Crushing and grinding ore to extract the desired mineral is described as comminution. Industries where comminution plays the most significant role are the cement and mineral industries. But all is not well in these sectors: crushing and grinding low grade ores requires more electrical energy, mine sites are increasingly remote and therefore more costly to operate, and metals prices are down. CEEC’s mission is to raise awareness of alternative crushing and grinding strategies which offer improved energy efficiency and productivity.
In August 2015, FLSmidth added its global strength to CEEC’s mission to accelerate the transfer of knowledge around more efficiency and productive mineral processing strategies.
“CEEC’s mission aligns with FLSmidth’s plan to use products and technology as the means by which we supply full-service solutions to our customers. It is by undertaking the challenges faced by our clients in today’s market, FLSmidth can support our clients’ growth and success.” Commented Manfred Schaffer, President Minerals Division, FLSmidth USA Inc.
CEEC’s work to highlight the benefits of best practice in efficiency mineral processing is exemplary of the future industry FLSmidth supports. The team at FLSmidth have one solution; for cement and minerals. While cement and mining are distinct industries, there are meaningful similarities and synergies between the two. First of all, there is a significant technology overlap. Several of the products used in each of the industries are either identical or very similar, for example, crushers, and mills and material handling equipment. Secondly, FLSmidth often works on larger projects in both cement and minerals, and there are many similarities in the project management skill set needed. This provides the benefit of being able to transfer resources and best practices between the two industries.
Examples of FLSmidth’s work in efficient mineral processing may be found in CEEC’s selected industry database of technical papers on its web site. The CEEC Resource centre, along with the CEEC energy curve program are only two of the programs hosted for the industry by CEEC, to raise awareness of the benefits of alternative comminution strategies.
About CEEC: CEEC is a not-for-profit global company whose mission is to accelerate knowledge transfer in the field of energy-efficient comminution (crushing and grinding). CEEC aims to raise awareness of beneficial alternative comminution strategies with the objective of improving earnings, achieving lower processing costs and gaining energy productivity in the mining sector.
CEEC is the acronym for the Coalition for Energy Efficient Comminution. CEEC was established by a visionary group of mining industry leaders, who recognized the need to provide a platform for effective communication of the latest technical findings on efficient comminution practices. Extensive research and improved engineering design has established that a range of improved blasting, crushing, sorting and grinding techniques may lower project costs. These include relatively straight forward strategies such as removing waste material before size reduction, a better combination of grinding technologies and targeting larger grind sizes where mineralogy allows. CEEC is funded wholly by industry sponsorship from – Anglo American, Barrick Gold, IMARC, CITICHIC, Antofagasta Minerals, Oz Minerals, Schneider Electric, Gekko Systems, Ausenco, Glencore Technology, Outotec, Orica, New Gold Inc, Derrick Corporation, Metso, AMIRA International, Mirabela Nickel, MMG, Weir Minerals, Multotec Ltd and FLSmidth.