What happens to zinc ore in a ball mill?

In the context of zinc processing, a ball mill is used to perform the final stage of grinding, which is essential for liberating valuable minerals from waste rock, or gangue.12

During this process, the ore—which has been previously crushed to approximately 1.9 centimeters—is combined with water and fed into the mill. Inside the rotating cylindrical container, the ore is ground by tumbling grinding bodies, such as iron or steel balls, until the particles are reduced to a size of less than 0.1 millimeter. This fine grinding creates a slurry that is subsequently transported to flotation cells for further separation.13