the power density of the Hicom mill is around 8 times that of a stirred mill and over 80 times that of a conventional ball mill. Copyright 1999 by SME 4 As a first approximation, the load behavior in the grinding chamber of the Hicom mill is similar to that in centrifugal mills. However, there is a net downwards acceleration in the Hicom milling chamber which has the effect of pumping the slurry through the chamber in approximately plug flow. Short mill residence times can be achieved, and in some applications this can improve grinding efficiencies, by limiting over-grinding. The grinding action in Hicom mills is predominantly achieved by attrition, rather than by impact. Operation of the mill shows that the high intensity of the grinding action results in very rapid particle breakage rates. For example at a mill speed of 1960 rpm, quartz feed material was reduced from d8O - 70 um to powder with a d80 5 m in just 98 seconds in batch grinding tests. Nutator & Drive Mechanism The key to the high performance, mechanical efficiency, compactness and durability of the Hicom drive mechanism is a patented nutating bearing which suspends the grinding chamber. This bearing, developed by Hicom International specifically for the Hicom mill, provides long service life at the loads and operating speeds required. The nutating bearing is analogous to a disk which rolls between fixed upper and lower surfaces. The nutating bearing has just a single moving part, and is self-compensating for wear. The nutating drive is backed by many years of research and development in design optimization, materials selection and endurance testing. Other Design Features of the Mill The Hicom 120 Mill features modular construction comprising the body, nutating assembly, transmission, services unit, grinding chamber and control cabinet. The body is a robust casting which serves both as a structural element supporting the nutating assembly and as ballast to counteract the inertial forces of the nutating assembly (Refer Figure 1). The body fully encloses the grinding chamber and is equipped with a door for maintenance access. The nutating assembly is bolted rigidly on top of the body and the whole assembly is isolated from the supporting structure by vibration mounts. Process material is gravity fed from a hopper or flexible feed-tube that can be bolted on top of the nutator housing. In wet grinding, upon exiting the grinding chamber, the product discharges as slurry via a chute through the lower section of the mill body. The mill is directly driven by an electric motor mounted beneath it. A services pack which provides lubrication, filtration and cooling, air and instrumentation is housed in a freestanding enclosure directly beside the mill. Operation of the mill is controlled by a programmable logic controller (PLC) which sequences start-up and shutdown, and monitors for possible fault conditions. The PLC indicates mill status to the operator via a programmed message display. Hicom mills can operate with a charge of steel balls or other media, or alternatively, with an autogenous charge of ore. Autogenous feed sizes up to 80 mm can be accepted. Thus the mills are extremely versatile, and can be used for a wide range of mineral processing and industrial grinding duties, wet or dry, in open or closed circuit, as well as in batch mode for smaller mills. Hicom mills are particularly suited to energy-efficient fine grinding, in the 10 m product size range, and finer. The Hicom 120 mill is a very compact unit, a reflection of the high power density and small mill volume inherent in its design. (Refer Figure 3) Its footprint is a mere 1.26 m wide x 2.62 m long with a height of 2.28 m (including motor: of 3.53 m). The larger capacity units now being developed will also reflect the same relative compactness a characteristic which means that installation costs of Hicom mills and related civil engineering costs are very low, compared to those of other mill installations. Liner replacement is a fast, simple procedure that can be performed in minutes. Using the loading arm accessory, the front half of the chamber shell detaches complete with the worn liner and a replacement liner assembly is bolted in, with minimal process downtime, typically less than 30 minutes per liner change. Wear-liners have been designed with great emphasis on maximizing wear-life. All parts of the mill exposed to abrasion are protected with wear-resistant materials. Testing During the design stage, all critical mechanical elements in the mill have been subjected to extensive Finite Element Analysis studies and subsequently verified by endurance and load testing. Quality checking to fine tolerances and non-destructive testing procedures are applied throughout each stage of manufacture. Model Sizes The current operating model is the Hicom 120. This can be supplied in two configurations: (1) The Hicom 120/30 has a 30 liter grinding chamber and is driven by a 55 kW motor Copyright 1999 by SME 5 (2) The Hicom 120/60 has a 60 liter grinding chamber and is driven b a 110 kW motor Units can be supplied as wet or dry processors, with Variable Speed Drive as an option. APPLICATIONS Hicom high intensity grinding technology is not designed to replace standard ball or SAG milling for general mineral process duties. The Hicom mill is specialized and highly designed equipment focussed on applications that are outside the day to day range of standard milling plant. In essence these include: Wet or dry grinding to product