The first combination disk mill in the country from German company Fritsch has been commissioned by Labotec at NECSA’s (South African Nuclear Energy Corporation) Applied Chemistry division, section Nuclear Materials. The Fritsch mill and jaw crusher provides a powerful combination for crushing samples as large as 95mm down to a fineness of 100µm from raw form in a matter of seconds for the R&D’s mineral beneficiation projects. Initially, the mills were commissioned successfully by using zircon ore as starting material. Zircon is a refractory material and therefore very hard and difficult to mill. It measures 7.5 on the mohs hardness scale (diamonds being the hardest at 10). By using a combination mill comprised of a jaw crusher and disk mill, fine crushing is achieved in a single step in seconds. According to Dr Ettienne Snyders, section head of Nuclear Materials, this effective and easy process saves valuable time. Some preferred features of the combination mill are the especially solid thick-walled housing made from recyclable grey cast iron, safety features and the fast, easy cleaning. The Fritsch Jaw Crusher P1 and Fritsch Disk Mill are mounted together onto a rack and connected to each other by a chute. Material of up to 3-5cm is automatically ground in a continuous operation down to fineness freely adjustable between 12mm and 0.1mm. This combination can also be used in pilot plant situations for fine grinding of up to 150kg per hour of hard-brittle and medium-hard solids in continuous operation. The zircon ore used by the Nuclear Materials section to commission the mill are around 3 cm in diameter, and the crushing / milling process down to a fineness of 100µm is achieved in a matter of seconds.
