Time is flying by!

Tempus certainly fugit. Today is the 3rd Bank Holiday Monday of the month‌ in the UK, time to relax and take a pleasant 1.5 mile stroll down to our nearest beach, Swanpool, to catch the welcome Cornish sun.

Next Monday we will be at Falmouth's National Maritime Museum for the first day of the MEI Conferences, Biomining '23 and Sustainable Minerals '23. It's not too late to register.

Falmouth's inner harbour with the National Maritime Museum in the background

The following Monday Barbara and I will be in Livingstone, Zambia for the SAIMM Copper Cobalt conference by the magnificent Victoria Falls. We were last at this conference eight years ago, where I shared a refreshing dip with Ian Townsend and Corby Anderson in a pool overlooking the abyss.

Cooling off in the Zambezi

And the following Monday we will be back in Cornwall, preparing the provisional programme for November's Flotation '23 in Cape Town. Submit your abstract as soon as you can if you would like to present your work at the conference.

“Never leave till tomorrow that which you can do today.” – Benjamin Franklin

@barrywills

Falmouth '23 is only 10 days away!

We are looking forward to welcoming delegates to beautiful Falmouth in 10 days time for a week of MEI Conferences, beginning with Biomining '23 and followed by Sustainable Minerals '23.

The conferences, which will be held in Falmouth's National Maritime Museum, are a must for those interested in biohydrometallurgy and sustainability.

Falmouth from the National Maritime Museum

The programme for Biomining '23 focuses on the latest developments in the field of biohydrometallurgy and bioprocessing: the development, optimisation and application of integrated biomining process operations for mineral ores, including low grade and complex ores; the microbiology of biomining and the application of biohydrometallurgy, bioflotation and other technologies to novel resources, such as mine and electronic wastes, and the bioremediation of mining-impacted environments.

There are two high-profile keynote lectures to look forward to. The keynote lecture, "Biohydrometallurgy offers various process options for metal recovery from primary and secondary resources" will be given by Prof. Axel Schippers, of the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources, Germany and Prof. Karen Hudson-Edwards, of the University of Exeter, UK, will present "Technology metals for a green future: the role of biomining." 

The programme for Sustainable Minerals '23 covers the application of environmentally and socially responsible practices in extracting, processing, and refining minerals, aiming to minimise the negative impact of mining activities on the environment, while also considering the well-being of local communities and ensuring the efficient use of resources. 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.

Sustainable Minerals '23 also has two high profile keynote speakers. "Decarbonising pathways for cement and concrete: will innovation overcome industry resistance?" will be presented by Prof. Jannie van Deventer, of Zeobond Pty Ltd, Australia and Lucy Crane, of Cornish Lithium Ltd will look at lithium and the energy transition.

We thank Steinert and Promet101 for their sponsorship of the conference and our media partners International Mining and Minerals Engineering, and our Industry Advocates the Coalition for Eco-Efficient Comminution (CEEC) and the Critical Minerals Association. 

At the end of the first day of each conference I will be leading an optional walk from Falmouth's seafront to the stunning estuary of the River Fal, and then on to the Docks and Harbour via the 16th century Pendennis Castle, and into old Falmouth where drinks will be waiting for us at the famous Chain Locker pub.

The mouth of the River Fal

Relaxing at the Chain Locker

Registration is still open for Biomining '23 and Sustainable Minerals '23, so hopefully we might see you soon in Cornwall.  And if you are thinking of staying on after the conference, here are a few suggestions.

#Biomining23
#SustainableMinerals23

Flotation '23: an update with a final call for abstracts

Abstracts are beginning to flow in for November's Flotation '23 in Cape Town, so now is a timely reminder that, should you wish to present a paper at the conference, the deadline for abstract submission is the end of this month.

Last month we held a very successful Comminution '23 at the Vineyard Hotel in Cape Town, and now look forward to Flotation '23 at the same venue.  The last flotation conference at the Vineyard was in 2019 and Flotation '21 was an on-line event due to the pandemic.

Last month's Comminution '23 at the Vineyard Hotel

There has been a great deal of interest in Flotation '23, and all but four of the exhibition booths have now been allocated. And we have an unprecedented amount of corporate support with 23 companies already signed up for sponsorship. 

