The end of a good first day

The afternoon session was chaired by Dr. Claude Bazin, of Laval University, Canada, who introduced 5 papers, from Canada, USA, South Africa and Spain.

After a quick coffee, most of the delegates then joined me on a 2-hour coastal path walk, a taster of the beauty of Falmouth. 

Beer awaited us at the old Chain Locker pub in Falmouth town, after which we all dispersed in small groups to various local restaurants.

It's been good to see many old friends from the past, including Dr. Simon Meik, of Dundee Precious Metals, Bulgaria, who spent some time at the CSM pilot plant in the late 1970s, working on the feasibility study for the Hemerdon Tungsten project, near Plymouth. Further studies are currently being made on this project, with a view to bringing the mine back into operation. It last produced tungsten during the Korean war, and also during the two World Wars.

Also good to see Prof. John Monhemius after many years. This is his first MEI conference. He attended the first conference that I ever organised, a NATO Advanced Study Institute, also held in Falmouth, in 1986. See if you can spot him on the photos on the 12 September 2009 posting.