JKTech Operations Manager Bevin Wong and Process Specialist Tim Vizcarra have presented papers at the AusIMM's flagship mineral processing conference, Mill Operators' Conference 2018, in Brisbane.
The conference, which marked its 40th year with a new record of almost 600 attendees, aimed to promote the sharing of knowledge in operating practices for mineral processing plants, including extractive metallurgy, process control and environmental issues.
The conference themes included: automation and control; comminution; downstream processing; emerging technologies; flotation; operation updates; preconcentration; and unit processes in comminution.
Bevin Wong presented his paper entitled What Category Cyclone is Devastating Your Plant? This outlined case studies and experiences drawn from recent projects in which hydrocyclones were found to be bottlenecking plant performance. The resulting discussion held true to the conference theme, Back to Basics¸ which drilled in the importance of cyclone maintenance, control, auditing with plant surveys and regular inspections.
The lucky, final speaker of the conference, JKTech’s Process Specialist, Tim Vizcarra, presented his paper, Getting the most from existing processes: Using cleverly-designed experiments to optimise the line 3 AG mill at Boyne Smelters Limited. This detailed the use of sophisticated experimental design to overcome a lack of historical data and tight budgetary constraints to improve the performance of Boyne Smelters’ dry, open-circuit AG mill. Feedback was extremely positive with one plant metallurgist commenting, “It was a bit of an eye-opener for me about the power of stats!”
The conference proceedings can be obtained from the AusIMM’s website.
