Wednesday, 27 December 2023

2023 with MEI: Business as normal

After three awful years due to the pandemic, 2023 was the year when life returned to normal and travel resumed without the need for negative Covid tests or display of vaccination history. Nevertheless travel disruption played a major role in movements during the year.

Barbara and I were away roughly half of January. The first two weeks of the month we spent in the Spanish Canary Islands, After a few days on the island of Tenerife we took the short ferry journey westwards to La Gomera, the third smallest of the eight main islands of this volcanic archipelago and the only one that has not had any volcanic activity in the last 2 million years. This prolonged inactivity has allowed much erosion, producing deep gullies and dramatic contours rising to an altitude of almost 1500 metres, and the drive from the ferry terminal at San Sebastion across the mountains to our base at Playa de Santiago was truly spectacular.

Later in the month we visited Jon and family in their new home in Luxembourg, the small European country, only three quarters the size of Cornwall, surrounded by Belgium, Germany and France. 

While we were in Luxembourg, Amanda and Richard spent a week in Upper Egypt, exploring the region around Luxor and Aswan, one of the most fascinating places on earth, while a few days after we returned to the UK Jon and family left Luxembourg for a week in the French Alps, the children's first skiing holiday. 
Then it was back to the serious stuff, starting with my annual visit to the USA for the SME Annual Meeting, this year held in Denver. The SME Meeting always provides a good opportunity for meeting people, and the first that I encountered on entering the giant exhibition area were representatives from Metcelerate, one of the sponsors of Flotation '23 later in the year.
With Metcelerate's Diana Drinkwater, Romke Kuyvenhoven and Robert Seitz
The Denver SME was, as always a great experience, this year attended by 6466 delegates from 30 countries, but it was sad to see how downtown Denver had deteriorated during the pandemic, the once pristine 16th Street Mall looking very tired.
Back home Barbara and I joined over 250 current and past students and staff of Camborne School of Mines at the Falmouth Hotel for the Annual CSM Association dinner, always a good opportunity to catch up with old friends from around the world.
After a three and a half year enforced absence due to the pandemic it was great to be back in Cape Town in April for Comminution '23,  Attended by 215 delegates from 30 countries this was our first face-to-face comminution event since Comminution '18.
I must admit to having been a little apprehensive after such a long time out- would the Vineyard Hotel still provide the exceptional level of service that we had grown accustomed to?  I need not have worried, the facilities, food and the beautiful gardens were as we left them in 2019 and we knew that we could relax and look forward to many other events at this stunning venue.
After Comminution ‘23 Barbara and I spent six fabulous days in Botswana, a post-conference tour that we would highly recommend to anyone coming out to Cape Town for an MEI Conference
On Amanda's return to Cornwall she flew to the nearby Isles of Scilly for the World Pilot Gig Championships. The Cornish pilot gig is a six-oared rowing boat, recognised as one of the first shore-based lifeboats that went to vessels in distress, with recorded rescues going back as far as the late 17th century. The World Championships were first held in 1990, only attracting a few crews from Cornwall, but over the years the amount of pilot gigs attending has increased with crews coming from all over the South of England and Wales, the Netherlands, Ireland, France and beyond. Amanda rows with the Ladies Super Vets crew of the Helford River Gig Club, and the great news for Cornwall was that the Helford River women's A crew became World Champions at the event.
Amanda (left) with the Helford Ladies Super Vets C Crew
Falmouth lies between two of the world's most beautiful rivers, the Fal in the north and the Helford in the south, the latter being famous for its many creeks, such as Frenchman's Creek, so it is no surprise that the gig club on the Helford is a major part of Amanda's life.
Early morning on the Helford River
Relaxing after a hard training session!
The weather in Falmouth in June for Biomining '23 and Sustainable Minerals '23 was stunning, and the estuary of the River Fal and the 16th century Pendennis Castle which overlooks it provided great photo opportunities for the conference delegates on their evening guided walks to Falmouth's famous Chain Locker pub.
Biomining '23 delegates by the Fal estuary
Sustainable Minerals '23 delegates at the entrance to the 16th century Pendennis Castle...
... and relaxing at the Chain Locker
Fourteen countries were represented at each conference, with 55 delegates at each.  The National Maritime Museum was a great venue and it was good to be back there after a 3 year lay-off due to Covid, but travel to Cornwall for delegates from overseas was longer and more frustrating than in previous years, due to travel delays and rail strikes and the expense and difficulty in obtaining visas experienced by many. 
Because of this we made the difficult decision to abandon Falmouth as a conference venue for the foreseeable future, and the six conferences in our portfolio will now be held in Cape Town. 
