August summary: autumn approaches after a long, hot summer

Ten years ago the then publishing manager for Minerals Engineering, Dean Eastbury, and I hiked the strenuous 7 and a half miles of coast between Mevagissey and Charlestown, one of the hardest sections of the south Cornwall coastal path (posting of 20 June 2015). 

We didn't spend much time in Charlestown, apart from downing a couple of well-earned pints at the Pier House Hotel, but at the beginning of this month Barbara and I visited the village and walked around the famous Georgian harbour, purpose built for shipping copper and importing coal, The port handled 40,000 tons of copper between 1810 and 1813 and later became a hub for exporting china clay until the 1990s.

Due to its modest scale, Charlestown escaped large-scale modernisation and retains much of its original Georgian character, Today it is one of the finest preserved 18th‑century harbours in the UK, making it a prime film location, appearing in productions including Poldark, Alice in Wonderland, The Onedin Line, Dr Who and The Eagle Has Landed.

After a brief look around we headed north on the coastal path for an uninspiring short walk to Carlyon Bay and an equally uninspiring lunch at the Carlyon Bay Hotel.

Meanwhile Jon and family were camping in France, at the base of the famous Alpe d'Huez, the most legendary and iconic climb in the Tour de France. The 13.8 km climb has an average gradient of 8.1% (a maximum of 10.8%), with 21 hairpin bends. Too much for Jon to resist, of course, so he rented a road bike and, having cycled up Alpe 'd'Huez 9 years ago, took the 50 km route from Bourg d'Oisans with the tougher climb up Col de Sarenne and down Alpe d’Huez, a spectacular and challenging loop that combines stunning Alpine scenery with a mix of remote, quiet roads and iconic Tour de France terrain. 

He almost gave up 2 km from the summit at 1,999 m. but the final stretch of the 22 km climb, which is exposed and scenic, gave dramatic views of the surrounding mountains and glacial valleys. This part of the route was used in the 2013 Tour de France, where riders climbed Alpe d’Huez twice with a descent over Col de Sarenne in between!

Back in Cornwall Amanda has, as always, been rowing with the Helford River Gig Club and on the 13th of the month they rowed out of the river into Falmouth Bay where Amanda took this great photo of the RAF's Red Arrows bursting from the clouds for their display over nearby Gyllyngvase beach, the highlight of Falmouth Week (posting of 14th August).

It's always good to welcome visitors to this beautiful part of the world and two days ago I met up with Natalie Dormer and family, who were visiting UK from Australia.  Natalie graduated in minerals engineering and extractive metallurgy from Curtin University in 1999 and has worked in the processing of iron ore, nickel and gold, as well as within many site metallurgical laboratories, and has managed a commercial metallurgical laboratory. For the past 3 years she has been a senior consultant with Lithium Consultants, Australia, after over 3 years as a metallurgist with Metso Outotec.

With Natalie, mining engineer husband Damon and children Brooke and Will

And a tranquil scene to end August. Amanda catching the sunrise in Falmouth Bay as autumn approaches and a long hot summer comes to an end.

Professor Sun Chuanyao: 1944-2025

Sad news in from China of the death on August 21st of Prof. Sun Chuanyao, one of the intellectual giants of mineral processing in modern China. He played a key role with Professors Wang Dianzuo and Han Long in the organisation of the impressive XXIV IMPC Congress in Beijing in 2008 and served on the IMPC Council from 2008-2016.

With Han Long and Sun Chuanyao in Santiago, Chile, 2013

He obtained his bachelor’s degree in mineral processing from Northeast University in 1968, and later earned a master’s degree from the Beijing General Research Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (BGRIMM) in 1981. He was a long-time leader of BGRIMM. one of the sponsors of Flotation '25. He joined BGRIMM in 1981 and served as Vice-President and then President until 2007, later continuing as a senior academic/consultant.

Prof. Chuanyao was an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, was Director of Mineral Processing Academic Committee of China Mining Association, Director of Mineral Processing Technical Committee of Nonferrous Metals Society of China, and Director of State Key Laboratory of Mineral Processing.

