Comminution '10- Day 3

A very long, intensive programme today, with 20 papers presented. The main theme was primary and secondary grinding, with all aspects of ball milling- control and optimisation, liner design, media, drives and classifier efficiency.  Graham Davey of Metso, UK presented an interesting paper showing how the Metso Vertimill outperforms secondary ball mills in terms of energy and media consumption, and this could also extend to primary grinding, including HGMS-Vertimill circuits.

Conferences are great meeting places, to renew old acquaintances and meet new people. I discovered that MEI is not the only small family business represented at the conference. One of our sponsors, D.M.M., is also a family partnership, involving (from left in photo) the Kotze family -  father Dirk, sons Cobus and Manie, and Manie's wife Hanlie.

It has also been good to catch up with old friends, particularly ex-students of mine from my Camborne days. In the photo below I am with Paul Morgan, who graduated in 1985, Gaynor Yorath, also 1985, Graham Davey (1991) and Ramoutar (Ken) Seecharan, who started his student days at CSM in the same year that I began my lecturing career, 1974. Paul is now with DRA Mineral Projects in South Africa, Gaynor with University of Cape Town, Graham with Metso in UK, and Ken with First Quantum Minerals in Mauritania.