MEI Conferences 2022

It is now over 2 years since MEI's last face-to-face conference, Flotation '19 in Cape Town.  All our conferences were postponed in 2020 and this year we have adapted to the era of the pandemic and this month completed our 4th on-line event of the year, Flotation '21, recently summarised by Prof. Jim Finch.

Coronavirus is still very much with us so there is still much uncertainty about what awaits us in 2022. Our feelings are that we should stay online for a while, so MEI's next 3 conferences, scheduled for Falmouth, will be virtual events.

From May 9-11 MEI's 7th Physical Separation conference (Physical Separation '22) will will bring together researchers and operators who have common interests in:

• Gravity concentration methods - single and multi-G separators and dense medium separation
• Classification techniques - hydrocyclones, air classifiers etc.
• Solid-Liquid Separation - thickeners, clarifiers etc.
• Electronic Sorting
• Magnetic and electrostatic separation
• Microwave technology. 

This event is currently sponsored by Hudbay Minerals, with media partners International Mining and Imformed, and our industry advocates are the Coalition for Eco-Efficient Comminution (CEEC), the Cornwall Mining Alliance and the Critical Minerals Association. Prof. Neil Rowson will present a keynote lecture on the role of magnetic separation in the development of critical and strategic metal recovery flowsheets.

A month later, from June 13-15, Integration, Optimisation & Design of Mineral Processing Circuits (IntegratedMinPro '22) is a brand new conference which invites papers on new approaches to mineral processing circuits, whether through design, modelling, optimisation or operation. This includes integration of unit operations (e.g. comminution and flotation), novel flowsheets that incorporate new equipment and new approaches to optimising circuit design.

This first conference in what we hope will be a series, is sponsored by Promet101 and Hudbay Minerals, with media partner International Mining, and industry advocates the Cornwall Mining Alliance and the Critical Minerals Association. Dr. Osvaldo Bascur will present a keynote lecture on digital disruption: a sustainability approach.

The 7th International Symposium on Sustainable Minerals (Sustainable Minerals '22), organised in consultation with Prof Markus Reuter, will be online from July 11-14 and is sponsored by Zeiss, Metso:Outotec Weir Minerals and Hudbay Minerals, with media partner International Mining, and industry advocates the Coalition for Eco-Efficient Comminution (CEEC), the Cornwall Mining Alliance and the Critical Minerals Association.

The rapid growth of the world economy is straining the sustainable use of the Earth’s natural resources due to modern society’s extensive use of metals, materials and products. An astute and conscious application and use of metals, materials and products supported by the reuse and recycling of these materials and end-of-life products is imperative to the preservation of the Earth’s resources. The realisation of the ambitions of sustainable use of metals, materials and resources demands that the different disciplines of the material and consumer product system are connected and harmonised. Sustainable Minerals '22  will discuss all aspects of material and metal usage and will include a keynote lecture from Prof. Selo Ndlovu on the complexities and opportunities for gold processing in a changing environment.

Looking further ahead, we are hoping that there will be some semblance of normality by the end of next year, and, very provisionally, Process Mineralogy '22, currently sponsored by Zeiss and Bruker, will be a hybrid event, with the possibility of a new venue, in Sitjes, Spain. 

Fingers crossed for 2022!

A quiet November sundowner, and encouraging news of an undergraduate mining degree in UK

For the first time since February last year we were back indoors in the Chain Locker, Falmouth, last night for the monthly mining sundowner. I arrived at 5.30 pm to find Dr. Tony Batchelor, Chairman of Geoscience, sitting on his own. We were soon joined by Dean Eastbury, former Elsevier, and Minerals Engineering, Publications Manager, after which Nick and Flee Wilshaw, of Grinding Solutions, arrived with their newly recruited Operations & Commercial Manager, Dan Abraham, to swell the numbers to a cosy six!  Although Covid restrictions in bars and restaurants were removed 4 months ago many are still wary about meeting in pubs, considering that the Covid infection rate in Cornwall is still 468 in 100,000, slightly higher than the figure of 432 for England.

Dan, Flee, Tony, Dean, me and Nick

The sundowner was a week later than planned, as last week there was a Cornish Institute of Engineers lecture in Penryn, the 18th Annual Vic Philips Memorial Lecture, in memory of my old Camborne School of Mines friend and colleague.

Vic Phillips with CSM mineral processing students, 1984

Unfortunately I was unable to make it to the lecture "Mining is essential and the world needs to know about it" delivered by Tim Biggs, formerly Head of Mining at Deloitte, UK. The pre-lecture announcement covered basically the ground that I, and many others, have been saying for some time, that mining is essential and the sustainability agenda, and particularly the energy transition, makes mining even more essential.

Tim said that we need to change this. The industry needs the support and understanding of society so miners can most effectively get on with the task of developing and running mines and producing all the metals the world needs. Very true but it is not too easy to get the message across to the wider society. I have always felt that I am preaching to the converted on the blog, and the media is not too interested in the positive aspects of mining, while relishing its negative aspects.

The lecture also covered the need to ensure an accurate understanding of mining if we are to attract the next generation of mining professionals to this most essential of industries. This is also very true, but since the University of Exeter "paused" the mining degree at CSM (posting of 15 September 2020) there is now nowhere in the UK where a school leaver can study mining engineering.

But there is a glimmer of hope! Throughout this year an Industry Advisory Panel, which includes several CSM Association members, has been working alongside the University to develop a pioneering new Mining Engineering program at CSM.

The Degree Apprenticeship (DA) model represents an innovative new partnership between employers and universities. Apprentices will be employed throughout the programme, spending part of their time studying (through access to online material and attendance at residentials) and the rest working. On successful completion of the program candidates will be awarded a BEng (Hons) degree in Mining Engineering from the University of Exeter. The program will be aimed at both the UK mining sector and the international mining industry through a blended learning offering.

To industry the DA represents both a completely different early talent recruitment model, and a novel opportunity for existing employees to gain a degree-level qualification. A recent industry survey around the DA provided very encouraging results and CSM and University Staff have agreed to develop the course. The Industry Advisory Panel will continue working with the University to develop a cutting edge curriculum and it is hoped that this will be delivered in partnership with the mining industry in September of next year.

