16th IFAC Symposium on Automation in Mining, Mineral

and Metal Processing

August 25-28, 2013. San Diego, California, USA

978-3-902823-42-7/2013 © IFAC 45 10.3182/20130825-4-US-2038.00121

IFAC MMM 2013
August 25-28, 2013. San Diego, USA

models applied to ball mills stated that the stable control of The circulating load calculation shown in equation 2 differs
grinding process has great importance to achieve from the one proposed by Tsakalakis (2000) by combining the
improvements in equipment operation efficiency, for the unit operations efficiencies in a single parameter (pi). The
valuable minerals recovery and significant costs reductions in exact result obtained by the author with the use of
production in concentration. Lestage et alli (2002) showed a monographic can also be obtained by using the equation 2,
supervisory system for real-time milling circuits optimization, eliminating the need of this chart.
where the circulating load was one of the most important
The linearity hypothesis proposed by Meloy (1983) was
configuration parameters of the system and its value was
considered to developed the iterative algorithm proposed,
dependent of operational parameters such as: feed rate, pulp
which assumes that in a separation process there is not
density and particle size distribution of the feed and product.
particle-particle type interactions that may affect the
White et alli (1977) studied algorithms used for data probability of a given particle be selected for an output stream
reconciliation from field measurements with the mass balance of the process. In other words, this hypothesis indicates if the
results. According to the authors a simple algorithm based in feed flow of a given unit operation is doubled or tripled the
the least squares method could be applied to the minimize fraction of particles which possess a given selection feature
errors and should be enough to adjust the real to the will continue the same in each unit operation output stream.
theoretical data. Grinding circuit data had to be reconciled due However, this hypothesis is not real, since an increase in the
to inability to calculate the circulating load of these circuits feed flow will affect the behavior of the operation itself,
with good accuracy. whether it be separation or classification. The adoption of the
linearity hypothesis proposed by Meloy (1983) simplifies the
Complex circuit analysis with data redundancy in mineral
proposed algorithm, since the unit operations partition varies
processing historically requires a wide sampling campaign
linearly with the operation feed. However, any other model
and the use of matrix calculation for each mineral component
that allows the calculation of the unit operations feed partition
present in each considered flow. Wills (1986) demonstrated
can be adopted without any change in the proposed algorithm.
how complex circuits can be solved by transforming the
Jankovic and Valery (2013) correlated the grinding and
productive flowchart in a graph, where each node represents a
classification efficiency with the circulating load in closed
unit operation.
circuit grinding operations. The same authors also showed
The present work shows a low complexity algorithm with that the hydrocyclones classification efficiency does not vary
high convergence speed for circulating load calculation in linearly with the circulating load in this circuit type.
mineral processing closed circuits. The obtained results
The error calculation is given by the difference between the
indicate that the proposed algorithm can be satisfactorily used
circulating load calculated in k-th iteration and the circulating
for circulating load calculation in any closed circuit,
load calculated in iteration (k-1)-th. At the first iteration the
regardless the complexity of the circuit, with low computing
error will be given only by the circulating load calculated on
demand and high convergence speed of the result.
this iteration. At the beginning of each iteration the feed of
each unit operation must be calculated, since they depend on
the circulating load and the flow partition.
2. METHODOLOGY
Figure 2 presents the proposed iterative algorithm for the
2.1. General formulation of the algorithm circulating load calculation in closed circuits. It can be noted
that the iterations are repeated while a preset tolerance limit is
Analyses of many existing mineral processing circuits were not reached. This is because of the solution obtained by this
carried out, observing the behavior of minerals flows through method is not exact, but an approximation of the real solution.
the variations of operating parameters, such as grades, The convergence of the method is provided by calculating the
partitions and metallurgical recovery. From these error, which can be both positive and negative. The Meloy
observations, a correlation between all kinds of circuits was (1983) linearity hypothesis applies here, since at each iteration
established, regardless the complexity level of the circuit. the feed circuit varies, keeping constant the partition of each
Yingling (1990) used a Markov chain to model the mineral unit operations involved.
flow in mining operations. From this work, the conception of
an iterative method for the calculation of the circulating load It stands out that the water flows in a given circuit can be
was thought. At each iteration the circulating load (CL) is calculated using the proposed algorithm without any
calculated using the following equation: additional modification. In this way, the feed flow (fi) to be
used in the algorithm can be a solid, water or pulp flow.
%% L ÃáÜ@5:LÜ ä BÜ ; (2)
2.2 Application of proposed method for grinding circuits

Where fi is the flow (volumetric or mass) which feeds the i-th For analysis and validation of the proposed iterative algorithm
unit operation that contributes directly to the circulating load four circuits with different levels of complexity were tested.
and pi is the flow partition in the same unit operation, All analyzed circuits were built based on actual industrial
calculated according to the unit operation and its operational processes present in mining companies installed in
parameters. The product pi.fi is nothing more than the output Catalão/GO/Brazil in order to be possible the comparison of
stream of the i-th unit operation that contributes directly to the results obtained by the proposed algorithm with the data
circulating load. provided by the companies. The first considered circuit this is

