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!