The company has also introduced a 1600 kilowatt to 2200kW model to fill a gap in its Isamill range.

Glencore Technology engineering manager Nick van Heerden said the cost-saving smaller plant configuration had been achieved by lowering the Isamill by between 2m for an M3000/M5000 and 3m for an M10000.

"Several changes incrementally saved 22-28% of costs to the client through a reduction in steel and concrete," he said.

For example, the media hopper has been moved from under the Isamill to the side.

It was found to be possible to use the backpressure created from the rotor to pump media out of the Isamill during its maintenance shutdown rather than drop it to the hopper below.

Tying the gland and Isacharger waters directly into the plant water removed the need for separate tanks and their corresponding additional pumps.

The upgraded design means the required mill and access footprints of equivalently specified Isamills and high intensity grinding mills are the same, while the Isamill a roughly one third the height of the HIG mill.

To fill the gap in its range, Glencore Technology has introduced the M7500, which is designed to sit between the M5000 and M10000.

Glencore Technology technology lead Mike Hourne said the M7500 was a win for operations needing 1600-2200kW of power but wanting the availability, safety and product consistency of an Isamill.

"We've already installed the smaller configuration in Minsur and Woodlawn," he said.

"But the new M7500 mill has only just been made available now."