When I began my career in mineral processing 56 years ago, flotation circuits were fairly basic, and little had changed in decades. Anyone who had worked in a mill in the 1930s would have felt quite at home in the 1970s. Grinding was carried out in small ball mills operating in parallel, and flotation took place in small mechanical machines arranged in banks, each bank containing as many as 20 cells.
That all changed rapidly in the early 1980s with the dawn of the computer revolution. Automated control strategies and improved design methods led to much larger equipment. I remember some of the flotation banks at Nchanga, Zambia, where small Denver cells were replaced by "massive" 11 m³ Wemco units. But few could have imagined that Wemco machines would eventually evolve into the enormous 600 m³ SuperCells we see today. Even more impressive is the development in China of BGRIMM’s 800 m³ Super-large Flotation Machine - the world’s largest flotation cell - which will be showcased at Flotation '25.
Before these giant cells emerged, column flotation cells became common in the mid-1970s. These pneumatic cells were once predicted to replace mechanical machines for both roughing and cleaning duties. At the time column flotation dominated mineral processing conferences, and led to the publication of the seminal Column Flotation by Glen Dobby and MEI’s flotation consultant, Jim Finch.
However, columns ultimately did not live up to early expectations. Limitations in flotation kinetics, operational complexity, and a narrower range of applications meant they failed to become the universal solution many had hoped for. Mechanical flotation machines remained dominant, particularly for roughing, while columns found niche applications in scavenging and cleaning duties.
These limitations sparked the search for a flotation device that could combine the benefits of columns (selectivity and froth washing) with the robustness and kinetics of mechanical cells. This led to the mid-1980s development of the Jameson Cell. Featuring a high-shear mixing zone and froth washing capabilities, the Jameson Cell proved especially effective for fine particle recovery. Now marketed by Flotation '25 sponsor Glencore Technology, over 500 units have been installed across 30 countries in coal, base metals, and other sectors and a paper from Glencore Technology will feature the installation of a Jameson Cell at the Bozshakol copper-gold-molybdenum mine in Kazakhstan.
The Jameson Cell was invented by Professor Graeme Jameson of the University of Newcastle, Australia. He remains the only mineral processor to be elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. Had he been based in the UK, he may well have received a knighthood - many argue he deserves that level of global recognition. Although Australia no longer awards knighthoods, Prof. Jameson holds its equivalent honour as an Officer of the Order of Australia, and is also a recipient of the IMPC’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
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| Prof. Jameson at the 30th Anniversary of the Jameson Cell at Flotation '19 |
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| At Flotation '17, and with Barbara and me in Santiago, 2014 |
Prof. Jameson continued to innovate well beyond the original Jameson Cell, focusing on the challenges of ultrafine particle recovery and improving the sustainability of flotation processes. His two major follow-up inventions are the Concorde Cell and the NovaCell.
The Concorde Cell, designed for particles smaller than 10 microns, provides a high-shear environment with a large bubble surface area flux, allowing for faster flotation kinetics. It also features enhanced froth recovery and selectivity, while forced air input offers improved process control and stability. Flotation '25 sponsor Metso launched the first industrial Concorde Cell units in Africa last year, and they will be sharing updates on its application at the conference.
Prof. Jameson's most recent invention is the NovaCell, licensed to Flotation '25 sponsor Jord. Designed to handle a wide particle size range, from the ultrafine to coarser fractions, NovaCell uses separate environments for each; fine particles are captured in a high-energy aerator, while coarse particles are recovered in a gentler, fluidised bed. Papers at Flotation '25 will showcase the technology’s industrial progress.
Another major innovation from the University of Newcastle is the Reflux Flotation Cell (RFC), invented by Professor Kevin Galvin, a Laureate Professor and Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Enabling Eco‑Efficient Beneficiation of Minerals. Prof. Galvin’s accolades include the Ian Wark Medal, the ATSE Clunies Ross Award, and the SME’s Antoine Gaudin Award.
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| Kevin Galvin (right) with the FLS team in Cape Town in 2024 |
Licensed to sponsor FLS (FLSmidth), the RFC has received the 2023 Mining Magazine Technology Innovation Award after moving successfully through pilot and full-scale trials and has since achieved its first commercial sale. Following successful pilot testing at BHP’s Carrapateena copper operation in South Australia, FLS announced last month that it is set to supply its first full-scale cell island to the mine to enhance copper concentrate grade and recovery. The RFC is known for its enhanced cleaning performance, while the lower system of inclined channels increases its capacity. More recently FLS launched its CoarseAir, for use in coarse particle flotation, based on Prof. Galvin's Reflux Classifier.
It is quite remarkable that five major advances in flotation technology have originated from the University of Newcastle. This single department has profoundly shaped the future of mineral processing, and we are privileged to welcome their team and their licensing partners to Flotation '25.
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I’m honoured that you’ve drawn attention to the contributions of myself and Kevin, both from the University of Newcastle, to the field of mineral processing. I’ve often wondered what’s in our backgrounds that pushed us into tackling important industrial problems. It’s possible that individually, we got the same start when leaving school. Both of us started university studies as trainees or cadets, Kevin at the BHP Research Laboratory and myself in the assay laboratory of O.T. Lempriere and Company, tin smelters and ore refiners, in Sydney. I began as a cadet chemical engineer, so I worked for four days a week and studied for a Diploma at Sydney Technical College by night. After a few years, Sydney Tech became the University of New South Wales, and I was able to change to a Degree course, by adding a few more years of study. In all, I did six years as a part-time student and two years full time, while still working by day. Character building.
ReplyDeleteI saw my first flotation cell at Lempriere’s. It was a simple affair, made of hardwood planks held in place by long external bolts. It had a simple cast-iron impeller system and was used during WWII to recover elements such as molybdenum, chromium, bismuth and others to add to tin-antimony-copper plain bearing metals for the war effort. As a teenager, I found it fascinating to see the bubbles emerging from a black sludge, coated in valuable minerals.
Important lessons I learned from this industrial exposure, included an appreciation of the commercial imperatives that drive any enterprise. I also saw many examples where laboratory bench experiments had been scaled up to production units that were hundreds of times larger. I learned to trust the laws of physics and chemistry, and to be unafraid as an engineer, to work on large-scale projects. I also learned that academic research into industrial problems was just as interesting as so-called pure research, with the added challenge that practical answers must be found. I’ve noticed that in some fields, if you can’t find a solution, you change the problem to something that you can solve, but which may give irrelevant answers.
I look forward to the response to the article in due course.
Kind regards,Graeme.
Graeme Jameson, University of Newcastle, Australia