The role of crushing in the beneficiation process is to reduce the particle size of the ore to a certain range. In the beneficiation process, different crushing stages are needed according to different ore properties and production requirements.
The primary crushing stage is usually carried out by a jaw crusher, which can crush ore to a size of 150-300mm. The secondary crushing stage is typically done by a cone crusher, which can reduce the ore size to 20-50mm. The tertiary crushing stage can be done by impact crushers, such as vertical shaft impactors (VSI) or horizontal shaft impactors (HSI), which can further reduce the ore size to below 10mm.
After crushing, the ore needs to be ground to a finer size for the subsequent beneficiation process. The grinding process is usually carried out by ball mills, which can grind the ore to a size of 0.075-0.4mm. The finer the particle size, the higher the grade and recovery rate of the concentrate.
Therefore, crushing is an important step in the beneficiation process, which not only reduces the particle size of the ore but also prepares the ore for subsequent grinding and beneficiation operations.