Final Calls for Abstracts: Physical Separation '19 and Computational Modelling '19

There is a lot to look forward to in Falmouth next June, with two well-established MEI Conferences, Computational Modelling '19 and Physical Separation '19 at a new venue- Cornwall's National Maritime Museum in the harbour area.

Falmouth's inner harbour with the Maritime Museum in the background

We are now calling for abstracts, which should be submitted by the end of January. Authors of accepted abstracts will be required to submit draft papers, which will form an unrefereed Proceedings.

Following each conference authors will then be invited to submit final papers to Minerals Engineering. These will be refereed, and, if accepted, published immediately in the first available regular issue of the journal, and included in the Virtual Special Issue of the conference on ScienceDirect. This is an ideal opportunity to present your work to an international audience and have your paper published in a refereed journal of high repute.

Computational Modelling '19 is the 7th conference in the series, the aim being to bring together both users and developers of computational modelling from academia and industry to share their knowledge and expertise. This conference is aimed at the full spectrum of people involved in computational modelling in minerals processing and materials handling, from model development, validation and all the way through to application. This year we have a very eminent keynote speaker, a leader in this field, Dr. Paul Cleary, of CSIRO, Australia, who will present "Recent developments and future of modelling in mineral processing using particle methods" (posting of 13th November).

This conference is a must for anyone involved with modelling of mineral processes, and it will be followed by Physical Separation '19, the 5th in the series covering an area which is becoming of increasing importance in an industry where efforts to reduce energy and water consumption are crucial. It is no surprise that two of our major sponsors, Steinert and TOMRA are leaders in sensor based automatic ore sorting, and our industry advocate is the Coalition for Eco-Efficient Comminution (CEEC). Other major sponsors are Holman-Wilfley, Hudbay Minerals, Master Magnets and Outotec. Our media partner for both events is International Mining.

High capacity microwave treatment of ores may soon be a reality, and we are fortunate to have Prof. Sam Kingman, of the University of Nottingham, to present a keynote "What's cooking in mining?" where he will show for the first time that microwave technology can be used in commercial mineral processing plants and that it can be used at significant scale with several of the largest microwave processing plants ever built being applied (posting of 29th October).

The last afternoon of Physical Separation conferences has always been devoted to visits to Cornwall's historic copper and tin mining areas, and this year, for the first time, we will be making a short trip to Wheal Peevor, situated in a remote area 1.5 miles north-east of the once rich mining town of Redruth. The five hectare site is unusual because it is the only 3 engine-house mine site in the important central mining district around Camborne and Redruth. It contains the remains of three engine houses: the largest engine was used for pumping water out of the mine; the second, used for winching material in and out of its shaft and the third operated 48 heads of Californian stamps for crushing the ore, which was then treated in buddles, and the concentrate calcined to remove arsenic, the ruins of the processing plant also being part of the trail.

As with all Falmouth conferences, we will give you a taster of the beauty of Cornwall on our evening walks, where we will finish at the 17th century Chain Locker pub to sample some of the fine Cornish ales.

Physical Separation '17 delegates by the Fal estuary

Welcome drinks at the Chain Locker

But if you are making the effort to join us down in this remote area of England, try to make some time in your busy schedule to stay on and see more of this most beautiful area of the world. Some ideas of what to do if you are travelling without a car can be found here, and there is much information on Cornwall and walks on the magnificent coastline on the blog.

The latest updates on the conferences are at #ComputationalModelling19 and #PhysicalSeparation19 and full reports on Computational Modelling '17 and Physical Separation '17 are available on the blog.

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