Hopefully we will have a better attendance at the popular Christmas sundowner at Tyacks Hotel, Camborne, from 5.30 pm on December 16th.

@barrywills

Prof. Jim Finch summarises Flotation '21

We are fortunate to have Prof. Jim Finch as a consultant to the MEI series of conferences. Jim is Emeritus Professor of Metallurgical Engineering at McGill University, Canada, and a recent recipient of the IMPC's Lifetime Achievement Award, among many other honours.

Jim presented an admirable opening keynote lecture at this month's Flotation '21 on the life and work of Prof. Graeme Jameson and has now kindly provided us with a 15 minute summary of the conference, which is now available on YouTube.

If you did not register for this 5 day conference, it is not too late. as the 105 presentations, covering the whole field of flotation, and the two panel discussions, are available on demand, as are the discussions on each presentation. 

The full programme and registration details can be viewed on the conference website. Prof Finch's breakdown of the presentations into subject areas can be seen below.

A breakdown of the presentations in the fundamentals (left) and applications (right)
areas of the conference

#Flotation21

Innovative company Hudbay to sponsor 4 forthcoming MEI conferences

Canada's Hudbay is one of the most progressive mining companies, not afraid to bring new innovations into its operations. It is a diversified mining company primarily producing copper concentrate (containing copper, gold and silver) and zinc metal. Directly and through its subsidiaries, Hudbay owns three polymetallic mines, three operating ore concentrators and a zinc production facility in northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan, Canada, and Cusco, Peru, and copper projects in Arizona and Nevada, USA.

In 2015 Hudbay purchased the Snow Lake Project in Manitoba, which included the New Britannia gold concentrator. In August this year gold production commenced at the New Britannia mill after refurbishment, commissioning and start-up activities were completed earlier in the summer. 

The construction of a new copper flotation facility was completed last month and consists of an innovative and first-of-its-kind flotation circuit based entirely on Jameson Cells. First production of copper concentrate was achieved last month and ramp-up of the copper circuit is now underway.

Peter Amelunxen, Vice-President of Technical Services at Hudbay told me that the idea for all-Jameson cells came about before MEI's Flotation '19 conference (see posting of 7 April 2020) but the conference gave them an opportunity to discuss results, share ideas, and build relationships with Prof. Graeme Jameson and the Glencore Technology team and "even the guys from other flotation companies, who also provide very good technology that I would consider for other applications that may be less appropriate to pneumatic cells.  That’s the value of the flotation conferences and why we sponsor the events!", Peter said.

In choosing to sponsor four of MEI's upcoming conferences, Physical Separation '22 and Sustainable Minerals '22 next year, and our, as yet not formally unannounced, Comminution '23 and Flotation'23, Peter said "It has been Hudbay's pleasure to sponsor MEI and we are proud to continue supporting your mission to foster the sharing of valuable scientific and technical knowledge in the minerals industry.  As you well know, it is more imperative than ever for our industry to adopt more efficient and more environmentally and socially sustainable methods and practices, and this can only be done quickly by bringing together the best and brightest minds in our field to promote the sharing of knowledge.  For Hudbay, sponsoring MEI's mission isn't just about improving the operation of our mines and concentrators. It's about good corporate citizenship and it is perfectly aligned with our own vision and ESG principles".

Thanks Peter and Hudbay Minerals, we greatly value your support and your confidence in us.

COP26: was it just blah-blah-blah?

The 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) was hosted by the UK in Glasgow from 31 October to 13 November. This international summit was seen as crucial to bringing climate change under control. The host, Prime Minister Boris Johnson, said the challenge is huge but there are no compelling reasons for procrastination. The goal is to keep warming limited to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels by 2100 but we are on track for 2.7C, which the UN says would result in "climate catastrophe". 

Around 40,000 people descended on the Scottish city of Glasgow for the two-week event, amidst cries of hypocrisy, as around 400 private jets flew into the country's airports. USA President Biden is estimated to have generated almost 1000 tonnes of CO2 in reaching the conference, his entourage consisting of a fleet of four planes, his Marine One helicopter and a vast motorcade. World leaders were present for only two days, leaving negotiators to deal with business, before flying off home in their jets, President Biden remarking that it was a great mistake that the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, had not been at the event, nor had the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.

The perhaps unachievable Paris Agreement goal of net zero by 2050 (posting of 21 July 2019) took a bit of a knock on the first day when Indian prime minister Narendra Modi announced that the Indian target would be 2 decades later, 2070. India has the 3rd largest overall emissions after China and USA.

Not sure what they had to celebrate!
Source: Free Press Journal

The first major deal of the summit was the promise by over 130 world leaders to end and reverse deforestation by 2030. The commitment was supported by nations covering about 90% of the world's forests, including Canada, Brazil, Russia, Indonesia and the DRC. Let's hope this will happen, as analysts have warned that a deal struck in 2014 failed to slow deforestation at all. 

Maybe we should also be wary of the 2nd day agreement between nearly 90 countries who have joined a US and EU-led effort to cut emissions of the potent greenhouse gas methane by 30% by 2030. Methane is the major greenhouse gas after CO2 and it breaks down in the atmosphere faster, meaning that cutting its emissions can have a rapid impact on reducing global warming. However, this agreement is only voluntary, and three of the top five methane emitters, China, Russia and India, have not signed up to the pledge.

I also hope that the world will finally honour its agreement, three years behind its original promise, to give $100bn to the developing world to help it absorb the impacts of climate change. Some of this will be used for adaptation including improvements to sea defences and weather forecast systems. We should perhaps be more confident in the pledges from billionaire philanthropists who have vowed to make up any shortfalls.

Research from the University of Melbourne suggests that pledges to limit greenhouse gas emissions could keep world temperature rises to below 2C, but only if the promises were followed through.  What might be needed to force these pledges from governments is action by Greta Thunberg and other young climate activists, who strike fear in politicians; she told an event by the Fridays for Future youth movement near the COP26 campus that politicians were merely pretending to take our future seriously. 

Greta Thunberg in Glasgow
Source: CNN

Speaking at COP26, former US President Barack Obama called on such young people to "stay angry" in the fight against climate change, urging them to apply political pressure to make a change. He said the world is "nowhere near where we need to be" to avoid a future climate catastrophe.

