A grinding-free crushing process cut energy use in copper and gold processing by 20%

Researchers at the University of Adelaide tested GRolls technology, which uses compression, tension, and shear to crush porphyry copper-gold ore without a mill — and nearly halved comminution cost.

GRolls (Gyratory Roller Solutions), a South Australian company led by Mark Drechsler — also a doctoral candidate at the University of Adelaide — developed a crushing technology that uses pulsed compression, tension, and shear to reduce ore particle size without relying on the conventional grinding step with grinding media (balls or rods). Researchers at the University of Adelaide's Future Industries Institute tested the technology in the lab with three representative ores — one porphyry copper-gold and two magnetites — publishing the results in the scientific journal Powder Technology.

The measured result was a 20% reduction in energy consumption compared with conventional grinding when processing porphyry copper-gold ore, with total comminution cost falling by nearly half, and discharge products with controlled, narrow particle size — between 75 and 425 micrometers — under both dry and wet conditions. Comminution (crushing and grinding combined) already accounts for more than 1% of the planet's entire electricity consumption and up to 80% of a mining plant's energy demand — which makes any percentage gain at this step disproportionately larger than an equivalent saving elsewhere in the process. The company is now pursuing commercialization, backed by an initial AU$300,000 grant from the South Australian government (Seed-Start).

Comminution is, historically, the most energy-intensive step — and therefore the most cost- and carbon-intensive — in mineral processing, yet it gets far less public attention than mining technologies like autonomous trucks or sensor-based ore sorting. A still pre-commercial technology, but already validated by published, peer-reviewed data, is a stronger signal than a plain press announcement — and it's worth following precisely because it targets the single biggest energy line item inside a processing plant.