October summary: an eclectic month

October has been dominated by the ever present backdrop of news of the horrors in the Middle East, which I will not dwell on. The awful events in Gaza and Israel have been a huge distraction from media reporting of the ongoing Russian agression in Ukraine, leading to an unfortunate distraction in public interest and faltering aid to President Zelensky's nation.

It has been a fairly busy month for us, in preparation for next week's Flotation '23 conference in Cape Town, MEI's biggest ever conference with 320 delegates having registered before we closed registration last week, the first time in our history. 

It is 4 years since our last face to face flotation conference and in my opening remarks at Flotation '19 I noted that for many delegates this would be their first time in Cape Town, one of the world's most beautiful cities, and always near the top of the list of most popular tourist venues. 

It was not always so, however. When Barbara and I first set foot in Cape Town 54 years ago, en route to Zambia and the beginning of my long career in the minerals industry, Cape Town was a grim and austere place, visited by relatively few tourists. South Africa was at the height of its egregious apartheid era, with segregation of the races and all the benefits favouring the minority white population.

As I said at Flotation '19 it would have been impossible to predict that 50 years on I would be addressing a sea of faces of all ethnic backgrounds in one of the city's best hotels. South Africa is an immensely complex country, still with major economic and social problems, but the changes have been huge. When we arrived in the Mother City all those years ago the South African rugby team was an international pariah, vilified as a symbol of apartheid with its all-white team composed mainly of Afrikaners. Who could have forecast that half a century later the Springboks would be three times world champions and that a week before Flotation '19, when they became champions for the third time, not only would half the team be black players, but they would be led by a black captain! 

Two days ago in Paris the Springboks became world champions again, for a record fourth time, defeating the New Zealand 'All Blacks', also in search of their fourth world championship, in an epic game by a single point, the same margin as in their semi-final against England and their quarter-final against France. And once again they were led by the same captain as four years ago, Siya Kolisi. I'm sure that the celebrations will still be taking place in Cape Town next week!

Siya Kolisi with the World Cup Trophy
Photo: Getty Images

Despite the approach of Flotation '23 Amanda and family did manage to fit in a two week break in Madagascar, returning to Cornwall only today in preparation for her journey to Cape Town on Friday! 

Amanda and family in Madagascar

News of the commencement of the new Apprentices Mining Degree at Camborne School of Mines (posting of 20th October) was a poignant reminder that 60 years ago this month a fresh-faced 17-year old just out of school embarked on his long career, enrolled on a metallurgy degree at the University of Leeds. Looking back I remember that I was fairly reluctant to pursue higher education. I had a steady girlfriend and I had been working weekends as a freelance photographer (posting of 29 March 2013) and a full time position as photographer on the local newspaper was available to me on leaving school. In the end I compromised and opted to study physical metallurgy at Leeds, only 30 miles away, and to travel home each weekend to see Barbara and friends and to undertake photographic assignments to supplement my meagre student grant. Time has flown by since!

Barbara and I (centre) partying in Ashton during my undergraduate days

Best, Law and Charlton

I spent six years at Leeds in the 1960s and when back home Barbara and I would often travel the 8 miles to Old Trafford to watch a Manchester United game, and in particular to see the "United Trinity", the legendary threesome George Best, Denis Law and Bobby Charlton. George Best died 18 years ago but last week footballers around the world played tribute to Sir Bobby Charlton, who died at the age of 86. A survivor of the 1958 Munich air disaster, which killed eight of his team-mates, Charlton was regarded as England's best ever player. He was lauded everywhere and I recall many taxi journeys in remote countries where the driver would beam when he discovered I was English and cry "Ah, Bobby Charlton"!  Sir Bobby was part of the England World Cup winning side in 1966 and it is sobering to think that only one member of that team, Sir Geoff Hurst, is now alive. 

The CSM Apprentices Mining Degree was officially launched by the Princess Royal and it was interesting to see Princess Anne's keen interest in flotation, although she unfortunately did not register in time for Flotation '23.

