A conference to avoid?

MEI's Amanda is a woman of many talents, but she would be the first to admit that metallurgy does not count among them. So she was a little surprised to receive a formal invitation to join the organising committee for the upcoming Metallurgical Engineering & Mineral Processing Conference, scheduled to be held on August 04-06, 2025 in Frankfurt, Germany.

The invitation states that "we have carefully reviewed your impressive contributions and eminence in the field of Metallurgy and Mineral Processing. Your expertise and insights would greatly enrich our conference, and we believe you would be an excellent fit for the Conference".

Echoes of WASET came to mind, the series of conferences that we exposed in 2013 and were shown, judging by the 130+ comments, to have no place on a calendar of respected international conferences, such as that published by MEI.

So I tested the Frankfurt conference just as I did 11 years ago and and submitted my WASET paper, which would not pass even the briefest of professional appraisals, let alone a rigorous peer-review. It was basically a "technical note" summarising my April Fool's Day blog of 2012 :

"Could homeopathy provide the key to collectorless flotation?".

It was total nonsense, but just over a week later I was honoured to receive a formal email to advise that my abstract had been accepted by the review committee for in-person presentation. And the crunch- I was kindly requested to confirm my slot via a given link, which required me to register with payment. I could also pay for accommodation via the link, although there was no mention of where this might be, apart from Frankfurt, which is a fairly big city!

I responded by saying that I was surprised to hear that my paper had been accepted for presentation after peer-review, with no revisions necessary, as I felt that the paper was not perfect and I was hoping for some feedback. I asked if they could let me know who was on the review panel, but so far I have had no response.

It's fairly obvious that this is a conference to avoid. The fact that there is no venue mentioned on the website, and that they require money upfront suggests strongly that this is a money-making scam.

Memories of Precious Metals '04 Cape Town

Twenty years ago this month, Precious Metals '04 was held at the Mount Nelson Hotel in Cape Town. Attended by 57 delegates, the conference was sponsored by Impala Platinum. Papers were published in Volume 18 Number 8 of Minerals Engineering.

Below are some memories from the 3-day event, particularly of the wine tasting and conference dinner at Groot Constantia, South Africa's oldest wine estate.

October summary: IMPC, a memorial lecture and some sad news

I was in Maryland, USA in the first week of the month for the International Mineral Processing Congress, and it was great to catch up with so many familiar faces, and meet new ones. I was particularly pleased to be able to present the 2019 MEI Young Person's Award to Nikhil Dhawan, which was not possible four years ago due to the Covid pandemic. It was also good to see a number of Camborne School of Mines alumni at the event, and my old friend Dave Osborne, who was my colleague when I started at CSM 50 years ago.

MEI Young Person's Award winner Nikhil Dhawan

A CSM reunion: KP van der Wielen (2013), Ted Bearman (1987), Claire Bearman (1990),
Daniela Munoz (2009), Dave Meadows (1985) and mineral processing lecturers
Dave Osborne (1970-75) and me (1974-1996).

For most of my time at CSM I served under the School's most influential Principal, Dr. Peter Hackett, who died last month, and I returned from USA in time for his funeral in Camborne, followed by a Wake in Hayle at the same venue in which we celebrated his 90th birthday last November.

Peter Hackett had a great influence on my career and I had hoped that he would be able attend my Victor Phillips Memorial Lecture at the University of Exeter's Penryn campus last week. Dr. Victor Phillips, a hydrometallurgist, was one of my closest colleagues at CSM so it was a great privilege for me to present this lecture on my 55 years in mineral processing, celebrated this month. It was good to see so many CSM students among the 90 who attended and thanks to the Cornish Institute of Engineers for organising this (reactions on LinkedIn).

Those of you involved with industrial minerals would have known Ismene Clarke, who sadly died suddenly this month. Nine years ago Mike O’Driscoll, former Editor, then Global Head of Research, at Industrial Minerals magazine, launched IMFORMED with Ismene, former Head of Sales at Industrial Minerals magazine. Very much like MEI, IMFORMED also organises international conferences and I often caught up with Mike and Ismene at SME Annual Conferences.

Mike and Ismene at the 2012 SME Annual Meeting in Seattle

It is rare that the aurora borealis is seen as far south as Cornwall. It was observed in May and this month it was back in town again due to another intense Coronal Mass Ejection. I have photographed the West Wheal Owles pumping engine house at Botallack many times and, suitably dressed up, it played a major part in the BBC's Poldark series as the fictional Wheal Leisure. But this photograph by Aaron Jenkin must surely be the most spectacular ever taken of this ancient engine house, which ceased operation in January 1893 when flood water broke through the underground workings killing one boy and 19 men. 

And finally, today is the 'official' deadline for submission of abstracts to Comminution '25.  We will be drafting the provisional programme in mid-November, so it is not too late to submit an abstract. If you would like to exhibit, please let us know as soon as possible, as only three of the 30 booths remain available.