Although Miss Thunberg, and other activists who were out in force in Glasgow, may be naive when it comes to understanding the science (see posting of 14 January 2021) she would probably admit this. She sees her role as keeping the pressure on world leaders, who I fear are also naive regarding the science, into policy decisions and providing funds to those who can provide the technology and engineering skills to build the renewables and electric vehicles of the future. But alas this is where the bottleneck is likely to kick in- do we have the raw materials to produce this green new world? I have seen many activists demonstrating against mining, whereas what is needed is protests against the lack of investment in mining! Environmentalists are often against mining because it is a dirty business, which it can be, but many major mining companies now have net zero carbon targets, with realistic plans to achieve them.

Although the need to ramp up mining of critical metals is crucial, there was little, if any, mention of this at COP26, although coal mining was on everyone's agenda. More than 40 countries signed up to a statement to quit the use of coal and the UK government said that 190 nations and organisations had pledged to stop using it, in the 2030s for major economies and 2040s for the rest of the world. However the final wording of the deal is far weaker than the UK government first claimed, as it has the words "or as soon as possible thereafter" to the 2030s and 2040s deadline.

Some of the world's biggest coal-dependent countries, including Australia, China, India and the USA didn't sign up at all. China now accounts for almost a third of the world's CO2 emissions, burning almost half of the world's coal, with more than 1000 plants supplying 58% of its power. South Africa is also a major emitter of greenhouse gases and sulphur dioxide  as a result of its addiction to coal, and the country is set to receive US$8.5bn to help its reliance on coal, and a move to wind and solar power, in a deal funded by wealthier nations.

Although activists and politicians were demanding replacing fossil fuels, mainly coal, with renewables, there is little appreciation that building renewables, and providing the necessary raw materials requires vast amounts of energy, which, during the transition to all-renewables, will require energy from non-renewable sources. China mines and processes over 85% of the world's rare earth metals, including neodymium, an essential alloying element in the powerful magnets used to generate electricity. Processing of rare earth metals is extremely energy intensive and in China that energy is produced mainly from coal. The great irony is that fossil fuels will be needed for some time in order to phase out fossil fuels!

Nuclear energy is the other option, of course. It is essentially zero-carbon but has been removed as an option by many countries due to the problems of disposing of waste, and reaction to the disasters at Chernobyl and Fukushima. Rather than huge fission reactors, such as that being built at Hinkley Point in UK, there may be a case for small modular reactors, which can be built and put into service relatively quickly. And looking to the future, and 2050, maybe we will be zero carbon if fusion can be made a viable option. The engineering problems are immense, but never underestimate the ingenuity of man in solving apparently insurmountable problems.

The long negotiations ended on Saturday evening, with nearly 200 countries agreeing the Glasgow Climate Pact to keep 1.5C alive and finalise the outstanding elements of the Paris Agreement, but it will only survive if promises are kept and commitments translate into rapid action.

The Glasgow Climate Pact will speed up the pace of climate action. All countries agreed to revisit and strengthen their current emissions targets to 2030, in 2022. This will be combined with a yearly political round table to consider a global progress report and a Leaders summit in 2023.

The pact was notable for naming coal as a root cause of the climate problem, for the first time in 30 years of UN diplomacy. The final text included the need to reduce the use of fossil fuels, phase out subsidies for fossil fuels and transition countries to using more renewable energy. The pact does not, however, hold wealthy countries to specific financial commitments to help poorer countries, the most devastated by climate change.

While the Glasgow Climate Pact is an ambitious attempt to rein in rising temperatures, the last-minute row over coal has undoubtedly cast a shadow over the deal. India was joined by China in pushing for a watering down of this key commitment, insisting on "phasing down" rather than "phasing out".  COP26 President, the tireless Alok Sharma, said that they would have to "explain themselves" to vulnerable nations.

The new deal comes just a few days after another notable Chinese achievement. Last Wednesday, the Xinhua news agency trumpeted the fact that the country produced more coal than ever before on a single day. When consumed for energy the one day of coal will produce carbon dioxide emissions roughly equivalent to Ireland's output for an entire year!

There are also vague clauses that will allow some countries to avoid updating their plans to cut emissions, depending on "differing national circumstances". There are real worries that some bigger developing economies like India and China will use that clause to skip updating their plans next year.

There are growing fears that the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5C is unlikely to be met. UN Secretary General António Guterres said the summit would probably not see governments make the pledges needed to cut CO2 emissions by enough. However there was a glimmer of hope when activists and politicians gave a cautious welcome to the unexpected announcement that the US and China would work together to tackle climate change. The US-China declaration sees the two countries, the two biggest CO2 emitters in the world, vow to boost climate co-operation over the next decade, working together to achieve the 1.5C temperature goal set out in the 2015 Paris Agreement.

Ultimately, this controversial pact does keep hope alive that temperatures may be held in check, somewhere between 1.8C and 2.4C this century.  However this is a frightening prospect in a world that has warmed by just over half that amount already, with massive impacts around the globe.

According to an analysis by the Climate Action Tracker, the world is still nowhere near its goals on limiting global temperature rise, despite the pledges made at COP26. It calculates that the world is heading for 2.4C of warming, far more than the 1.5C limit nations committed to. COP26 "has a massive credibility, action and commitment gap", according to the analysis.

There have been lots of promises but only time will tell if COP26 was a success, or merely more 'hot air'.

@barrywills

Flotation '21: Day 5 update

Friday 12th November

And so on to the last day of what has been a fine conference, attended by 267 delegates.  Continuing from yesterday, the day opened with 9 presentations on Flotation Circuits and Plant Practice, from Australia, Chile, China, Finland, Mexico and South Africa.

Following the mid-day break and networking session the final session on Flotation Machines contained 15 presentations from Australia, Peru, South Africa, UK and USA, commencing with three papers from Australia on the Reflux Flotation Cell, including its first full-scale trial at a coal preparation plant and its potential in processing other commodities. It could possibly become a generic solution for effectively floating both coarse and ultra-fine particles while maintaining a high throughput.

FLSmidth has, over the years, been one of the most prolific of MEI Conferences sponsors, and Dr. Dariusz Lelinski, one of yesterday's panelists, has been a familiar face at the flotation series of conferences. He co-authored all 3 of FLSmidth's presentations today.