sizes below 45 m Wet or dry fine and ultra-fine grinding to below 10 m Diamond liberation Special attritioning duties Shipboard, mobile and underground installations Special coarse particle reduction (from - 60 mm) Fine Milling of Hard Ores to - 10 m Conventional mills become progressively less efficient at product sizes below about 75 m especially when grinding hard ores such as quartzites and pyrite. Hicom mills remain efficient at fine product sizes down to at least 10 m with these ores. With the ability to vary the grinding intensity and to make effective use of small grinding media, the Hicom mill operation can be optimized for maximum grinding efficiency. In recent batch mill performance tests for the fine grinding of a West Australian telluride-pyritic gold ore, Hicom milling produced a d90 10 micron product from a 60 micron feed using 74 kW hours/tonne. This power draw compares favorably with the results obtained for fine grinding the same ore in tower mills and sand mills. Pilot plant tests in closed circuit with a hydrocyclone classifier are planned and these are expected to result in further improvements in grinding efficiency. Fine Milling of Industrial Minerals to -2 m The milling of industrial minerals, wet or dry, to between 10 m and 2 m and finer in some instances, with economic power usage, is an application for which Hicom mills are designed. Special liners and grinding media are available to suit iron-free and other specific end-product requirements. Ongoing mill performance testing is being carried out and assessed on a range of industrial minerals, milled to fine and ultra-fine products. Autogenous "critical size" pebble reduction "Critical size" pebbles, typically 25 mm - 60 mm, often accumulate in conventional autogenous mills and SAG mills, reducing the efficiency of the milling circuit. This critical size material may be removed from the primary mill, crushed to coarse sand, and fed to the secondary ball mill circuit for further grinding. As an alternative to crushing, the critical size pebbles can be reduced to a fine product in a single step by processing them in a Hicom mill operating autogenously in open circuit (Hoyer, 1996). The result is an increase in circuit capacity by relieving the load on the downstream grinding mill. Pilot plant performance tests comparing the power draw required to remove critical size quartz (1) by using a cone crusher and (2) by using a Hicom mill have shown that the latter reduces power draw in this particular instance by 9.8%. (Hoyer, 1996) The pilot plant data was scaled up and extrapolated using computer simulation to provide the following results. In this exercise a SAG mill was producing 66 tph of milled ore. This was screened over a 7.5 mm screen, and the re- circulating load in the mill of the coarse oversize fraction consisting of - 43 mm "critical size" pebbles, was fed to a 13 kW crusher at the rate of 13 tph. This reduced the pebbles, directing the crushed product to a ball mill. The ball mill was also being fed the screened undersize material (-750 m) at 53 tph and drew 1160 kW of power to produce the required -75 m product. Thus there was a total power draw of 1173 kW for the crusher and the ball mill. In the alternative scheme, a Hicom mill, replacing the crusher, was installed after the ball mill. With the same stream of oversize feed being fed directly to the Hicom mill, and the undersize from the screen being fed to the ball mill, as before. The ball mill drew 895 kW power, and the Hicom mill used 173 kW, a total power draw of 1068 kW. These tests indicate that in this particular application, installation of a Hicom mill would remove the critical size pebbles at a power saving of almost 10% compared to using a crusher for this purpose. Diamond liberation Hicom mills have the now proven capability for the autogenous size reduction of diamond bearing materials, without causing damage to diamonds in the feed (Hoyer, 1996). Specific problems associated with diamondiferous Copyright 1999 by SME 6 Figure 3: Hicom 120 Mill Dimensions Copyright 1999 by SME 7 marine and alluvial gravels, such as seashells, are effectively eliminated. Hicom mills selectively reduce the stream volume of dense medium separation concentrates by up to 60%, reducing capital outlays on costly downstream x-ray sorting equipment, and also significantly reducing ferro-silicon losses in DMS plants, by releasing it - and sometimes diamonds - from entrapment in seashells. In processing diamond ores, the Hicom mill can be run in open circuit at high throughput, with specially configured discharge ports in the grinding chamber. Residence time is adequate for the complete attrition of the kimberlite, resulting in total diamond liberation but with no measurable damage to the diamonds. Minimal energy is expended on the grinding of the harder barren material. Current installations of Hicom mills in diamond liberation plants place the mill after the DMS plant, where they typically reduce -6mm diamond concentrates to finer than 1 mm material. This placement and application of the mill in such flow sheet configurations is partly due to the relatively small throughput of the Hicom mills at present, limiting them to more concentrated and smaller product streams. When Hicom mills of higher capacity are available, there is good reason to believe they will be able to be installed further up the flow sheet, immediately after the secondary crushers, producing feed for DMS plants. In alluvial and marine diamond