Three days after the June conferences Barbara and I had a bizarre journey to Africa. We were on our way to Zambia and the SAIMM Copper-Cobalt conference at Victoria Falls, but not to be unfortunately. Travelling from Falmouth to Heathrow was the beginning of our woes, with cancelled and delayed trains, validating our decision to mothball our UK conferences. We eventually arrived at Heathrow Airport after a journey of eight hours, just in time for boarding the BA flight to Johannesburg. We eventually boarded one hour late, but the plane then spent a further two hours on the tarmac, while we sweltered in the heat with no air conditioning. At last we arrived at Oliver Tambo Airport, Johannesburg, to find that our connecting flight to Livingstone had already left. 
We found that there was only one flight per day to Livingstone and that the next day's flight was already full!  Not wishing to spend two nights in Johannesburg, or to arrive at the end of the conference, we made the decision to return home on the evening flight after spending only 7 hours in Africa! 
Preparing for the journey back to London!
There were thankfully no travel problems in July, when Barbara and I spent a few days in Birmingham, the UK's second-largest city, in the heart of the Midlands. It is a vibrant city, criss-crossed with canals from the industrial revolution, many of which today are lined with trendy bars and restaurants.
Birmingham was the first major manufacturing city in the world, producing a diverse range of products in small workshops with exceptional levels of inventiveness. In the core years of the industrial revolution, between 1760 and 1850, Birmingham residents registered over three times as many patents as those of any other British town or city. The  most significant development was that of James Watt and Matthew Boulton, who in 1775 formed a partnership to exploit Watt's patent for a steam engine with a separate condenser, a much more efficient use of fuel than in the older Newcomen engine which was in use at the time. The new engine was rapidly adopted by the Cornish tin and copper mines and was later refined by the Cornish mining engineer Richard Trevithick.
The gilded statue of Boulton, Watt and their employee and later partner William Murdoch
I am used to travelling thousands of miles to conferences, so it was a pleasure to attend the UK Mining Conference in September, which was held 5 minutes away at the Princess Pavilion in Falmouth.
The conference was attended by over 280 delegates from the whole mining supply chain and 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. It is estimated that by 2029 over half of the current worldwide mining workforce  will have retired. In contrast, by 2040, total mineral demand is expected to double, so, we won’t have the workforce to tackle these challenges unless we continue to recruit and train the next generation of workers. The mining schools are an essential part of that process.
The conference ended with a gala dinner at Falmouth's National Maritime Museum and I was pleased to receive the UK Mining Lifetime Achievement Award, which I accepted on behalf of MEI (posting of 20th September).
With Barbara and Amanda at the gala dinner
And it was great to hear that Amanda's voluntary work, for a charity supporting people affected by domestic abuse and sexual violence, was recognised by a nomination for The King’s Award for Voluntary Service celebrating the outstanding work of local volunteer groups across the UK.
October was a quiet month, in preparation for Flotation '23, although Amanda and family did manage a two-week break in Madagascar before she set off for Cape Town.
Unfortunately Barbara and I experienced travel woes again en route to Cape Town, as Storm CiarĂ¡n caused devastation over southern England and all trains out of Cornwall were cancelled.  We managed to hitch a lift to Plymouth in Devon only to find that there was no rail or coach travel from there to Heathrow, so we had to take a very expensive taxi journey to the airport (posting of 2nd November 2023).
However it was all worth it in the end as Flotation '23 exceeded all our expectations, with 336 delegates from 32 countries, the biggest MEI Conference in our history and we really appreciate the wonderful reaction to the conference on LinkedIn.
As at the UK conference two months earlier, it was encouraging to see so many young people, both from industry and academia, the largest contingent being from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Germany:
The many photos taken at the conference are in an album, but a selection are shown below:
My photo of the week is of me, Amanda, Barbara and Jon with our longest serving conference delegate, Prof. Antonio Peres, of Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil, who commented "It is a pleasure and honour for me to be part of the magnificent history of MEI. Our partnership and friendship started in 1991, in Camborne, with "Reagents", and goes on for over 30 years. Congratulations for MEI's success which arose from the hard and competent work of the Wills family". Your kind comments are much appreciated, Antonio, and it has been a pleasure having you with us at many (lost count!!) MEI Conferences.
Many of the delegates, some with their families, made the most of their journey to Cape Town by staying on and enjoying some of the delights of this beautiful region (10 good reasons to spend some time in Cape Town) and Jon and Amanda met up with Minerals Engineering editor Pablo Brito-Parada in Camp's Bay, and later Amanda joined Barbara and me for lunch at Kalk Bay.
Then back to the cold and wet, Luxembourg for Jon and Cornwall for Amanda, Barbara and me, where we are already planning for next year's events in Cape Town. Best wishes to you all for 2024.