Dariusz Lelinski (2nd left) at Flotation '19

Flotation product line manager Steve Merrill presented 2 of these papers, the first showing how FLSmidth has created and implemented Adjustable Radial Froth Crowders that allow customers to have more control over froth recovery and optimize the process for the variability of froth conditions.

FLSmidth has two main product lines for mechanical flotation machines: the forced-air nextSTEP™ and the self-aspirated WEMCO®. Thousands of these machines have been installed and continue to operate throughout the world and in his second presentation Steve showed how FLSmidth has implemented a row configuration called mixedROW that takes advantage of the benefits of each machine type to increase overall yield in flotation circuits. The new generation of Wemco flotation machines were described in a further FLSmidth presentation by Dr. Ronney Rodrigues Silva.

Maelgwyn Mineral Services, UK is also a long-term sponsor of MEI Conferences, and it was good to see a recent recruit Dr. Huu Duong Hoang present a paper on MMS's Imhoflot pneumatic flotation cell, and its performance in recovering fine gold losses to tailings. I met Huu for the first time 2 years ago at the Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology, Germany, where he was one of Dr. Martin Rudolph's team of researchers. Martin was one of the panel members on Monday and many of those in the photo below, taken at Freiberg, have been involved with presentations this week.

Dinner in Freiberg with (L-R) Edgar Schach (Germany), Bruno Michaux (Belgium),
Martin Rudolph, Anna Vanderbruggen (France), Nathalie Kupka (France),
Ahmad Hassanzadeh (Iran) and Duong Hoang (Vietnam)

In search of sustainability, the mining industry faces various environmental, social, and economic challenges, which will be highlighted at next year's Sustainable Minerals '22. Therefore, it is necessary to implement innovative technologies that improve the use of natural resources. One important technology addressing this challenge is the HydroFloat® Coarse Particle Flotation (CPF). As discussed by Jose Concha, products manager for HydroFloat at Eriez Flotation, USA, there has been a growing industrial implementation and acceptance of the CPF technology in tailings scavenging applications, and the next step in the development of this technology is implementation in pre-concentration applications (Coarse Gangue Rejection). Adam Johnston, of sponsor Transmin Metallurgical Consultants, Peru, presented a methodology to make an initial assessment of the cost benefit of introducing the HydroFloat® technology in a flotation circuit in early-stage projects by computer simulation. 

Jose Concha (right) in the Eriez Flotation booth at Flotation '19.

2nd left is Eric Wasmund, co-author of both HydroFloat presentations

Conference sponsor Eriez also manufactures the StackCell® SC-50 High-Rate Flotation Machine, whose industrial application was described at Flotation '19. This afternoon Dr. Erich Dohm presented the results of extensive field testing conducted by Rio Tinto and Eriez to evaluate the operability and performance of a StackCell® SC-50 high-rate flotation machine for recovery of copper and molybdenum from flotation tailings. The field test was conducted at Rio Tinto’s state-of-the-art tailings demonstration plant located within Kennecott Utah Copper’s tailings facility.

It was good to have GoldOre Pty Ltd back for the second time as a sponsor of the flotation series. Adrian Singh, founder and CEO, described the GoldOre Mach reactor, a hydrodynamic cavitation device, and  detailed the results of tests to quantify the impact of the Mach reactor on the recovery of the fine (-25 micron) fraction in floating a platinum-bearing UG2 ore from the Bushveld complex, South Africa. 

Adrian Singh (left) at Flotation '19

In winding up the conference, Jon Wills thanked the sponsors, exhibitors, presenters and all others for their interaction over the 5 days. Prof. Jim Finch will be summarising the conference soon, and this will be available on demand, as will all the presentations and panel discussions, until the end of May 2022.

Jon also announced the winner of the Cancha prize draw. This was a raffle prize of a 12 month subscription to Cancha Geometallurgy Software, worth US$ 2900. Peruvian company Cancha is a first time sponsor of MEI's flotation series, but sponsored Comminution '21 back in April. Cancha is used by geologists, miners, metallurgists and geometallurgists to accurately, efficiently and transparently project metallurgical performance for mineral resources, the geometallurgy software bridging the gap between orebody knowledge and plant simulators. 

Students and academics were not eligible for the draw, as free academic licenses are available any time. The prize came with free introductory training and support, and was won by Maxwell Norris, of Oktedi Mining, Papua New Guinea.

Following all this, we all adjourned to the Vineyard Hotel Gardens for farewell drinks. I wish!  Hopefully we will be doing this at Flotation '23, provisionally scheduled for November 2023.

Sundowner in the Vineyard Hotel gardens at Flotation '19

I would now like to invite all who attended to submit their views on Flotation '21. To those who didn't register, it is not too late. Nineteen delegates have registered during the last few days, to take advantage of all the presentations and panel discussions being available on demand until May 31st next year. So take your time and digest all that has taken place over the past 5 days at your leisure.

Thanks again to all our sponsors:

#Flotation21
@barrywills

Flotation '21: Day 4 update

Thursday 11th November

Circuits and plant practice was the theme of today's presentations, which got off to a fine start with a keynote lecture from Associate Professor Kym Runge, Group Leader of the SMI-JKMRC, University Of Queensland, Australia. Kym showed how an important role of a site metallurgist is to diagnose reasons for problems in a flotation circuit and devise strategies to overcome these problems. 

Traditionally this has involved performing and analysing information from a flotation circuit survey. It is difficult to determine from this information alone definitive flotation mineral recovery mechanisms and strategies for circuit improvement. There are, however, new analytical and modelling techniques that can be used to complement traditional survey data. These techniques are able to determine the effect of mineralogy, surface chemistry and circuit design on flotation circuit recoveries and grades. They can suggest strategies for improvement which would not have been identified via a conventional circuit audit. Kym reviewed these new approaches and used an industrial example to demonstrate the type of conclusions that can be derived. 

There were 20 presentations in another long day (see programme and abstracts), seven of these by conference sponsors. The first was by Glencore Technology's Glenn Steiper, who highlighted the imperative to reduce concentrator CapEx and Opex while maintaining throughput and metallurgy. He believes that the launching of the Jameson Concentrator is a step in the right direction to address these challenges as it treats the required tonnes, but offers many significant environmental and economic advantages.

