2021 with MEI

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”

Very prescient of Charles Dickens in his introduction to A Tale of Two Cities, which sums up this year, with its promises of better things to come followed by depressing set backs.

In last year's annual summary I ended by saying that we must put our faith in the amazing efforts of the scientists and their vaccines and hope for better things to come in 2021, as another highly contagious strain, emanating from South Africa, had been identified, escalating restrictions. Twelve months later restrictions have again been tightened with the emergence of another mutant strain of the awful Coronavirus, Omicron, also emanating in South Africa.

When will this ever end? We had got used to endless globe-trotting, meeting up with old friends, getting to know new people and visiting interesting places, and personally I will remember 2021 as the first year since 1979 that I have not left the UK. In fact Barbara and I have only left Cornwall once this year, for a week in beautiful Dorset (posting of 23 September)

It was a grim start to the new year with the new variants of Covid-19 threatening to spread across the country and savage the beleaguered NHS, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a complete lockdown of the UK. Travel into and out of the UK became virtually impossible as most of the travel corridors with the UK were suspended and, coupled with Brexit, Britain became, for the first time in its history, an effectively isolated nation. A month later with the vaccine roll-out initiated, and over 15 million people in UK having had their first jab, Johnson announced that we were past the peak of the 2nd wave and "the crocus of hope is poking through the frost and spring is on its way..." It's never good to predict the future! 

At the end of February twelve months had passed since I last boarded a plane, a flight from Phoenix to London Heathrow at the end of the SME Annual Meeting. This year's scheduled meeting in Denver became an online event and I missed not being in my favourite American city to see the Mineral Processing Division's award winners, three old friends of MEI, Prof. Courtney Young, Dr. Frank Crundwell and Dr. Michael Mankosa (posting of 8th March 2021). 

MEI's four conferences this year have all been online events, and I must say how immensely proud I am of Jon and Amanda who accepted the challenge of converting our scheduled meetings to virtual events. Apart from advising on the technical programmes I have had little input and I am pleased to see MEI now being slowly shifted to the next generation.

Amanda's son William recording his Uncle Jon's opening address for one of MEI's 4 events this year
- a far cry from the conference centre in Cape Town's Vineyard Hotel!

The conferences have been well received and the advantage of the online events is that the recorded presentations for Comminution '21, Biomining '21, Sustainable Minerals '21 and Flotation '21 are now available on demand.

I would also like to say that we are tremendously indebted to our sponsors, old and new, who have supported our conferences during these difficult times:

It was good to socialise again in May, with relaxing of restrictions, and the first Cornish Mining Sundowner of the year was held on a chilly evening on Falmouth's Gyllyngvase Beach, followed by further outdoor meetings in Falmouth. 

The July mining sundowner on Falmouth's Gyllyngvase beach

The super-spreader G7 summit in Cornwall in June (posting of 1st July), and a huge influx of summer visitors caused a rapid rise in Coronavirus infections in Cornwall, which soon had the country's highest infection rate, but by September with the crowds dissipating so did the infection rate and with social distancing no longer mandatory we had a welcome return to the Chain Locker pub in September and the CSM Annual Dinner in October, after an enforced break of two and a half years.

A welcome return to the Chain Locker in September

Apart from running the online conferences, Jon and Amanda have been busy with voluntary work, Jon working in a local hospice shop and Amanda as a Mabe Parish Councillor as well as a mentor for a charity supporting people affected by domestic abuse and sexual violence.

They raised money for these charities by taking part in tough long-distance cycling and hiking events.

Amanda and friend on a 25 km trek in the Brecon Beacons in South Wales and Jon after a
gruelling 104 miles, 7 and a half hour Coast to Coast Extreme Route Challenge in Cornwall

Barbara and I had some good hikes during the summer, including the challenging short walk over southern England's highest cliff, Golden Cap in Dorset (posting of 9 September), but our first hike of the year, at Coverack on Cornwall's Lizard Peninsula ended abruptly when I slipped on the very muddy coast path and fell down the cliff, fortunately tangling in painful brambles which prevented a long drop to the rocks below.

Avoid the Cornish coastal path after heavy rain!!

Conditions were much better in October for a 50 year reunion with an old friend from Zambia days, Pete Love, and his wife Pam, who stayed with us for a few days. 

Barbara with Pam and Pete Love at the Crowns Engine Houses, Botallack

And so ends another year of uncertainties, and who know what the next will bring. On behalf of the MEI team I wish you all best wishes for 2022. We had a final 2021 family get together yesterday in St. Agnes and it was great to welcome Flo (right on photo) the girlfriend of 17 year old William. Flo's grandfather, Bob Wyatt, was an international cricketer, captaining the England Test team 15 times, and was vice-captain to Douglas Jardine on the infamous 1932-33 'bodyline' tour of Australia.  The current England test team touring Australia are in need of a few batters of Bob Wyatt's calibre at present!

Happy New Year to you all.

@barrywills