Friday 31 August 2018

Steve Morrell is inducted into the International Mining Technology Hall of Fame

Great to hear that Dr. Steve Morrell has been inducted into International Mining's Hall of Fame (MEI Online). Steve was a Masters student at Australia's JKMRC around 30 years ago, and the founding Director of the JKMRC, Prof. Alban Lynch, was also inaugurated into the Hall of Fame five years ago (posting of 5th December 2013).
Steve has been a major contributor to MEI's comminution conferences, as a founder of CITIC SMCC Process Technology Pty Ltd, Australia, which provides independent technical services to various mining projects, mainly in the area of comminution circuit design, technology and equipment selection, and optimization of mineral processing plants. The company operates as an independent consulting company, and is ultimately owned by conference sponsor CITIC Heavy Industries, a market leader in China with equipment operating successfully in China and around the world, including Asia, Europe, America, Africa and Australia.
Steve is pictured below (centre) with Joe Pease, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2016, and Chris Greet, at Comminution '16.
 

Thursday 30 August 2018

Day 1 at the AusIMM's MillOps 2018

MEI's Jon and his partner Dr. Kathryn Hadler have sent this short report on the first day of the AusIMM's MillOps conference. Jon has attended a number of MillOps, but this was Kathryn's first, representing Imperial College, UK.:
This year's Mill Operators' conference is being held in Brisbane  on the 40th anniversary of the first event in Mount Isa. The opening session of the 14th AusIMM Mill Operators Conference, kicked off with Conference Chair Katie Barns welcoming a record number of 570 delegates from 27 countries.  Over 100 abstracts were submitted to the conference, of which 44 were accepted as presentations in this conference which as usual runs without parallel sessions.  Katie emphasised the theme of this year’s conference “Back to Basics”, and highlighted that all papers contained at least some plant data.  The conference continues with the restructure introduced at the last meeting in Perth in 2016, where talks in a session run without questions in between, instead allowing a panel-type discussion at the end of the session.  This has been followed up by the introduction of a conference app that gives an online programme and the ability to contact delegates (providing they are also using the app!); an innovation that is surely the future for conferences.
Neville Plint, Director of the Sustainable Minerals Institute at the University of Queensland, followed this introduction with the news that, in lieu of gifts to keynote speakers, the AusIMM had instead made donations to the newly set up Dee Bradshaw Travel Scholarship.  This fund will allow postgraduate students to undertake placements overseas, mirroring the Dee Bradshaw and Friends International Travel Scholarship from the University of Cape Town. 

Janine Herzig, AusIMM Director, then gave a short overview of the steps the AusIMM are taking to update and remain relevant.  The AusIMM celebrates its 125th anniversary this year, and a short video to commemorate this was shown.
The first of two keynotes in this session was given by the “brains behind the first MillOPs in 1978”, Peter Munro.  He gave a retrospective of 40 years of the conference series, regaling the audience with tales of the first, held in Mount Isa, where the 200 delegates twice drank the bar dry at the conference dinner, leaving the organisers to restock from the bottle shop across the road.  Peter gave a fascinating rundown of statistics on the conference over the 40 years and 14 meetings, including delegate numbers (increasing) and papers by commodity (predominantly base metals and gold) and geographical spread (over 80% of which have been Australian).  Of note is the low number of academic papers, with less than 10% of authors being from academic institutions in 2016.  This demonstrates the practical and plant-focused nature of the conference.
The second keynote was given by JP Franzidis, a familiar face to many who have attended MEI Flotation conferences.  He took the opportunity to look back at the beginning of his career in industry 40 years ago, and to look forward to the next 40 years.  When he started his career, the most important thing for any plant was tonnes processed.  Perhaps things have not changed that much!  JP gave a rundown of all the new technology available today, from SAG mills and HPGR, to the reflux classifier, including the development of process mineralogy tools and expertise.  In his look forward, however, he cautioned that the low level of trust in mining would become increasingly important to address, as accountability, circular economy and sustainability become key issues.  Perhaps fittingly for a university lecturer, his final words were on the role of education in producing the kinds of graduates that are required for minerals processing in the future.
Below are a few photos taken in the exhibition area on Day 1.
Brent Hill and Greg Chapman of Comminution '20 sponsor Keramos