Glencore Technology celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the Jameson Cell
with Graeme Jameson at Flotation '19

Livia Faustino represented Vale Institute of Technology, Brazil at Flotation '19, but now she is Project Manager with sponsor Clariant, Brazil, and this morning described the reverse cationic flotation of silicates by adding ultrafine iron ore tailings to the conventional flotation feed.

Zeiss Microscopy is a sponsor of many MEI Conferences. Eddy Hill joined Zeiss in 2012 with a remit to develop automated analytical solutions for geoscientists and the mining Industry. He attended Process Mineralogy '12 and Process Mineralogy '14, but this was his first flotation event and in his presentation he discussed 3D Mineralogy–X-ray microscopy automated mineralogy for a flotation circuit, which was introduced only last week).

Earlier in the year we welcomed Metso Outotec as a sponsor of Sustainable Minerals '21, and although this will be the first time that the company has had the opportunity to sponsor a flotation conference since the merger of Metso and Outotec, they were regular sponsors of many MEI Conferences under the names of their individual companies. The merger was completed in July last year, forming a unique new company with leadership in sustainable minerals and metals processing and recycling technologies.  It was great to have representatives present three papers today.

Guillermo Bermudez, of Metso Outotec Canada, presented strategies to optimise and modernise existing flotation circuits; Danish Bilal, of Metso Outotec Finland discussed the effect of ore blending on flotation and prediction of metallurgical performance of blended feed in flotation by simulation; and Janne Suhonen, also from Finland showed how locked cycle test results can be predicted from kinetic flotation test data.

Canada's Woodgrove Technologies sponsored Flotation '19, but were unable to attend, so it was good to have a presentation from David Hatton, manager of flotation development at Woodgrove, who are sponsoring once again. Woodgrove’s Staged Flotation Reactors (SFR) and Direct Flotation Reactors (DFR) are low-footprint and cost-efficient flotation units that are claimed to achieve higher upgrading at similar recovery to conventional flotation cells. David described the application of a novel benchtop flotation reactor for greenfields scale-up and design of industrial SFR and DFR Circuits.

Complementing today's and tomorrow's presentations was a 2-hour live panel discussion on the future of flotation circuits and machines (posting of 9th August). Chaired by Dr. Peter Amelunxen, experienced practitioners from around the world shared their views, and took part in lively discussions initiated by conference delegates. 

It was a shame that Prof. Graeme Jameson was unable to join the panel, due to connectivity problems in Australia. I am sure he would have made a valuable contribution to the wide-ranging discussions.

It is difficult to summarise a 2-hour discussion in a few paragraphs, but it was clear that future flotation circuits are likely to be hybrids, a mix of conventional mechanical cells, which are still very effective in treating particles in the 25-200 micron range, and a new generation of alternative machines such as Hydrofloat and Novacell for coarse flotation and Concorde and Jameson cells for ultrafine recovery.

There have been many challenges over the last 40 years, feed grades now being lower than many old tailings grades, and developments have led to a remarkable increase in mechanical cell size, but it is felt that 600-700 m3 cells are probably the limiting size. 

Existing operations have been slow to adopt the new cell technologies, mainly due to the risk involved. Mechanical cells work, so there has not been a great deal of incentive to upgrade old circuits, and process control strategies have to be adapted to the new technologies.

But the innovative new cells are now being employed in new circuits, often supplementing mechanical machines for different duties. Even so many plants are having a hard time accepting equipment that they are not familiar with, and cannot be easily scaled up from laboratory test-work, as can traditional machines.

As the world strives for zero carbon emissions, effective flotation of a very wide range of particle size is of prime importance, whether this be achieved by 'universal' flotation machines or by a combination of the old and the new. It was felt that coarse particle flotation will increase in importance, as it can be regarded as an ore sorting preconcentration stage, reducing not only energy, but also water requirements.

The live panel discussion was recorded and is available on demand for the next 6 months, as are all the presentations this week, so it is not too late to register!

#Flotation21
@barrywills

Flotation '21: Day 3 update

Wednesday 10th November

The day started with a short session on reagents for PGM ores, with 4 presentations, not surprisingly from South Africa, the largest producer of platinum in the world by a significant margin, with a production of between 148 and 120 metric tons each year from 2010 to 2020. As with all the presentations, the abstracts are available for viewing via the conference website.

This session was followed by 6 presentations on fine particle flotation given by presenters from France, Germany, Japan, Norway and UK, with collaborations from co-workers in Brazil, Iran, Pakistan and South Africa.  The topics were wide ranging, including carrier flotation, eco-friendly surfactants for fines flotation, Positron Emission Particle Tracking, microbubbles and nanobubbles, and assisted dispersion by chemical and ultrasound in the flotation of iron ore slimes with a new amidoamine collector. 

In the first of the two afternoon sessions there was an eclectic array of 5 papers from Australia, Germany, Republic of Korea, UK and USA on modelling and simulation.  A very specialised session, with presentations on machine learning algorithms, regression algorithms, dynamic and particle-based models. All a bit over my head, but I was pleased to see Dr. Osvaldo Bascur making his MEI debut with a paper on Integrated Rock Processing Strategies on Net Metal Production and Flotation Recovery. Osvaldo, a consultant fellow with Seeq Advanced Analytics, USA, was a subject of one of my MEI interviews and he will be giving a keynote lecture at IntegratedMinPro '22 next June. 

This intense short session was followed by an unscheduled short break due to the conference's only no-show, so I took some time off to wander round the exhibition. There are 17 companies exhibiting, including MEI, and although a virtual booth can never be a substitute for a physical presence, it is a relaxing experience to "drop into" a booth, browse the brochures, watch videos and find out what the company is all about. If representatives from the company are available then a live meeting can be arranged. If not then all the representatives from the company are listed in the Meeting Hub, where invitations to connect can be made. Personally I found the exhibition to be a useful experience, but would welcome the views of exhibitors and delegates.

Back at the conference, the final session of the day was control and instrumentation, with eight presentations from Australia, Finland, Germany, South Africa and USA, including two from conference sponsors CiDRA Minerals Processing, USA and Festo, Germany, whose virtual booths I visited during the break.

