Flotation '23: Clariant is the latest sponsor, and news of an award to Metcelerate

People often ask why flotation, which has been around for more than a century, is still so intensively researched. A major reason is that it is crucial to the economic production of many critical metals and minerals, and handles vast tonnages, so even modest increases in recoveries have a marked effect on overall production, which is why flotation has always been MEI's most important conference series.

Flotation '23, which will be held next November in Cape Town,  has already attracted major corporate sponsors, and the latest to join us is Clariant, one of the world’s leading specialty chemical companies, providing a wide range of flotation collectors for specific duties such as the flotation of industrial minerals, iron ore, and molybdenite. 

Current Flotation '23 sponsors

Due to difficulties with storage, handling and disposal of xanthate collectors, sulfide mining companies are facing increasingly difficult xanthate logistics challenges. Through collaboration with customers, Clariant has developed alternatives with high copper flotation performance and safer handling and disposal solution for mines, lowering capital expenditure and providing a longer shelf life than solid xanthate. The Clariant xanthate replacement collectors allow operators to discontinue the use of sodium isopropyl xanthate and potassium amyl xanthate. 

Having the support of a major company such as Clariant, which employs over 13,000 people worldwide, is good news, as is news of one of our other sponsors, Metcelerate Limited, whose training solution builds technical competence in the mineral processing workplace for metallurgists and engineers. Metcelerate recently won the annual IChemE 2022 Global Award for Business Start-Up companies. Prof. Jan Cilliers, CFO of Metcelerate, said “We are very proud and humbled to have been acknowledged in this way by an esteemed organisation such as IChemE. We started Metcelerate to assist mining companies to close the skills gap in mineral processing, one of the most important elements of mining profitability. Our experience, backed by published data, tells us that this is a serious gap for mining companies. Graduates from our program have skills and ability to produce better results, and this is supported by feedback from learners and their supervisors.”

Jan Cilliers with the IChemE award

Metcelerate is delivered by a team of global academic experts and practitioners, and is now into its third intake of learners, with a fourth intake scheduled for mid-2023. To date it has trained learners across four continents. The 20-month program consists of a mixture of online course material, live tutorials and practical in-plant exercises. Learning is built around the real problems mineral process engineers face daily. The Metcelerate course is especially valuable for high-performing chemical, mechanical and other engineers transferring into the minerals industry. “This award will inspire us to work even harder to make the Metcelerate Course the industry standard” says the CEO, Diana Drinkwater, who will be at Flotation '23 next year to deliver a keynote lecture on management of the "People Asset".

@barrywills

Leonard George Austin, 1929-2022

Five days ago the minerals community lost another 20th century legend in the field of comminution, one year after the death of Prof. Alban Lynch. 

Leonard (Len) G. Austin, who died at the age of 93, was Professor Emeritus of the department of Fuel and Mineral Engineering at the Pennsylvania State University, USA, from where he retired in 1996.

Born in England his achievements include international reputation in the field of crushing and grinding for the power, mining and chemical industries. He was a recipient of the Gaudin Award from the SME in 1983 and the Nicholls Award of the Joint Engineering Society in 1987.

Prof. Austin is survived by his wife Sofia, his ex-wife Ann, and his three children, Mark, Timothy, and Stuart. He also leaves his grandchildren: Thomas, Charlotte, and Joseph. 

Unfortunately, although I was aware of his reputation, I never met Prof. Austin, but I am sure that many of you did, and I invite you to share your memories of him below.

The final day at the International Biohydrometallurgy Symposium

 Amanda reports on the final day of IBS 2022:

Delegates preparing for the final day

Mario Vera (Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, Chile) began the final day of the conference, with his keynote presentation on "Biofilm lifestyle of bioleaching microorganisms".

Next, we heard from Catherine Joulian (BRGM, France) with her presentation on "Bioleaching community dynamics during adaptation and process upscaling of a secondary polysulfidic ore".

Following Catherine, Robert Braun (Helmholtz-Institut Freiburg für Ressourcetechnologie (HIF) HZDR, Germany) gave a recorded presentation on "Directed evolution biology in resource technology - from the identification of novel inorganic-binding biomolecules to their provision in future".

Then we heard from Maria Dabrowska (University of Warsaw, Poland) with "Sporosarcina globispora and Glutamicibacter protophormiae - two ureolytic strains with high potential in revalorisation of heavy-metals".