BenTordoff (right) of Zeiss informed Jon that as well as sponsoring Process Mineralogy '18
they will also be running a pre-conference workshop

The Magotteaux team

The world's leaders in Ore Sorting Machines, Kaal Bartram and Peter Funke of
Physical Separation '19 sponsor Steinert, and Anthony Sacca of TOMRA
The late afternoon welcoming reception
Jon with Chris Smith of Rio Tinto and Alison Keogh of CEEC

Jon with Cobus Kotze of Dakot Wear

Jon with Randy Nix of Flottec and Kenneth Lee of Kemtec

 

Monday 27 August 2018

Steinert is on board once more, as a sponsor of Physical Separation '19

The multi-national company Steinert is one of the leading players in electronic sorting, and we welcome them back as sponsors of Physical Separation '19 in Falmouth in June. This is the 3rd time that the company has sponsored the physical separation series of events. Steinert sensor sorters use NIR, HSI and x-ray technologies to help mines recover more materials from what is normally considered waste rock, in some cases eliminating the need for expensive heavy/wet media separation.
There will be much interest at the conference as to whether electronic sorting might replace DMS at Cornwall's South Crofty tin mine, which is due to reopen in a couple of years time. Up to its closure in 1998 the mine had used DMS to pre-concentrate the ore, as did the Geevor tin mine which closed eight years earlier. It will be interesting to see if electronic ore sorting is considered for the new processing circuit at South Crofty.
The pros and cons of sorting versus DMS were debated in the posting of 22nd July, and Jens-Michael Bergmann, of TOMRA Sorting GmbH, Germany, another major electronic sorting company, who I am sure will also be involved with Physical Separation '19, stated that XRT ore sorting will find its place in the future among all other technologies. He felt that it is not a "one-size-fits-all" technology, but it can be an excellent alternative for DMS or jigging. Often the grade of a rock (small inclusions of e.g. tungsten or galena or other sulfides) can be "seen" without crushing it to a liberation size where gravity-based technologies start to function, which saves a lot of crushing or transport cost, even without any water, for instance close to the mine face. He said "economically it (electronic sorting) always depends on the individual circumstances and sorting objectives: particle size, feed rates, grades, liberation, water access, permitting issues, environmental considerations, and finally cost per ton. These, at sizes +20 mm, usually are much lower that those of DMS. Therefore, nowadays XRT-Sorting replaces even existing DMS plants in various applications".
The latest updates on Physical Separation '19 can be found at #PhysicalSeparation19.
Current Physical Separation '19 sponsors
 

Friday 24 August 2018

AusIMM Mill Operators' Conference is only 5 days away

The always excellent 'MillOps' conference begins in Brisbane next Wednesday.
Jon Wills
MEI is proud to be a media partner and we will be represented by Jon Wills, who will be accompanied by his partner Dr. Kathryn Hadler. Jon will be reporting daily on the conference and would appreciate you making yourselves known to him if you have any interesting news on innovation, people etc.
The AusIMM, unlike many major institutions, such as IMPC, has embraced social media and we look forward to seeing regular tweets on the event via #millops2018. I will be retweeting relevant postings, and I am sure that you know that the MEI tweets are fed to the right hand column of the blog.
There will be a sad note to the conference, however, and we were all very saddened to hear the news this week of the death of AusIMM stalwart David Pollard, who I had much involvement with in the past in our partnerships with the Metplant series of conferences. Our thoughts are with David's family at this time.
Twitter @barrywills