The Princess Royal follows in the footsteps of her mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, who visited the School in 1980 and I introduced her to flotation using the same laboratory flotation machine, a Denver Sub-A. I got a great deal of use out of that machine, transporting it around schools in the 1970s to aid recruitment to the degree courses, something desperately needed these days (posting of 20 October).

Royal visit to CSM in 1980

The same flotation machine at a school in the north of England

South Crofty water treatment plant

There was more good news last week of the revival of the South Crofty tin mine in Camborne. The Cornish mine operated for over 400 years until it was closed in 1998, leaving the miles of underground workings to become flooded. Last week Cornish Metals began pumping the eight million cubic metres of water from the workings, which will be treated at the rate of 25,000 m3 per day in its newly commissioned Mine Water Treatment Plant. The plant uses the proven High Density Sludge Process technology to treat raw mine water and meet the Company’s permitted standards for discharge into the nearby Red River, which discharges into the Atlantic Ocean at Godrevy. Once the adits from the mines in the Camborne-Redruth area drained into this river, which also carried hematite-bearing tailings, from where the river gets its name.

Red River discharging into the sea, 1982

Natural disasters have unfortunately featured heavily in recent monthly updates, and this month, as we prepare to set out for Cape Town and Flotation '23, we heard the news a couple of days ago of the cancellation of the XXXV International Mining Convention México 2023, the largest mining event in Mexico, a forum for innovation and linkage for all members of the Mexican Mining Sector.

The Convention in Acapulco, Guerrero, was cancelled after Hurricane Otis severely battered the coast. Attendees have faced difficulties in trying to leave the state as the hurricane  affected Acapulco's entire transportation infrastructure, including airports and highways.

Business leaders, representatives of 360 companies, journalists, officials, exhibitors, students, and academics gathered in Acapulco for the event, which began on October 23rd and was scheduled to conclude on the 27th.

The hurricane took the attendees, who were staying at the Mundo Imperial Hotel in Acapulco, by surprise. This hotel, which housed some 10,000 people, was one of the most damaged. According to attendees, the hotel was left partly destroyed and, like the entire city, without electricity and water. Fortunately there was no loss of life among the attendees but evacuation has been delayed, as the hurricane caused structural damage to the Acapulco International Airport and the Chilpancingo-Acapulco and Sun Highways. 

Our thoughts are with the organisers and delegates of the convention and with the families of the dead and missing in the area.

@barrywills

New Book: Handbook of Recycling

This is the 2nd edition of the Handbook of Recycling, published this month and edited by Christina Meskers, Ernst Worrell and Markus A. Reuter. 

The first edition was winner of the International Solid Waste Association's 2014 Publication Award and is an authoritative review of the current state of recycling, reuse and reclamation processes commonly implemented today and how they interact with one another. 

Fully updated to cover recent developments in the field, this second edition has also been restructured to cover General Aspects of Recycling, Applications, Technology, Recovery and Collection, Economics, Governance and Policy. Several new chapters on global recycled material flows, sludges, reinforced plastics, and landfill mining have been added. It concludes with a review of the policy and economic implications, including the impact of recycling on energy use, sustainable development, and the environment.

This book is a crucial aid to students and researchers in a range of disciplines, from materials and environmental science to public policy studies.

Comminution '25 off to a flying start

Although almost one and a half years away, Comminution '25, MEI's 14th comminution conference, has got off to a great start with 12 major companies already on board as corporate sponsors. We are immensely grateful to King's Beads, Russell Mineral Equipment, Keramos, Glencore Technology, ME Elecmetal,  Metso, Eracles - Ceramiche Tecniche, FLSmidth, Magotteaux, CiDRA Minerals Processing, Weir Minerals and Capstone Copper for their early support, and to our media partners International Mining and Minerals Engineering and industry advocates the Coalition for Eco-Efficient Comminution (CEEC) and the Critical Minerals Association. 

The conference will be held at the Vineyard Hotel, Cape Town from March 31st to April 3rd 2025 and will be supplemented by evening sundowners and a conference dinner (venue to be announced later).

