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HPGR Pilot-Scale Testing Services

ThyssenKrupp Polycom PILOTWAL — one of very few pilot HPGRs in North America

KCA's Reno laboratory operates one of very few pilot-scale HPGR units in North America — the ThyssenKrupp Polycom PILOTWAL. We've used the HPGR for flowsheet development on both heap-leach and milling circuits, across precious metals, base metals, lithium, and industrial-mineral applications. Products from the unit are equivalent to industrial-scale HPGR output, making KCA pilot data directly transferable to full-scale design.

ThyssenKrupp PILOTWAL
Unit
0.5 m
Roll diameter
0.3 m
Roll length
100–150 kg
Sample size

Unit Specifications

Motors: 2 × 30 kW · Rolls: 0.5 m diameter × 0.3 m length, studded surface · Gap: 2–37 mm · Feed: batch · Discharge: 75% center / 25% edge · Typical sample: 100–150 kg

Heap-Leach Application

HPGR can replace tertiary crushing in heap-leach operations, producing a finer, micro-cracked product that improves heap-leach recovery and kinetics. KCA has used pilot HPGR data to support multiple successful heap-leach feasibility studies.

Milling Application

HPGR upstream of ball milling reduces mill-circuit energy and increases throughput. KCA pilot programs measure work-index reduction and downstream-mill kinetic improvement for project-specific economic modeling.

Test Programs

Single-pass tests, multi-pass cycle tests, locked-cycle simulation of full circuits. Includes follow-on metallurgical testing (cyanide leach, flotation, gravity) on HPGR product to demonstrate downstream-circuit response.

Why It Matters

Building an HPGR into a heap leach or mill flowsheet without pilot data is a big risk — HPGR economics depend strongly on ore competency and feed moisture, and bench-scale tests cannot replicate the inter-particle compression mechanism. Pilot data de-risks the capital decision.

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