The photo below shows the Festo booth at Flotation '19. On the right is Thomas Bertsch who, with his colleague Dr. Eckhard Roos, explained today how new automation concepts can be implemented in an existing overall automation system. 

CiDRA Minerals Processing are long time sponsors of the comminution series as well as flotation, but for Alessandra Castillo, who presented a paper today, this was only her 2nd MEI conference, having attended Flotation '19. She discussed how the biggest leaps in technology have historically occurred in the face of crises, and today is no exception. Over the past 18 months, every industry has been touched by the technological megatrends of intelligence, connectivity, and flexible automation. As a result, mining operations around the world finally value data as an asset and are prioritising technology that provides new knowledge for data driven decision-making.

Alessandra at Flotation '19 with her co-author today, Joe Felix (left)
of Felix Project Management and Consulting Services C.C., South Africa 

Other topics discussed in this long session were monitoring of flotation cells using drag sensors and other tools; control by real-time measurement; measurement of foam composition by ultrasonics; improving kinetics by acoustic sound; optimisation using on-line mineralogical data; measuring turbulence using electrical resistance tomography.

#Flotation21
@barrywills

Flotation '21: Day 2 update

Tuesday 9th November

Since the development of xanthates in the early 20th century, flotation reagents have been developed to treat virtually every known ore type, and there is a bewildering array. Reagent chemistry has adapted to treat increasingly lower grade and refractory deposits and the range of flotation is being extended via these new and enhanced reagents into the treatment of wastes, high-tech metals and rare earths, all contributing to the goal of the circular economy and today's 25 presentations looked at developments in reagents for sulphide and non-sulphide minerals.

There were 8 papers in the morning session on reagents for sulphide ores, dealing with the differential flotation of pyrite and arsenopyrite; the flotation behavior of enargite and chalcopyrite in sodium sulphite solution; the study of thionocarbamate and amyl xanthate collector adsorption on covellite and pyrite surfaces; and the impact of reagents on carbon management strategies in sulphide plants. The latter was presented by Dr Tarun Bhambhani, of conference sponsor Solvay Mineral Processing Chemicals, USA, who is seen 2nd right in the Solvay booth at Flotation '19.

Apart from conventional sulphide mineral reagents, there were some new developments. Selective flotation of copper and molybdenum, especially chalcopyrite and molybdenite is a continuing problem since the current NaHS process requires a closed system flotation plant because of hydrogen sulfide emission in acidic conditions. Dr. Hajime Miki, of Kyushu University, Japan, discussed recent developments for alternative additives to NaHS such as redox reagents.

The use of green and renewable chemicals represents an interesting approach to improve the sustainability and environmental friendliness of mining operations. Xanthates are a class of industrially used collectors which are produced from fossil raw materials and whose decomposition byproducts represent an environmental risk. Therefore, alternative collector chemistries should be found to reduce the environmental impact of flotation processes and avoid complex water cleaning systems. Dr. Robert Hartmann of Aalto University, Finland, described a study on the flotation of chalcopyrite using a cellulose-based collector, with promising results, and Edgar Shach of the Technical University Freiberg, Germany, introduced investigations on the working mechanism of the nitrile based sulfide collector Tecflote®, a new group of collectors for sulphide flotation. 

The biggest challenge in flotation has always been the selective concentration of non-sulphide minerals, and the list of such minerals continues to grow, 17 presentations being made in the very long afternoon session, where many innovations in reagent chemistry were introduced.

Dr. Wonder Chimonyo, of The University of Queensland, opened the session by examining the potential of new peptides as biocompatible alternatives to amine collectors in iron ore flotation, where they are conventionally used to float siliceous gangue minerals including quartz. The use of amines, however, produces major challenges such as high frothing propensity, toxicity and low selectivity.

Feliciana Ludovici, of the University of Oulu, Finland, also introduced new reagents for quartz flotation, cellulose- based chemicals, alternatives to traditional petroleum-based chemicals which pose a risk for the environment and human health. Dr Ted Nuorivaara, of Aalto University, Finland, also showed how utilising cellulose-based polymer-surfactant mixtures as frothers can improve the flotation recovery of Cu from flash smelting slags. 

Dr. Yan Foucaud, of Université de Lorraine, France, explained why the extraction of monazite from tailings is challenging, considering its low concentration and the presence of gangue minerals that behave similarly throughout flotation. His group has developed a new monazite flotation route using lanthanum ions to promote the adsorption of fatty acids onto monazite surfaces.

Dr Panagiotis Angelopoulos, of National Technical University of Athens, also looked at the development of novel green chemicals from renewable resources to overcome inherent problems arising from the use of classical collectors. In the study presented, the potential of substituting conventional collectors with lignin nanoparticles to produce apatite concentrate from low grade ore with considerable La and Ce content was investigated.

High grade phosphate deposits are increasingly rare nowadays, making the industry rely on more challenging carbonate-rich phosphate ores. The gangue minerals contained in this type of ore, notably calcite and dolomite, have similar surface properties rendering them hard to separate from apatite as the main phosphate mineral by flotation. Prof Lev Filippov of the Université de Lorraine described the evaluation of the performance of non-ionic reagents such as ethoxylated and branched fatty alcohols in the flotation of phosphate ore to enhance selectivity.

Dr Natalija Schwarzmayr, of conference sponsor Nouryon Surface Chemistry AB, Sweden, looked at phosphate esters as boosters in the direct flotation of apatite, while Manar Derhy, of the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University and Cadi Ayyad University, Morocco, described a different approach, using bio-based collectors for the selective flotation of phosphate ores: Flaxseed, Nigella, and Olive oils.

Nouryon at Flotation '19

There is a growing interest in microbes and their biological products (bioreagents) as reagents due to their adaptability, selectivity, and flexibility, and Yvonne Perocillo, of the Helmholtz-Institut Freiberg, Germany, looked at the potential for poly-γ-glutamic acid (PGA) and Marinobactins (MBS) as bioflotation reagents, PGA as a depressant in semisoluble salt type mineral systems in the case of calcite as a gangue in scheelite flotation and MBS as a chelating type collector in oxide flotation such as hematite.

Nahid Molaei of the University of Toronto also showed how bioreagents have potential in flotation, commercially available biopolymers having been successful in the treatment of clays in flotation, decreasing environmental problems that occur by using inorganic and organic reagents.

