Trade-off Assessment on Two Steel Ball Brands Use at the Ball Mill Plant of a Ghanaian Mine

Realistically, this research shows that, the type or brand of input reagent such as steel ball is a vital parameter to be considered to ensure cost saving in mineral processing business. Logically, the study pointed out the shortfall in the acceptance of input reagent (steel ball) of a production system on only the unit price variance for different items. Clearly, the paper aims at closing the lack of information gap existing in the Ghanaian mining company to overcome the situation of compromising efficiency of the plant production whilst maximizing profit. Furthermore, assessing the overall effect by taking into consideration the operating variables, painted a pragmatic and reliable picture of the prevailing scenario. Consequently, company 1 with a mean discharge product of 49.42 % passing 150 µm was at a cost of US$1.68 whiles company 2 with mean discharge product of 50.12 % passing 150 µm was at a cost of US$1.30. Comparatively, company 2 brand of steel ball usage gave an overall trade-off of 0.8 % as against the usage of company 1 steel ball brand. The paper recommended the use of company 2 steel ball brand as a cost saving enhancement decision for gold production in the Ghanaian Mine.