Gyratory Crusher TPH Capacity Calculation: A Step-by-Step Guide for Model Selection
Whether you are planning an iron-ore concentrator, a granite quarry, or a mobile construction-waste plant, the very first question every designer asks is “How many tons per hour do we really need, and which gyratory crusher can deliver that number without melting the motor or idling half the shift?” This article walks you through the entire journey—from translating raw rock volumes into a reliable TPH target, to matching that target with the correct mantle diameter, eccentric throw, and drive power. Along the way we will look at rock hardness, moisture, feed grading, and even winter temperatures, because every variable nudges the real TPH up or down. By the end you will be able to open a manufacturer’s catalog and know exactly why a 60-inch gyratory is rated 4 500 TPH in one brochure yet only 3 800 TPH in your own spreadsheet. All technical terms are explained in plain language so that students, operators, and senior engineers can share the same reference.
Understanding TPH as the Core Metric in Gyratory Selection
TPH—short for tons per hour—looks deceptively simple, yet it is the single most negotiated figure in every crushing contract. In the world of gyratory crushers, TPH is not just a marketing headline; it is the sum of mechanical stroke, volumetric capacity, bulk density, and time. When a mine manager quotes “We must hit 3 000 TPH,” that sentence triggers a cascade of decisions that ends with choosing a mantle 1 520 mm in diameter spinning at 600 rpm, driven by a 1 200 kW motor, fed through an 800 mm opening. Misunderstand the TPH requirement by even ten percent and you may buy a machine that stalls every afternoon or one that costs an extra million dollars in idle capital.
Comparing gyratory machines with jaw or cone alternatives shows why TPH must be tied to crusher family. A jaw crusher might reach 1 200 TPH at best, but it does so with a huge inlet and a relatively shallow stroke. A cone crusher can exceed 2 000 TPH, yet its continuous choke-fed chamber limits surge capacity. The gyratory design, however, marries a large gape with a long, eccentrically driven stroke, giving it the highest sustained TPH per installed kilowatt in primary applications. This advantage becomes obvious when the same quarry switches from a 48-inch jaw to a 54-inch gyratory and sees TPH jump from 900 to 1 400 without raising the feed size.
The Link Between TPH and Crushing-Chamber Geometry
Inside every gyratory crusher, rock is nipped between a stationary concave and a gyrating mantle. The distance the mantle travels during one revolution—known as the stroke or eccentric throw—determines how much rock can be compressed and expelled in one cycle. A chamber that is too shallow for a given TPH target forces the operator to open the closed-side setting (CSS) so wide that product quality collapses. Conversely, an excessively deep chamber may deliver beautiful cubic particles yet choke on sticky fines, causing the real TPH to plummet. Engineers therefore model the chamber as a volumetric pump: the swept volume per stroke multiplied by throw frequency equals theoretical cubic meters per hour, which is then converted to TPH by rock bulk density.
The transition zone between the upper intake and the lower reduction zone is especially critical. If the feed contains occasional 1.2-meter boulders, the intake must flare rapidly enough to swallow those boulders without bridging, yet taper quickly enough to keep the compression zone full. CAD simulations show that a 5-degree steeper intake angle can raise TPH by 7 percent, but only if the crusher is fed at a perfectly uniform rate. In real plants, variable feed rate from a rope shovel can erase that gain in minutes, proving that TPH is never just a chamber problem—it is a system problem.
Hardness Correction Factors for TPH Calculations
Standard TPH tables in vendor brochures assume “medium-hard limestone” with a Bond work index around 12 kWh/t. Feed the same crusher with high-silica granite at 18 kWh/t and the effective TPH drops by roughly 25 percent unless you enlarge the CSS or increase the throw. The reason is that harder rock resists fracture, so each stroke must apply more energy, which in turn limits the number of strokes per minute that the motor can sustain without overheating. A practical rule of thumb is to multiply the catalogue TPH by a hardness factor Fₕ = (12/Wi)^0.7, where Wi is the measured work index of your ore. Thus a 4 000 TPH gyratory becomes 3 200 TPH when the ore turns from limestone to hornfels.
Hardness also changes liner wear rates, which indirectly erode TPH. A worn mantle increases the effective CSS week by week, so the plant must either tighten the setting—raising power draw—or accept a coarser product. Either path can push the real TPH below the contractual guarantee. Mines that routinely encounter ore zones with Wi fluctuating from 14 to 20 often install adjustable stroke eccentric bushes so that operators can dial a longer throw when the rock turns tough, preserving TPH at the cost of slightly higher kWh per ton.
