Wanted: Anecdotes and photos- Janusz Laskowski

It's been a while since I last conducted an interview in the In Conversation With series, but at the SME Conference in Denver Prof. Janusz Laskowski, one of the most well known figures in flotation, agreed to be my next interviewee.

Many of you will have worked with Janusz during his long and distinguished career, and if you would like to share your experiences I would be very grateful if you could contact me. Photos would particularly be appreciated.

Contact bwills@min-eng.com

A break in the Swiss Alps

Barbara and I are taking a break this week in one of the loveliest areas on earth, the Jungfrau Region of Switzerland, which I would highly recommend to any MEI Conference delegate planning to visit Europe after a Falmouth conference.

We are staying in the car-free village of Wengen, which is a winter wonderland at the moment, but is equally magical in summer (postings of 25 June 2010 and 1 July 2010). Wengen is famous for its  view of the 4158 m high Jungfrau, and the longest World Cup downhill skiing run, the Lauberhorn, and we have skied in this area a couple of times. But our skiing days are now over, so this week, as we did in the summer of 2010, we will be hiking and making use of the fabulous Wengernalp mountain railway, which runs between the villages of Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald, via Wengen and the Kleine Scheidegg, a mountain pass between the Lauberhorn and the mighty Jungfrau and Eiger.

This was the view of the Jungfrau yesterday evening from the window of our hotel room.

Memories of Gravity '99, Amsterdam

Physical Separation '19, the 5th in the series, begins in Falmouth in 3 months time. Twenty years ago today the first physical separation conference organised by MEI began in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

This two day event was Gravity '99, held at the Renaissance Hotel, in the centre of Amsterdam. Sponsored by Knelson Concentrators and Holman-Wilfley UK Ltd, the symposium was attended by 30 high profile gravity separation specialists from 12 countries, representing Australia, Africa, Asia, North America and Europe.

Unfortunately I have only a couple of photos from the event. Below, Mike Hallewell, then with Holman-Wilfley, is at the Wilfley booth with Amanda Wills. Sorry, I can't remember the name of the man 3rd left, but on the far right is Richard Burt, of Cabot Mineral Development, Canada, who reviewed the role of gravity concentration in modern mineral processing plants in his keynote lecture. I would love to know where Richard is now, as it has been a while since we last met. Mike Hallewell, I am pleased to say, will be at Physical Separation '19, representing MPH Mineral Consultants, UK. Holman-Wilfley is a sponsor of the Falmouth conference.

Richard's keynote was followed by 18 papers dealing with Plant Practice, Classification and Dewatering, Gravity Concentrators and Optimisation and Control, describing the utilisation of gravity techniques not only in mainstream mineral processing, but also in diverse areas such as soil remediation and the recovery of gold from jewellery waste.

In the picture below Peter Davies explains the S-W Minerals Spiral to Hylke Glass (2nd left) and others (names unknown).

It would be great to hear from any of you who were there so many years ago.

Twitter @barrywills

Computational Modelling '19 and Physical Separation '19: provisional programmes now available

The National Maritime Museum, overlooking Falmouth's large natural harbour, will be the venue for Computational Modelling '19 and Physical Separation '19, which run back to back beginning on June 11th, a great time to be in beautiful Cornwall.

Falmouth's National Maritime Museum (photo Bob Berry)

Computational Modelling is one of MEI's smaller, highly specialised conferences, and the provisional timetable includes a keynote lecture by Dr. Paul Cleary, of CSIRO, Australia, a renowned international expert on modelling of mineral processing systems.

There has been a record number of papers submitted to Physical Separation '19, the 5th in this series, and the very full technical programme reflects the increasing interest and use of physical separation methods in the mining industry.

For almost 40 years engineers have explored opportunities for using microwave energy to improve the efficiency of mineral and metallurgical processes, but while the mechanistic principles are well established, the scientific and engineering challenges of developing a commercial scale system have been immense. However, recent work has shown for the first time that microwave technology can be used in commercial mineral processing plants and that it can be used at significant scale with several of the largest microwave processing plants ever built being applied. We are fortunate to have the team leader, Prof. Sam Kingman, of the University of Nottingham, UK, give a keynote lecture which will draw conclusions as to the steps required to see this technology in daily use across our industry - a time which he feels may be sooner than some workers may have previously thought!

This is a conference not to be missed if you are interested in microwave applications, ore sorting, gravity and magnetic separation, sizing and classification, and dewatering. There will be well over 40 papers presented, with authors from over 20 countries. The strong corporate support reflects the interest in this event.

At the end of the first day of each conference there will be a guided 3 mile walk along Falmouth's beautiful coast line, passing the great Tudor Pendennis Castle and the Falmouth Docks, to welcome real Cornish ale in the famous 17th century Chain Locker Inn.

Physical Separation '17 delegates at the Fal estuary

Relaxing at the Chain Locker

At the end of Physical Separation '19 there will be an optional visit to the ruins of the 19th century tin and copper mine at Wheal Peevor, and on the Saturday delegates are invited to a Walking with Poldark tour along the north Cornwall tin mining coast, organised by Cornish Lithium Ltd.

The popular Falmouth Sea Shanty Festival also begins on the final day of Physical Separation '19, so the town will be busy that week, so we recommend that you reserve your accommodation early.

See #ComputationalModelling 19 and #PhysicalSeparation19 for the latest updates. We look forward to seeing you in Falmouth in June.

Prof. Frances Wall receives prestigious award

Appropriately on International Women's Day, I would like to offer, on behalf of MEI, many congratulations to Frances Wall, a Professor of Applied Mineralogy at the Camborne School of Mines, and a former Director of CSM, who has been awarded the Geological Society of London’s William Smith Medal for 2019, the first ever female recipient.

Frances was a keynote speaker at last year's Process Mineralogy '18 in Cape Town, and the award recognises her distinguished achievement in the field of applied geology.

Frances Wall (left) at Process Mineralogy '18

The William Smith Medal is given for international excellence in contributions to applied and economic aspects of geoscience. Professor Wall said: “The award is a testament to the dedication and inventive work carried out by colleagues at the Camborne School of Mines and collaborating national and international partners. Our recent work on responsible supply of raw materials for clean technologies has been an exciting journey combining geology skills with other research disciplines and working with industry partners."

Professor Wall will receive the award at a special ceremony to mark the Society’s President’s Day on June 6th.

Magotteaux and FLSmidth are the latest Comminution '20 sponsors

It is good to have Magotteaux and FLSmidth with us once more for the comminution series of conferences.

Both companies are also sponsors of Flotation '19, which is particularly useful in promoting the essential link between comminution and flotation. Dr. Chris Greet, Manager Metallurgy-Minerals Processing Research at Magotteaux Australia, has presented papers at most of the flotation conferences, and in recent years the comminution conferences, highlighting this intimate link between flotation and comminution, not only in regard to the size and liberation of particles, but also to pulp chemistry.

There is currently calls for abstracts for Flotation '19 and Comminution '20 and I would like to encourage more papers which bridge the gap between these two crucial mineral processing operations.

For the latest updates see #Flotation19 and #Comminution20.

Twitter @barrywills