Thursday 23 August 2018

Exploring Cornwall's rich mining heritage with the Ralstons

It's always a great pleasure to show people around our wonderful county of Cornwall. Particularly if guests have a keen interest in the history and beauty of the area, as did Prof. John Ralston and his wife Ann, who spent three nights with us this week.  South Australian of the Year, Officer of the Order of Australia, these are just two of the many accolades and awards showered on John, the founding Director of the University of South Australia's Ian Wark Research Institute (see also posting of 27 May 2014).
John and Ann are great fans of the BBC series Poldark, so in their limited time in Cornwall Barbara and I took them to some of the filming locations, beginning with the beautiful Kynance Cove on the Lizard peninsula, one of the settings for the fictitious Nampara Cove.
Overlooking Kynance Cove and "Nampara Cove" beach
Yesterday was a long day spent exploring some of Cornwall's copper and tin mining areas, beginning with the three magnificent 19th century engine houses at Wheal Peevor, near Redruth (posting of 1st July), which we will be visiting next June with Physical Separation '19 delegates.
The large pumping engine house of Wheal Peevor
Wheal Peevor
Then on to the rugged north coast, with a quick stop to admire the stunning North Cliffs scenery before travelling to the far west for lunch in the old mining town of St. Just, and then to Botallack, the submarine mines area, and the main location for the Poldark mining scenes.
The beautiful North Cliffs
Botallack
The iconic Crowns engine houses
Outside the West Wheal Owles pumping engine house, which, suitably 'dressed',
was Ross Poldark's 18th century Wheal Leisure
It was great to see John and Ann, who are on a 7-week 'Grand Tour' of Europe. We will see them again in 15 months time, when John will be presenting a keynote lecture at Flotation '19. In the meantime he will be a busy man, with two 4 week trips to Namibia to make company contacts on behalf of the Namibia University of Science and Technology. He will also be travelling to China twice, to present seminars at Central South University in Changsha, and to work with Prof. Zhenghe Xu, now Dean of the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, who was previously at the University of Alberta, Canada. John will be at the University of Alberta prior to Flotation '19 to present research seminars, and apart from all this will be delivering a keynote lecture at Metplant '19 in Perth and mentoring research teams at the University of South Australia!
But he does get the chance to relax occasionally, and what better place than for a couple of pints of real ale in Falmouth's famous Chain Locker pub.
Twitter @barrywills

Tuesday 21 August 2018

Hi-Tech Metals '18. The option of making it a 3-day event

The two-day Hi-Tech Metals '18 is running back to back with the 3-day Process Mineralogy '18 in Cape Town in November (posting of 4th July). The programme for the final day of Process Mineralogy '18 has been timetabled to concentrate on the process mineralogy of rare earths, lithium and other hi-tech metals, and includes a keynote lecture from Prof. Frances Wall on the importance of mineralogy in the processing of rare earth deposits (posting of 8th January).
If you are travelling to Cape Town just for Hi-Tech Metals '18, you may like to take up the offer of staying an extra day and registering for the conference and the final day of Process Mineralogy '18. Full details are on the conference website.
Delegates at Process Mineralogy '17

Monday 20 August 2018

Limitations to the commercial application of biohydrometallurgy for the treatment of base metal sulfide ores

Tank bioleaching is an established and competitive technology for treating refractory gold sulfide concentrates, but despite extensive research and development and considerable expenditure, the technology has had limited commercial application for treatment of base metal concentrates. Heap bioleaching is extensively used for commercial treatment of secondary copper ores but is still to be established for recovery of copper from primary chalcopyrite ores.
In the first keynote lecture at Biomining '20 in Falmouth, Dr. David Dew, of Dewality Consultants Ltd, UK, will review tank bioleach technology developed for treating base metal concentrates and discuss the process and engineering factors that determine the design and scale-up, identifying the limiting factors that affect commercial competitiveness. The development of chemical and bioleaching processes for heap leach treatment of primary copper sulfide ores will also be reviewed identifying challenges that limit bioleach performance.
Dr. Dew feels that the hydrometallurgy component of biohydrometallurgy is often largely ignored at conferences concerned with bioleaching, despite the fact that downstream iron removal, metals recovery and waste disposal are key elements that determine the viability of the overall process. He will review some of the standard methods used for metals recovery and the challenges that are imposed on the overall process, particularly relevant to heap leach operations. Considering the limitations and challenges identified, he will then present a case for opportunities where biohydrometallurgy may add value and identifies focus areas for development.
 