Continuous vs Intermittent TPH Profiles
Crusher brochures present TPH as a flat line, but real feed is anything but flat. A rope shovel working a 60-second cycle dumps 40-ton payloads in surges, then waits for trucks to reverse. Over one hour the crusher may idle for 200 seconds, then swallow 120 percent of its nameplate TPH for the next 400 seconds. The hydraulic accumulator inside a modern gyratory smooths these pulses, yet the time-averaged TPH still drops by 5–10 percent compared with a continuously fed plant. Designers compensate by oversizing the surge bin underneath the crusher. A bin that holds three truckloads (roughly 120 tons) can feed the belt at a steady rate, restoring the theoretical TPH.
Intermittent duty also affects motor sizing. Electric motors tolerate brief overloads, but repeated high-current inrush every minute shortens insulation life. Plant studies show that the root-mean-square current over an hour must not exceed 95 percent of the nameplate amps. Consequently, the TPH you calculate from rock density and stroke volume must be multiplied by a duty factor Fd = 0.92 for shovel-fed quarries, or 0.97 for continuous reclaim tunnels. Ignoring this adjustment leads to nuisance tripping on hot summer days when motor cooling is already marginal.
ISO 6336-2 and Other Standard TPH Test Methods
When two parties dispute whether a gyratory truly delivers 3 000 TPH, they turn to ISO 6336-2, the only globally accepted protocol for measuring continuous crushing capacity. The test specifies a minimum 30-minute steady run, feed size distribution within ±5 percent of the contractual envelope, and belt-scale accuracy of ±1 percent. Any deviation voids the guarantee. The standard also fixes the CSS at the midpoint of the allowed range, because a 1-mm CSS change can swing TPH by 3–4 percent. Because moisture fluctuation is notorious, the feed must contain less than 4 percent surface water; otherwise the test report must quote a correction factor.
Although ISO 6336-2 is rigorous, plant managers often prefer a simpler “three-bucket” field test: weigh three full haul trucks, time how long the crusher takes to process them, and compute TPH. The result is usually 5–8 percent higher than the ISO figure because the plant runs with a slightly open CSS and a coarser feed than the standard allows. For this reason, contracts typically state that the ISO value is the binding guarantee, while the bucket test is merely an informal benchmark. Understanding this nuance prevents costly litigation when real production falls short.
Five Essential Steps to Pin Down Your Required TPH
Many projects fail because the team relies on a single rule-of-thumb: “We need 2 000 TPH because the competitor uses 2 000 TPH.” A sound requirement emerges only after you quantify geology, schedules, and downstream bottlenecks. The following five steps provide a repeatable workflow that even a high-school intern can audit, yet the final number is rigorous enough for bank financing.
Step one is to measure the raw material volume that must be crushed during the busiest shift of the busiest week. Do not use annual averages; instead, look at the 90th-percentile day, because crushers are sized for peaks, not means. Convert that volume to tons using in-situ density, then add a swell factor of 30 percent to account for voids after blasting. Next, divide by the effective operating hours per shift—usually 5.5 out of 6 to allow for maintenance breaks. The resulting figure is the theoretical TPH, but it is still naked: it has no safety margin, no moisture correction, and no allowance for liner wear.
Calibrating Belt-Scale Data Against Theoretical TPH
Mines love belt scales because they give real-time TPH, yet belt scales drift. A scale that reads 2 percent high for six months can mask a gradual TPH decline caused by liner wear, leading the team to blame the crusher instead of the feed. The fix is a quarterly calibration using a certified test chain. Loop the chain over the weigh idler, apply a known tension, and adjust the integrator until the indicated load matches the chain weight within 0.25 percent. Re-run the theoretical TPH spreadsheet with the corrected belt data; discrepancies greater than 3 percent usually reveal hidden problems such as segregation in the feed chute.
Calibration also provides the data needed to build a “TPH fingerprint” for each ore type. When the same ore returns months later, operators can compare live belt scale data to the fingerprint and immediately recognize if the crusher is under-performing. Over time the mine builds a library of fingerprints that speeds up troubleshooting and reduces the need for repeated ISO 6336-2 tests, which are expensive and disruptive.
