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