The contribution of mineralogy to sustainability in the mine life cycle

It is well known that mining is an essential enabler to sustainable development. Understanding and appreciating the mineralogy of the ores and waste material we produce is a key component of this. In November's Process Mineralogy '22 in Sitges, Prof. Megan Becker, of the University of Cape Town will present a keynote lecture considering the contribution of mineralogy to sustainability through the mine life cycle, looking through the lens of the domains of process mineralogy, environmental mineralogy and medical mineralogy and their relationship to the pillars of sustainability - profit, planet and people, respectively. Using several case studies, Megan will show how the application of mineralogy and the tools used for characterisation have evolved over the decades from some of the early pioneering mineralogists to some of the most recent work where mineralogy is fully integrated into all aspects of ore and waste use and valorisation. 

Prof. Becker's research and teaching at UCT focuses on the application of mineralogical knowledge for the understanding, optimisation and prediction of key unit processes within the mining industry from techno-economic and environmental aspects. She has successfully integrated process mineralogy into the activities of the Centre for Minerals Research and other research groupings within the Chemical Engineering Department at UCT. She has close to 90 peer reviewed publications, and in 2018 she was nominated as one of the top 100 Global Inspirational Women in Mining. 

Megan is consultant to MEI's Process Mineralogy conferences and is a co-author of the JKMRC monograph Process Mineralogy, which was showcased at Process Mineralogy '17 in Cape Town.

Megan (centre) with co-authors Elaine Wightman and Cathy Evans

We look forward very much to meeting Megan again in Sitges, which is just outside Barcelona in Spain. It will be our first face to face process mineralogy conference since Process Mineralogy '18 in Cape Town. It will be great to see people in person again, and now is a timely reminder that the deadline for abstract submission is the end of this month. More details can be found on the posting of 28th March. Once again I thank our current sponsors, Bruker, Zeiss and Promet101, and our media partner, International Mining, for their support.

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