PARTNERING FOR SUCCESS The HRC 3000 was the result of four years of close collaboration between Metso and Freeport-McMoRan
Energy efficiency is the key to success at modern mines and quarries and the most potential for energy and cost savings can be realised in the comminution process, where ore is ground and crushed into smaller particles, say diversified engineering and mining group Metso.
The company’s HRC 3000, which it says is the largest fully operating high-pressure grinding roll (HPGR) in the world, provides an energy efficient solution for the mining industry.
The HRC 3000 is the result of four years of close collaboration between Metso and US-based diversified miner Freeport-McMoRan (FCX).
Metso explains that the goal was to develop a highly efficient HPGR crushing circuit for use at FCX’s newly constructed Metcalf concentrator copper mine, in Morenci, Arizona.
The HRC 3000 started operating at FCX ‘s copper mine in May 2014 and the installed unit allows for fewer lines of equipment, which reduces the amount of ancillary equipment.
“The unit has operated for over 8 400 hours and has crushed more than 34-million tons of porphyry copper ore. Our solution has provided the Morenci mine with several benefits, including an estimated 13.5% increase in energy efficiency over traditional HPGRs based on pilot-scale testing,” Metso states.
The company points out that the HRC 3000 is the first full-scale HPGR to incorporate “revolutionary” design features like the flanged tyre design and the patented arch frame.
Depending on the application, the total capacity of this HPGR can exceed over 5 400 t/h of ore.
“In addition to boosting the equipment’s energy efficiency, our main goal was to innovate and to push the existing boundaries in order to ensure a valuable solution for our customer. “This HPGR is not only a larger-scale version of what was currently available to the market, but also applies technological solutions to overcome some inherent concerns typically associated with traditional HPGRs, including the skewing and edge effect,” Metso HRC HPGRs product manager Victoria Herman concludes.