Dust Recovery Solution for High-Pressure Grinding Rolls
Boddington Gold Mine – Western Australia
The Project
Newmont Mining is one of the world’s largest gold producers. In Australia, the company owns and operates the Boddington Gold Mine, with annual production exceeding one million ounces of gold.
A critical stage in the process plant is tertiary crushing, where two of the world’s largest high-pressure grinding rolls (HPGRs) prepare material for ball milling.
These grinding rolls generate significant quantities of abrasive dust — containing recoverable gold particles — requiring effective capture and return to the process.
The Challenge
- Extremely abrasive dust
- High dust volumes from crushing and grinding circuits
- Requirement to recover residual gold from collected dust
- Need to standardise equipment and reduce spare parts inventory
A robust and efficient dust collection system was essential to protect equipment, maintain uptime and maximise gold recovery.
The Solution
Nederman MikroPul supplied three large S-Series Mikro-Pulsaire® bag filters for the crushing and grinding circuits.
Key features included:
- Identical size and configuration across all units to minimise spare parts requirements
- High-level side-entry inlet design to reduce approach velocity
- Reduced filter bag wear in abrasive conditions
- Custom-designed wet mixer system
Dust discharged from the hoppers is converted into slurry via the wet mixer and pumped back into the process stream for final treatment — ensuring maximum gold recovery.
The Results
- Successful project delivery and commissioning
- Reliable performance in highly abrasive conditions
- Optimised gold recovery through dust return system
- Reduced maintenance through standardised equipment
Following the success of the installation, MikroPul was awarded:
- A second contract for a large bag filter at the port concentrate storage shed
- A Strategic Supply Agreement for spare parts through the Aftermarket team