Seasonal Variations and Dynamic TPH Adjustments
In cold regions, winter feed often arrives frozen into solid blocks that bridge the crusher mouth, cutting TPH by 20 percent or more. Conversely, tropical wet seasons introduce sticky clays that coat the mantle and reduce nip efficiency. The remedy is not a bigger crusher, but a dynamic TPH budget. Start by plotting monthly moisture and temperature records against historical TPH. You will usually see two distinct bands: a summer band at 95–105 percent of design TPH, and a winter band at 75–85 percent. Build a simple lookup table so that the plant scheduler can dial back the mine plan in December rather than fight an impossible target.
Dynamic adjustment also applies to campaigns where the orebody alternates between hard and soft rock. If the work index jumps from 12 to 20 for a six-week campaign, the plant can elect to shorten the CSS by 5 mm and increase throw by 2 mm, clawing back 200 TPH while accepting higher power draw. Modern distributed control systems (DCS) automate these shifts, but only if the TPH requirement is expressed as a range, not a single number.
TPH Allocation in Parallel Crusher Lines
Very large concentrators often install two or three gyratory crushers in parallel. A naive approach splits the incoming feed equally, yet real material segregates by size and density. Oversize boulders gravitate to the left-hand chute, while fine wet fines slide right, causing one machine to choke and the other to starve. The result is that the combined TPH is lower than the arithmetic sum of individual guarantees. The cure is to install variable-speed apron feeders under the surge pile and tune their VFDs so that each crusher sees the same size distribution. A feedback loop tied to motor current keeps the load balanced within ±3 percent.
Parallel lines also create a maintenance window. While one crusher is down for liner change, the remaining units can temporarily run at 110 percent TPH by opening the CSS and increasing throw. The feasibility of this boost must be negotiated into the original TPH specification; otherwise the plant fails to meet weekly tonnage targets during shutdown weeks. Savvy owners therefore specify a “redundancy TPH” of 85 percent per unit, knowing that two units can still meet full demand at 110 percent each.
Digital TPH Monitoring and Edge Analytics
The newest gyratory crushers come with embedded sensors on the main shaft, hydraulic lines, and motor housing. Edge computers stream torque, pressure, and vibration to the cloud every second. Machine-learning models trained on historical TPH data can predict a 5 percent drop six hours before it happens, giving operators time to tweak the CSS or clear bridging. The dashboard displays not just raw TPH, but also “TPH lost to deviation” and “TPH at risk,” turning abstract numbers into actionable advice.
Digital twins take the concept further. By linking real-time sensor feeds with a physics-based model of the crushing chamber, the twin can simulate what would happen if the plant switched to a harder ore or closed the CSS by 3 mm. These simulations provide the confidence to push TPH closer to the absolute limit without endangering the machine. Early adopters report 8–12 percent TPH gains after six months of iterative tuning, proving that software can be as powerful as hardware.
Matching Gyratory Models to Verified TPH Ranges
Once the required TPH is locked, the next task is to open vendor catalogs without drowning in conflicting numbers. A practical way is to build a “capacity matrix” that cross-checks mantle diameter, eccentric throw, and motor power against the calculated TPH. The matrix immediately filters out machines that are too small or absurdly oversized, narrowing the choice to two or three finalists.
For example, a 54-inch (1 370 mm) gyratory with 32 mm throw and 750 kW motor is typically rated 2 700 TPH at 150 mm CSS. Increase the throw to 35 mm and the catalog TPH rises to 3 000, but only if the motor is up-rated to 900 kW. Conversely, a 60-inch (1 520 mm) unit at 35 mm throw already delivers 3 600 TPH at the same 900 kW, giving the owner headroom for future expansion. The matrix makes these trade-offs visible at a glance.
Linear Relationship Between Mantle Diameter and TPH
Empirical data from 40 operating plants show that, for a fixed CSS and throw, TPH scales almost linearly with mantle diameter. A 42-inch crusher at 1 800 TPH becomes 2 500 TPH at 48-inch and 3 200 TPH at 54-inch, a slope of roughly 125 TPH per extra inch. The relationship holds up to 60-inch; beyond that, mechanical limits on main-shaft forging and shipping clearances introduce diminishing returns. Designers therefore treat 60-inch as the sweet spot for 3 000–4 000 TPH duties.
The linear rule simplifies early-stage feasibility studies. If a pre-feasibility model predicts 2 400 TPH, the team can instantly estimate a 50-inch mantle diameter and budget accordingly. Later, detailed DEM simulations refine the estimate, but the initial guess is accurate within ±5 percent, which is sufficient for ±10 percent capital cost estimates required by banks.