Friday, 22 December 2023

Much to celebrate at the Christmas Cornish Mining Sundowner

A slightly disappointing turnout for last night's Christmas sundowner at Tyacks in Camborne, usually the most popular sundowner of the year.

Despite the relatively low numbers, there was much to celebrate as Cornwall was put firmly on the map at the Resourcing Tomorrow event in London at the end of last month, where Cornwall as a region was awarded the Most Improved Mining Jurisdiction Award, the other nominees being Egypt, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia and Namibia. Cornwall, as a region, was recognised for the revival of its mining fortunes, as a result of Cornish Lithium and Cornish Metals securing significant investment to advance their exciting mineral extraction projects.

Resourcing Tomorrow was Europe's largest mining event, dedicated to accelerating the energy transition. Attracting over 2,000 registrants from over 100 countries, the conference welcomed the whole mining value chain, including global mining and energy companies, investors, government representatives, researchers, educators, regulators, suppliers, and operators. Government delegations from Australia, Armenia, Canada, Chad, Nigeria, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Czech Republic, Portugal, the UK and the USA were all in attendance. 

At the same conference the Exploration Discovery of the Year Award was presented to Cornish Lithium for their discovery of extensive lithium-enriched brines beneath the surface of Cornwall.

It has been an excellent year for Cornish Lithium, work continuing towards the commercialisation of the geothermal waters projects and significant progress also being made at its Trelavour Hard Rock Project (see also August Mining Sundowner).

There was more good news from Cornish Metals and progress on the regeneration of the South Crofty tin mine, where dewatering of the old workings has been underway since early November (see October summary) with up to 25,000m3 per day of water pumped directly from the mine and treated at the Water Treatment Plant (WTP). Treated water is being discharged into the Red River which is having a positive effect on the water quality of the river downstream of the discharge point and the water discharged is powering a 75 kW hydro-turbine located ahead of the discharge point that generates up to 20% of the power consumed by the WTP. And it is encouraging that the water level within the underground workings is falling at a faster than expected rate.

Cornwall has a rich mining industry and one of its greatest custodians is my old Camborne School of Mines colleague Tony Clarke, who made a welcome appearance at the sundowner last night. 

Tony has a huge collection of Cornish mining photos take over a period of some 60 years and he has spent the last two years enhancing over 9,000 colour slides for archiving in the Cornwall Record Office in Redruth. Appropriately as we are only three days from Christmas Day, I leave you with this great Cornish mining landscape photo taken by Tony, and on behalf of all of us at MEI, I would like to wish you all sincere best wishes for the holiday season and a peaceful and happy 2024. And a big thank you to all of you who have sent us Christmas greetings by email and post.

Finally, just to announce that the next sundowner will be at the County Arms Hotel,Truro, on Thursday January 18th from 5.30pm.

Monday, 18 December 2023

Assessment of trends in cobalt mining and processing in relation to mineralogy

The long-term availability of mineral resources is crucial for sustaining human society, technology and economic activity, a need that is growing to enable the energy transition and this is particularly true for byproduct metals. 

