New Comments Alert

There are new comments added to the following blog postings since the last comments alert:

Confidence in HPGR technology continues to grow
Memories of St. Andrews '98
Congratulations to Jan Cilliers
What is the future for electronic sorting?
Are rod and ball mills set to become obsolete? 
Dan Alexander new JKTech CEO
How do you search for journal publications?
The end of a good first day
The Great Flat Lode trail

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A welcome visitor to Falmouth- Bob White

We had a surprise visitor yesterday- Dr. Bob White and family.  Bob, now retired, was a lecturer in mineral processing during the 1980s at the University of Leeds and the University of Guyana.  If any of you blog-readers were taught by Bob, please let me know and I will pass a message on to him.

Bob and I go back a long way. We graduated in metallurgy from the University of Leeds in 1966 and then stayed on to do PhDs. The photo below was taken at the Leeds University Houldsworth Ball in 1968. Bob is on the right on the back row, Barbara is on the far right, and the fool at the top is me.  Apart from Bob (and Barbara), I have totally lost contact with the others in the photo, so it would be good to hear from you if you see this.

How do you search for journal publications?

There are now many ways of carrying out searches for publications and it would be interesting to know which methods are most productive.

If you make use of the Refereed Publications listings in MEI Online, I would be grateful if you could help us ascertain its value and usage. Do you find the MEI listings useful? In particular do you make use of the direct links to ScienceDirect for Elsevier journal papers?

Your input on this would be most appreciated and valued..

Dan Alexander new JKTech CEO

Australia's JKTech has long been a strong supporter of MEI, so it was great to see that one of their stalwarts, Dan Alexander has been promoted to the CEO (MEI Online 23rd July).

Dan has attended many MEI Conferences, including all of the Flotation series. He is pictured below (front row left) with other members of the JK team at Comminution '08 in Falmouth.

Congratulations Dan, from all at MEI.

The Lizard Peninsula- a geological wonder

A trip to the Lizard is a must for anyone exploring Cornwall after an MEI Conference. Lizard Point is the most southerly point of mainland Britain and is only 23 miles from Falmouth by road.

Approaching Lizard Point

The geology of the Lizard is totally different from the rest of Cornwall, very complex and, until the discovery of plate tectonics, a total enigma. Cornwall's geology is very much linked to the formation of Pangea over 300 million years ago, and as the Rheic Ocean closed the Variscan oregeny deformed and metamorphosed the Devonian slates and shales into the hard rock known locally as killas.

I am not a geologist, so I tend to use simple analogies to describe geological events, and I can only describe the formation of the Lizard as bulldozing of the earth's crust and mantle by the unimaginable tectonic forces.  As the Rheic Ocean finally closed, another analogy is that the underlying mantle was squeezed upwards like a pip from a piece of fruit, until it broke through the earth's crust to form the Lizard, a complete sequence of rocks from the mantle to the crust- igneous rocks, volcanic lava and ocean sediments- a total mess which would confound geologists for ages! One of the rocks, peridotite,  was rich in iron and magnesium and was metamorphosed by the tremendous heat generated into serpentine, one of the Lizard's most famous and attractive rocks.

Kynance Cove

There are many wonderful walks on the Lizard, but I would highly recommend the short walk to Kynance Cove, one of Cornwall's most beautiful and most photographed beaches. This is also the best place to see serpentine in all its glory, as the cliffs here are composed of this mineral, which also gives the sea a lovely turquoise colour.

More Cornish Walks
More on Cornwall

What is the future for electronic sorting?

Optical and other forms of electronic sorting have always been processes with potential, but have mostly been mineral processing techniques with limited use, apart from important applications on some specific ores, such as diamonds.

However, Oliver Peters, of Metpro Management, Canada, feels that optical sorting (including XRF analysis) is becoming increasingly popular. He writes in LinkedIn "I am  currently working on a project that  relies pretty much on the separation of three ore types prior to grinding in order to be an economic project. Big advancements have been made in optical sorting over the past few years and they are starting to be a real practical process option. The throughput is still somewhat limited in that each machine can process the equivalent of t/hr based on feed size in mm i.e. at a feed size of 20 mm, a sorting machine can process approximately 20 t/hr. To my knowledge there are now 7 different type of sensors that are being used in sorting applications. Some details will be available in the new Ullman publication, which is scheduled to be released later this year."

Ron Fickling, of Metanga Mineral Processors, South Africa, comments "Optical Sorting (using cameras) can be limited by the requirement to have consistent light source and surface moisture content. In some tests, about 5 years ago, using the same ore sample the mass split between concentrate and discard varied by up to 30% on different days.  I think that sensors such as XRF, XRT, EM etc will produce more consistent results unless there is a significant colour difference."

Let's have your views on this interesting area, which will form part of the scope of next year's Physical Separation '11 conference in Falmouth, UK.