David Dew has 30 years international experience in the development of biohydrometallurgical processes for application in the extraction of base and precious metals. He joined Gencor Ltd., South Africa, in June 1983; in 1990, as Principal Research Metallurgist, he joined the project team responsible for development of the BIOX Process. He took a lead role in the improvement and design of the bioleach reactors, reducing power costs and establishing a methodology for pilot testing and commercial plant design. He was later appointed Manager Process Development at Billiton Plc responsible for leading research in this area. In 2001 Billiton merged with BHP to become BHP Billiton and David was appointed as Global Technology Manager at the Johannesburg Technology Centre, primarily responsible for technology development for the Base Metals Division. David became an independent consultant in 2012 and formed his own company, Dewality Consultants Limited, which he operates from his home in Cornwall. In May 2018 David joined the College of Engineering , Mathematics and Physical sciences, University of Exeter, as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow working part-time for the Horizon 2020 NEMO project, funded by the European Union. The project re-establishes his links with the Camborne School of Mines, from where he graduated in 1979. 

David's keynote is something to look forward to, but in the meantime I am sure that he would appreciate your views on the future of biohydrometallurgy for the treatment of base metal sulphide ores.
#Biomining20 for the latest updates on the conference.

Friday 17 August 2018

Falmouth Festival Week and a great Cornish Mining Sundowner

The Cornish Mining Sundowner gets better and better, with a great turnout of around 30 yesterday at Falmouth's Chain Locker pub.
Pete and Mary Shepherd, Nick Eastwood, Barbara Wills, Tony Clarke and Steve Barber
Pauline Clarke with Process Mineralogy '18 keynote speaker Frances Wall
BW, Dave Goldburn, Nick Eastwood, Dean Eastbury, Steve Barber, Pete Walsh, Barbara Wills, Dave Dew
The Cornish Mining Renaissance is well under way, and it was good to see so many Cornish Lithium staff, pictured below with Pete Ledingham, Project Manager for the United Downs Deep Geothermal Power project, operated by Geothermal Engineering Limited (GEL). The quest to extract lithium from geothermal brines is now well under way, and Cornish Lithium has recently recruited eight more geologists to the project.
Pete Ledingham (right) with Cornish Lithium staff Adam Matthews, Beth Colgan,
Tom Naylor, George Fry, Lucy Crane and Chris harker
GEL has secured funding of £10.6 million from the European Regional Development Fund to explore the geothermal resources deep beneath Cornwall. With £2.4 million from Cornwall Council and £5 million from private investors, the funding will allow GEL to drill two deep geothermal wells from its site within the United Downs Industrial Estate and build a 1MW pilot power plant to demonstrate the technical and commercial viability of supplying both electricity and heat. Drilling hopefully starts next month, so there will be much to report on in the following months.
It was nice to talk to two young people now embarking on their minerals industry careers. Alex Perry and Sajjad Jabarkhel graduated last month from Camborne School of Mines with honours degrees in Mining Engineering. Alex was Student Union President in his final year, but still managed a first class degree. He is hoping to work in Australia, and I am sure he is set for a very bright future. Sajjad is originally from Afghanistan, and is seriously thinking of staying on at Camborne to study for an MSc in Mineral Processing.
Sajjad and Alex (right) with Tony Clarke, Dean Eastbury, Lucy Crane, Dave Goldburn, Patrick Hegarty and Rob Fitzpatrick
I was pleased to see Rob Fitzpatrick back at a sundowner. Rob is leader of the new MSc in Mineral Processing, which starts next month (MEI Online). He is pictured below with biohydrometallurgists Dave Dew and Paul Norris, and Dave Goldburn of Physical Separation '19 sponsor Holman-Wilfley. Dave Dew will be presenting a keynote lecture at Biomining '20 in Falmouth.
Dave Dew, Paul Norris, Rob Fitzpatrick and Dave Goldburn
Rob tells me that they are expecting between 5 and 10 on the programme this year, but will be pushing next year for better numbers with visits to universities with relevant undergraduate programmes amongst the other forms of advertising.  The programme addresses the industrial need for more trained minerals process engineers, offering a great opportunity for undergraduates with chemistry, engineering, geology and other related backgrounds to enter the exciting field of mineral processing. It provides an excellent opportunity for practical, hands-on learning, featuring the latest developments in mineral processing. Students will also benefit from the wealth of expertise available in industry, particularly from mineral engineering companies based in south west UK. The MSc Minerals Processing programme, including a part-time blended learning option for working professionals, is enthusiastically supported by the CSM Trust, which is currently offering five scholarships of £6k for successful applicants.
This was a great sundowner, part of a great week in Falmouth. The town has been teeming with visitors this week, for the annual Falmouth Festival Week. With its origins in a local sailing regatta dating back at least as far 1837, the Week has evolved into not only a major sailing competition in the south west but also an opportunity for tourists and locals to enjoy the many daytime and evening attractions in the town. The highlight, as always, was the display by the Red Arrows, the RAF's aerobatic team, on Tuesday evening.
The Red Arrows arrive in Falmouth to an eagerly awaiting crowd on Gyllyngvase Beach
Falmouth is certainly a great place to be, and we look forward to being at the next sundowner at the Chain Locker on Thursday September 20th, commencing 17.30.

