Phoenix Mill Expansion

33,700 to 48,000 tpd

increase in throughput

rougher flotation retention time

Increased

capacity in the existing grinding cyclones

Increased

capacity in the existing deslime cyclones

Challenges

The mill struggled with ore variability and hardness, producing a copper concentrate with gold and silver credits that decreased throughput, and ultimately reduced metal and concentrate production.
One of the main challenges of this brownfield operation was installing the circuits within existing process infrastructures without disturbing ongoing operations.
Integrating the new circuits required a lot of planning to ensure the scheduled shutdown and process commissioning was kept to a minimum.

Provided detailed engineering, procurement assistance, and field support for the project.
A two-phased expansion of the mill facilitated the increased throughput.
Phase 1 added a new secondary crushing and screening circuit to decrease feed particle size to the SAG mill.
Phase 2 expanded the grinding, rougher flotation, and tailings deslime areas, increasing capacity in the existing grinding cyclones and the deslime cyclones, and doubling the rougher flotation retention time.

Increased overall mill throughput from 33,700 to 48,000 tons per day
Increased capacity in the existing grinding cyclones
Doubled the rougher flotation retention time and increased the capacity in the existing deslime cyclones

US$8.5 million
33,700 to 48,000 tpd increase in overall mill throughput