operations, Hicom mills would be able to take directly as raw feed the untreated alluvial or marine gravel, and reduce it to -20 mm + 2 mm feed for DMS concentration. Attritioning & Scrubbing The high intensity grinding action of Hicom mills enables fast and effective scrubbing and attritioning of the material being milled. Thus deleterious coatings on mineral particles can be effectively removed, as can other contaminants such as clays. The Hicom 120 mill will accept up to 65 mm size feed, when using grinding media. An example of this property of Hicom mills includes the removal during attritioning of DMS concentrate of a film that often coats alluvial or marine diamonds, which if not removed makes them considerably less able to fluoresce during x-ray sorting, resulting in product losses. The mill has also proven to be effective in removing an iron enriched "ferrocrete" material, which in some mineral sand deposits is cemented around potentially valuable heavy mineral product, making it uneconomic to process. The high speed attritioning of this material in a Hicom mill rapidly converts the rock-like cement to slurry, thus liberating the heavy minerals entrapped within. The Hicom mill may also be able to utilize its selective milling capability to separate by attritioning other deleterious or unwanted minerals from certain mineral concentrates, thereby upgrading the end product. Tests are in progress to enable a better understanding of the mill's capabilities in this regard. Shipboard Plant Installations Due to the compact design and the high intensity of grinding forces deployed in their small mill volume, Hicom mills are ideal for shipboard installations such as in the offshore marine diamond industry in Southern Africa. It is anticipated that within the next 2 years several Hicom mills will be deployed on ocean going diamond marine mining vessels working the diamond concessions off the Atlantic Ocean coastline of South Africa and Namibia. Underground Milling and Mine Backfill Production The compact design and high intensity grinding properties of Hicom mills provide them with significant potential for underground installations, both for the milling of ores and the production of backfill. Hicom International has commenced test work in collaboration with the Mining Technology Division of South Africa's CSIR in examining the capability of Hicom mills to cost effectively produce backfill. Initial results indicate the mills have significant potential in this regard, with the capacity to produce a material with the required particle size distribution for a suitable paste backfill. ORE TESTING FACILITIES Hicom International operates a range of pilot plants and laboratory mills at its R & D facilities in Sydney and Johannesburg, as well as full size production units for test work on clients' specific materials. Technical advice and plant design recommendations are available to assist in establishing process design requirements. Specially developed process simulation tools enable reliable Hicom scale-up, optimization analysis and flow sheet development. Containerized Demonstration Plants The Company has built one fully equipped, containerized, mobile Hicom 120 plant for on-site testing at client locations. Figure 4 provides a drawing of front and side elevations of this plant. Other mobile plants are currently under construction. Copyright 1999 by SME 8 These mills can be deployed anywhere in the world for demonstration, performance testing, and equipment selection comparisons or for specific processing campaigns. The Hicom 120 containerised plant comprises two x twenty foot shipping containers. On the first are installed the Hicom 120 mill and drive motor, a sump pump and hopper, and a fixed-speed feed conveyor and comprehensive instrumentation to enable steady state operation of the grinding process in open circuit mode. The second container accommodates the Variable Speed Drives (VSD) for control of mill and sump pump motors, and the mill operator control panel. Two drawings showing separate elevations of the mill container are provided in Figure 4. Container Plant Description: The mill, 110 kW drive motor and all process equipment and instrumentation are mounted on one twenty foot open shipping container. Once installed on site, the container sits on legs 1.5m above ground level to allow room for the drive motor and sump pump and hopper underneath the container. During transshipment, the support legs, the conveyor and its stand and hopper, the sump pump and hopper, and the access stairway are stored onboard the container. The drive motor, mounted on a specially designed bracket swings up and is secured in the container as well. These arrangements facilitate rapid and convenient field deployment. The operator controls and the electrical supply equipment are installed in an air-conditioned, insulated shipping container that serves as a control room and site office for field operations. Equipment in the control container includes a 110 kW Variable Speed Drive (VSD) for the mill, a 7.5 kW VSD for the sump pump, three phase and single phase power distribution boards, a Siemens OP27 control panel and a Desktop Computer. A Siemens PLC that is part of the mill services pack controls both the mill and process plant operation. All instruments on the open container terminate in locally mounted PLC modules, and communication between the PLC on the mill container and the control station in the control room is by Siemens Profibus protocol. The only