Back to Cornwall and many old friends

Cape Town was wonderful, but it is always great to be back in Cornwall, and this weekend we have been in Newquay on the north coast for the Camborne School of Mines Association (CSMA) dinner dance. This was held at the imposing Edwardian Headland Hotel, overlooking the UK's major surfing beach, Fistral Beach. The Headland Hotel has a Gothic atmosphere and proved an ideal location for the 1990 movie of Roald Dahl's book The Witches.

The Headland Hotel

Fistral Beach, Newquay

We caught up with many old friends at last night's dinner, and breakfast this morning, including Nick and Felicity (Flee) Wilshaw, who were with us just over a week ago in Cape Town for Flotation '17. They will be back in Cape Town in April, as their company Grinding Solutions Ltd, is a sponsor of Comminution '18.

With Nick and Flee Wilshaw

Former students have traditionally had very close links with each other and with CSM, and the CSMA was formed for all former students and staff of the School to get together at occasions such as this one, not only in Cornwall, but in all parts of the globe.

The success of the Association has been due to the hard work and enthusiasm of the secretaries who have managed the events over the years. Linda Shimmield set up the Association in 1989 and was secretary until 1996 when she and her husband Mark left for Australia (they were both at this weekend's event, and fly back to Australia tonight!). Carol Richards looked after CSMA from 1996-1999, then Mary Shepherd from 1999-2005, after which Claire Yelland became the longest serving secretary until the present day. Sadly Claire has now decided to retire from the post and the search is now on for a successor. Whoever takes on the role will have very hard acts to follow!

Claire, Linda and Carol pictured 2 years ago in Truro

Claire and Mary this morning at the Headland

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No rush to leave Cape Town

After a wonderful two weeks in Cape Town, Barbara and I are now in the BA Arrivals Lounge at Heathrow, having breakfast before our train from Paddington to Cornwall leaves in 4 hours time!

After our week at the Vineyard Hotel for Flotation '17, we spent 5 days on the other side of Table Mountain, at Camps Bay, relaxing and also preparing the long and comprehensive report on the conference, which will be published on Monday.

Hard at work in Camps Bay

Camps Bay is an easy 6 mile walk to Cape Town's vibrant Waterfront, and a favourite watering hole and meeting place is the Ferrymans, where Amanda and Jon spent their final evening in Cape Town last Friday, before the flight back to London on Saturday.

Jon and Amanda at the Ferrymans

..and Barbara and I on a cold day 3 days later

Many of the Flotation '17 delegates stayed on for a few days to enjoy this beautiful city. Some of them hiked up Table Mountain, including Bertil Palsson, from Sweden, and Gerhard Merkel from Germany. Bertil has sent me this photo taken at the summit near the upper cableway, and he writes:

"Hi Barry,
I’m sending you a photo proving that I and Gerhard Merkel managed to climb to the Table Mountain top. And, besides, someone had to carry the MEI logo to the top even this year.
It was tougher than I expected with large, uneven steps on the trail. But such a beautiful view when looking back during the climb.
Thanks for yet another well organised and interesting conference".

Bertil and Gerhard

Thank you Bertil, we appreciate your comments, and would like to hear of the experiences of any others who stayed on after the conference.

Only another 5 months before we are back for Comminution '18!

Twitter @barrywills

Prof. James Finch - a real star of Flotation '17

Jim Finch is a man who does not undertake tasks in half measures. I discovered this when he was asked to act as coeditor of Minerals Processing Technology. He put together a small but dedicated group who threw themselves wholeheartedly into the project, and the 8th edition of the book is a fine testament to their endeavours.

It was an exciting and informative time at Flotation '17 last week in Cape Town, thanks to the fine blend of 260 researchers, operators and suppliers who attended, of which our flotation consultant Jim Finch played no small part.

As well as presenting one of the 75 papers in the technical sessions, co-chairing a session, and preparing and presenting a very succinct summary of the event, he and his wife, Dr. Lois Finch also judged the 46 posters, 25 in the fundamentals symposium and 21 in the applications symposium.

Jim hard at work judging the posters

The posters in the fundamentals symposium on the first two days varied in their relationship to flotation from the broad topics of surface coverage, kinetic models and columns to more specifics of flotation of scheelite from calcite and use of water glass in moly flotation. The applications symposium on the next two days was equally stimulating. The wide-ranging topics from effects of clay on froth flotation to the use of Savaasi’s method to minimize errors in flotation recovery.