In the last presentation before morning coffee, Ishaaq Hajee (University of Cape Town, South Africa) asked, in a recorded presentation, "Can microbially-induced calcite precipitation alleviate the traditional shortcomings of the Co-disposal method?".

Coffee with Zygmunt Sadowski of Wroclaw University of Science
and Technology, Poland

Sadia Ilyas (Hanyang University, Republic of Korea) and
Siti Chaerun (Bandong Institute of Technology, Indonesia

The parallel sessions after coffee were Session 5A, Biomining Microbiology, Molecular Biology, Systems Biology and Synthetic Biology and Session 5B, Biostabilisation, Bioremediation and Ecological Restoration and Biological Mineral Formation and Minerals Exploration, Biogeochemistry and Biosensors. The full programme can be viewed here.

After lunch, as with the previous two days, we were given 1.5 hours to view the posters and exhibition. 

Then, after an afternoon coffee break, it was time to decide on a venue for  IBS 2026 (the 2024 event will be held in Halifax, Canada, in conjunction with COM 2024). The choice was between France and Chile and, as ever, it was up to the delegates to choose. And the winner was... France!

Next up, Axel Schippers (BRG, Germany) gave the closing presentation, entitled "Future prospects for biohydrometallurgy".

Then came the award presentations.

Congratulations to the poster award winners: Douglas Pino Herrera (BRGM, France), Daniela Rios (Linnaeus University, Sweden), Reinier Egas (Wageningen University, The Netherlands), Maria Dąbrowska (University of Warsaw, Poland), Benjamin Monneron-Enaud (Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg, Germany) and Anna Cozzolino (University of Cagliari, Italy).

And congratulations to the oral presentation award winners: Klemens Kremser (University of Natural Resources and Life Science, Austria), Sophie Ullrich (TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Germany), Reinier Egas (Wageningen University, The Netherlands), Babatunde Oladipo (Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa), Anne-Gwénaëlle Guezennec (BRGM, France), Anna Cozzolino (University of Cagliari, Italy), Melissa  Corbett (Curtin University, Australia), Chiamaka Belsonia Opara (Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology, Germany) and Jonovan Van Yken (CSIRO Land and Water / Murdoch University, Australia).

All that was left then was for Elizabeth Watkin to deliver the closing remarks, including thanking Anna Kaksonen for all her efforts in finally bringing this event to fruition. Thanks to Covid it has been 7 years in the planning!

I would like to also offer my thanks to Anna and her team. You all did a fantastic job and it was wonderful to be back with the IBS 'family'. I hope to see as many of you as possible in the UK next June for Biomining '23, and in Canada the year after! There is an album of photos from the conference, so please feel free to download any that you like.

Day 2 at IBS 2022

MEI's Amanda reports on Day 2, 22nd November, at the International Biohydrometallurgy Symposium in Perth:

Today began with a keynote presentation from Päivi Kinnunen (VTT, Finland) entitled "Biotechnical value recovery from waste" which detailed the recent developments, opportunities and challenges in the utilization of biohydrometallurgy, alone or in combination with other technologies, for recovering value from waste. 

Päivi was followed by Jana Pinka (G.E.O.S. Ingenieurgesellschaft mBh, Germany), who presented "Recovery of valuable elements from tailings dumps accompanied by environmental remediation - the pilot plant project "ReMiningPlus"", which detailed their research into new methods of extracting zinc and indium from the Davidschact tailings in Freiberg.

Next, we had another keynote presentation, this time from Naoko Okibe (Kyushu University, Japan), on "Biotechnical mine water/process water treatment". Naoke gave an overview of how her group are working to remediate arsenic and manganese via direct or indirect microbiological reactions, as well as reusing waste materials derived from mining-related activities. 

Then Graeme Esslemont (Evolution Mining, Australia) presented, virtually, "Integrated Virtual Curtain and constructed wetland treatment of mine water at Mount Rawdon Gold Mine".

We then broke off for coffee and another chance to talk to people:

Keishi Oyama (Waseda University, Japan) and Phann Idol (Kyushu University, Japan)

Catherine Joulian and Douglas Pino Herrera, of BRGM, France

Michael Schlömann (Freiberg University, Germany)
and Naoko Okibe (Kyushu University, Japan)

After the break presentations were again streamed into parallel sessions. Session 3A was on Biomining of Wastes, Industrial Ecology and Circular Economy, whilst Session 3B was Bioleaching of Metals from Low Grade Ores and Concentrates. A tough choice today, but at least all of the presentations can be assessed online, so I can catch what I missed at another time.