connections between the two containers are the two VSD output cables to the mill and sump pump, a three-phase power cable, a single-phase power cable for floodlights and a single Profibus cable. This arrangement ensures simple on-site electrical installation. In open circuit operation, dry solids feed is supplied from the host plant by a vibrating feeder or weigh conveyor and is transported into the Hicom 120 mill by the feed conveyor that is part of the containerized plant equipment. Water is added into the mill feed hopper to control the pulp solids concentration in the mill, and into the mill body or the sump Figure 4: Hicom 120 Containerised Demonstration Plant, side and front elevations Copyright 1999 by SME 9 pump to assist the transport of thick slurry out of the mill. The milled product is returned to the host plant by the sump pump. Process Monitoring and Control: The Hicom 120 mill operation is monitored and controlled from the OP27 panel that interfaces with the PLC. A Siemens WinCC Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) system on the desktop computer monitor the process plant operation. This facilitates data logging and also remote access from elsewhere on the host plant, or even from offsite locations. By this means, the Hicom 120 plant can be run as a stand-alone test facility, or integrated into an existing plant operation for long-term process trials. Mill feed water addition is monitored on a magnetic flow meter (FM01) and adjusted by a control valve (CV01) to regulate the concentration of solids in the grinding chamber. A similar control valve and flow meter combination (CV02, FM02) is used to set the rate of water addition into the mill body sprays or mill sump. The sump level is monitored by a pressure transmitter (PT01) via a water-purged dip tube, and controlled by adjusting the speed of the sump pump (PU01). This measure prevents the pump operating in snoring duty, thereby ensuring bubble-free flow. The accurate measurement of product flow rate (FM03) and density is provided by the nuclear density gauge (DG01) fitted onto the slurry discharge pipe. Measurement of product flow rate and density enables calculation of mass flow of solids through the mill and hence the calculation of specific grinding energy. FUTURE DIRECTIONS Ongoing Mill Performance Test Work One of the main areas of immediate focus for Hicom International is to provide mining and minerals process companies that are planning green-fields projects, plant expansions or mill upgrades the opportunity to determine the cost effectiveness of Hicom mills for their proposed milling duties. In the first instance this can be achieved by the minerals company sending approximately one kg samples of feed material to the R & D division of Hicom International in Sydney for pilot scale mill performance appraisal. In this way the cost effectiveness of the Hicom mill can be assessed for specific grinding duties in proposed projects and plant upgrades. Completion of additional containerised demonstration mills The completion of several additional containerized demonstration Hicom mills later in 1999 will facilitate the ease with which the mining industry can further assess the performance of Hicom mills, especially in fine grinding applications. Fast-tracking the manufacture of higher throughput mills Plans are well advanced for the final design, manufacture and testing of 350 kW and 1,000 kW high intensity grinding mills, with the aim to have them available during the year 2000 - 2001. The advent of these significantly higher throughput models will provide the mineral process industry the opportunity to apply Hicom comminution technology to a greater number of projects, than is the case with the existing 55 kW and 110 kW models. It is expected that this will lead to the sale of an increasing number of Hicom mills into the gold, nickel, platinum, copper and industrial minerals process sectors during the next few years. Consolidation of international sales offices and manufacturing expansion At present Hicom International operates from sales bases in Australia, Canada, France, South Africa, and the UK. An office in the USA is planned for 1999. Mill manufacture at present is in Sydney, and international manufacturing expansion will take place as demand builds from the various market sectors that have been discussed in this paper. Summary Conclusion Sufficient research and industry work has been undertaken by Hicom International to demonstrate some of the benefits of high intensity grinding in the Hicom mill. The development of the mill so far indicates that there is potential for many of the quite unique characteristics of the mill to be translated into economic and technical benefits to many sectors of the mining industry. The development of this potential will be the Company's continuing focus in the years to come. REFERENCES For much of its technical focus and description, this paper relies on a considerable body of work previously undertaken and published by J. M. Boyes and D. I. Hoyer. The two main published works from which such references are drawn are listed below. Hoyer D.I. and Boyes J.M., 1994, "High intensity fine and ultrafine grinding in the Hicom mill" - Journal of the Xvth CMMI Congress, Johannesburg, Vol. 2 pp 435-441. Hoyer D.I., 1996, "High intensity size reduction in the Hicom mill", Chemica '96, Comminution Workshop Forum, Centre for Minerals Engineering, University of NSW, Sydney.
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