Evaluation of the posters to provide a prize for the best student poster from each symposium was extremely challenging. The quality of each was based not only on the content of the work -the purpose, the relevance to flotation, if the methods were repeatable, if the results were interpretable, if the figures and tables were adequate, and if the conclusions followed from the purpose, but also whether the authors could discuss their work effectively. Jim spent hours talking to the poster authors, obviously enjoying every minute. He said that all the authors discussed their work very impressively, and that he also learned a few new things! Deliberating on the best was complex to say the least.

Many thanks Jim and Lois, it's hard to imagine a flotation conference without you!

Twitter @barrywills

Flotation '17: Day 4

The final day of the conference, and at last the glorious view of Table Mountain from the conference centre.

More good news on Flotation '19 this morning, with the decision by Maelgwyn Mineral Services to sponsor the event. We have had very positive feedback from the exhibitors, who have been doing good business due to the increased number of operators who have attended, hopefully a sign of an upturn in the industry.

Jon with Maelgwyn Mineral Services staff

Megan Becker, MEl's Process Mineralogy '18 consultant, from the University of Cape Town, called in today, with some interesting suggestions for keynote lecturers for next year's conference. She is pictured with Jeremy Mann of AMIRA International. Megan and Jeremy are involved in the organisation of Geometallurgy '18, which will be held at the Lagoon Beach Hotel next August.

Nineteen papers were presented today, and at the end of the final session, McGill University's Jim Finch, MEI's flotation consultant, summarised the conference. He and his wife Lois have spent a great deal of time judging the student poster awards, and Jim had the pleasant task of awarding copies of the 8th edition of Mineral Processing Technology for the best presentations. Dr. Martin Rudolph, of Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology, Germany, accepted the Fundamentals Symposium award on behalf of his students Edgar Schach and Tom Leistner. The Applications Symposium winner was Nilce Santos, a flotation specialist at Outotec, currently studying for a PhD at University Federal Minas Gerais, Brazil. She presented two posters and one oral presentation during the week.

Nilce, Jim, Lois and Martin

Amanda Wills then formally closed the conference, inviting everyone to join us at the Vineyard Hotel again in two years time for Flotation '19, after which we adjourned to the hotel gardens for more wine and farewells!

This has been a great conference thanks to the interesting and friendly people who attended from all parts of the world. I shall be publishing a full report on the event in just over a week's time.

Twitter @barrywills

Flotation '17: Day 3

MEI's Jon Wills opened the Applications Symposium this morning, after which we were pleased to welcome Bill Johnson, of Mineralis Consulting, Australia, making his debut at an MEI Conference, and presenting a keynote lecture on existing opportunities for increasing metallurgical and energy efficiencies in concentrators.

Of the 24 new delegates registered today I was particularly pleased to see Chris Magombedze, an ex-student of mine, who is the first representative from the newly formed Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) to attend an MEI Conference. The vision of the NUST is to become the premier centre in Southern Africa for Resource Engineering. This will enable the nation to lever its natural advantages by embracing the science, engineering and digital revolution, adapting, exploiting and developing unique technologies and capabilities that will enable sustainable development of Namibia’s natural resources.

Chris Magombedze with the MEI team

The weather in the morning was much more as expected in November, and the poster presentations in the outdoor marquee proved very popular during the morning's long coffee break.

We already have dates for Flotation '19, which will be held at the Vineyard again from November 11-14, 2019, and we thank our regular sponsor Magotteaux for coming in as the first early sponsor of the event.

The Magotteaux exhibit booth

As ever, the lunches at the Vineyard are outstanding, and today's lunch fortified everyone in readiness for a very long afternoon session of 10 fascinating presentations.

The overflow room proved very popular today. This room is remote from the main conference room, allowing delegates to move freely in and out of sessions to see and hear the presentations.

The weather changed nasty again in the afternoon, so the "Happy Hour" was held in the exhibition area, and was well attended. I assume that after the very long day, and, speaking personally, a few glasses of South African wine were much appreciated.

Twitter @barrywills

Flotation '17: Day 2

Capetonians have been praying for desperately needed rain and this morning they got it, which meant that staying indoors for today's 17 papers was an attractive option.

Not our usual view from the Vineyard conference centre

The exhibition area was also buzzing during the coffee and lunch breaks, and it was nice to welcome Prof. J-P Franzidis as a visitor. J-P was a former MEI consultant, and spent most of his career at the University of Cape Town. He is now with Australia's University of Queensland.

Former MEI flotation consultant J-P Franzidis (right) with current consultant Jim Finch

The inclement weather did not detract from a great evening at the conference dinner at Lagoon Beach, with its wonderful view of Table Mountain and the City Bowl across Table Bay. Good food, music, wine, and most importantly, great company.

Twitter @barrywills