Key Benefits

  • Reduce critical impact
  • Increased energy efficiency
  • Reduced operational costs
  • Increased production
  • Full return on investment within six months

Optimise your SAG Mill

There is no doubt that operating SAG Mill is a costly exercise. Not only do they consume huge amounts of power, they require expensive mill liners that need to be replaced, potentially resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars in downtime costs. That’s why improving the operation of your mill with LoadIQ and ECS/ProcessExpert can have such a big impact on your business.

What can LoadIQ do for my business?

LoadIQ constantly monitors conditions inside your mill and passes the information to ECS/ProcessExpert which in combination with other variables analyses the operational conditions and makes adjustments to reduce the frequency of critical impacts – high energy impacts in which the steel balls used for grinding media strike the liner. This helps extend the life of your liners to cut down on replacement costs and unwanted downtime. It will also allow you to reduce energy usage while lifting output. 

Our system has been shown to:

  • Decrease critical impacts against your mill lining by up to 45%
  • Reduce power consumption for grinding by up to 6%
  • Lift production by up to 6%
  • Reduce process variability by up to 30%
  • Increase safety by preventing unexpected shutdowns.
Traditionally, mill operators have relied on their finely-tuned hearing to judge conditions inside mills before making adjustments to try to prevent critical impacts and improve production. Needless to say, this system is far from perfect. LoadIQ utilises our mill scanner smart sensor technology to accurately measure volumetric filling and ore trajectory in real-time. That’s not all: while mill operators may be able to make adjustments every few minutes, ECS/ProcessExpert is able to respond to conditions immediately and constantly to ensure your mill is working to its full potential.

Boost and protect your SAG Mill

Our total process control and optimisation system will lower energy usage while increasing production and extending the life of liners It’s a cost-efficient way to significantly lift the performance of your mill operations.

Reduce critical impacts
With LoadIQ and ECS/ProcessExpert you’ll be able to almost halve the frequency of critical impacts inside your mill. This will help protect and extend the life of your mill liner.
Increased energy efficiency
ECS/ProcessExpert constantly analyses the conditions inside the mill to ensure the maximum amount of energy is being used for the purpose you intended: ore reduction. By operating your mill more efficiently, you’ll be able to cut your energy usage by around six per cent.
Reduced operational costs
By reducing the frequency of critical impacts inside your mill, the combination of ECS/ProcessExpert and LoadIQ will reduce the need for costly downtime to replace liners and allow you to spend less on grinding media. The result is lower operational costs.
Increased production
As well as reducing costs, ECS/ProcessExpert and LoadIQ will ensure your SAG Mill is operating more efficiently. You’ll be able to lift production by about six per cent.
Full return on investment within six months

Because it lowers costs and lifts production, our LoadIQ and ECS/ProcessExpert typically pays for itself within in less than six months of purchase.

An automated control system for your SAG Mill

To monitor and respond to critical impacts and changing conditions such as liner wear and ore variation, ECS/ ProcessExpert uses LoadIQ which is a self-powered smart sensor attached to the mill shell. Conditions inside your mill are automatically adjusted to minimise liner damage, stabilise and then optimise the operation of a SAG Mill. 

With the combination of ECS/ProcessExpert and LoadIQ, your mill will grind more efficiently, helping to reduce energy consumption while lifting throughput and extending the life of your mill liners and reducing plant downtime. The result is an enhanced mill performance, leading to greater productivity. 

Parameters monitored:

  • Mill power consumption
  • Volumetric filling and ore trajectoy
  • Mill load 
  • Pulp density

Parameters controlled:

  • Feed rate
  • Mill speed
  • Mill water

Fact sheet and brochures


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