Sundowner at Comminution '23

Exhibition booths are being snapped up fast, so if you would like to rent a booth, please do so as soon as possible as only six are available at the moment. As at Comminution '23, the exhibition will be in the area where delegates break for coffee and lunch.

Coffee break at Comminution '23

Although it's very early days there is a call for abstracts but for now please put March 31st to April 3rd 2025 in your diary.

#Comminution25

October Cornish Mining Sundowner: addressing the skills shortage in the mining industry

Last night's sundowner was well attended and probably the last time we will be outside at the Chain Locker for several months.

It's always good to see current Camborne School of Mines staff regularly represented at the sundowners by the School's Director Pat Foster. At the UK Mining Conference in Falmouth last month Pat discussed the problems in finding the future workforce internationally and he showed how education and skills must be developed. In 1989 undergraduate mining degrees in the UK were offered by the Universities of Nottingham, Leeds, Strathclyde, Newcastle, Cardiff, North Staffs Polytechnic, Camborne School of Mines and Royal School of Mines. By 2005 only Camborne School of Mines and the University of Leeds had mining degree courses and by 2010 there was only CSM. By 2020 there were none, the CSM degree course being 'paused' and this year will be the final year of mining degree undergraduates. 

With Pat and CSM students co-President Codi Brooks.
Codi is a final year mining degree student, one of the last now that the degree has been paused

Pat stressed that there is a real need to bring back a full time Mining Engineering Degree but in the meantime a degree apprenticeship course starts this year, combining studying part-time at CSM and the rest of the time with their employer. Fourteen students have so far enrolled, but they were unable to attend the sundowner as they all work at operating mines across the UK.

Earlier in the month the course was officially launched by Princess Anne, who toured the School to learn more about its vital role in developing the UK’s Critical Minerals Strategy and global sustainable mining. After the tour, The Princess Royal was invited to unveil a special plaque to officially commemorate the opening of the new Degree Apprenticeship programme. 

Pat Foster with Princess Anne at CSM

Writing in the October issue of Materials World, James McFarlane, General Manager for Europe, Middle East and Africa with Mining Plus, UK, discussed the decline of mining-specific courses, with enrolment becoming extremely challenging due to public perception of the industry. A recent McKinsey survey of young people in the US and Canada reported that 70% of those surveyed either definitely or probably would not work in mining. He describes the pausing of the CSM undergraduate mining degree as a sobering example much closer to home that illustrates this decline as a result of lower enrollments. 

A recent report by the UK Minerals Education Forum has estimated that at least 48 mining engineering and 18 mineral processing graduates are required per year just to sustain the UK mining industry. James quotes Pat Foster as saying that the degree apprenticeship will greatly assist mine operators in addressing their shortfall in mine managers, but it will not address the requirements of the wider UK mining industry, for example in service companies, mineral processing or finance. Other than this, there is no real pathway for an 18-year-old school leaver to study mining unless they are employed by a mine operator who then puts them on this apprenticeship. Mining Engineering graduates are well received in the industry with excellent prospects, experience, responsibility and remuneration. With this in mind, it may be strange that we struggle to recruit young people into these courses and our industry today. Comments on this more than welcome!

Despite all this, there has been good news from Cornwall on the continuing development of South Crofty by Cornish Metals Inc. When the tin mine closed down in 1998 the ore was pre-concentrated by heavy medium separation but results received this month from TOMRA Sorting GmbH indicate X-ray Transmission sensor-based sorting could be a viable option, metallurgical test work and heavy liquid separation pre-concentration test work having provided excellent results, which have exceeded the company's most optimistic expectations. 

Cornish Metals said “The test work results confirm the upgrading potential of South Crofty mineralisation and enables continuation of the process design optimisation work to reduce the size of the mineral processing plant and materially lower capital costs, operating costs and environmental footprint. We expect this result will have a positive effect on the project economics, allowing for lower power consumption and a smaller process plant and therefore lower capital and operating costs.”

Finally, we are missing former CSM Association Secretary Linda Shimmield who has been a regular at the summer sundowners. She returned to her second home in Australia at the beginning of the month, but good to see that she made an appearance at the CSMA sundowner in Perth a few weeks ago. 