He was a pioneer in developing groundbreaking concepts such as "genetic mineral processing", "harmonious processing", "intelligent processing", and "green processing." He advanced methods for processing complex polymetallic ores including tungsten, bismuth, molybdenum, lead-zinc, copper-nickel, lithium-beryllium-tantalum-niobium and iron. He developed new flotation theories grounded in silicate mineral crystal chemistry, significantly enhancing separation efficiency.

He led the celebrated "Shizhuyuan method", a decade-long national scientific and technological initiative that innovatively tackled complex tungsten-bismuth-molybdenum ore processing using full-flotation flows and self-developed chelating collectors, marking a major technological leap in tungsten flotation. He invented the asynchronous mixed flotation method, achieved multiple advances in Pb-Zn separation techniques, introduced electrochemical control in flotation engineering, and pioneered flotation of low-grade lithium ores.

His passing concluded a remarkable career that profoundly shaped modern mineral processing in China. His pioneering work continues to define the direction of mineral processing in China and beyond.

The evolution of the Jameson Cell: a Glencore Technology Workshop prior to Flotation '25

The Jameson Cell was invented by Professor Graeme Jameson at the University of Newcastle, Australia, in the late 1980s. The cell has been particularly successful in coal flotation, base metals (copper, lead, zinc), and recently in other areas like industrial minerals.

The licensing, marketing, and ongoing development of the Jameson Cell is managed by Glencore Technology, Australia (formerly Xstrata Technology). This month Glencore Technology celebrated the installation of the 500th Jameson Cell worldwide, at the New Afton gold and copper mine in Canada, 

Immediately prior to the welcoming reception for Flotation '25 on Sunday November 16th, Glencore Technology will be running a short workshop on the future of the Jameson Cell technology. This will give insights into new applications, available test work options, and will explore current industry perspectives and show how industry leaders are leveraging Jameson Cells now and for the future.

The workshop will be presented by Adam Price, Manager, Jameson Flotation, and Senior Metallurgist Ryan Jones. One of the topics will be the expansion of Jameson Cell duties and at Flotation '25 which follows Ryan will show how the the Jameson Cell is increasingly being applied in rougher flotation duties as a means of debottle-necking concentrators and addressing space constraints while delivering high metallurgical performance, recent design developments  enabling its use in larger throughput applications. He will also present a poster showing how a Jameson Cell upgrade at KAZ Minerals Bozshakol in Kazakhstan has highlighted the Jameson Cell’s capability to enhance concentrator performance and establish new production benchmarks.

The Glencore workshop is becoming a feature of MEI's flotation series. At Flotation '19 the 30th birthday of the Jameson Cell was celebrated at the workshop with around 40 attendees. At the time there were over 350 installations around the world and it was great to have Prof Jameson at the event to help cut the Jameson Cell birthday cake with Technology Manager Virginia Lawson.

The workshop at Flotation '23, was attended by around 25 conference delegates and presented by Ryan Jones.

The workshop immediately follows the course on Flotation Chemistry Fundamentals and Practice to be given by Prof. Liza Forbes of Australia's JKMRC.

#Flotation25

August Cornish Mining Sundowner: more news on the South Crofty Tin Project

An excellent sundowner last night at Falmouth's Chain Locker. There were no new faces among the 20 attendees, but quite a few familiar faces who have been absent for some time.

It was good to see Mike Hallewell, back home from his consultancy travels in South America. He is the Consulting Metallurgist for Cornish Metals' South Crofty Tin Project and he was talking to representatives from three of the companies who will be supplying equipment for the all-gravity tin concentrator. Mike is right in the photo below with David Mildren, of Gravity Mining, Doug Caffell, local representative of Canadian company Sepro Mineral Systems and Dave Goldburn of Holman-Wilfley. The concentrator will have Multi-Gravity Separators (MGS) from Gravity Mining, Falcon Concentrators from Sepro and shaking tables from Holman-Wilfley, as well as Gekko jigs.

