Kirstenbosch Conference Dinner. How was it for you?

Moyo's at Kirstenbosch is a new venue for MEI, but it is always exciting to hold a conference dinner in a new location, and last night's Process Mineralogy '14 event lived up to all expectations.

But we would really like to know what you thought of it- the venue, the food and the entertainment. How was it for you?

Process Mineralogy '14. Day 2 highlights

The application of automated mineralogy to predict acid mine drainage was the subject of the first three papers this morning, which included a fine keynote from Bern Lottermoser of Camborne School of Mines (CSM), UK.  Prof. Lottermoser is one of four delegates with CSM connections. Ben Thompson is a 2012 MSc graduate in mining geology, and will be presenting a paper tomorrow, co-authored with CSM colleagues.  Gaynor Yorath, of University of Cape Town, is a regular at MEI Conferences. She is a 1985 CSM graduate in mineral processing technology. It was good to meet Ofonime Udoudo, one of two University of Nottingham delegates. After graduating in Nigeria, he obtained his PhD at CSM, and is now researching the vermiculite exfoliation system by process mineralogy, the subject of his afternoon paper.

Bernd Lottermoser and me with CSM Alumni Gaynor Yorath,
Ben Thompson and Ofonime Udoudo

It has been another long day, with 14 papers presented, finished off nicely by a trip to nearby Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens for the conference dinner in the most perfect of settings.

Process Mineralogy, then and now

During my time on the Nchanga Concentrator in the early 1970s it is hard to believe now that, despite the wide suite of copper minerals, there was not even an optical microscope in the metallurgical office. If the tailings assay was creeping up, the answer was to add a little more reagent to the head of flotation, with little thought that the high assay may have been due to poor grinding, or the presence of poorly floating minerals.

I have to pinch myself sometimes when I see some of the sophisticated instruments that are now available and which are being productively used by metallurgists worldwide. Some of these are currently being displayed at Process Mineralogy '14.

This morning I was chatting to Monica Kalichini from Kansanshi Mine, also in Zambia. She has been working with Gaynor Yorath and Megan Becker at the University of Cape Town on the characterisation of the Kansanshi mixed ore, using an FEI FEG QEMSCAN, to link fundamental mineralogy to flotation response, something sadly lacking during my Zambia days.

Kansanshi has purchased the new Zeiss Mineralogic Mining Automated Solution, pictured below, and is being trained by Igor Tonzetic of Zeiss. She hopes to present her work at Flotation '15 next year in Cape Town.

Gaynor Yorath, Megan Becker and Igor Tonzetic with
Monica Kalichini and the Zeiss Mineralogic

Process Mineralogy '14. Day 1 highlights

Jon and MEI consultant Megan Becker opened the conference this morning and welcomed the 75 delegates from 15 countries to Cape Town's wonderful Vineyard Hotel. Pertti Lamberg, from Sweden's Lulea University of Technology, then got us off to a fine start with his keynote presentation "A way forward in process mineralogy – using automated mineralogy for modeling and simulating beneficiation processes". 

After a long day of 16 presentations, the 'happy hour' in the hotel gardens gave us a great opportunity to network with some really friendly and interesting people, boding well for the next two days.

Sunday in Cape Town

The sun is shining, the temperature is rising, and delegates have been drifting into the Vineyard from around the world, making full use of the hotel's wonderful gardens and pool nestling under Table Mountain.

In the late afternoon around 40 delegates attended the pre-conference welcoming reception, in anticipation of three rewarding days at Process Mineralogy '14.

Surprise comminution guests at the Vineyard

When we left Cornwall on Thursday it was pouring with rain and 16C. When we arrived in Cape Town yesterday it was pouring with rain and 16C!

Today has been dry but chilly, so no pre-conference relaxation by the Vineyard pool. This morning I watched a bit of cricket in the ground opposite the hotel, surely one of the most spectacular settings anywhere.

Jon and Amanda arrived in the morning, and in the afternoon I was in the bar with Elsevier's Dean Eastbury, watching England lose narrowly to South Africa in the rugby match at Twickenham.

During the interval I was surprised and pleased to catch up with Malcolm Powell, from the JKMRC, with his Global Comminution Collaborative (GCC). He and his team had been in Johannesburg for an AMIRA P9 meeting, and were in Cape Town to meet up with UCT's Aubrey Mainza to discuss the next extension to P9.  The GCC is a great initiative and we look forward to hearing more from them at Comminution '16.

Dean Eastbury and  me with Malcolm Powell (Australia), Marcello Tavares (Brazil),
Erik Hulthen (Sweden) and Okay Altun (Turkey)