Eccentric Throw as an Elastic TPH Controller
Manufacturers offer eccentric bushes in 2 mm increments from 28 mm to 40 mm. Each 2 mm increase typically adds 6–8 percent TPH at the cost of 3–4 percent extra power. This elasticity is invaluable when ore hardness fluctuates seasonally. Instead of replacing the entire eccentric assembly, operators can swap the bush in a six-hour maintenance shift and restore TPH without touching the CSS, which is beneficial when downstream screens are already tuned for a specific top size.
Elastic control also extends wear life. As liners wear and the effective CSS drifts open, shortening the throw can recover the original product size without over-crushing the already reduced throughput. Plants that exploit this trick report 15 percent longer concave life, because the load is redistributed over a larger mantle surface area.
Hydraulic Pressure vs TPH Curves
The hydraulic power pack that drives the main shaft positioner is more than a safety device; it is a TPH sensor. As TPH rises, rock pressure on the mantle increases, forcing hydraulic oil back into the accumulator. A proportional valve reads this pressure and adjusts the CSS to keep the motor within its rated load. Plotting hydraulic pressure against belt scale TPH yields a remarkably linear curve for most ores. The slope is unique to each orebody and becomes the plant’s “finger print” for automatic control.
When the pressure curve suddenly flattens, it usually signals packing in the chamber. The DCS responds by opening the CSS 2 mm and slowing the apron feeder, preventing a stall that could cost hours of downtime. Over a year, such micro-adjustments add 5–7 percent to the effective TPH without any hardware change.
Motor Power and Energy Efficiency per TPH
Energy audits across 25 plants show that specific energy (kWh per metric ton) decreases as TPH increases, up to the point where the motor reaches 95 percent load. Beyond that, efficiency plateaus and may even decline due to higher mechanical losses. The implication is that you should choose a motor whose 100 percent load corresponds to 105 percent of the design TPH, giving a small but useful buffer. Oversizing the motor beyond 110 percent yields diminishing gains and raises capital cost without improving TPH.
High-voltage (6.6 kV) motors are standard above 600 kW because they reduce cable size and I²R losses. At 3 000 TPH and 0.7 kWh/t, annual energy cost can exceed two million dollars, so a 2 percent improvement in motor efficiency is worth 40 000 USD per year. Premium-efficiency IE4 motors therefore pay for themselves in less than two years, provided the plant runs above 2 000 TPH for at least 6 000 hours annually.
Optimizing Equipment Configuration for Low, Mid, and High TPH Bands
Choosing the right gyratory model is only half the battle; the surrounding equipment must be tuned to the same TPH target. A 3 000 TPH crusher fed by a 1 800 TPH apron feeder is a recipe for starvation, while a 4 000 TPH feeder in front of a 2 500 TPH crusher wastes capital. The following sections describe proven configurations for three distinct TPH bands that cover 90 percent of green-field projects: 500–1 000 TPH, 1 000–3 000 TPH, and above 3 000 TPH.
Low TPH (500–1 000 TPH) Energy-Smart Packages
For small to mid-size limestone quarries, capital is tight and electricity tariffs are high. The optimal package is a 42-inch gyratory driven by a 400 kW IE4 motor, paired with a variable-speed apron feeder and a PCX fine crusher for shaping. The feeder runs at 0.8 Hz below nominal to reduce mechanical stress, while the VSI downstream recovers the missing TPH by producing more saleable sand. The combined specific energy drops to 0.55 kWh/t, 15 percent below the stand-alone gyratory figure.
Low TPH also allows softer manganese steel for concaves and mantles, saving 20 percent on wear parts. The downside is that manganese work-hardens more slowly at low impact energy, so the liners must be replaced on hours, not on tonnage. A simple hour-meter linked to the PLC prevents unexpected liner failure that could cut TPH to zero overnight.
Mid TPH (1 000–3 000 TPH) Wear-Resistant Choices
Copper porphyry operations in semi-arid climates typically target 2 400 TPH. Here the enemy is abrasive silica, not energy cost. The solution is a 54-inch gyratory fitted with a blow-bar grade of martensitic steel backed by a composite ceramic layer. The ceramic reduces wear rate by 30 percent, which in turn stabilizes the CSS and prevents the 5 percent TPH decay that normally occurs in the last third of liner life. A mid-size 900 kW motor offers a sweet spot between capital and operating cost.