Since the announcement of Kemtec Africa's sponsorship in February, five more companies, AECI Mining Chemicals, Nalco Water: An Ecolab Company, Roytec Global, Conundrum and BASF have joined us.

AECI is a diversified Group of 16 companies with regional and international businesses in Africa, Europe, South East Asia, North America, South America and Australia. Senmin, a business of AECI Mining Solutions, has been a regular sponsor of the flotation conferences for many years, and is a manufacturer and supplier of mining chemicals used in the beneficiation of a wide range of ores such as platinum, copper, zinc, coal etc as well as polyacrylamides used for tailings treatment.

It will be the first time that Nalco Water, An Ecolab Company, will be sponsoring a face to face flotation conference, but they were sponsors of Flotation 21, which was online.  In 2021 Ecolab Inc., was named a Global Compact LEAD participant for its ongoing commitment to the United Nations Global Compact, the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative with more than 12,000 participating companies in 160 countries. Ecolab was one of only 37 companies to receive this recognition. Nalco Water plays an important role in the management of water, from the time it enters a facility until the moment it is returned back into the environment. 

Roytec Global, a first time MEI sponsor, is a business partner of the Beijing General Research Institute for Mining & Metallurgy (BGRIMM) Technology Group, China, and offers a full suite of filtration, thickening and flotation technologies with manufacturing capabilities both in South Africa and China. Roytec and BGRIMM shared an exhibition booth at Flotation '19. The two companies combined to offer African clients access to BGRIMM's flotation technology backed up by Roytec local support, service and spares. BGRIMM is China’s leading mineral institute, established in 1956 and employing +3500 technical staff. Roytec Global was established in 2001 and is a privately owned and managed company. Over the past 50 years BGRIMM has developed world-leading flotation technology, with over 20,000 cells in the field, with cell designs up to 680m³.

Artificial Intelligence comes to the flotation conferences for the first time, with a welcome to the first time involvement of Conundrum a company run by self-confessed "process engineering geeks" and AI experts, many with doctoral degrees in maths and physics. They create advanced machine learning software for the digital transformation of the metals and mining industry, which they feel is an industry foundational to the modern economy where digital transformation secures enormous financial and sustainable manufacturing impact.

The giant international chemical company BASF had a very high profile at Flotation '17, sponsoring and exhibiting for the first time and presenting its new range of frothers and collectors for sulphide and non-sulphide flotation at the booth, with an international team of flotation experts, from offices in Australia, Germany, Russia and Turkey. They followed this up with sponsorship in 2019 and 2021, and we now welcome them back as our very latest sponsors of Flotation '23.

In confirming their sponsorship in 2019 Johanna Donath, of  Global Marketing Flotation, said "Recognizing Flotation´19 is THE key global flotation event, bringing together academia, engineering companies, chemical producers, service providers and mining companies, BASF is excited to be a sponsor for this event again. Flotation ´19 is a great opportunity to meet and talk to industry partners and academia about challenges faced by the industry, both today and in the future and to discuss our contribution to sustainable solutions".

And finally by no means a new sponsor, but a new name. Metso Outotec has been a regular sponsor of MEI's comminution and flotation series, but early this month the name was changed to Metso Corporation, combining two valuable companies into one strong Metso. We welcome the "new" company, and look forward to seeing as many of you as possible in Cape Town in 6 months time.

#Flotation23

May Cornish Mining Sundowner- filling the mining workforce gap

It was good to be in the great outdoors again last night at Falmouth's Chain Locker, the first time since last August. Over 15 were in attendance enjoying the long summer evening.

Last month I published "If we are to save the planet we need more mining, not less". Despite the high carbon footprint of mining, which has led some environmental groups calling for a curb on mining activities, it is essential for the green transition, in the manufacture of renewable sources such as wind turbines and electric vehicles.

However a major workforce gap threatens the ability of nations to successfully achieve their critical mineral ambitions. Available university courses in mining and mineral processing have decreased markedly recently in the western world, in contrast to China, which has over 38 mineral processing schools and upwards of 44 mining engineering programs. Central South University, China’s largest mineral processing programme, has 1,000 undergraduates and 500 graduate students alone ready to accomplish China’s mineral ambitions (see posting of 15th October 2018).

