Tuesday at Comminution '25

Tuesday 1st April

A beautiful start to the day saw the four delegates from Zambia's Barrick Lumwana copper mine enjoying the early morning view of Table Mountain from the Vineyard conference centre.

Elias Habuzwima, Holmes Kalenga, Abraham Kabinga and Lucy Nshindano

A keynote lecture from Bern Klein, of University of British Columbia, Canada opened the 2nd day's 14 presentations, which will be summarised later this month.

I was pleased to see one of my former Camborne School of Mines students, Graham Davey, who graduated in mineral processing in 1991, presenting the first of two papers today from sponsor Metso, who regularly sponsor MEI Conferences. Graham is Manager, Global Process Support in UK. Metso have a strong team of 16 delegates representing Australia, Finland, South Africa, UK and USA.

With Graham Davey

Some of the Metso team

Graham's paper was followed by a paper from Weir Minerals, presented by Bjorn Dierx, Director HPGR & Process Engineering in the Netherlands. Weir is a sponsor of Comminution '25, with 9 delegates from The Netherlands, Switzerland, South Africa, Australia and Sweden, and we are pleased to hear that the company has developed a new Process and Applications Academy, a training program designed to give graduates technical insights into processing equipment. The inaugural training session, held in April 2024, attracted nearly 40 graduates.

The academy aims to impart essential technical knowledge to recent university graduates, ensuring they are prepared for their professional responsibilities. It is designed for graduate process engineers, mechanical engineers, metallurgists and chemical engineers. The inaugural academy also welcomed graduates in electrical and civil engineering, thereby remaining open to all graduates nominated by their respective line managers.

At the inaugural training session, the academy emphasised essential concepts, selection criteria and troubleshooting techniques, with a particular focus on comminution, slurry and dewatering pumps, wear-resistant products, valves and cyclone simulations. Additionally, the course addressed the integration of artificial intelligence into these processes. 

It is good to hear of training programmes such as this, and those offered by Metcelerate, also a sponsor of this and other MEI Conferences. which provides metallurgists with crucial in-plant training, helping them build practical knowledge, make more informed decisions, and create value for themselves and their sponsoring organisations. Metcelerate's four delegates represent Australia, Canada and South Africa are seen below talking to Dale Glanvill (right) of OmniEM, South Africa.

Metcelerate first attended and sponsored an MEI Conference at Flotation '23, as did Nesch Mintec, a privately owned Tanzanian 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. It was good to welcome back Prosper Munemo and Happiness Nesvinga as a sponsor. They were talking to Ralph Hollenstein, of Multotec Rubber, South Africa.

A break for lunch

ME Elecmetal is a regular sponsor of MEI's comminution series, and has a seven man team representing Australia, South Africa and Zambia, and Brian Cornish, Director of Application Engineering with ME Elecmetal Australia (3rd right below) presented a paper after lunch. They were highlighting their innovative liner and alloy designs for optimal performance of grinding mills. 

Indian company Shri Balaji Industrial Products is attending an MEI Conference for the first time. A manufacturer of high chromium steel grinding media, the company is represented by Goutam Kumar and Rajeev Kumar, seen talking below to Michael Antwi and Geoffrey Broni of Gold Fields Tarkwa mine, Ghana.

After a long day it was time to relax.  A short coach journey through the beautiful Constantia Valley took us to South Africa's oldest wine estate, Groot Constantia, for an informal conference dinner at the elegant Simon's Restaurant.