An article in last week’s issue (T.N.M., Aug. 29-Sept. 4/11.) on the difficulties experienced since the start-up of Goldcorp’s Penasquito mine in Mexico contains a statement implying that these problems are related to the high-pressure grinding roll (HPGR) circuit.
This statement is wrong. Being the supplier of the POLYCOM HPGR at Penasquito, Polysius is very aware of the challenges the mine faces, none of which are caused by the HPGR.
In fact, the HPGR cannot currently be operated effectively due to a number of reasons, but primarily because the ore processed in the upstream semi-autogenous grinding (SAG) mill is not hard enough to produce the amount of pebbles the circuit is designed for.
Thus the HPGR, which is operated in open circuit following a pebble (cone) crusher, is underutilized.
As a consequence, the calculated total design throughput is not reached.
Our Polysius personnel on-site, along with support from our offices in Germany, Mexico and the U.S., are working with
our customer on a solution to fully utilize the HPGR by adding a bypass stream around the SAG mill.
Again, we would like to reiterate that none of the problems experienced by the Penasquito mine are caused by the POLYCOM High Pressure Grinding Roll.
Holger Plath
Manager, Minerals/Mining
Polysius Corp.
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