It has been a very long and interesting day with 3 short breaks, which included a networking session where we try to create the random meetings over a cup of coffee at a conference. Delegates who opted to take part were placed at random into a group of 3 participants for 5 minutes, after which they were moved to another group. No substitute for the real thing of course, but it would be good to have feedback from those who took part in this.

#Flotation21
@barrywills

Flotation '21: Day 1 update

Monday 8th November

Flotation '21 is the 10th in the MEI flotation series, and the first to be totally online. Although we would have liked to have been in Cape Town as originally scheduled, the need to go virtual has enabled many researchers and  operators, who would not have been able to travel to South Africa, to attend Flotation '21 from the comfort of their own homes and offices, and there are many new names on the list of the 256 delegates registered from 29 countries.

Jon Wills opened the conference this morning, welcoming the delegates, with a special mention to those entering the MEI fold from three new countries, Belarus, Dominican Republic and Panama, and thanking our consultant, Prof Jim Finch, and our sponsors for their loyal support.

It is now 117 years since Elmore's patent saved the mining industry from an existential crisis, and flotation has dominated the mining industry ever since. Many argue that there is nothing really new in flotation and that research is in many cases treading on old ground. While this might be true of many of the papers submitted to academic journals, Jon said that this week's focused timetable, which has been extended to five very full days, demonstrates that flotation continues to thrive and evolve and that there is much to report that is innovative.

This week's programme truly reflects the progressive evolution of flotation, the mining industry's most ubiquitous and important technology. As we move into the 4th Industrial Revolution and the era of electric cars and renewable energy, never before has there been such a demand on the supply of finite resources, and flotation will play a very important future role in the quest for a circular economy.

Sponsor Glencore Technology is featuring the Jameson Concentrator at the conference, and delegates were invited to enter a competition to guess the throughput of the Jameson Concentrator featured on the Glencore website. The prize was a US$2,000 voucher good for more than 270,000 hotels around the world, and following Jon's opening remarks, Glencore Technology's Marketing Manager Stephen Johnson announced that the winner of the prize was Dr. Diego Mesa, of Imperial College, UK. 

The inventor of the Jameson Cell, Prof. Graeme Jameson, is one of the great names in mineral processing, and to celebrate his 85th birthday this year Prof. Jim Finch opened the day by presenting a keynote lecture highlighting Prof. Jameson's life and work.

In Graeme's quest for a universal flotation machine to effectively treat coarse and fine particles, Jim first compared the performance of various machines, columns, mechanical and Jameson Cells and then examined the practical reasons for employing Jameson Cells. The first installation was at Mt. Isa Mines in 1989 to treat heavy media plant slimes and was hailed as a major breakthrough in column flotation technology, as efficient and productive as existing columns four times its size. Since then it has gone from strength to strength, and the latest installation is at Canada's New Britannia Mine, the first all-Jameson cell concentrator (posting of 7th April 2020).

Perhaps not as well known is another of Graeme's inventions, the Concorde Cell, which has been put into operation by Metso-Outotec at a nickel operation in Western Australia, and now Graeme is well under way with his quest for a universal flotation machine, with the NovaCell, which can recover mineral particles over a wide particle size range, using the concept of the high-shear aeration zone of the Concorde cell for ultrafine separation and a fluidised bed for coarse particle collection.

Graeme is an outstanding scientist, who has received many major awards and Jim was proud to present him with the IMPC Lifetime Achievement Award at the IMPC in Quebec in 2016.

Jim and Graeme in Quebec, 2016

The keynote got the conference off to an excellent start and was a great prelude to the day's 12 presentations on bubbles and froths, and to the panel discussion on the future research needs in flotation (see posting of 29th August). Chaired by Romke Kuyvenhoven, dynamic young researchers from around the world shared their views, and took questions from conference delegates.

There was very wide ranging and intense discussions, with very useful interaction with delegates via the Discussion Forum, which will be open for several days. We really appreciate the efforts that Romke and the panelists made, preparing the groundwork prior to the conference.

Topics discussed over the 2-hour session included the funding of research and how it differs around the world and in academia and industry. It was felt that collaboration between academia and industry is crucial, as there is no substitute for the level of knowledge that an industry partner can provide.

Not surprisingly, as COP26 is taking place in Glasgow this week there was much discussion on the environment and sustainability, and the need for innovation, coarse flotation being a priority to reduce energy consumption. 

Some of the delegates suggested that the speed of innovation could be increased by better access to the scientific literature to those outside of university libraries.  The classic expensive publishing houses like Elsevier, Wiley or Springer are already under pressure and open access is the key for sustainable research and is also what public funding sources are starting to demand more and more. It was also pointed out that industry associations, such as SME, AusIMM, SAIMM and others have got together to share  historical conference proceedings and publications to their members through the onemine.org platform.

How can we attract students to flotation was discussed at some length, and how do we get the public to understand the importance of mining and mineral processing? Where will the next generation of mineral processors come from? Possibly from China, as Zhiyong Gao said that there are 15,000 undergraduate mineral processing students at Chinese universities, with 800 staff!

The impact of Covid-19 was briefly discussed, and what will the new normal be like? Adrian Singh of GoldOre thinks that the current conference platform is great and that there is most definitely a place for it in the new normal. I agree and Flotation '23 will hopefully be face to face but with an online aspect as well.

The live panel discussion was recorded and is now available on demand for the next 6 months, as are all the presentations this week, so it is not too late to register!

#Flotation21
@barrywills

Unsettled: to what extent do humans contribute to climate change?

The 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) began this week, with an introduction by, among others, the People's Advocate Sir David Attenborough, who made an impassioned plea to world leaders to act now to avoid the approaching apocalypse. 

Climate change is a reality, no sane person can deny the evidence of that, but in terms of the cause of climate change, and how we should deal with it, is the science settled? There have been "heated" debates on the blog over the years, with eminent geologists, such as Australia's Prof. Ian Plimer arguing that the climate is changing solely due to natural phenomena (posting of 20th October 2009), while climate scientists such as the UK's Prof. Stephan Harrison argued to the contrary (posting of October 31st 2009), that the changes are solely due to human actions.