In the special case of cobalt, despite its significance for key technologies supporting the energy transition (batteries, permanent magnets), the decision to mine cobalt alongside nickel or copper depends on the extraction costs and the revenues coming from the main metal, while extracting cobalt as a by-product hinges on the cost of producing a sellable concentrate and its market price. This often results in variable and relatively low recovery rates for cobalt compared to the main commodity. 

It has long been  recognized that ore mineralogy and mineralogical deportment play a key role in defining by-product recoverability. Classical reporting schemes for cobalt resources often fail to capture this information and it is therefore useful to estimate the so-called “recoverable resource” for by-product metals such as cobalt, i.e., the amount of the mineral resources that could, if desired, be extracted and put into use over the near future. 

In his keynote lecture at Process Mineralogy '24 Dr. Quentin Dehaine will present detailed data sets which have been compiled on global cobalt production statistics by mine/operation and reported cobalt mineral resources by projects, deposit type, and ore types, as well as cobalt mineralogy and deportment in Finnish deposits. This information allows for a comprehensive assessment of recent trends in cobalt mining in relation to cobalt mineralogy and processing technology. Combining this with cobalt mineral resources and mineralogical information allows for the assessment of recoverable cobalt resources, as well as mineral-based national resource estimates, as he will show for Finland. Ultimately this can be used to define roadmaps to support the development of new projects, but also to compare different scenarios for joint downstream refining activities.

Quentin Dehaine is a senior researcher at the Geological Survey of Finland where he has been leading several national and EU research and innovation projects on ore geology, mineral processing, traceability and geometallurgy of battery minerals (cobalt, lithium) and critical raw materials such as rare earths elements. After completing his PhD at the University of Lorraine, France, he was a postdoc researcher at the Camborne School of Mines, working on the geometallurgy of cobalt from the Democratic Republic of Congo. In 2019, Quentin joined the Geological Survey of Finland with the objective of developing innovative integrated approaches to support mine value chain optimisation, responsible sourcing, reducing technical risk, maximising resource efficiency and minimising environmental impacts. Quentin is also the officer for Scandinavia within the International Union of Geological Sciences Initiative on Forensic Geology.

#ProcessMineralogy24

Thursday, 14 December 2023

Nominations invited for the 2023 MEI Young Person's Award

It is time to start thinking of who you might like to nominate for the 2023 MEI Young Person's Award, to join the list of exceptional young mineral processors who have made outstanding contribution to minerals engineering.

Nominations, for persons under 35 years of age at December 31st 2023, should be submitted by email to bwills@min-eng.com by Friday March 8th 2024. Nominations must come from a senior person, or persons, who have had first-hand experience of the work of the nominee.

Nominations should include the name, age and affiliation of the nominee, and reasons for the nomination. The recipient will receive an engraved award and a complimentary registration to any future MEI Conference, and the presentation will be made whenever a mutually convenient situation arises.

Monday, 11 December 2023

Why the supply of critical minerals is so critical

Critical Minerals '24, MEI's 1st International Symposium on the processing of critical minerals, will be held at the Vineyard Hotel, Cape Town, from November 14-15, immediately following Process Mineralogy '24. It is being organised by MEI in consultation with Prof. Alan Butcher of the Geological Survey of Finland and Prof. Jan Cilliers, of Imperial College, UK, and is sponsored by Promet101, AECI Mining Chemicals, and Capstone Copper. Our media sponsors are International Mining and Minerals Engineering and industry advocates are the Critical Minerals Association and the Coalition for Eco-Efficient Comminution (CEEC).

Critical minerals refer to a select group of elements and minerals that are vital for industrial processes and the production of high-tech goods. Their significance arises from their role in enabling various technologies that have become integral to contemporary life. Commonly cited examples of critical minerals include rare earth elements (REEs), lithium, cobalt, and graphite. 

The growing demand for critical minerals is primarily driven by the energy transition and the rapid expansion of technologies such as smartphones, electric vehicles, wind turbines, and solar panels. As societies transition towards cleaner and more sustainable energy solutions, the need for these minerals has intensified. 