Memories of Solid-Liquid Separation '04, Cape Town

Two weeks today Process Mineralogy '24 begins at the Vineyard Hotel in Cape Town. Around the same time 20 years ago Solid-Liquid Separation '04 (SLS '04) also began in Cape Town, but at the Mount Nelson Hotel. This was the second MEI conference on solid-liquid separation and was sponsored by Outokumpu Technology. Solid-Liquid separation was later absorbed into MEI's Physical Separation conferences.

It was a small conference with 32 delegates and 16 papers were presented, which were later published in Volume 18 Number 9, a special issue of Minerals Engineering.

Below are a few faces at the event:

Much progress in producing lithium from mica in Cornwall

The global demand for lithium is expected to outpace supply over the coming decades, a recent analysis by the International Energy Agency suggesting that the world's current supply of lithium will meet only 50% of global demand by 2035. Governments around the world have responded by advancing the rapid development of their lithium resources, including hard-rock mineral deposits. 

In west Cornwall Cornish Lithium is currently testing different technologies to extract the metal from the hot geothermal brines a kilometre below the earth, and after removing the lithium injecting the water back underground so the process can be repeated. The energy used to power this process will be from a renewable source, the natural heat from the deep rocks being converted into electricity, making the process carbon-neutral

In East Cornwall, however, two companies, Cornish Lithium and British Lithium, are developing flowsheets to extract lithium from zinnwaldite, a lithium containing mica, found in the decomposed granite which forms kaolin, mined in the St.Austell region by Imerys as china clay.

Imerys is a French multinational company, which, a year ago, acquired an 80% stake in British Lithium, based in the same area, the transaction bringing together Imerys’ expertise in mining, R&D and process development capabilities, as well as its lithium mineral resources, with British Lithium’s bespoke technology and state-of-the-art lithium pilot plant, which recently produced battery-grade lithium carbonate.

Mineral resources are estimated at 161 million tonnes at a grade of 0.54 % lithium oxide. These resources give sufficient confidence to target a life of mine exceeding 30 years at a production rate of 20,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent per year, potentially enough to equip 500,000 electrical vehicles per year by the end of the decade, meeting roughly two-thirds of Britain’s estimated battery demand by 2030 when all UK car manufacturers convert to electric vehicles.

Last month Cornish Lithium received confirmation that the Government has directed that the Company’s Trelavour Hard Rock Project, also in the St Austell area of Cornwall, should be treated as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project. The UK currently imports 100% of its lithium, and the two projects will reduce the country's reliance on carbon-intensive imported lithium whilst supporting the UK’s green energy transition to Net Zero. 

Two years ago I visited the Trelavour site to see how things were proceeding, but was disappointed to see only an empty shed!  That shed is no longer empty, as last week the Demonstration Processing Plant was launched, a huge milestone for Cornish Lithium,  but more importantly for the UK. 

Photos courtesy of David Goldburn

The Demonstration Processing Plant will allow Cornish Lithium to test and confirm the viability of extracting lithium from hard rock in Cornwall, before scale-up to full size production. The plant will take lithium-enriched granite, mined from a repurposed china clay pit and process it to produce battery-grade lithium hydroxide using low-carbon processing technology, all on one site.

It is forecast that Cornish Lithium will contribute at least £800 million to the local economy and create over 300 well paid jobs for local people. This project will also drive investment across the entire supply chain, supporting businesses from St Austell to the Scottish Highlands. Trelavour combined with the planned geothermal lithium production will contribute around 25% of the UK’s forecasted demand by 2030. 

Together the two companies could create around 860 jobs in the county and if the mines and processing plants attract investment for a battery factory a further 3,000 jobs could be created. 

We welcome Turkish company FKK Mining to Comminution '25

It was good to see so many mineral processors at the International Mineral Processing Congress in USA earlier in the month, and as well as many familiar faces I also made many new valuable contacts, the primary purpose of the IMPCs.

Among the 23 exhibitors at the congress was a company new to me, FKK Mining from Turkey, one of the first local companies in Turkey to produce rubber linings and lifter bars for grinding mills. Since 1989, FKK rubber mill liners have provided optimal grinding solutions in major mineral processing plants in Turkey and abroad.

The representatives from FKK, Hasan Tayyip Altuncu and Eyup Altuncu were well aware of MEI and expressed a strong interest in next year's Comminution '25 in Cape Town. After discussing the benefits of exhibiting at an MEI conference, they agreed to become the 25th exhibitor at the event and also the 21st sponsor.

With Hasan and Eyup at IMPC 2024

We welcome FKK into the MEI fold and hope that we have a long and fruitful relationship.

A reminder that if you would like to present a paper at the conference, the deadline for abstracts is the end of this month. If you would like to exhibit, we now have only 3 small booths remaining, situated outside the conference room.

#Comminution25