Twitter @barrywills

Monday 13 August 2018

Falmouth's beautiful North Helford region

It has been so hot recently in Cornwall that hard coastal path hikes have been put on the back burner for the time being. However, I have managed to cycle most days, and the North Helford region of Falmouth is one of my favourite rides, albeit very hilly (but manageable on my e-bike!). This is also a great area to explore in a few hours by car from Falmouth.
Falmouth lies between the estuaries of two very beautiful rivers, the Fal to the north and the Helford further south, and the North Helford region of outstanding natural beauty starts on the road to the small village of Constantine, from where we can take a 16 mile circular drive along the road which has several offshoots to the Helford River.

Passing by Constantine we reach the Port Navas Creek, one of the Helford's many creeks. Climbing a very steep and narrow hill out of Port Navas village takes us to Budock Vean, from where we head back to Falmouth. The Helford River is a couple of hundred feet below the road, and it is worth the steep descent down to Helford Passage, where there is a small car park next to the famous Ferry Boat Inn. From Helford Passage there is a small ferry to the beautiful Helford Village, and from there a short walk to Frenchman's Creek, the location of the eponymous book and film (see also posting of 10th April 2015).
Port Navas Creek
 
Helford Passage
Helford Village
Frenchman's Creek
Cornwall not only has a stunning coastline, it also has beautiful gardens, and two of them are on the road back to Falmouth. Trebah is rated in the top 80 gardens in the world, and has a lovely walk through a wooded valley with rhododendrons, magnolias and camellias onto Trebah beach, an idyllic spot on the Helford River. In 1944, the beach was used as an embarkation point for a regiment of 7,500 of the 29th US Infantry Division for the assault landing on Omaha beach, part of the D -Day Landings.

Trebah (source unknown)

Trebah beach
Back on the main road, a short distance from Trebah, is the Glendurgan Garden, owned by the National Trust. This thriving sub-tropical valley garden winds down to the Helford River at the fishing village of Durgan.

Glendurgan
The maze at Glendurgan

Durgan village
Heading back to Falmouth, turn right at the Red Lion Inn at Mawnan Smith. Further on it is worth a right turn to Mawnan Church, from where you can park your vehicle and walk through the wood to the coast. A right turn takes you to Toll Head with its spectacular view of the mouth of the Helford River.
The Helford Estuary and the short walk from Mawnan to Toll Head
The Helford estuary from Toll Head
 
As you complete your journey, you will pass Falmouth's most southerly beaches at Maenporth and Swanpool. Maenporth is overlooked by our favourite Falmouth restaurant, The Cove. What better way to end the day than to have an evening meal in the restaurant with its amazing view of the beach and cliffs?
Maenporth beach
Swanpool beach
Twitter @barrywills
 

Saturday 11 August 2018

Recent comments

There have been comments on the following postings since the last update:

Biohydromet '18 Conference Diary
Comminution '18 Conference Diary
Minerals Engineering: end of term report
Memories of the 1988 International Mineral Processing Congress in Sweden
Is ore sorting set to replace dense medium separation?
World rankings of mineral and mining Universities: here we go again!
Prof. Dee Bradshaw, 1958-2018: a great ambassador for women in mining
Sustainable Minerals '18 Conference Diary
First announcement: Biomining '20 and Sustainable Minerals '20
Prof. Doug Fuerstenau to be honoured by major international symposium
Richard Mozley's legacy lives on with the MGS
 
We welcome your comments on blog postings. If you do not have a Google account, the simplest way to add a comment is by selecting 'anonymous' as your profile, but please leave your name and affiliation in the comment. Alternatively, email your comment directly to bwills@min-eng.com.