Who is right, who should we believe? There have been many books, mainly by psuedo-scientists, debunking global warming as a hoax, but not so many by respected scientists who can examine the science and its foibles and present coherent assessments.

I have had long discussions with Prof. John Ralston, the founding Director of the University of South Australia's Wark Institute, and a former South Australian Scientist of the Year (posting of 27th May 2014), and he shares my views about the need for an objective assessment of the various contributions to global warming, so I was pleased when he recommended a controversial new book which the author claims puts forward a balanced view of climate change and man's influence.

Unsettled: what climate science tells us, what it doesn't and why it matters, is a book published this year, and by an author, Steven Koonin, who has the right credentials, expertise and experience to ask the right questions and to give realistic answers.

Prof. Koonin is a leader in US science policy and former science advisor for the Obama administration. With more than 200 peer-reviewed papers in the fields of physics and astrophysics, scientific computation, energy technology and policy, and climate science, he was a professor of theoretical physics at Caltech, also serving as Caltech’s Vice President and Provost for almost a decade. He is currently a University Professor at New York University.

The earth's temperature arises from a delicate balance between warming sunlight and cooling heat radiation, which is disturbed by both human and natural influences, with greenhouse gases playing an important role. As everyone knows, CO2 is a potent greenhouse gas, and its concentration in the atmosphere has increased since 1750 from 280 parts per million (0.028%) to 0.0413% in 2021, and continues to rise by about 2.4 ppm every year. Although most of today's CO2 is natural, there is no doubt that this rise is, and has been, due to human activities, primarily the burning of fossil fuels. This CO2 added by humans over the past 250 years has increased the atmosphere's ability to impede heat and is exerting a growing warming influence on the climate, which Koonin fully acknowledges. He does not know of any expert who disputes that the rise of CO2 concentration over the past 250 years is almost entirely due to human activities. However, he feels that the human influence on temperature is physically small, and there are more powerful natural forces, such as volcanoes, the sun, deep ocean currents, driving the climate as well, and they illuminate the scientific challenge of understanding these natural influences well enough to confidently identify the climate response to human action. The real question is not whether the globe has warmed recently but rather to what extent this warming is being caused by humans.

The CO2 emitted by burning fossil fuels disrupts the balance of the great carbon cycle, since that carbon has been pulled out of the deep underground, where it was isolated from the natural processes.  Koonin says, however, that human-emitted CO2 is a relatively small add-on to the vast natural cycle of carbon moving among the earth's crust, oceans, plants and atmosphere.

According to Koonin, the study of climate and energy is the ultimate multidisciplinary activity, no single researcher is able to be an expert in more than two or three of its aspects. Usefully describing the earth's climate remains one of the most challenging scientific simulation processes there is. The multitude of climate models disagree with, or even contradict, each other, and he says that a vague "expert judgement" has sometimes been applied to adjust model results and obfuscate shortcomings. As such the science is insufficient to make useful projections about how the climate will change over the coming decades, much less what effect our actions will have on it. 

Koonin says that is has become de riguer for the media, politicians, and even some scientists, to implicate human influences as the cause of heat waves, droughts, floods, storms and whatever else the public fears. The on-the-scene reporting is powerful, and often moving, and our poor memories of past events can make "unprecedented" quite convincing. But he argues that the science tells a different story,  the World Meteorological Organisation saying in November 2020 that any single event, such as a severe tropical cyclone, cannot be attributed to human-induced climate change, given the current status of scientific understanding. He says that observations extending back over a century indicate that most types of extreme weather events don't show any significant change, some having actually become less common or severe.  There will be many unconvinced by this, as 2021 has been the hottest year ever recorded, with millions of people living with extreme temperatures and facing a growing threat of flooding or wildfires. 

Koonin stresses that open debate is the heart of the scientific process, and it is absurd that scientists should fear being labelled anti-science for engaging in it. William Hogan, Professor of global energy policy at Harvard Kennedy School has said that rather than an existential crisis we face a wicked problem that requires a pragmatic balancing of costs and benefits and feels that Koonin's book is essential reading and a timely breath of fresh air for climate policy. 

However, others have negative responses to the book. Bob Ward, the policy and communications director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics and Political Science finds that the book is based on a number of inaccurate and misleading claims, flawed studies, and cherry-picked information.

Gary Yohe, Professor of Economics and Environmental Studies, Emeritus, at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, writing in Scientific American, feels that Koonin is wrong and that the science is stronger than ever around findings that speak to the likelihood and consequences of climate impacts, and has been growing stronger for decades.

Dr. Mark Boslough, who has served on the Executive Committee of the American Physical Society Topical Group on the Physics of Climate, has strong criticism, saying that Koonin creates an illusion of arrogant scientists, biased media, and lying politicians – making them easier to attack. 

He asks why does Koonin think that unsettled questions in climate science are any kind of comfort when the consequences of doing nothing can be catastrophic, as predicted by Sir David at COP26? Exactly my feelings. As the degree of human influence on climate change is unsettled, we should assume the worst and make every attempt to phase out fossil fuels as soon as we can, bearing in mind that there must be a transition period when these fuels will be needed to build the new generation of electric vehicles and renewables. Even if Koonin is right, we must still do this, as fossil fuels are the world's major source of air pollution, one of the globe's biggest killers.

It won't be easy however. As Koonin states, the world will need much more energy in the coming decades. Today's global population of just under eight billion will grow to over nine billion by mid-century, with virtually all that growth occurring outside the developed world. Currently fossil fuels provide about 80% of the world's energy and this dominance is projected to persist through mid-century, although a strong growth in renewable sources will decrease the share of the world energy provided by fossil fuels to about 70%.

It will be interesting to see if anything significant comes out of COP26. Stronger international collaboration is required to achieve net zero emissions, and this might not be forthcoming. High emitting developing economies are expected to increase emissions significantly by 2030. China (the world's #1 emitter) and India (#3) are building coal-fired power stations that will double and triple their emissions respectively, and Russia (#4) also proposes investments that will increase its emissions substantially.

Koonin believes that due to the uncertainty the societal response will be to adapt to a challenging climate, and that adaption will very likely be effective. Only time will tell; the climate is changing, humans are playing a role, but our global energy needs are growing too.

It will be interesting to hear what blog readers think!

@barrywills