The next Cornish Mining Sundowner will be at the Chain Locker on Thursday November 16th, from 5.30pm.

@barrywills

Flotation's important role in the green transition

The demand for minerals is forecast to double by 2050 and it is essential that governments and industry ensure that supply is reliable and sustainable, as the urgency to deal with climate change accelerates. 

Meeting these demands places the mining industry at the centre of the green transition; mining must deliver the minerals needed and do so sustainably (see posting of 10 April 2023). The difficulty in delivering the minerals demanded by society while decreasing the environmental footprint is being compounded by declining ore grades. This has direct implications for the amounts of water and energy needed for production, increasing the environmental footprint of mining. 

It is impossible to overestimate the importance of froth flotation in the quest for net zero. I have often said that it is the world's most important technology; without it many of the metals, such as copper, that society depends upon would be classed as precious metals, and it is true to say that the world would be a very different place without froth flotation. We are now only 3 weeks from the start of Flotation '23 in Cape Town, the biggest MEI conference in our history and innovation in machines, circuits and reagents will be discussed over the four days in the 156 presentations from around the world.

Innovation, at both equipment and process flowsheet levels, is also the theme of MEI's Mill Circuits '24 conference, which will be held back to back with Physical Sepatation '24 in Cape Town next June. 

Our first keynote speaker at Mill Circuits' 24 will be Dr. Dariusz Lelinski, the Global Director for Flotation at FLSmidth, USA, who will be with the FLSmidth team at Flotation '23.  He was a keynote speaker ten years ago at Flotation '13.

Dariusz Lelinski (2nd right) at Flotation '17

In his keynote next June, Dariusz will explore how different flotation technologies can improve both productivity and sustainability performance. Innovation can encompass either evolutionary or revolutionary developments, both being important and complementary.

The results of evolutionary innovation are more predictable, associated with lower risk, lower cost and are easier to be accepted and implemented by an inherently conservative industry such as mining. Examples of evolutionary technology include FLSmidth's nextSTEP™ forced air mechanism,  WEMCO®II self-aspirated mechanism,  and mixedROW™ systems.

Revolutionary innovation requires larger investment and a longer time for development, but the potential improvements justify the greater risk. The prospective benefits of adopting revolutionary innovations include game-changing flowsheet developments that are far beyond what is possible today; examples are the Reflux Flotation Cell™ and coarseAIR™ coarse particle flotation technologies.

The keynote will present the results of industrial trials and equipment applications for various commodities using these innovative technologies and associated flowsheet changes and potential for future flowsheet improvements will be discussed and analyzed. Both evolutionary and revolutionary innovation is needed and essential. Balancing them allows for improvements and optimization to be implemented today while the development of ‘mine of the future’ flowsheet technologies are proven and commercialised. 

#Flotation23
#MillCircuits23

Recent comments

There have been comments on the following postings since the last update:

Back to our roots in the industrial north
The reality of climate change and warnings from the past
Prof. Ronald Woods, 1934-2023: a flotation legend
The Levant man-engine disaster of 1919: a contemporary account
Gekko Chair Elizabeth Lewis-Gray inducted into Honour Roll of Victorian Manufacturing Hall of Fame
Nchanga metallurgists, early 1970s
August Cornish Mining sundowner: memories of Tony Batchelor and more good news on lithium in Cornwall
In memory of Richard Mozley and his wonderful machines
Prof. Noel Warner: 1932-2022
Capstone Copper to sponsor the next six MEI conferences
Prof. TC Rao: 1940-2023
Return to Chingola
Memories of IMPC 2003 Cape Town: the welcoming reception
MEI honoured at the UK Mining Conference
A sea of new faces at the September Mining Sundowner
September summary: good news, bad news and MEI honoured on both sides of the Atlantic
Prof. Fathi Habashi: 1928-2023

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Memories of IMPC 2003 Cape Town: The Gala Dinner

The banquet dinner at IMPC 2003, twenty years ago this month, was sponsored by Anglo American Platinum Corporation, and featured Barry Davidson, Chairman of Anglo American Platinum Corp. as the guest speaker and the Stellenbosch Libertas Choir with an outstanding rendition of a selection of African songs.