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Thursday 9 August 2018

Tunnelling, then and now: Cornwall's Great County Adit and the London Super Sewer

I have just finished watching a 3-part BBC documentary on "The Five Billion Pound Super Sewer", which follows workers across London as they race to build an enormous super sewer deep below the Thames. The existing system of tunnels and pipes was constructed in the Victorian era by an ingenious engineer Joseph Bazalgette. This amazing system functioned well for many years, but with London's booming population four times that of Bazalgette's time, the capital's sewage now overflows in heavy rain and the excess waste is diverted to take it out to the sea via the river. From 2023 this excess will be channelled down a 25 km long, 7.2 m wide Thames Tideway Tunnel, preventing millions of tonnes of untreated sewage flowing into the Thames each year.
The ingenuity of modern engineers has to be admired, but no more so than that of the Victorian engineers, who did not have the benefits of tunnelling machines, laser surveying etc. Bazalgette's brick-lined tunnels are a testimony to the skills of the 19th century engineers, but going back even further, there is a remarkable long forgotten system of tunnels in Cornwall, which were built in the 18th century, and hewn from the hard rock using hand tools and gunpowder blasting, long before the introduction of rock-drilling machinery. In 1843 the Mining Journal described the system as “the most extensive, valuable, and systematic undertaking of the kind in Cornwall, perhaps in England, and we believe but few in the world exceed it in importance”.
The Great County Adit is an extensive system of underground near-horizontal tunnels built to drain copper and tin mines in the Gwennap Parish, between Redruth and Bissoe in west Cornwall, once regarded as being "the richest square mile on earth". Construction started in 1748 and it eventually reached a length of nearly 40 miles (65 km) of underground tunnels, providing drainage to over 60 mines at an average depth of 80-100m.
Water has always been the enemy of the Cornish miner, and drainage has been crucial to the survival of Cornwall’s tin and copper mines.  As shafts got deeper, adits (near horizontal shafts) were driven from around 1700 onwards to help drainage. 
Mine drainage adit
Drainage adit: on the right a disused adit, still draining water from a long abandoned mine onto Perranporth beach, Cornwall
However, even after the introduction of the steam engine, major problems remained for the ever deeper mines sited well inland in the St. Day and Gwennap areas.  The water drained needed to be directed to the sea.  The Great County Adit, often known just as the County Adit, provided the solution.  The brainchild of John Williams, owner of Poldice Mine, he and "adventurer" Sir William Lemon drove the project forward.  Begun in 1748, by 1760 it was draining Poldice Mine into the Carnon River which flows into Restronguet Creek, one of the River Fal's many creeks.  By 1778 it had been extended to nearby Wheal Busy and Wheal Peevor.  Eventually it drained more than 60 mines in the Redruth and St. Day mining areas discharging around 13 million gallons a day into the river via its portal below the hamlet of Twelveheads.  In the 1860s over thirty Cornish beam engines pumped into the adit, more than were used by the whole of continental Europe and America combined.
The high volume of water flowing out of the adit contributed to the success of at least 15 industries downstream from the portal at Twelveheads. There were tin dressing plants, two major arsenic producers, two blacksmiths, a small iron foundry, a corn mill and an ochre plant, the latter making use of the hematite flowing down from the adit. This vast amount of water, from the joining of several rivers and the County Adit, powered water wheels and was used in washing, but ironically the adit was the instrument of the decline of Devoran, the port on the Restronguet Creek which served the mines upstream via the Redruth and Chacewater railway.  Disastrous floods in 1876 caused the neglected County Adit to release thousands of tons of water, carrying rubbish and silt down-river to Devoran, blocking navigation to all but the lower quays.
Although the mines have long been abandoned, and the adit is no longer maintained, it still drains the old workings, and in the summer of 1980 the flow was estimated at around 500,000 gallons per day,  the river downstream still showing evidence of contamination by heavy metals.
Carnon River, Cornwall
The Carnon River, near Bissoe, August 2018
The County Adit portal in 1978
Photo: Roy Morton
 
