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Could the Hungarian red mud disaster have been prevented?
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Final call for abstracts for sustainability conference
Biohydromet '10- day 1
Pyromet versus bio and hydromet
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Final calls for abstracts for Computational Modelling and Physical Separation '11


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Final calls for abstracts for Computational Modelling and Physical Separation '11

Delegates at Physical Separation '09

Beautiful Falmouth is the venue for next year's Computational Modelling '11 and Physical Separation '11 conferences, running back to back in June.

Those wishing to present papers should submit short abstracts no later than the end of this month.  As with all MEI Conferences, papers will be considered for special issues of Minerals Engineering.

Computational Modelling '11 is sponsored by the UK company DEM Solutions. The previous two Computational Modelling conferences were held in Cape Town, and the previous Physical Separation conference was in Falmouth in 2009.

Memories of the CSM pilot plant

With Jim Turner and Nick Wilshaw

Today was the Camborne School of Mines (CSM) Association Christmas lunch in Redruth, attended by many old boys and staff. Sadly there were only 3 mineral processors present, myself, my old colleague Jim Turner, and 1980 old boy Nick Wilshaw, now an independent consultant. We naturally talked about old times, and in particular the unique student 'pilot plant run', which Jim and I initiated in 1979. Nick was in the first group of students who spent a week on shifts operating the plant, treating ore from the nearby South Crofty tin mine, under conditions simulating real mine continuous conditions. Unfortunately this was just one of the good things which was lost when CSM was assimilated into Exeter University in the mid 1990s.

Coincidentally, little over a week ago I had coffee at the Mount Nelson Hotel in Cape Town with Gaynor Yorath, a senior researcher at the University of Cape Town. Gaynor graduated from CSM in 1985, and she brought photographs to show me of her time at Camborne, and in particular of the valuable week that she had spent on the pilot plant operation.

Among the young faces in the photos, some may be familiar to attendees at recent MEI conferences and IMPCs.

The CSM Pilot Plant	Gaynor with fellow members of her shift crew
Steve Downard, Paul Morgan, Paul Benjamin, Andy Mitchell, Jim Turner and Ray Manser	The late Dr. Vic Phillips in the shift foreman's office

Richard Williams will present 3rd keynote at SRCR '11

I was very pleased this week when my old friend and colleague Richard Williams agreed to present a keynote lecture at next May's Sustainability through Resource Conservation & Recycling '11 conference in Falmouth, sponsored by Outotec.

Richard is Professor of Mineral and Process Engineering at the University of Leeds. He is also currently Pro-Vice-Chancellor for International Partnerships.

He was formerly a Senior Lecturer in Chemical Engineering at UMIST, Manchester (as was) and The Royal Academy of Engineering Professor at the University of Exeter (Camborne School of Mines).

He has been at the University of Leeds since January 1999 and is a founder of the Institute of Particle Science and Engineering (IPSE) – with some 130 researchers working on measurement, modelling and manufacture of particles and colloidal products. His research interests are in particle separation, colloid aggregation and precision emulsification and he has worked on the development and specification of tomographic techniques since 1988.

Apart from being a superb speaker, the title of his keynote: Rethinking Separation Methods and Sustainable Uses of Fine Minerals is one to wet the appetite.

A very fine international programme is developing, and will be published next month. Richard joins two other distinguished keynote speakers, Prof. Jan Cilliers of Imperial College, UK, and Dr. Terry Norgate, of Australia's CSIRO.

Anyone wishing to present a paper should submit an abstract as soon as possible.

News of people you may know

Below are snippets of news from my LinkedIn contacts:

Jonas Addai-Mensah is Associate Director at University of South Australia
Eliab Roman is Chief Metallurgist at Northgate Minerals Corp-Kerness Mine, Canada
Stephen Grano is Executive Director for Mineral and Energy Resources at University of Adelaide, Australia
Bill Skinner is Research Professor at Ian Wark Research Institute, Australia
Chris Kelaart is Division Manager Bruker AXS at Bruker Biosciences, Australia
C. Raghu Kumar is Head of Minerals and Ferro Alloys Technology at Tata Steel, India
Folohan Adekola is Head of the Analytical and Environmental Chemistry Unit at the University of Ilorin, Nigeria
Vanessa Torres is Vice President Group Planning at BHP Billiton, Australia
Michael Willis is Area Manager-Mine at SNC Lavalin, Canada
Nigel Ricketts is Manager Strategy and Development at AMEC MinProc, Australia
Jide Olurin is Chief Metallurgist at Teck Resources Duck Pond Operations, Canada
Alex Jankovic is General Manager - Technology and Innovation at Metso Process Technology Group, Australia

For regular updates of news from the world of mineral processing and its people, submit your email address in the box in the right-hand column.

Last month's most viewed blog posts

The most viewed blog posts in November were:

ScienceDirect- not just for journals
Why is a good conference paper not necessarily a good journal paper?
Amazing geology on Cornwall's north-east coast
Final call for abstracts for sustainability conference
Darwinism and biohydrometallurgy