The Business of Flotation

The late Professor Dee Bradshaw was a strong proponent of the value of international travel and conference presentation for postgraduate students. In conjunction with Dr. Norm Lotter, Dee Bradshaw conceived the idea for ‘The Business of Flotation’ but was unable to see the completion of the book due to a terminal illness. The eBook has now been published, edited by Norman Lotter and Prof. Margeth Tadie and MEI's Process Mineralogy consultant Prof. Megan Becker, with MEI's Comminution consultant Prof. Aubrey Mainza contributing to the chapter on grinding strategies.

With Dee Bradshaw, Norm Lotter and Megan Becker at Process Mineralogy '17

The deliberate choice of the title "The Business of Flotation" underscores the authors’ contention that while flotation is a technological process, its application is fundamentally a business strategy for extracting paymetals from mined ore. This comprehensive, easy-to read book goes beyond the traditional approaches, emphasising asset management optimisation and addressing the performance gap in concentrator operations. The authors employ an integrated method, incorporating sampling, mineralogy, semiconductor theory, electrochemistry, and flotation testing, to provide practical insights for achieving peak plant performance. The final chapters cover statistically designed plant-scale trials, offering a roadmap for implementing improvements and increasing profitability. As the industry faces challenges such as low ore grade and mineralogical complexity, this multidisciplinary approach emerges as a forward-thinking solution for success in paymetal extraction operations: a blueprint that amounts to "the business of flotation".

A portion of the sales from the book will be used to create a travel fund in honour of the late Dee Bradshaw, emeritus professor at the University of Cape Town. The fund will be used to contribute towards the travel costs of international PhD students to attend and present their research at the annual Conference of Metallurgy and Materials (COM) of the Metallurgy and Materials Society of CIM (MetSoc).

One scholarship will be awarded per year to a PhD student for the presentation of a full research paper. The postgraduate student must be currently registered for full time PhD studies at a recognised university outside of Canada. The student cannot be a Canadian and the PhD focus area must be in flotation.

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