In the mineral processing industry, the energy-efficiency of comminution of rocks/ores has not seen any major advances in the last few decades; the fundamental process is still energy intensive and extremely indfficient. In response to this situation, a radically different and new approach to the problem was concieved and studied in Phase I. The approach centers around the concept of hydraulically applying the input energy directly along grain boundaries, microcavities and pores of the material, and generating the high stress gradients necessary to effect fracture with a minimum of waste. The Phase II Program involves the following tasks: (1) construction of a laboratory prototype system with automated feedback controls and data acquisition system, (2) collection of rock/ore samples and measurement of their physical properties, (3) development of an analytical solution/model to simulate the process, and (4) testing of the samples of the prototype.
