Building the networks of the future

It is only 22 years next month since the first Minerals Engineering conference was held in Singapore. How things have changed beyond recognition since then.

The internet was in its infancy, and very few companies had websites, or even email. All correspondence was by mail or Telex, and the emerging fax machines. We had built a data base of names and addresses, to which we would mail registration brochures, and delegates would mail their completed forms, together with a cheque for payment.

There was no PowerPoint of course, so all conference presentations were by 35mm slides. Singapore itself was the window into the future of technology, and I remember bringing back one of the first digital cameras, a crude low-resolution device, which nevertheless created a lot of interest on returning home.

It would have been impossible then to predict our modern world of high speed internet, digital cameras, mobile phones, Skype etc. And probably, given the exponential increase in change, totally impossible to predict what the world will be like in another 20 years time, and how we will be going about our business.

The whole point of my waffle is that the news in Britain at the moment is dominated by the proposal to build a high speed train network, from London to Birmingham, then branching to Manchester and Leeds, at an estimated cost of £33 billion. The proposal is highly controversial, as the line, which by necessity has to be as straight as possible, will cut through areas of outstanding natural beauty, and many people on the route will lose their homes and businesses.

There are compulsive arguments either way, but the one that convinced me was an article in The Times (29 January), by Andrew McGuinness, which considered the points that I mentioned above, and argued that saving an hour on the journey from London to Leeds may be of little importance to the business world of the future, where working from home might be so commonplace that it would be hard to imagine a time when hours were wasted in commuting.

The article proposed that if we want to invest in a network, it should be a digital one. McGuinness suggests that we should emulate what South Korea did in 1997 to rebuild its economy, by investing in a high-speed fibre optic network. This allowed the country to avoid recession in the current global crisis. He argues that Britain should use the billions proposed for the railway to make the country a leader in the digital age, as many of our high-tech companies are let down by a creaking infrastructure. It has been estimated that high speed broadband could be put in every home for £5 billion, and could create over 600,000 jobs in four years. With decent internet across the whole country, entrepreneurs could do business in remote areas such as Cornwall and never need catch a train!

So, is the High Speed Rail network a potential white elephant? What do you think?

High quality programmes announced for Computational Modelling '13 and Physical Separation '13

Falmouth, Cornwall, is the venue for these two conferences in June, which will run back to back. Two outstanding programmes of papers from international experts will be presented over the four days, in oral and poster sessions. The programme for Computational Modelling '13 can be found here, and that for Physical Separation '13 by clicking here.

The first day of each conference will end with the ever-popular coastal path walk, ending with beers in old Falmouth, and on the last day of Physical Separation '13 there will be a tour of the historic Camborne-Redruth mining area, the 'birthplace of modern mining'.

The coastal path walk and Chain Locker pub

Conference delegates in the Camborne-Redruth area

Padstow and the Camel estuary

We have just returned from a 2 night stay in Padstow, on Cornwall's north coast, only 35 miles from Falmouth. 

Padstow harbour

Padstow is a small village at the mouth of the River Camel, and in summer is a haven for tourists. With a reputation as the seafood capital of the UK, it is noted for TV chef Rick Stein's extortionate Seafood Restaurant (Dover sole and chips £36!). It is also very picturesque, and yesterday we walked along the estuary to the mouth of the river at Stepper Point.

The River Camel estuary

After walking the three miles back to Padstow we took the ferry across the Camel to Rock, then walked a mile through the dunes to the ancient church of St. Enodoc. The church, with its distinctive 13th century crooked spire, dates back to Norman times, and from the 16th century to the middle of the 19th century it was almost completely submerged in sand. Excavated and fully restored, it is associated with the poet John Betjamin, who lies buried in the churchyard.

St. Enodoc's church

During our stay we avoided the over-priced fish and chips at The Seafood Restaurant, and ate at the Hotel Metropole, with great food and views and the excellent little Margot's bistro in town, with food and service second to none. We also recommend the Metropole for its clean and comfortable accommodation.