Entertainment by Malcolm Powell and friends

The highlight of the proceedings was the presentation of the IMPC Lifetime Achievement Award to Prof. Peter King, one of the great names in mineral processing, who sadly passed away only three years after the Cape Town IMPC.

Peter was Professor of Metallurgical Engineering at the University of Utah for many years, and prior to that was Professor of Metallurgy at Wits University, South Africa. He made major contributions to flotation modelling and liberation analysis, was the editor of International Journal of Mineral Processing, and authored a number of state of the art books. I first met him at Wits in 1978 and suggested that he might spend his upcoming sabbatical at Camborne School of Mines to work on his pioneering research into liberation analysis. This he duly did, accompanied by his wife Ellen and their son. 

In the early 80s, CSM was the proud owner of one of the early image analysers, the monochromatic Quantimet 720, capable of performing linear scans on mineralogical specimens, and together with CSM's Alan Bromley Peter made full use of this machine.

The photos below are testimony to how Peter was so highly regarded and liked by everyone who met him.

Peter and Ellen King with the IMPC's Cyril O'Connor and Eric Forssberg

With Douglas Fuerstenau and John Herbst

With Jannie Van Deventer and Amanda Wills

The gala dinner provided a fitting climax to a memorable IMPC. The local organising committe must be highly commended. We look forward to the 2nd Cape Town IMPC in 2026. The organisers of that one have a hard act to follow, but knowing them I am sure they will come up with the goods!

@barrywills

Prof. Fathi Habashi 1928-2023

It was sad to hear the news last week of the death of Prof. Fathi Habashi, who would have been 95 years old on Monday. Born in Minya, Egypt, Fathi became Emeritus Professor of Extractive Metallurgy at Laval University, Canada and he is renowned as one of our profession's most prolific scribes, probably having published more mineral processing books than Agatha Christie has murder novels. When he showed me the Laval University library in 2016 I was amazed to see that a whole section of bookshelves was devoted to his publications, many books and journal papers. 

By the Habashi Collection at Laval University

I have known Fathi for many years, meeting regularly in USA for the SME Annual Meetings, where he frequently gave keynote lectures on his travels around the world.

At the Elsevier stand in Denver, 2009

Seattle, 2012 with Nick Hazen and Maurice Fuerstenau

Fathi's involvement with students is particularly worthy of note as he continued to mentor aspiring professionals and encourage Canadian undergraduate students to pursue hydrometallurgy well into his 90s. It is for this reason that Metsoc's Hydrometallurgy Section chose to honour him by naming one of its undergraduate awards after him, the Fathi Habashi Scholarship. He had many tips for graduate students, a few being “(i) Once you get a satisfactory job consider getting married so that you can lead a civilized life; (ii) You may become a distinguished scientist or a merited engineer but don’t forget that you are first a human being who should be modest and considerate; (iii) Do not stay in what is called “an ivory tower”. Travelling and attending conferences have enormous, sometimes unexpected benefits”.

Our thoughts at this time are with Fathi's wife Nadia, who Barbara and I met in Quebec seven years ago.

UK Mining conference 2023

The UK Mining Conference 2023 was held over 1.5 days from 13-14 September, at the Princess Pavilion, Falmouth, Cornwall. It was very well organised by ABMEC, the only Trade Association representing the British mining supply chain, providing member services to help promote sales and business growth. The Cornwall connection was initiated by Jeremy Wrathall and his team at Cornish Lithium plc.

The conference was attended by over 280 delegates from the whole mining supply chain, including investors, brokers and producers. There were even two delegates from Tata Steel in India and one from Canada, who had come over to hear about the lithium developments in Cornwall. There is much activity in the UK mining industry and in particular Cornwall, and with the world’s insatiable demand for technology metals such as lithium, copper, tin, tungsten, cobalt as well as minerals to increase food production and provide housing and infrastructure for an ever-growing population, the industry is booming.