Mid TPH plants usually run 7 500 hours per year, so the focus shifts to reliability. Installing dual grease pumps on the
spider bearing ensures that a single pump failure does not force a TPH shutdown. Redundant lubrication adds 30 000 USD to capital but saves ten hours of downtime per year,
worth 250 000 USD at 2 400 TPH and 40 USD/ton margins.
High TPH (3 000+ TPH) Intelligent Control Layers
Super-quarries exceeding 3 000 TPH cannot rely on manual CSS adjustments. The standard package now includes an AI-driven control layer that adjusts CSS, throw, and feeder rate every 30 seconds. Vision cameras on the discharge belt detect oversized particles and trigger corrective action before the downstream screen blinding reduces TPH. The system also logs every parameter for traceability, a feature increasingly demanded by ESG auditors.
High TPH demands high availability, so the control layer includes predictive maintenance algorithms. Vibration sensors on the main shaft predict bearing failure two weeks in advance, allowing replacement during scheduled liner changeouts. The net effect is an availability above 97 percent, translating to an extra 100 TPH on average compared with plants that still rely on reactive maintenance.
Custom Engineering for Extreme TPH (>4 500 TPH)
Only a handful of iron-ore mega-mines exceed 4 500 TPH. These sites use 60- or 63-inch gyratories driven by dual 1 500 kW motors. The key innovation is a split-shell frame that allows the upper section to be removed by crane in one piece, cutting liner change time from 72 hours to 36 hours. Shorter downtime effectively increases annual TPH by 3 percent without touching the nominal rate.
Extreme TPH also pushes the boundaries of logistics. A single 63-inch crusher weighs 450 tons, so the plant must be built near a deep-water port or railhead. Modular skids allow the machine to be pre-assembled in a workshop and shipped in ten pieces, reducing site erection from six months to six weeks. Modularization does not change the physics of TPH, but it compresses the schedule so that revenue TPH starts earlier.
Maintenance Practices That Safeguard Long-Term TPH
Even a perfectly sized gyratory will lose TPH if maintenance is neglected. The following sections describe how preventive schedules, component replacement, and digital tools keep the TPH promise alive for 20 years or more.
Preventive Maintenance Intervals vs TPH Retention
Liner wear is the dominant TPH killer. A new set of concaves may allow 2 800 TPH at 140 mm CSS, but after six weeks the same CSS measures 160 mm due to wear, and TPH falls to 2 400 unless corrective action is taken. The remedy is a fixed calendar-based liner change every eight weeks, regardless of tonnage. Plants that follow this rule report less than 2 percent TPH variation across campaigns, compared with 10 percent for plants that change liners only when metal is gone.
Oil analysis adds another layer of protection. Spectrographic tests detect silicon particles from rock dust that indicate failed spider seals. Replacing the seal during a scheduled eight-hour shift prevents abrasive wear on the main shaft, which would otherwise manifest as a 1 percent TPH drop per month—small individually, but 12 percent annually.
Key Component Swaps That Restore TPH Overnight
Sometimes TPH drops suddenly, not gradually. A broken spider cap can reduce the effective intake area by 30 percent, slashing TPH to 70 percent of nominal. Keeping a spare cap on site allows a 12-hour swap, restoring full TPH the same day. The same logic applies to eccentric bushes, main-shaft sleeves, and hydraulic pumps. A well-stocked warehouse is effectively an insurance policy for TPH.
TPH can also recover when obsolete parts are upgraded. Replacing a cast spider arm with a forged, hollow-core version cuts 8 tons of rotating mass, raising the critical speed margin and allowing 3 percent higher TPH without extra power. Retrofits like this are common in brown-field expansions where civil structures limit the installation of a larger crusher.
IoT-Based Remote TPH Monitoring
Satellite uplinks now transmit TPH data from remote deserts to headquarters thousands of kilometers away. Cloud dashboards display live TPH, availability, and energy per ton, color-coded by risk level. When TPH drifts outside the green band, the system sends an alert to the site foreman and simultaneously books a service technician if the anomaly persists. Early adopters report a 25 percent reduction in unplanned downtime, which translates directly to TPH recovered.
Remote monitoring also enables benchmarking across multiple sites. A corporate engineer can see that Site A achieves 2 550 TPH with 0.68 kWh/t while Site B languishes at 2 300 TPH and 0.77 kWh/t. Sharing best practices closes the gap, raising the fleet-wide TPH by an average of 4 percent within one year.