More Cornish Walks
More on Cornwall

Nchanga Metallurgists Rugby XV, 1972

Some time ago (posting of 31st July 2012) I posted a photograph of the motley Nchanga Metallurgists rugby XV, taken in 1972.

I received another photo of the crew today from Sue Silcock (she was Sue Glass in 1972), and this one has names:

Back row: Alan Milligan, Phil Cudby, Barry Wills, Tony Jones, Dick Rushmore, Chris Morley, Stuart Mellor, Doug Edmunds, Giles Day, Brian Griffiths
Front Row: Sandy Lambert, Martin Baines, John Farthing, Alistair Scott, Geoff Davies

A few of those in the photo I have heard of since; Phil Cudby, Stuart Mellor, Doug Edmunds, Giles Day and Sandy Lambert I mention in the previous posting. Dick Rushmore was a concentrator metallurgist, and Tony Jones plant metallurgist on the tailings leach plant. I worked with both of them, but have heard nothing of them since leaving Zambia in 1973. Chris Morley is a principal process consultant at Ausenco in Australia, and has attended a couple of recent MEI Conferences.

Any news on any of these people would be very welcome.

What is the future for electronic sorting?

This is a question that I asked two and a half years ago, but things have moved on since!

Ore sorting is the original concentration process, having probably been used by the earliest metal workers several thousand years ago. It involves the appraisal of individual ore particles and the rejection of those particles that do not warrant further treatment. Hand sorting was used on the Cornish copper mines, women being employed to separate the high grade copper ore from the waste rock, and I remember seeing it being used in Greece in the late 1970s to separate high grade magnesite rock from waste.

Electronic sorting was first introduced in the late 1940s, and became an important technique for the pre-concentration of certain types of ore, such as diamond ores, but its application was fairly limited, due to simple sensors and low-power computers.

In recent years, however, the potential of dry ore beneficiation has become increasingly apparent, particularly where water conservation and other environmental issues are involved. Sensor based sorting technology, particularly using X-Ray-Transmission (XRT), has proved to be viable in industrial scale applications. High efficiencies and recovery rates can be achieved using the latest technologies. Increasingly powerful computers and sensitive X-ray scintillation counters have enabled the development of high-performance units. The machines have reached a status of rigid and reliable field stability and can be operated at grain sizes of 8 mm up to 70 mm, depending on the individual ore.

The leading player in this field in recent years has been CommodasUltrasort, which now operates under the name TOMRA Sorting Mining. Recognising the future importance of sorting in the physical beneficiation of ores, TOMRA are one of the major sponsors of Physical Separation ’13 in Falmouth in June.

Jens-Michael Bergmann of TOMRA will describe the basics of XRT-sorting technology, followed by an example of how a chromite processing plant in South Africa is using a state-of-the-art XRT sorting machine, together with spiral concentrators. The sorter is pre-concentrating the ROM chromite ore by removing barren waste and low grade rocks while after comminution the spirals are concentrating the ore to a market grade of above 46% Cr2O3. This paper will supplement papers from Australia on the potential of ore sorting and the next generation machines.

What are the limits to this technology?

Memories of Bulawayo and the Veaseys

Terry opening Complex Ores '97

It is three and a half years since I last caught up with my old friend Terry Veasey (see posting of 21 August 2009). Terry was a popular lecturer at Birmingham University and also for a short period at the National University of Science & Technology in Zimbabwe. It was as a result of a short visit to see Terry and his wife Pauline in Bulawayo that we set up the very enjoyable Complex Ores’ 97 conference. A couple of photos from that event in Bulawayo are shown below.

With the Veaseys and John Hope

Lunch in the Matopos Hills with Frank Crundwell and Yaw Asamoah-Bekoe

This morning Barbara and I took the ferry across the River Fal to the little village of St. Mawes, for a pub lunch with Terry and Pauline, who are relaxing for a few days in Cornwall. Terry is still very much involved with the greyhound racing scene, but also spends a lot of time these days on philately and the restoration of  cast iron artifacts.

Lunch today at the Victory Inn, St. Mawes