Mineral Process Engineering Handbook: Flowsheet Design, Mass Balancing, Plant Optimization, Commissioning & Troubleshooting

A practical mineral processing handbook should answer not only what to calculate, but what to do next…

Is the mass balance not closing, despite apparently reasonable plant data?

Is a grinding, flotation, classification, or dewatering problem becoming difficult to diagnose systematically?

Does translating testwork, flowsheets, equipment data, and operating constraints into a defensible engineering decision still require several scattered references?

Mineral Process Engineering Handbook by Sienna Newman addresses these practical challenges through a connected problem–calculation–interpretation–decision workflow. The handbook progresses from ore characteristics and flowsheet development through mass balancing, comminution, flotation, dewatering, equipment evaluation, process control, optimization, commissioning, troubleshooting, and modern mineral processing.

Inside you’ll discover:

• Ore & Mineralogy: Connect mineral characteristics to process decisions.
• Flowsheet Design: Evaluate circuits, streams, recycles, bypasses, and constraints.
• Mass Balancing: Build and reconcile practical plant balances.
• Metallurgical Accounting: Interpret performance using meaningful data.
• Comminution: Understand grinding, classification, P80, and circulating load.
• Flotation: Diagnose separation performance and recovery changes.
• Dewatering: Evaluate thickening, filtration, tailings, and water balance.
• Equipment Evaluation: Connect sizing and slurry hydraulics to plant requirements.
• Process Control: Understand instrumentation, PLC/DCS systems, and control logic.
• Bottleneck Analysis: Identify constraints limiting throughput and stability.
• Optimization: Structure improvement studies around measurable objectives.
• Commissioning: Support startup, ramp-up, and performance verification.
• Troubleshooting: Replace trial-and-error with disciplined diagnostic logic.
• Modern Processing: Explore critical minerals, ore sorting, digitalization, and digital twins.
• Field Reference: Use worked examples, decision tables, visual explanations, and checklists when practical answers are needed.

This handbook is designed for engineers who already understand mineral-processing fundamentals but need greater confidence applying them in real plant situations. It is not positioned as a replacement for comprehensive academic references. Instead, it focuses on connecting theory with calculations, measurements, assumptions, constraints, and plant action.

For readers short on time, the structure favors practical examples, troubleshooting frameworks, decision tables, visual explanations, and field-oriented checklists rather than prolonged theoretical exposition.

If you want a practical desk reference for mineral process engineering, then make this handbook part of the working toolkit.