Major Overhauls and the TPH Recovery Curve
After eight to ten years, the main shaft bearing clearances widen and the frame alignment drifts. TPH may decline 15 percent even with perfect liners. A major overhaul—replacing bearings, re-machining the frame, and re-grooving the spider—can restore 95 percent of original TPH. The key is to schedule the overhaul before TPH decay accelerates exponentially. Plants that track a “TPH half-life” (the time for TPH to fall 50 percent) can predict the optimal overhaul window within ±2 months.
The overhaul itself becomes a TPH project. Engineers model the expected TPH gain and compare it to the cost of lost production during the shutdown. A typical 60-inch gyratory overhaul costs 1.5 million USD and takes 21 days. If the restored TPH adds 300 tons per day, the payback is 18 months—an easy sell to the board.
Real-World Case Studies of TPH Matching
Theory is validated only in the field. The final section narrates four recent projects where accurate TPH sizing unlocked millions of dollars in value. Each story highlights a different challenge—hard rock, waste recycling, climate, or logistics—yet the solution always begins with a precise TPH target.
Iron Ore Concentrator: 30 Percent TPH Uplift Retrofit
A 20-year-old plant in northern latitudes struggled with 2 100 TPH against a design of 2 400. The root cause was not the crusher but the feeder: an old fixed-speed apron that delivered 1 800 TPH on average. By installing a VFD and increasing throw from 32 mm to 36 mm, the team raised TPH to 2 730 within three weeks. The payback came from shipping 630 extra tons per hour to the port, where demurrage charges exceeded 50 000 USD per day.
The project also revealed that winter feed at −20 °C contained frozen lumps up to 1.4 m. A heated reception bin and variable-speed feeder now keep TPH stable year-round. The takeaway is that TPH problems often originate upstream of the crusher, but their impact is amplified inside the chamber.
Construction & Demolition Waste: TPH Volatility Control
Recycling plants face feed that ranges from clean concrete to reinforced asphalt slabs. TPH can swing from 800 to 1 800 within one shift. The solution was a 48-inch gyratory with an AI vision system that classifies incoming material and adjusts CSS and feeder rate in real time. The result is a steady 1 200 TPH with ±5 percent variation, allowing the plant to bid on fixed-price contracts that competitors could not match.
The same plant installed a mobile impactor downstream to handle steel-reinforced concrete blocks that occasionally bypass the gyratory. Although the impactor is only 600 TPH, it prevents frequent stoppages that would otherwise cap the system TPH at 800.
Copper Mine: TPH Stability in a High-Altitude Desert
At 4 000 m elevation, air density is 40 percent lower, reducing motor cooling and hydraulic efficiency. A new 54-inch gyratory was derated to 2 200 TPH instead of the catalog 2 600. To claw back the loss, engineers installed forced-air coolers on the lubrication skid and oversized the hydraulic pumps by 20 percent. The modified plant now sustains 2 500 TPH even during summer afternoons, proving that environmental corrections must be engineered, not ignored.
The project also pioneered the use of dual roll crushers for pebble crushing, which recycle coarse rejects back to the SAG mill. By stabilizing the pebble load, the rolls indirectly raise overall circuit TPH by 7 percent, a synergy that was not obvious during the initial TPH study.
Mobile Crushing Station: Balancing TPH and Logistics
A highway project required 1 500 TPH of crushed granite yet had no space for a permanent plant. The contractor deployed a tracked 60-inch gyratory fed by a surge hopper on crawler tracks. Because the site moved every three months, the key metric was not installed TPH but “effective TPH-kilometers,” i.e., how many tons reached the paver per kilometer of haul. By optimizing TPH at 1 400 and haul distance at 8 km, the project saved 2 million USD in trucking costs compared with a 1 000 TPH static plant at 15 km.
The mobile plant used a tracked chassis that could be relocated in 48 hours, minimizing downtime between cut sections. TPH remained stable because the feeder, crusher, and discharge conveyor were pre-tuned as a single unit, eliminating the commissioning delays that plague ad-hoc mobile setups.
In every case, success began with a rigorous TPH calculation that considered rock hardness, climate, duty cycle, and logistics. When that number was honored throughout design, procurement, and operation, the plant exceeded expectations. When it was fudged, the consequences were costly and public. The moral is simple: TPH is not just a number; it is the heartbeat of every profitable crushing operation.