Anglo Platinum has installed the world's largest fine grinding mill at its Western Limb Tailings Retreatment Plant (WLTRP) in South Africa.

The state-of-the-art 2.6 MW M10000 IsaMill from Xstrata Technology is designed to offer Anglo improved platinum recovery at the cleaning stage.

Anglo decided to commission the new mill following a global review of alternative fine grinding operations.

"The IsaMill is a high intensity fine grinding machine which efficiently grinds minerals to below 10 microns, a duty which was uneconomic with previous technology," said Lindsay Clark, mineral processing manager at Xstrata Technology.

"This can transform the economics of flotation for fine-grained ores and greatly accelerate leaching rates in hydrometallurgy."