What is the Crushing Process? An In-Depth Guide to Ore Size Reduction

Well, let me tell ya, this here “crushing process” is pretty much a fancy way of sayin’ we gotta take big ol’ chunks of rock or ore and mash ’em down into smaller bits. This all starts out right from the moment they blast that rock outta the ground, using some big bangin’ explosives. Now, these explosives break up the rock a good bit, but there’s still some mighty big chunks left, too big to be used like that. So, the whole idea of crushin’ is to get those big rocks down to a size that’s manageable.

Now, crushing ain’t just one simple step. Oh no, it’s like a couple of steps, each one makin’ the rocks smaller and smaller. Usually, this process is done in three parts: ya got your primary, secondary, and then the tertiary crushin’. Each step, we take that ore or rock through these crushers, which are big ol’ machines, and they do the hard work of smashin’ and grindin’ till the pieces get smaller.

So, lemme walk ya through these steps:

• Primary Crushing: Here’s where we start. We’re takin’ big ol’ rocks, sometimes as big as a sofa, and puttin’ ’em through heavy-duty machines to knock ’em down to around the size of a grapefruit or so. This is all done by squeezin’ the rocks against a hard surface. It’s a dry process – no water added – and those primary crushers can handle big chunks that’d be way too much for your regular machinery.
• Secondary Crushing: Now, after the rocks come outta the primary crushers, they still ain’t small enough. So, we put ’em through secondary crushers, which break ’em down even more, down to sizes about as big as a lemon, ya might say. This step usually uses a bit more force to crush ’em up good and proper.
• Tertiary Crushing: Lastly, we got the tertiary crushers. This is for gettin’ the rocks real fine – almost like sand or small gravel. The reason we keep crushin’ ’em is ’cause some of these rocks got valuable minerals inside, like gold or silver, that are all mixed up with other stuff we don’t want. By makin’ the pieces smaller, it’s easier to separate the good stuff from the junk later on.

Most of this crushin’ happens in special crushers – machines designed for takin’ these big ol’ rocks and squeezin’ ’em down till they crack. These machines, they don’t mess around. They got jaws that clamp down or big hammers that whack at the