David, Doug and Dave are considering their involvement in Physical Separation '26 in Cape Town, and it would be great to hear more of the South Crofty project at the conference, as well as applications of Gravity Mining's C910 MGS, the world's biggest gravity concentrator, which was launched in May (see Richard Mozley's gravity concentration legacy lives on).

Although dense medium separation was used at South Crofty before its closure in 1998, pre-concentration of the ore will be by sensor-based sorters, provided by TOMRA, one of the sponsors of Physical Separation '26.

Things are certainly progressing with Cornish Metals. Three weeks ago the company hosted Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, at the South Crofty mine, the visit following the UK Government's £28.6 million investment via the National Wealth Fund to support the re-opening of the mine. The occasion marked the Chancellor's first visit to Cornwall since taking office and comes as part of the Government's broader commitment to unlocking regional growth, with South Crofty highlighted as a flagship example of how investment in critical industries can support job creation and economic renewal.

Tin is a critical mineral for the clean energy transition, essential to electronics, electric vehicles, and renewable infrastructure. Reviving domestic production at South Crofty will creating over 300 direct jobs and support many more across local supply chains and regional businesses.

Rachel Reeves said "Like in every part of the UK, I am determined to unlock growth that creates jobs and puts more money in Cornish people's pockets.Our investment to revive Cornwall's proud tin mining industry and the thousands of jobs it will create for years to come is one way we are renewing the county".

The Chancellor with members of the Cornish Metals Team

The next sundowner is at the Chain Locker on Thursday September 18th, from 5.30pm.

Process mineralogy for processing of critical metals

Process mineralogy plays a pivotal role in optimising the processing and extraction of critical metals. It encompasses a range of techniques, including automated electron microscopy, mineral chemistry, surface chemistry, and X-ray diffraction. These techniques are employed to characterise various ores, providing crucial information such as mineral identification, elemental distribution, quantitative mineral and textural analysis, grain size determination, and assessment of mineral liberation and association.

This comprehensive characterisation allows the assessment of the behavior of both valuable and penalty metals within complex ore matrices. The data obtained from process mineralogy can then be integrated with metallurgical testwork and downstream processes.  This integration is essential for enhancing the efficiency of mineral processing operations, aiding in flowsheet development, and providing insights into efficient extraction methods.  

In a keynote lecture at next year's Process Mineralogy '26, Tassos Grammatikopoulos, of SGS Natural Resources, Canada, will present examples to demonstrate the strong dependence between quantitative mineralogy and the sustainable mineral extraction of REE, Li, Ga, and Nb, all of which are vital for green energy technologies.

Dr. Grammatikopoulos, is a process mineralogy expert specialising in mineral processing for critical, base, and precious metals, as well as other commodities. His work centers on integrating fundamental and specialised mineral data to advance mineral processing and extractive metallurgy, driving the development of new and improved mineral technologies.

Tassos received his PhD in Economic Geology from Queen's University in 1999. He began his career at Lakefield Research (SGS) in 1997 as a mineralogist and senior geoscientist, later serving as a research associate at AMTEL. He has also held academic positions as an Adjunct Professor at McGill University and as a Lecturer and Assistant Professor at the University of Patras, Greece.

#ProcessMineralogy26

Falmouth Week attracts the crowds to the town

Falmouth Week is one of Cornwall’s biggest summer festivals, blending world-class sailing with vibrant onshore celebrations. Originating in 1837 as a local regatta, it now hosts the largest sailing races in the South West, with more than 400 yachts competing this week in Falmouth Bay and the Fal estuary, the Carrick Roads. 

The week began last Saturday with the Falmouth Carnival parade filled with music, dancing, and creativity, led as always by the Falmouth Marine Band. Known for their "marching cacophony" and anarchic percussion, they don wildly imaginative costumes each year and play with chaotic abandon. Their "music" is an exuberant mix of drums, cowbells, kazoos, whistles, car horns, and anything else that makes noise. Rhythm is "loosely observed" and tunes are "optional" as they keep up the racket all the way along the route.