We broke for lunch, and then, as we did yesterday, we had an hour and a half to view the posters, followed by a coffee break before we got back to the oral presentations.

Session 4A was on Biotechnical Treatment and Resource Recovery from Mine and Process Waters, and 4B was another session on Biomining of Wastes, Industrial Ecology and Circular Economy.

This evening, we gathered for the Gala Dinner, which took place in the hotel's Grand Ballroom. 

With Anna Kaksonen of CSIRO, the chair of the International Organising Committee

The evening began with "Roaming Reptiles", giving delegates the opportunity to come face to face with lizards and snakes!

The evening then proceeded with a buffet of delicious foods, whilst delegates' knowledge about Australia was tested with a fun quiz, thanks to quiz-meister extraordinaire, Naomi Boxall, before ending the night with a dance.

The first full day at International Biohydrometallurgy Symposium, IBS 2022

Amanda reports on November 21st, the first full day at IBS 2022 in Perth:

Today began with a keynote presentation from Sabrina Hedrich (TU Bergakadamie Freiberg, Germany) on "Recent advances and challenges in mineral bioleaching".

Sabrina was followed by a plenary session, which began with  Frank Roberto (Newmont, USA) presenting "The long path to deployment of a commercial bioleach (biomining) process", an insight into the process of developing research into a commercial project, using the Carlin Refractory Leach Project and the Verde Bioleach Demonstration Facility as examples.

Next up was Jan Van Niekerk (Metso Outotec, South Africa) with "Techno-economic evaluation of bioprocesses for gold mining", who presented via video.

Following Jan, Cecilia Demergasso (Universidad Católica del Norte, Chile) presented "Copper bioleaching process scenarios for the Chilean copper industry".

And then it was time for the group photo, coffee and networking. I was pleased to meet and chat to John O'Callaghan of Newcrest Mining, Australia (pictured below with Sarah Fardy from Merck, who are exhibiting.

After coffee, the presentations were split into parallel sessions: Session 1A was on Bioleaching of Metals from Low Grade Ores and Concentrates, whilst Session 1B was on Biomining Microbiology, Molecular Biology and  Synthetic Biology.

The full programme can be viewed here, and photos of the plenary presentations are in the conference album.

After a busy morning, we stopped for lunch and then had 1.5 hours to view the posters and the small exhibition consisting of Merck and John Morris Group, with Cemvita Factory exhibiting online only.

Sue Harrison (University of Cape Town, South Africa) with Karen Hudson-Edwards (University of Exeter, UK)
and Elizabeth Watkin (Curtin University, Australia)

Clint Bowker (Bureau Veritas, Australia)
with Chris Bryan (BRGM, France)

Left: Naoko Okibe (Kyushu University, Japan) with Amanda and right:
Himel Nahreen Khaleque (CSIRO, Australia) and Melissa Corbett (Curtin University, Australia)

Post-lunch poster session

Then it was back to the parallel oral presentations. Session 2A was on Biotechnical Pre-treatment of Ores and Concentrates, and Session 2B dealt with Bioleaching of Metals from Low Grade Ores and Concentrates.

Ending at 5pm, Day 1 was a packed day of interesting talks, ending with a great Australian sunset. I'm looking forward to more tomorrow!

A warm welcome to the International Biohydrometallurgy Symposium in Perth

The 24th International Biohydrometallurgy Symposium 2022 is being held this week at the Rendezvous Hotel, Scarborough Beach, Perth, Australia, and also online. It is hosted by Australia’s National Science Research Agency, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), and the Local Organising Committee includes members from CSIRO and Curtin University. It is sponsored by Newmont and Newcrest Mining. MEI, as media partner, is represented at the conference by Amanda Wills, who will be sending daily summaries. 

Below is Amanda's summary of the Sunday afternoon proceedings:

Events began yesterday, with a pre-conference course on Mining Biotechnology presented by researchers from CSIRO and Curtin University, with registration opening today.

After registering this evening, I proceeded to the plenary opening session, chaired by Elizabeth Watkin (Curtin University) and Anna Kaksonen (CSIRO, Australia).

