Wednesday 13 November 2013

Mount Isa Mines- true pioneers of mineral processing technology

Here's a great photo of the Mount Isa Mines mineral processing research team in 1995. Can anyone put names to faces?



For a period in 1980, Mount Isa Mines was Australia's largest company, having pioneered several significant mining industry innovations which have been widely accepted around the world. The focus on paving the way in industrial innovation was a result of the difficult nature of the Mount isa ore bodies and in response to declining metal prices and rising operational costs in the 1970s and 1980s. By the 1990s Mount Isa Mines had become a world leader in innovative mining technologies and state-of-the-art processing technologies.
These included the ISA PROCESS copper refining technology, the ISASMELT smelting technology, the IsaMill fine grinding technology and the commercialisation of the Jameson Cell flotation technology, all of which are now marketed by Xstrata Technology, Glencore's technology subsidiary. Go to a mineral processing conference anywhere these days, and you will hear of innovative uses of at least one of these technologies.
The full story of Mount Isa Mines Research can be found here.

1 comment:

  1. Front row in the middle is Joe Pease, now Chief Executive at Xstrata Technology.

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