MFGA

Falmouth has been busy all week, but yesterday it was bursting at the seams as most of Cornwall poured in for the highlight of the week, the early evening display by the RAF's Red Arrows over Falmouth Bay.

The crowds building at Gyllyngvase beach an hour before the display

The 20 minute display is always impressive, but for those who travelled to Falmouth by car the exodus was challenging on the grid-locked narrow roads!

The memorable week concludes tomorrow night with fireworks over the harbour.

Harbour fireworks, 2014

A New Paradigm for Mineral Processing Circuits: What might Underpin the Philosophy?

When I began my career in mineral processing in the 1970s mineral processing circuits had changed little since the 1930s but there was a paradigm shift in the early 1980s, the computer revolution leading to the development of innovative flotation and comminution machines, the evolution of automatic control strategies and improvements in design and optimisation via the new field of mathematical modelling.

Prof. Kevin Galvin is the inventor of two of the recent innovative systems, the Reflux Classifier used in gravity separation and the Reflux Flotation Cell and we are honoured to have him as a keynote speaker at next year's Mineral Processing Circuits '26 in Cape Town. Kevin is a Laureate Professor at the University of Newcastle, Australia. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering and previous recipient of numerous awards including the Ian Wark Medal, ATSE Clunies Ross Award, and Antoine Gaudin Award in mineral processing. He is Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Enabling Eco-Efficient Beneficiation of Minerals.

His presentation will be something to look forward to, as he will argue that mineral processing is entering a paradigm shift, implying that there is a current paradigm, and that something new will ultimately emerge - the alternative might be a continuation of incremental improvements for the next 100 years!

He will confine his discussion to mineral beneficiation, arguing that if beneficiation had a purely technical objective we could ignore the need for a new paradigm, just use what is on the shelf, apply the templates of the past and keep going. We could continue to produce metals. But the industry needs to be sustainable, economically, environmentally and socially. It is that thread which will underpin his keynote, the exercise being one of producing and sorting the particles to deliver a sustainable outcome, guided by the mineral grade and recovery. 

He will identify the existing paradigm, an approach forged on the back of 20th century technology and will look to understand why it persists. But in moving forward we need to consider the possibilities that arise from the emergence of new technologies, and what that might look like. Up until now we have tended to consider new technologies and how they fit within the old paradigm, but the real innovation emerges when we let go of the past. Complex, inefficient, large-scale plants should give way to simpler, efficient, smaller, more purposeful units or modules, that can be formally controlled to address variability and in turn facilitate more complex forms of decision making.

The keynote will provide a great introduction to the conference, as with the demand for resources continuing to increase, and amidst growing challenges of processing complex ores, while minimising energy and environmental impact, we are entering an exciting time for innovation in mineral processing. Innovation in individual unit operations is complemented by innovative approaches to the entire mineral processing flowsheet, from rearrangement of an existing circuit to a new approach for a greenfield development.

Mineral Processing Circuits '26 invites papers on new approaches to mineral processing circuits, whether through design, modelling, optimisation or operation. This includes integration of unit operations (e.g. comminution and flotation), novel flowsheets that incorporate new equipment and new approaches to optimising circuit design.

Abstract submission is now open, and short abstracts should be submitted by the end of October.

#MineralProcessingCircuits26

Comminution '27: Welcoming New Sponsors and Celebrating Academic Excellence

Comminution '27 may still be some time away, but preparations are already well underway.

We are pleased to announce the return of Steinert as a sponsor. A leading manufacturer of sensor-based sorting machines, Steinert has a long-standing relationship with MEI, having sponsored both Physical Separation '24 and Comminution '25. The company also confirmed its continued support for Physical Separation '26 earlier this year (posting of 6 January 2025).