Due to other commitments I was only able to attend the first afternoon session, so this is by no means a comprehensive report on the conference. The presentations highlighted the opportunities to responsibly extract the abundance of metals and minerals in the UK, recap on the work undertaken so far and illustrate the potential investment opportunities that lie ahead.

Supplementing the 23 presentations, covering all aspects of mining, exploration and development in the UK, were site visits to Cornwall's tin and lithium developments and to Tungsten West's operation at Hemerdon, across the border in Devon.

It was good to see so many young people at the event, especially young women pursuing careers in mining and geology.  Some of the Camborne School of Mines (CSM) students are photographed below with me and Carol Richards, the CSM Association secretary.  

Young people are the lifeblood of sustainability in the mining industry and I aimed my invited talk on the evolution of mineral processing at these students, hoping that I could inspire them to enter this most crucial operation in the mining chain. Two of the CSM students, Codi Brooks and Sally Salter, followed my presentation and spoke enthusiastically about their short time in the mining industry where they have already travelled to some exciting parts of the world. Jamie Hinch, a PhD student at the University of Oxford talked about his research project on the social aspects of lithium mining in Cornwall. 

Codi, James and Sally

Finding the future workforce is a problem internationally and CSM Director Pat Foster discussed this and showed how education and skills must be developed. In 1989 undergraduate mining degrees in the UK were offered by the Universities of Nottingham, Leeds, Strathclyde, Newcastle, Cardiff, North Staffs Polytechnic, Camborne School of Mines and Royal School of Mines. By 2005 only Camborne School of Mines and the University of Leeds had mining degree courses and by 2010 there was only CSM. By 2020 there were none, the CSM degree course being 'paused' and this year will be the final year of mining degree undergraduates. 

Pat stressed that there is a real need to bring back a full time Mining Engineering Degree but in the meantime a degree apprenticeship course starts this year, combining studying part-time at CSM and the rest of the time with their employer. Fourteen students have so far enrolled, all working in operating mines, and CSM also runs attractive MSc courses in mining, geology and mineral processing. Pat concluded by saying that we all work for one of the world's most essential industries, which is crucial to the energy transition and green economy. But we struggle to recruit young people into our industry today. There is an urgent need to promote our industry and we all have a role in this.

Falmouth's Chain Locker is my "local" and I was a little disappointed that on a fine evening delegates were confined to the upper restaurant for the first night buffet rather than in our usual sundowner area outside by the inner harbour. The restaurant was crowded, hot and noisy so I did not remain too long, but long enough for me and my old friend Ian Townsend, who both began our long careers in Zambia, to be interviewed by Ian's son, Jeff Townsend, founder of the Critical Minerals Association. Jeff asked about our long lives in the mining industry and the opportunities that it has given us for travelling the world.

With Ian Townsend

The conference ended on the evening of 14th September with a gala dinner at Falmouth's National Maritime Museum and it was good to have fine wine from Cornwall in the pre-dinner session, the excellent sparkling wines from the Camel Valley vineyard.

CSM students and staff

The highlight of the evening was the presentation of awards by St Austell and Newquay’s Member of Parliament Steve Double, who is Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Mining and Quarrying, which is supported by the Mineral Products Association. The aim of the group is to help keep Members of the Commons and Lords up to date with issues affecting the industry which represents the biggest flow of materials in the economy. 

I was pleased to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award, which I accepted on behalf of MEI (posting of 20th September). The award for Exploration went to Richard Williams, the CEO of Cornish Metals, who is also co-founder and CEO of Winshear Gold Corp., an exploration company with gold projects in Peru, which previously discovered the 1 million ounce SMP gold project in Tanzania. The ESG Award went to Kate Harcourt, an independent ESG advisor for over 10 years, with an MSc in the technology before it was fashionable! in 2018 Kate was nominated as one of the top 100 Global Inspirational Women in Mining.

Steve Double with Richard, Kate and me

I look forward to next year's conference, which will be in Falmouth again, on the week commencing 10th June.

@barrywills