Ball Mill — built to grind for decades
For the most demanding minerals, abrasive rocks and hard metallic ores, the THOR-BM Series offers unmatched reliability and sustained processing power. Horizontal cylindrical tumbling dynamics process material through a continuous balance of high-impact cataracting and grinding cascading forces — engineered for decades of continuous heavy-duty wet or dry operation.
- Output
- Fine powder / slurry
- Capacity
- 0.65 – 80 TPH
- Motor power
- 18.5 – 400 kW
- Mode
- Wet & dry
Cascade to grind
Cataract to crush
A horizontal drum charged with steel or ceramic balls rotates on heavy trunnion bearings. At low speed the media cascade and grind by attrition; at higher speed they cataract and shatter hard ore on impact. One robust machine, two grinding regimes.
- Drum Ø
- 900–2700mm
- Media
- 20–100mm
- Hardness
- Mohs >5
- Capacity
- ≤80TPH
What is a Ball Mill?
A ball mill is a horizontal, cylindrical tumbling mill designed to grind highly abrasive, hard and mineral-dense materials into extremely fine powders or slurries. It is a critical comminution technology for heavy-duty industrial processing.
As an internationally trusted industrial-pulverizer supplier, THOR by CI builds these systems to handle both dry and wet grinding. They're widely used in mining, metallurgical, power-generation and technical-ceramic industries as a dependable, heavy-duty ore pulverizer.
Where Ball Mill sits on the particle-size scale
How it works
Rotation speed decides everything — slow to cascade and grind, fast to cataract and shatter.
Drum rotation & media lifting
The horizontal drum, charged with balls and feed, rotates — lifters carry the media up the ascending wall.
Cascading (friction shear)
At lower speed the balls roll and slide down the slope — grinding fine through friction, shear and attrition.
Cataracting (impact)
At higher speed centrifugal force throws balls to the top; they fall in a parabola and shatter hard ore.
Grate / trommel discharge
Dry powder or wet slurry flows to the far end and discharges through a grate or rotating trommel screen.
Main components
Five heavy-duty assemblies engineered for tonnage and decades of duty.
Rotating steel drum
Heavy-gauge structural-steel shell engineered to support several tons of grinding media and material.
Abrasion liners
Bolt-on manganese-steel, rubber or high-alumina ceramic liners that protect the drum and lift the media.
Grinding media charges
Durable carbon-steel, chrome-steel or alumina-ceramic balls in varying diameters (20–100 mm).
Girth gear & drive
A large girth gear around the drum, driven by a pinion, electric motor and high-torque gearbox.
Trunnion bearings
Robust self-aligning bearings that carry the heavy rotating drum at each end.
Advantages & limitations
Unbeatable on hard, abrasive ore — at the cost of mass, energy and noise.
Advantages
Excellent hardness handling
Easily pulverizes materials above Mohs 5 — iron ore, gold quartz, cement clinker.
Flexible wet / dry grinding
Processes dry industrial powders or wet ceramic glazes, slurries and chemical suspensions.
Simple, robust engineering
A straightforward mechanical design that runs reliably for decades with minimal electronic monitoring.
Optimized lifter geometry
Our lifter profiles tune the cascade-to-cataract transition, maximizing energy efficiency.
Limitations to plan for
Substantial foundations
The mass of drum and media demands reinforced concrete foundations to absorb heavy vibration.
Low kinetic efficiency
Much of the electrical energy goes into rotating drum and media rather than into grinding the material.
High acoustic output
Steel-on-steel impact often exceeds 95 dBA — soundproof enclosures are needed in regulated areas.
Milling, mixing & bulk handling
The THOR-BM Series is built to handle heavy material flows in continuous plants.
Heavy-duty chute feeders
Robust screw feeders or spout inlets introduce hard ore and water (for wet grinding) without leakage.
Bucket elevators & screws
Discharged powder is moved by robust mechanical conveyors — bucket elevators or heavy-duty screws — to downstream stages.
Dynamic air-classifier loops
Couple the discharge to a THOR-AC Air Classifier — it returns coarse to the inlet and lifts dry-grind capacity up to 40%.
Technical specifications & model range
Six frame sizes from pilot to plant. Final sizing is confirmed after pilot trials with your actual ore.
| Model | Machine size | Motor power | Shell speed | Capacity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TH-BM-900 | Ø900 × 1800 | 18.5 kW | 36 – 38 rpm | 0.65 – 2 TPH |
| TH-BM-1200 | Ø1200 × 2400 | 30 kW | 36 rpm | 1.5 – 4.8 TPH |
| TH-BM-1500 | Ø1500 × 3000 | 70 kW | 29.7 rpm | 2 – 5 TPH |
| TH-BM-1830 | Ø1830 × 3000 | 130 kW | 25.4 rpm | 4 – 10 TPH |
| TH-BM-2200 | Ø2200 × 4500 | 300 kW | 21.7 rpm | 15 – 28 TPH |
| TH-BM-2700 | Ø2700 × 4500 | 400 kW | 20.7 rpm | 12 – 80 TPH |
Specifications are typical and subject to change. Final sizing confirmed after pilot trials with your feed material.
Other platforms
The rest of the THOR family Compare or pair — air classifying is often integrated with a mill