Peru Callao Copper Mine High Chrome Ball Mill Liner Customization Mining Project Case Study

This cooperation project is located in Callao Port, Peru, a large open-pit copper mine with annual ore processing capacity of 3.2 million tons. The core grinding equipment is one set of Φ6.1*9.7m overflow type ball mill, which undertakes the key rough grinding and fine grinding procedure of copper ore beneficiation. The mine belongs to a well-known Latin American mining group, with strict requirements on wear resistance, equipment stability and continuous production rate.

1. The original ordinary low-alloy steel liners had short service life, only 7-8 months on average, requiring full replacement and shutdown maintenance frequently every year;
2. Unreasonable lifting bar structure caused disordered movement of steel grinding balls, high ball consumption rate, unstable grinding fineness of copper concentrate;
3. The original mill diaphragms (suction plates) were easy to block and deform under high ore throughput, affecting internal material classification efficiency;
4. Frequent liner replacement led to long production halt time, resulting in huge economic loss of ore output.

Our R&D and technical team conducted remote parameter collection on the mill model, ore hardness, feeding volume, rotation speed and operating working conditions, and formulated a targeted high-chrome alloy wear-resistant casting solution:

1. Shell Liners & End Liners: Adopt Cr27 high chromium white cast iron material, hardness HRC 58-62, optimized double-wave lifting bar design. Use DEM discrete element simulation to calculate the falling track of steel balls, improve grinding impact efficiency and reduce liner unilateral abrasion;
2. Mill Diaphragms (Grate Plates): Reinforced thickened high manganese alloy casting, optimize the hole layout and anti-blocking structure, enhance impact resistance and anti-clogging performance in high-load operation;
3. Complete sets of matching accessories: Customized fixing bolts, pressure plates and sealing gaskets, unified tolerance standard to ensure seamless installation on site;
4. Full-process production control: Secondary tempering heat treatment, CNC precision machining, three-dimensional size inspection before delivery to guarantee assembly accuracy.

1. The overall service life of ball mill liners was extended to 14 months, which was increased by 75% compared with the original liners, cutting annual replacement frequency in half;
2. Steel ball consumption reduced by 32%, copper concentrate grinding fineness became stable, and mineral recovery rate increased by 2.1%;
3. Annual unplanned maintenance downtime reduced by 48 hours, the mine’s annual copper concentrate output increased by nearly 12,000 tons;
4. The total ownership cost (TCO) of grinding equipment was reduced by 36%, winning long-term framework cooperation and repeated bulk orders from the Peruvian mining group.

We provided full set of services including drawing design, mold opening casting, factory pre-assembly inspection, fumigation export packaging, full set of customs clearance documents (commercial invoice, packing list, CO certificate, insurance policy), door-to-door delivery to Callao Port, and remote installation guidance for overseas technicians.