Monday at Flotation '23

It is nearly 120 years since Elmore patented flotation and it is becoming increasingly important and continues to evolve. It is impossible to overestimate its importance, without it the metals that society depends upon would be precious metals, and it has often been referred to as the most important technological development since the discovery of smelting.

There are many reasons why flotation is becoming ever more important. Many high-grade ore deposits have been depleted and flotation is essential for efficiently extracting valuable minerals from the lower-grade ores, making it a critical technology for sustaining mineral production.  Ores are now often found in complex geological formations, making their processing more challenging. Flotation's ability to selectively separate minerals is crucial in dealing with these complex ore bodies. 

With stricter environmental regulations and the increasing emphasis on responsible and sustainable mining and processing, flotation is valued for its ability to reduce the environmental impact of mineral extraction and wastewater treatment and in an era where resource efficiency is paramount, flotation helps maximise the utilisation of raw materials, reducing waste and energy consumption.

The recycling industry is growing, and flotation plays a significant role in separating and purifying recycled materials, contributing to the circular economy. It is finding new roles in treating metals which had little economic value a few decades ago but which are now regarded as critical.

As the global population and demand for metals and minerals continue to rise, the efficient recovery of valuable resources is of increasing economic and strategic importance. Flotation is crucial for meeting this demand. As we will see in the four days of the conference continuing and intensive research has led to the development of new and more efficient flotation reagents, improving the selectivity and performance of the process and innovations in flotation equipment and automation technology have enhanced the efficiency and reliability of the process. 

Monday November 6th

MEI's Jon Wills opened the conference this morning at Cape Town's Vineyard Hotel, welcoming over 320 delegates from 32 countries to MEI's biggest ever conference, and thanking our 26 corporate sponsors and consultant Prof. Jim Finch. Jon highlighted how the conference has grown since the first event at the Vineyard in 2007.

Following Jon's opening remarks the conference got off to a great start with a keynote lecture from Graeme Jameson, Laureate Professor at Australia's University of Newcastle, who took us through his long career in flotation research leading to the Jameson Cell and more recently his Concorde and NovaCells.

Following Prof. Jameson's lecture were two presentations on the Concorde Cell and three on the Reflux Cell, an invention of Kevin Galvin, also from the University of Newcastle.  There will be a summary of all the conference technical presentations in a few weeks' time.

During the coffee break I caught up with Graeme, who is accompanied by his grandson, Samuel, who is studying for a chemical engineering degree at Newcastle and also working as a laboratory assistant.

Graeme and Samuel Jameson

Enjoying the view of Table Mountain from the viewing balcony I was pleased to welcome our six delegates from PT Ammam, the second-largest copper-and-gold mining company in Indonesia. This was their first attendance at an MEI Conference.

It was also good to meet the delegates from the University of Concepción, Chile.

On the ground floor the exhibition was buzzing and I managed to catch up with many new and familiar faces (see YouTube video).

It is always good to welcome new companies to MEI Conferences, and none more so than Nesch Mintec Tanzania Ltd, a privately owned company registered in Tanzania, who are one of our conference sponsors. 

Nesch Mintec  was formed mainly to offer Laboratory Analytical Services and Consultancy in Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy to the mining sector of Tanzania, East Africa and beyond. Mining has become one of the fast-growing industries in Tanzania which also contributes much to the economy of the country. Due to this rapid growth Nesch Mintec was started to ease some of the challenges which small to large scale miners are facing in Tanzania. These miners had little knowledge on how to start, operate and to troubleshoot some of the challenges in their mineral processing activities, which had a great impact on the growth of the mining industry.  It was good to talk to their two representatives Happiness Nesvinga and Prosper Munemo in their exhibit booth.

With Happiness and Prosper with Willard Rupia, Zimbabwe

MetSoP is a team of metallurgists based in South Africa that offer metallurgical solutions and products. The company specialises in formulating tailor made flotation reagents for various ore types. They are sponsoring an MEI Conference for the first time, and have sent a strong team of 12 delegates, some of which are in the photo below.

Roytec Global is a business partner of the Beijing General Research Institute for Mining & Metallurgy (BGRIMM) Technology Group, China, who are presenting two papers at the conference. Roytec offers a full suite of filtration, thickening and flotation technologies with manufacturing capabilities both in South Africa and China. Roytec and BGRIMM 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.

Roytec and BGRIMM representatives

Regular sponsor Eriez is represented this week by Senior Manager Drew Hobert, USA, Das Subhasis, India and Morake Hlahane, South Africa. One of Eriez’s products is the HydroFloat® Separator for coarse particle mineral concentration, which delivers the capacity of a density separator while maintaining the selectivity of a flotation device. Using a novel aeration system to disperse fine bubbles into a fluidised-bed environment, the HydroFloat® Separator significantly increases the selective recovery of coarse particles by applying flotation fundamentals to gravity separation, reducing water and energy consumption and producing safer tailings. It will be the subject of a number of papers this week.

With Das, Morake and Drew

There was much interest in the 60 posters during the coffee and lunch breaks, and another chance to catch up with people.

With delegates from Mintek, South Africa

With Kgosi Kgotlele and Thebe Tsae, from Khoemacau Copper Mine, Botswana

The first lunch break

Nearing the end of the day, it was a pleasure to meet the delegates from the Kamoto Copper Company, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Trudon Kalumba, Guedally Bwerevu and Guellord Nguza.

It has been a very long but productive day, with 24 technical session presentations, so it was good to relax in the Vineyard gardens with the first of our evening sundowners.

Delegates from Japan with Amanda and me

Delegates from France