Although efforts are being made to develop more sustainable mining and processing techniques, as the demand for critical minerals increases so do concerns about their environmental and social impact. The extraction of these minerals often involves practices that can harm ecosystems and local communities and as Ben Lepley points out in his excellent article in LinkedIn we must listen to the voices of protest, which is the role of responsible ESG. Having said that it is important that the non-mining community be made aware of the desperate need to ramp up critical minerals production if net zero is ever to be achieved, or even approached. 

So how are we doing? The table below paints a gloomy picture, showing that mining production would need to be considerably ramped up as there is physically not enough material at current extraction rates to produce one generation of renewables technology (which needs to be replaced every 20 years or so) and to phase out fossil fuels. A massive increase in supply of lithium would be needed to completely phase out petrol and diesel cars, and the most important metal in the quest for net zero, copper, would need the equivalent of 190 years supply at current mining rates. 

The reality is that the world is facing a dire future shortage of the metals and minerals required to make the transition to clean energy. Existing copper mines are suffering from declining feed grades while developing new mines is becoming more difficult due to social and environmental concerns and a lack of investment. 

At the UN's latest round of global climate talks, COP28, hosted on the first two weeks of this month, around 100 countries promised to treble the renewable energy the world uses by 2030. UN Secretary-General AntĂ³nio Guterres announced his plan to set up a panel aimed to ensure the move from fossil fuels towards renewable energy is just, sustainable and benefits all countries. He said that the availability and accessibility of critical energy transition minerals is crucial to reach the goals set by the 2015 Paris Agreement.

In terms of world energy production coal is still king, representing 35.4% of global generation in 2022, wind and solar combined amounting to only 11.7%.

Source https://elements.visualcapitalist.com/what-electricity-sources-power-the-world/

The UK has a particularly good record in aiming for net zero. Half a century ago 95% of the country's electricity was generated by coal, now it is less than 2%. I logged the sources of electricity generation to the UK grid over the last 3 weeks of October, and 29.5% was generated by fossil fuels and 39% by wind/solar. This seems impressive, but looking at generation on a daily basis tells a different story, as wind and solar are very much weather dependent, making their supply extremely erratic.

The overall picture is that we are a long way from achieving global net zero and that, unless the supply of nuclear energy is increased, fossil fuels will be needed for many years yet. The supply of critical minerals will also need to be massively increased and mineral processing will have an important role in this.

Critical Minerals '24  will explore innovative methods and flowsheets for processing critical minerals from primary and secondary sources and by recycling, particularly from waste electrical and electronic equipment, the most challenging aspect in aiming for a circular economy. Many electronic devices and products contain significant amounts of these minerals, making them potential sources for future supply. Researchers and industries are working on improving recycling technologies to extract critical minerals from discarded products, reducing the need for new mining activities.

So if you are working on innovative methods to extract critical minerals from primary and secondary sources, or by recycling, then we would very much like to see you in Cape Town next year to share your work and thoughts with like-minded people. We invite you to submit your abstracts via the online portal.

Thursday, 7 December 2023

Process Mineralogy '24- back in Cape Town!

MEI's Process Mineralogy conference series will be back in Cape Town next year, after a pause due to the pandemic and Process Mineralogy '22 being held in Spain due to South African Covid restrictions.

The Vineyard Hotel conference centre

It will be good to get back to the Vineyard Hotel for Process Mineralogy '24, which will be held back to back with a new MEI Conference, Critical Minerals '24. As always the conference will be organised by MEI in consultation with Prof. Megan Becker of the University of Cape Town and we also welcome as an advisor Prof. Alan Butcher of the Geological Survey of Finland.

Alan Butcher and Megan Becker at Process Mineralogy '18
The exhibition area at Process Mineralogy '18

It is pleasing to see the early response to the move back to Cape Town, with four companies already on board as sponsors, Zeiss, Capstone Copper, Promet 101 and AECI Mining Chemicals. Our media partners are International Mining and Minerals Engineering, and our Industry Advocate is the Critical Minerals Association.

Zeiss is one of our most prolific sponsors. Process Mineralogy '24 will be our 7th conference in the series, starting way back in 2012 and Zeiss, a world leader in automated mineralogy, has sponsored all of these and many other MEI Conferences.