Elizabeth began the proceedings by introducing us to Simon Forrest and Michael Spratt. Simon is a Whadjuk Ballardong Noongar elder, and he performed the Welcome to Country - a traditional ceremony that has been practiced in Aboriginal culture for thousands of years. Michael accompanied him on the didgeridoo. Ballardong refers to the Noongar language or dialectal group north-east of Perth (the Noongar language group in the Perth area is called Whadjuk).

Next up was the Welcome Address from Anna, who informed us that there are 170 delegates, 108 in person and 62 virtual, from 30 different countries. The book of abstracts contains 75 oral and 71 poster presentations.

Elizabeth then introduced Prof Sue Harrison, Director of the Center for Bioprocess Engineering Research (CeBER) at the University of Cape Town, who presented the Honorary Presentation, "Pivoting expertise in biohydrometallurgy to enhance sustainable beneficiation of mineral resources through homing in on bio-based solutions".

Sue talked us through how expertise in biohydrometallurgy for metal extraction in acidophilic leaching environments has been pivoting to extend its range to metal extraction from varied resources beyond mined virgin sulfidic mineral ores. She also described how this expertise is being expanded to augment nature-based processes for the delivery of sustainable beneficiation of mineral resources and to reverse environmental damage of mining practices of the past.

Sue went on to talk about the potential to both re-purpose our learnings into new applications alongside re-purposing wastes to raw materials for value creation, and explored approaches that bring together microbiology, molecular biology, (bio)chemistry, mineralogy and process engineering towards an integrated picture in which metal extraction from virgin resources provides resilient regional development with minimized legacy while the closing of material cycles plots a route towards the green economy. 

Following Sue's presentation, we gathered for the Welcome Reception, which was sponsored by The Institute for Geoscience Research (TIGeR) at Curtin University, where wine and canapes were served and we were able to catch up with friends new and old. Below is a selection of photos from the evening.

MEI Biomining '23 consultants Sue Harrison, and Chris Bryan, of BRGM, France

Cristian-Felipe Jorquera-Roman (TU Bergakadamie Freiberg, Germany), Sabrina Hendrich (TU Bergakadamie Freiberg, Germany), Mario Vera (Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, Chile) and Klemens Kremser (University of Natural Resources and Life Science Vienna, Austria)

Frank Roberto (Newmont, USA) and Elizabeth Watkin (Curtin University, Australia)

Mital Vivek Chakankar & Sabine Kutschker, of HZDR, Germany)

Jonovan Van Yken (CSIRO, Australia), Sue Harrison
and Nathan Van Wyk (Linnaeus University, Sweden)

New faces at the November Cornish Mining Sundowner

Perhaps due to the atrocious weather there were only nine at last night's sundowner at Falmouth's Chain Locker but, as always, there were a few surprises. It was good to talk to three young geologists from Cornish Lithium, and to hear how things are progressing towards production of lithium from the geothermal brines in the old mining areas. We will hear more of this in a keynote lecture from Cornish Lithium's Lucy Crane at next June's Sustainable Minerals '23 in Falmouth.

With Cornish Lithium geologists Sean Cleveland, Hugo Heard and James Spellman

I was particularly pleased to welcome Nigel Powell and his wife Karen to the sundowners. Nigel was a colleague of mine during my time at Camborne School of Mines. 

Dean Eastbury, Karen and Nigel Powell, Nigel MacDonald and Mike Hallewell

Nigel lectured in mathematics and we played a lot of squash together, competing for the number 1 spot in the CSM team. We also opened the batting together for the cricket team, and even produced a research paper together, with the help of final year student Connor Spollen. On his first visit to the USA Nigel presented the paper at the SME Annual Meeting in Denver before we all spent a few days skiing at Copper Mountain.

1991 Denver: Nigel and Connor with Barbara and me

1991 Copper Mountain: Barbara, Connor, Nigel, Phil Newall and me

I look forward to seeing Nigel and Karen at future sundowners, especially the next one, the special one, the ever-popular Christmas sundowner at Tyacks Hotel, Camborne, which will be on Thursday December 15th from 5.30pm.

@barrywills

Amanda looks forward to seeing you at IBS 2022 in Perth next week

Amanda sets off today on the long journey from Cornwall to Perth, Western Australia, for the International Biohydrometallurgy Symposium, IBS 2022, which starts on Sunday. The conference will be held in hybrid format: face-to-face at the Rendezvous Hotel Perth Scarborough and through an online platform.

Amanda will be reporting daily for the blog and would love to meet up if you are attending this biennial event. If you have any interesting news that you would like to share, please contact her at amanda@min-eng.com.