Cornwall's Camborne School of Mines closed its mineral processing degree course several years ago, although it still runs an MSc course in mineral processing. However, until recently it looked like we were seeing the demise of its undergraduate mining degree as in September 2020  news came that the University of Exeter had announced a plan to ‘pause’ recruitment to the BEng Mining Engineering programme at CSM for the 2021-22 academic year, but stressed that it hadn’t been scrapped, instead recruitment has been paused while it looked to reshape the opportunities to study mining and related topics. 

So it was good to talk last night to Pat Foster, the Director of of CSM, and Senior Lecturer Matthew Eyre, about the good news that the University of Exeter has been working with industry, associations and professional bodies to address the skills shortage facing the mining industry. As a result, CSM has reshaped the opportunities for students wishing to study Mining Engineering with the launch of its two new 4-year BEng programmes, one part-time and one Degree Apprenticeship, in September of this year. These new programmes have been developed to help upskill those already holding roles within the mining industry, who want to develop their career. 

With Pat Foster and Matthew Eyre

Both programmes will be co-taught by faculty staff at CSM. Students will study a broad range of topics: the underlying maths, digital, geology and physics skills that inform engineering, then mine design, operations, processing, automation, risk, safety, economics, environment and governance. All students must be sponsored by their employer who will pay the fees on behalf of the student directly to the University for the part-time programme or via the apprenticeship levy for those eligible for the Degree Apprenticeship programme. More details of these programmes can be found on the CSM website.

The next sundowner will be at the Chain Locker on Thursday June 15th. I will miss that one, but will be at the Chain Locker on June 5th and 7th with delegates from Biomining '23 and Sustainable Minerals '23 respectively. Please feel free to join us if you are around.

@barrywills

Magical Botswana: Savute and Okavango Delta

It was interesting to see that many delegates at Comminution ‘23 were accompanied by their families, or intend to bring them to the  next conferences. There are very many options for staying on and a safari is one of the best. South Africa's Kruger National Park (posting of 26 July 2011) is an obvious choice but Botswana has some of the best game viewing opportunities in Africa.

After Comminition ‘23 Barbara and I took the 2 hour flight from Cape Town to Maun and then  a short flight to Savute, a remote corner of Chobe National Park (posting of 22 July 2015) in northern Botswana, renowned for its strangely unpredictable water channel.

Savute

Savute Elephant Lodge

We spent three nights at the Savute Elephant Lodge, where we could relax and let the animals come to us at the nearby waterhole.

Botswana is home to around 130,000 elephants, the largest population of any country.....

---and Chobe National Park has the largest concentration, with around 50,000

But on our three game viewing drives we could really appreciate the benefits of safari in showing the immense diversity of life on earth and the multitude of small animals and birds which we had never seen or heard of before. And we were glad to have our two experienced guides who sought out the more familiar animals, often well camouflaged in the bush, although we saw only four of the Big Five, as sadly rhinos were poached out of this area during the Covid years when there were no ranger patrols.

With guides Moss and John

The life insurance premiums for antelope and zebra  must be very high here, as they are always on the look out for predators, the concentration of lions and leopards being particularly high in this region.

Okavango Delta

After three nights at Savute we flew to the Okavango Delta, a vast and varied ecosystem created as the Okavango River flows into the Kalahari desert in Botswana. 

The vast wetlands begin to flood in May as the Okavango River reaches its delta in the harsh Kalahari, with its full volume of water from the Angolan highlands at the end of the rainy season, but the delta was dry during our visit in late April and what would have been a vast lake in front of our cabin at Eagle Island was a richly vegetated marsh full of grazing antelope, elephants, buffalo, zebra and baboons, all of which had easy access to the lodge and its cabins!

Temporarily redundant tourist boat on the marshlands

The amazing variety of lush grasses on the floodplains are a botanist’s paradise, and provide perfect hiding places for the many predators and we were lucky to have two excellent guides, Robert and Candy, who somehow managed to find a pride of lions just before nightfall, and a young leopard on his impala kill.

With guides Robert and Candy

Hard to believe that this is in the heart of the Kalahari Desert

And what better way to end another great African experience than a sundowner by a hippo pool while watching another splendid African sunset.

We would highly recommend this 6 day Botswana safari after a Cape Town conference. If you are interested, contact MEI’s conference agent Rene Simpson (simpsontours@gmail.com) who can tailor this, or any other tour, to your requirements and budget.

@barrywills