Memories of Automated Mineralogy '06, Brisbane

Twenty years ago this month the Hilton Hotel, Brisbane, Australia was the venue for MEI's inaugural Automated Mineralogy '06, a follow up to Applied Mineralogy '03 in Helsinki three years earlier. Organised in collaboration with Intellection with media partner the Gold & Minerals Gazette, this was the first of three annual conferences held in Brisbane, before evolving into Process Mineralogy '10 in Cape Town. 

Automated Mineralogy '06 brought together professionals concerned with the analysis and interpretation of mineralogical data using automated techniques, as well those involved with the development of hardware and software solutions to aid automated mineralogical analysis. The meeting attracted a wide spectrum of attendees including mineralogists, geologists, microscopists, process and mining engineers, analysts, business managers, and consultants. A total of 90 delegates representing nine countries attended the two-day conference at which 27 technical presentations plus exhibits from a number of key institutions and equipment suppliers, kept delegates informed. A full report was kindly supplied by Mark Pownceby, of CSIRO Minerals and selected papers were published in Volume 16 Issue 11 of Minerals Engineering.

A few surviving photos from the event are shown below:

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Memories of Hydrocyclones '06, Falmouth

Hydrocyclones '06 was MEI's 2nd international symposium on hydrocyclones and was sponsored by Krebs Engineers.

Held over two days, 20 years ago this month, it immediately followed Ultrafine Grinding '06 at the Falmouth Beach Resort Hotel.

Fifteen papers were presented and selected papers were published in Volume 20 Issue 4 (2007) of Minerals Engineering.

Photos from the event are shown below:

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Memories of Ultrafine Grinding '06, Falmouth

Ultrafine Grinding '06 was held in Cornwall at the ill-fated Falmouth Beach Resort Hotel, which six years later was destroyed by fire.

The two-day conference was MEI's first ultrafine grinding conference, and was also the last as it was merged into the comminution series two years later.

Attended by 64 delegates from 24 countries, sponsorship was provided by Xstrata Technology, PMT-Jetmill, Saint-Gobain Zirpro, Industrial Minerals and notably Maelgwyn Mineral Services (MMS), sponsoring their first MEI Conference. Since then MMS has regularly supported MEI Conferences, particularly the comminution and flotation series, but others as well. 

Twenty-two papers were presented over the two days and selected papers were published in Volume 20 Issue 4 (2007) of Minerals Engineering.

Photos taken at the event, including a first evening coastal path walk and a final afternoon visit to the Camborne-Redruth historical mining district, are shown below.

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Memories of Comminution '06, Perth, Australia

Comminution '06 was held at the Sheraton Hotel, Perth, 20 years ago this month. It immediately followed Gravity Concentration '06 at the same venue. The event was sponsored by Xstrata Technology, Metso Minerals and the Gold & Minerals Gazette, and Mark Fraser, of the Gold & Minerals Gazette provided a comprehensive report on the conference programme.

Comminution '06 was the 5th in the comminution series, and the most disappointing, with only 48 delegates; there had been 125 attendees at Comminution '04, also in Perth (posting of 25 March 2024).

Due to the low turnout, it was decided to give comminution another chance in a venue closer to home, and Comminution '08 was held in Falmouth, with a record 157 delegates, realistically more than the hotel could handle, so we then moved again for Comminution '10, to Cape Town, where it has remained ever since. It has progressively got bigger and better- Comminution '06 had 48 delegates and 21 presentations, over two and a half days, and last years' Comminution '25 had 237 delegates and 94 presentations over four days, and the signs are that next year's Comminution '27 will be even bigger, with 18 sponsors so far, and only one exhibition booth remaining for rental.

I am sure you will recognise a few faces at Comminution '06, and some will no doubt be seen at next year's event.

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Memories of Gravity Concentration '06, Perth Australia

Gravity Concentration '06 was held at the Sheraton Hotel, Perth, from March 13-14, 2006. It was MEI's 3rd International Gravity Concentration Symposium, and was sponsored by Falcon Concentrators, Gekko Systems, Roche Mining and the Gold & Minerals Gazette, published by Australia's Resource Information Unit.

The 2-day event was attended by 48 delegates and a full report  on the programme was provided by Mark Fraser, of the Gold & Minerals Gazette.

This was our final Gravity Concentration conference, the conference merging with Hydrocyclones, Solid-Liquid Separation and Magnetic & Electrical Separation conferences to produce the first Physical Separation conference three years later. This proved to be a very popular small conference, and the 9th in the series is only six weeks away. You may recognise a few faces below of 20 years ago, who will be at the conference in Cape Town next month:

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Memories of Nickel Processing '05, Cape Town

A week after Process Systems '05 (posting of 9th October) MEI ran another conference for the first time, Processing of Nickel Ores and Concentrates '05, the first of eventually four in the series. The event was held at Cape Town's Mount Nelson Hotel and was sponsored by Eurus Mineral Consultants.

The conference was attended by 35 delegates, and a short report was provided by Dr. Norman Lotter, of Falconbridge, Canada. Selected papers were published in Volume 19 Issue 12 of Minerals Engineering. 

A few photos from the event are shown below.