It is impossible to estimate the cost of driving the County Adit, but it is likely to have been around £250,000, a considerable sum at the time. However, this amount is relatively tiny considering the millions of pounds saved by the mines due to its efficient draining and the reduced cost of pumping to adit rather than to surface.
The Great County Adit is a reminder of a glorious past where Cornwall dominated world metal mining, and its story has been told in detail by Alan Buckley, an ex-miner with extensive experience at South Crofty and Geevor mines. His book, The Great County Adit, is published by the Trevithick Society, and the photo on the front cover shows the adit portal at Twelveheads in 1978.
Twitter @barrywills

Sunday 5 August 2018

Richard Mozley's legacy lives on with the MGS

Richard Mozley, one of Cornwall's great innovators, died 23 years ago (posting of 4th June 2015). His Redruth company, Richard Mozley Ltd, initially concentrated on the development of small hydrocyclones for desliming feeds to gravity concentrators, but I particularly remember Richard talking enthusiastically, over a few beers, about his latest invention, a shaking table wrapped through 360 degrees into a circular drum which was not only shaken, but rotated to produce a high-G force - one of the first of the enhanced gravity concentrators, which competed with the Knelson and Falcon concentrators. The Mozley Multi Gravity Separator (MGS) was tested at the Wheal Jane mine and then showcased at the 1988 IMPC in Stockholm.
Richard Mozley (2nd right) with the first MGS, Stockholm 1988
The device has since been used successfully around the world for the recovery of ultrafine heavy minerals and is still manufactured in Redruth by a small one-man business, Gravity Mining Ltd, run by a talented and very enthusiastic engineer, Treve Mildren, who has taken Richard Mozley’s initial concept of the Multi Gravity Separator and re-engineered and remodelled some of the internal mechanisms.
Treve invited me over to his premises recently to see the four MGS machines which were being prepared for shipment to Minsur's San Rafael tin mine in Peru for its tailings treatment project. It was also good to see the interest shown by other Cornish mineral processors, with representatives from Wardell-Armstrong (WA), Physical Separation '19 sponsor Holman-Wilfley (HW), and Comminution '20 sponsor Grinding Solutions (GS) being present.
Treve (4th left) with BW, Phil King (WA), Nick Wilshaw (GS), Ben Simpson, Dominic Conybeare (WA),
Dave Goldburn (HW), Joe Marley (WA), Adam Bailey (HW) and Garfield Stuart (WA)
I asked Treve how the current MGS differed from the original Mozley MGS and he said "a lot of R&D, collaboration and advances in material science has produced measurable MGS improvement. The physical separation now happens during the scraping period rather than in between. The scraper blade system used by Richard worked well with low feed rates but quickly became overwhelmed when pushed hard. By using the latest video technology we managed to actually get inside the machine and really see what was going on and how we could improve on it. We quickly discovered the artefact which was limiting the capacity of the MGS and set about correcting it. Now instead of having giant scraper blades pulling everything in their path to concentrate, we use our " Pure Select" blades which can only pull a limited amount, with the rest free to flow over the top, just like a riffle on a shaking table. Our original design intent was to simply improve feed capacity but we have also made massive improvements to produce achieved grades and recoveries on our journey. Our modifications also lend themselves very nicely to a rougher/cleaner configuration in a single pass of a machine, which I believe to be a first for any enhanced gravity device".
Minsur already own and operate quite a number of MGS machines in their main mill, some of which have been in operation for at least 10 years. So why the MGS rather than other well known enhanced gravity devices, manufactured by Knelson, Falcon, Gekko and Kelsey?   Treve said "Minsur have extensively tested all of these technologies at San Rafael mine over the past few years and declare each has its own benefit and downfall. The Senior Metallurgist Jorge Diaze once said to me that the MGS was the best technology for ultra-fine tin. Some of the competition can certainly compete on recovery and capacity but cannot achieve the upgrades of the MGS". 
Treve is doing a grand job here in Cornwall, and I am sure that Richard Mozley would have been very proud.
Twitter @barrywills