MEI Blog is 5 years old today

Until February 5th 2009 MEI had had little involvement with networking via social media, but, love it or loath it, it was obviously here to stay, so we decided to embrace it, first by starting up this blog, followed by LinkedIn (via our Minerals Engineers group which now has around 4700 members), then Twitter (@barrywills) and Amanda's excellent MEI Facebook site.

Photo assignment in 1969

But it is the blog which has given me most satisfaction. It has taken me back to my roots, as I started my career as a freelance photojournalist, undertaking, amongst many other things, assignments as a sports photographer for a group of newspapers in northern England. The parochial assignments that I had in those far off days are a far cry from my current travels around the world, reporting on news of events, people and innovations in the wonderful world of mineral processing.

It is particularly rewarding on my travels to meet so many people who follow the blog (which now has between 15,000 and 20,000 page views per month) and who take part in the discussions. Photographs are obviously of great interest, as many of them show people enjoying themselves, probably aided by the glasses of wine which appear in many of the photos!

On "assignment" at SME 2013 in Denver

My aim is to make the blog a record of the social and technological history of 21st Century mineral processing and its people, so please continue to update me on your news, and join in the discussions. My next "assignment" is the SME Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City in three weeks time. Look out for me there if you have any news to share- you may even get your photo on the blog!