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Table 5 presents the data (recovery and grade) required for the within a preset tolerance limit (here adopted as 5%). So, if the
circulating load calculation of the froth flotation battery solution found is in this tolerance limit, this solution is
shown in figure 6. The results are shown in table 6, as well as adopted as a solution of the Lagrange method which is
a comparison with the results for the mass balance calculated basically an error minimization method, similar to the method
using the Caspeo BILCOTM software, version 3.0, which of the least squares.
uses the Lagrange methodology to calculate mass balances
and it was admitted an error of ± 5% for the mass balance
closure. For a new feed equals to 287.17 t/h the calculated Note that the number of iterations needed to calculate the
circulating load was equal to 97.838 t/h by the iterative circulating load changed in each of the tested circuits. This is
method and 97.833 t/h by BILCO. due to the fact that the method iterates the feed value while
the error converges to zero. Therefore, the smaller the
Table 5. Input data for circulating load calculation of the
circulating load, closer to the solution the adopted initially
forth flotation circuit (figure 6).
value will be and less iteration should be made. In a numerical
Metallurgical sequence of this type, the first approximation of the solution is
Grades
recoveries called seed. The proposed method is analogous to the bisector
Rougher 1 75.79% Roughers feed 8.257% method for algebraic equations root determination. In this
Rougher 2 72.05% Rougher 1 concentrate 18.000% method the number of iterations depends on the amplitude
Scavenger 1 27.91% Rougher 2 concentrate 18.260% between the two extreme points of the considered range. In
Scavenger 2 29.77% Scavenger 1 feed 24.213% the case of the proposed algorithm the number of iterations
Cleaner 77.07% Scavenger 2 feed 27.946% depends on the amplitude between the seed and the solution.

Table 6. Results of the iterative algorithm applied to the 4. CONCLUSION

froth flotation circuit (figure 6).
The proposed iterative algorithm was valid and acceptable in
Iterative relation to the iteration number and convergence speed to
BILCO Difference
algorithm different circuit types and complexities. It is noticed that the
New feed 287.175720 t/h 287.175723 -3.00E-06 iterative method converges faster to the exact solution in froth
flotation circuits than in other circuits. This fact can be proven
97.837758 t/h 97.833147 4.611E-03
Circulating load by examining the iteration number needed spent on each
34.068% 34.06% 0.008 circuit, being the cause of such behavior the fact that the
Iterations 24 ± ± initial solutions (the algorithm seed) in froth flotation circuits
were closer to the exact solutions. For all circuits studied the
Time spent 0.45 s ± ±
results were compared with the results obtained by Caspeo
Rougher 1 feed 192.506739 t/h 192.504435 t/h 2.304E-03 BILCOTM software, version 3.0, and similar results between
Rougher 1 the software and the proposed algorithm were found.
62.722467 t/h 62.719372 t/h 3.095E-03
concentrate The present work shows that the calculation of the circulating
Rougher 1 tailings 129.792810 t/h 129.785063 t/h 7.747E-03 load can be understood as a mathematical function where it is
Rougher 2 feed 192.506739 t/h 192.504435 t/h 2.304E-03 wanted to minimize the error and, therefore, the any errors
Rougher 2 minimization techniques or mathematical optimization can be
66.925493 t/h 66.921965 t/h 3.528E-03 successfully used to calculate the circulating load.
concentrate
Rougher 2 tailings 125.569093 t/h 125.582470 t/h -1.33E-02
Scavenger 1 14.679437 t/h 14.679263 t/h 1.74E-04 5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
concentrate
Scavenger 1 The authors thank financial support from the Brazilian
115.112238 t/h 115.105800 t/h 6.438E-03 agencies CNPq, CAPES, FAPEG and FUNAPE.
tailings
Scavenger 2 13.262072 t/h 13.260988 t/h 1.084E-03
concentrate
Scavenger 2 6. NOMENCLATURE
112.326512 t/h 112.321483 t/h 5.029E-03
tailings C is the flow (mass or volume) of concentrate;
Cleaner feed 129.647861 t/h 129.641337 6.524E-03
F is the flow (mass or volume) entering the system;
Cleaner 59.751602 t/h 59.748441 3.161E-03
concentrate fi is the flow (volumetric or mass) which feeds the i-th unit
Cleaner tailings 69.896259 t/h 69.892896 3.363E-03 operation unit that contributes directly to the circulating load;
fij is the flow (volumetric or mass) of the j-th mineral specie in
the i-th unit operation that directly contributes to the
The difference between the circulating load calculation by the circulating load;
proposed iterative algorithm and the Lagrangean method used
by BILCO is due to the fact that BILCO searches a solution pi is the flow partition in the same unit operation, calculated
according to the unit operation and its operational parameters.

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rij is the metallurgical recovery the j-th mineral specie in the i-

th unit operation;
T is the flow (mass or volume) both coming out of the system;
tinputij is the feed grade of the j-th mineral specie in the i-th unit
operation;
toutputij is the output grade in the considered flow of the j-th
mineral specie in the i-th unit operation.

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FURUYA, M., NAKAJIMA, Y., TANAKA, T. Theoretical

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JANKOVIC, A., VALERY, W. Closed circuit ball mill ±

Basics revisited. Minerals Engineering, v. 43-44, pa. 148-
153, 2013.

LESTAGE, R., POMERLEAU, A., HODOUIN, D.

Constrained real-time optimization of a grinding circuit
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TSAKALAKIS, K. (2000) Use of a simplified method to

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WILLS, B. A. (1986) Complex circuit mass balancing ± A

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