I attended my first International Mineral Processing Congress 30 years ago today, the XVI IMPC in Stockholm, Sweden. I have missed only one since then, the Rome meeting in 2000, which Amanda attended on behalf of MEI.
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| The opening session at the Stockholm Convention Centre |
The Stockholm IMPC was fairly small by recent standards, with 550 delegates and 177 papers. In recent years quality has been sacrificed somewhat in a race to be the 'biggest' IMPC, the last congress in Quebec, having 650 papers.
I remember the conference dinner in Stockholm being a rather formal and dour event (this was well before the 2003 IMPC in Cape Town, which showed that IMPC dinners could be fun events).
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| Having fun at the conference dinner, with Neil Collins and Phil Parsonage, of Warren Spring Laboratories, UK |
The meeting was notable for the launching of the Mozley Multi-Gravity Separator (MGS).
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| Billy Chan demonstrates the MGS, with Sales Manager Don Hepburn and Richard Mozley |
It was also at the IMPC that Minerals Engineering was first showcased by Pergamon Press. The first issue of the journal had been published in January of that year and quality papers were beginning to trickle in, but I detected a degree of coldness in Stockholm from the ‘old guard’ of International Journal of Mineral Processing contributors. This climaxed with an approach from a senior executive from Elsevier, who strongly advised me to abandon Minerals Engineering, as there was no place for another mineral processing journal of similar scope. Time proved him wrong!
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| With Stephanie Margetts of Pergamon Press |
All in all I enjoyed the 6 days of the IMPC, particularly socialising in the city by the light of the midnight sun.
Twitter @barrywills
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What I infer is::
ReplyDeletea)Equipment manufacturers were taking initiative to show case new equipment for others to see and carry out research in new areas and also to think deep into principles to be applied to design beneficiation equipment
b)never underestimate the power and importance of academic activities and their showcasing ( by publishing in good generals with minimum time lag)if we want our mineral engn to progress.Lot of room to reach out, if new knowledge is generated.
Good on you, Barry, for holding our Flag flying high from those (formative)years.As a mineral engn, I admire the path you chose to bring all connected with mineral engn(knowledge and people} on to a platform, which is so popular and appreciated ,apart from motivating young generation of mineral engineers., staring from those days.
Rao,T.C.
Hi Barry...I remember that photo and our talk of wilbur Smith novels and the green python! Stephanie
ReplyDeleteWow, Stephanie, great to hear from you after all these years. How did you find the blog posting? What are you doing these days? I take a bit of stick from the family re my white trousers (and shoes) on those photos. I try to explain that in those days I was, of course, a fashion icon, and had to set the trends, but they won't have anything of it.
DeleteHi! I was being very vain and googling my name😊 Both our outfits were cutting edge fashion ...your family is being very unfair! Have lived in Australia since 1989. Married, with dogs and horses. Still work in marketing. Lovely to hear from you. That was a fun week in Stockholm.
DeleteYes it was. Shame our paths never crossed again. Minerals Engineering was eventually taken over by Elsevier, and I am still E-in-C after all these years. Look after yourself!
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