We are equally delighted to welcome Naipu Mining to its first MEI conference. Founded in 2005 and based in Shangrao, China, Naipu specialises in heavy-duty mineral processing equipment and wear‑resistant components. The company manufactures rubber and composite liners for ball mills, SAG mills, and AG mills. In 2025, Naipu launched high‑alloy forged composite liners for a 7.5 m semi-autogenous mill in Tibet, doubling service life while reducing liner weight by 30%, cutting both energy consumption and operational costs.

Naipu also supplies slurry pumps for mill circuits, hydrocyclones, and screening equipment. We look forward to meeting representatives from this innovative company in Cape Town.

We are thrilled to share the news that Prof. Aubrey Mainza, our long-standing consultant for the Comminution series, has been appointed Dean of the Faculty of Engineering & the Built Environment (EBE) at the University of Cape Town (UCT).

Aubrey is a distinguished academic who has dedicated over two decades to UCT. He holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from UCT and a bachelor's degree in metallurgical and mineral process engineering from the University of Zambia. His academic journey, from research officer to professor, then head of department, and ultimately acting director of the Centre for Minerals Research, reflects his unwavering commitment to research excellence, student development, and academic leadership.

From 2019 to 2023, Aubrey served as Head of the Department of Chemical Engineering at UCT. His research credentials are globally recognised, with extensive publications in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings. He has held leadership roles such as President of the Global Comminution Collaborative and Chairperson of the International Comminution Researchers Association.

Aubrey has also delivered keynote and plenary lectures at major international conferences, including Comminution '18 and Comminution '23. His close collaboration with industry, particularly in designing and optimising comminution plants, further underscores his impact. He is also serving as Chair of next year’s IMPC in Cape Town.

Aubrey (right) at Comminution '23

Congratulations Aubrey, we are honoured to have your continued involvement in MEI conferences.

#Comminution27

Flotation '25 continues to grow

With another 3 months to go, Flotation '25 continues to gain momentum, with over 100 delegates already registered for the packed programme.

We are delighted to welcome our latest sponsors, Woodgrove Technologies and Thermo Fisher Scientific, bringing the total number of sponsors to 24.

Woodgrove Technologies is a specialist engineering and technology company, their focus on novel flotation equipment and digital control systems positioning them as an innovative player. The company has a longstanding relationship with the MEI Flotation series, having previously sponsored Flotation '17 and the online Flotation '21.

Founded in 2009 by Glenn Kosick and Glenn Dobby, Woodgrove was created to commercialise their innovative Staged Flotation Reactor, building on the success of their earlier company, Minnovex, which was sold to SGS Canada in 2005. Glenn Dobby was a keynote lecturer at Flotation '23 and a co-author of the seminal Column Flotation, with MEI Consultant Jim Finch. 

Glenn Dobby (right) and Jim Finch (centre) with Juan Yianatos at Flotation '23

In 2018, for the first time in its history, a double award was made at the Canadian Mineral Processors Annual Meeting, when Glenn Dobby and Glenn Kosick were made Canadian Mineral Processors of the Year for their development of the Staged Flotation Reactor. Woodgrove’s Staged Flotation Reactors and Direct Flotation Reactors are low-footprint and cost-efficient flotation units that are claimed to achieve higher upgrading at similar recovery to conventional flotation cells. The Direct Flotation Reactor will feature in a presentation at Flotation '25.

We are particularly pleased to welcome Thermo Fisher Scientific as a first time sponsor of an MEI flotation conference. The American multinational last supported an MEI event at Process Mineralogy '18. 

While Thermo Fisher does not manufacture flotation cells or mechanical flotation equipment its contribution to the flotation field is significant through its analytical instrumentation and process control technologies. At Flotation '25 a presentation will show how Thermo Fisher's Prompt Gamma Neutron Activation Analysis (PGNAA) technology is revolutionising process control in iron ore flotation plants, 

A reminder that if you intend to be at Flotation '25 we advise you to book your accommodation as soon as possible and register via the conference website.

#Flotation25