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