Zeiss at Process Mineralogy '18

Promet101 has also become a prolific sponsor. Founded by CEO Stuart Saich, Promet 101 is an international company, headquartered in Australia, with offices in Canada and Chile, whose objectives are to provide sound solutions to clients' requirements and ensure that a well-documented path from ore definition, metallurgical testing programs through to process design criteria is provided for subsequent scrutiny by third parties such as engineering entities engaged to complete detail designs or peer reviews for project financing.

Stuart said "So why does a small company like ours continue to support MEI through good and tough times. Well if you think carefully about it, how much effort is put into developing a technical paper. 100 or 200 hours per paper? Then what about the costs involved? By supporting MEI you are supporting a platform for the advancement of our own industry by willing individuals to advance the scientific knowledge of the very industry we belong to. What is the inherent intellectual value or investment into the knowledge base of each conference at which say 100 technical papers are presented? I would say $1-2 million a piece. And from that investment springs further value growth as ideas advance and commercialisation grows. Why do we invest in supporting MEI every year, because it makes absolute sense! It is not about me, it is about our industry!"

Stuart Saich with Jon Wills at Flotation '19

Capstone Copper, which has a portfolio of long-life copper operations in Canada, USA, Mexico and Chile, is a great MEI supporter and will be sponsoring all six of MEI's upcoming conferences. Senior Vice-President Peter Amelunxen said "We believe in giving back to the industry that has supported our growth, and the MEI conferences serve as a platform for experts, researchers, and industry professionals to share their technical knowledge and insights, fostering collaboration and innovation within the minerals engineering sector. By supporting these high-quality conferences, we actively participate in the advancement of the field, establish or enhance strategic partnerships, and contribute to the industry’s overall success.  We are a proud MEI supporter".

AECI Mining Chemicals is a regular sponsor of MEI's flotation conference, and we welcome them as a first time sponsor of the Process Mineralogy series. 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. Shani Engelbrecht of AECI Mining, South Africa said "A big shout-out to MEI Conferences for creating such a stimulating environment! It (Flotation '23) has been a truly enriching experience and I left with my mind challenged, and heart full". 

AECI at Flotation '23

Process Mineralogy '24 looks like being a great event, as was Process Mineralogy '18 in Cape Town, so we now look forward to quality papers, and invite you to submit abstracts via the portal on the website.

#ProcessMineralogy24

Sunday, 3 December 2023

Nesch Mintec and Metcelerate debut as sponsors for Comminution '25 and a welcome back to Sino Grinding

Not only did Nesch Mintec and Metcelerate sponsor an MEI Conference for the first time, Flotation '23 was also their first appearance at an MEI Conference. They were obviously pleased with the outcome, as they agreed during Flotation '23 to support Flotation '25, and we are more than pleased to hear that they have also made the decision to sponsor Comminution '25, which will also be at the Vineyard Hotel, Cape Town.

Nesch Mintec Tanzania Ltd is a privately owned company 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.

In the photo below, at Flotation '23, MEI's Jon Wills is with Prosper Munemo and Happiness Nesvinga in the Nesch Mintec booth. They said "we would like to thank the organizers and participants of the MEI conference for making it a successful and enriching event. We are grateful for the opportunity to showcase our mineral processing services and solutions to the mining industry". 

Metcelerate provides training solutions to build technical competence in the mineral processing workplace for metallurgists and engineers and recently won the annual IChemE 2022 Global Award for Business Start-Up companies. Metcelerate was represented at Flotation '23 by Katja Freitag, the General Manager from Canada, Jenny Weise, Program Manager from Cape Town and CEO Diana Drinkwater who gave a keynote lecture on the final day.

Katja, Jenny and Diana with Barbara Wills at Flotation '23

And since the last Comminution '25 update (posting of 23rd October) we have welcomed back Sino Grinding International (SGI) who also sponsored Comminution '23. SGI is headquartered in China, with offices in Australia, South Africa and USA. The company has been represented at five MEI comminution conferences, but at Comminution '23 was sponsoring and exhibiting for the first time. SGI is a designer and manufacturer of grinding media for mining companies around the world.

Jon Wills with Peter Theunissen of Sino Grinding International,
South Africa at Comminution '23

Thanks again to the 15 companies who have already shown their support for Comminution '25.

#Comminution25