October Cornish Mining Sundowner

Due to travelling, last night's sundowner was my first since July and it is hard to believe that my friend and former CSM colleague, Tony Batchelor, usually one of the first to arrive at Falmouth's Chain Locker, is no longer with us. He will be sorely missed and I would like to thank all those who posted comments on my appreciation of Tony on the blog of 21st September.

Tony's last sundowner was in August and I am sad that I missed that one, as not only was it Tony's last but it was also the first to be attended by Dr. Mark Whitbread-Jordan, and I was shocked to hear that Mark died a couple of weeks' ago. In the photo below, taken at the August sundowner, Tony is 3rd left and Mark 8th right.

August sundowner at the Chain Locker

It is nearly nine years since I last saw Mark.  He was a useful bowler in the CSM cricket team in the 1980s. He graduated in Mineral Processing Technology in 1989, and then left with a PhD in biohydrometallurgy in 1994. He then took up school teaching, but unfortunately had to retire early due to ill health. Our thoughts are with his family.

With Mark (right) and former CSM mineral processing lecturer Richard Pascoe in 2013

There were a few new faces at the sundowner last night, as well as a few surprises, the conversation being dominated by the news earlier in the day of the resignation of Prime Minister Liz Truss, after only 44 days in office, and the utter chaos within the Conservative Government and Party. 

It was good to see MEI's Amanda Wills making a rare appearance, as she normally has other commitments on Thursday evenings.

Amanda with me, Steve Barber and Dean Eastbury

In Monday's update on Flotation '23 I reported that Welsh company Maelgwyn Mineral Services Ltd, a regular sponsor of MEI's comminution and flotation conferences, has expanded its base in Africa, after Chairman,  Managing Director and co-founder Mike Battersby officially opened its new combined Maelgwyn Africa and Maelgwyn South Africa premises in Boundary Park in Johannesburg, South Africa. It was good to see Mike at the sundowner with his MMS colleague Steve Flatman, both great fans of Cornish ale, and down here to discuss ongoing testwork with local company GSL.

Mike and Steve with GSL's Flee and Nick Wilshaw

MMS is also enhancing its environmental company, Cambrian Environmental Technologies (CET). This is a 50:50 joint venture company set up with fellow Welsh based environmental consultants Mine Environmental Management and is focused on solving the challenge of protecting the environment without the generation of secondary wastes. The company is working with national environmental agencies and major mining companies to further the science of water and mine tailings treatment.  CET has just been awarded a contract from Natural Resources Wales to develop its technology to treat polluted mine water and commercially recover metals that could fund the treatment process (I'm sure we will hear more of this at Sustainable Minerals '23). It has got interest from majors in Canada and Australia.  Also, CET is developing a process for carbon sequestration.  MMS is also involved with research at Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology in Germany, and has taken space in their facilities, where Dr. Duong Hoang and Dr. Ahmad Hassanzadeh are carrying out research. Dr. Hassanzadeh will be presented with the 2020 MEI Young Person's Award at Process Mineralogy '22 in Spain in a couple of weeks' time.

The next Cornish Mining Sundowner will be held at the Chain Locker on November 17th, from 5.30pm.

@barrywills