Comminution '14 provisional programme published

The Mining Hall of Fame's first comminution inductee, Prof. Alban Lynch, recently forecast that comminution would be the most important area for mineral processing this century, and there is no doubt that there is much interest and innovation taking place in this sector at the moment.

This is evident from the intense interest being shown in next April's Comminution '14, which has attracted a record number of 20 corporate sponsors and 3 media partners. Exhibition booths were sold out some time ago, and already delegates from worldwide are registering for the event.

The provisional timetable for the 4-day conference has now been published. This will evolve over the coming months, and all updates will be published on the conference website, and on Twitter (#Comminution14).

The conference will open with a keynote lecture from Alan Muir of AngloGold Ashanti, South Africa, who will discuss the evolution of comminution, focusing on the next "species" of comminution devices and indeed on a new paradigm where the actual comminution step is eliminated from the mining process.

The need to reduce energy consumption is one of the big drivers behind comminution research. In deciding whether there is any hope for significant improvement in comminution energy efficiency, a keynote lecture from Prof. Tim Napier-Munn, former Director of the JKMRC, will consider the key technical and cultural impediments to progress, and speculate on how the innovation process may yet provide the long-sought paradigm change. It is well known that comminution typically accounts for over 50% of a mine's energy consumption and  a  recent CEEC video suggests that comminution consumes 3% of the world's electrical energy, enough to power the whole of Germany!  With energy costs rising rapidly there is clearly a need to reduce energy consumption, and the conference will show how this might be achieved by innovations in grinding technology and circuits, and pre-concentration. Ultrafine grinding will play an increasing role in future circuits, and this will be put into perspective by our third keynote speaker, Dr. Wolfgang Peukert, of the University of Erlangen, Germany, in his lecture "a multiscale view on comminution".

All is set for an intensive week of technical presentations, but as with all MEI Conferences, there will be plenty of opportunities for networking, during the long coffee and lunch breaks in the exhibition area, and via the evening social events.

Those who are able to register on the evening before the conference can enjoy the welcoming function, with wine, beer, soft drinks and canapés in the exhibition area. On the Tuesday evening we will be taken into the centre of Cape Town for a night of good food, wine and entertainment at the Gold Restaurant in the city centre.

MEI Conference Delegates at the Gold Restaurant

'Happy hours' were very popular at last months Flotation '13, providing great opportunities for networking in the beautiful grounds of the Vineyard Hotel, and these will be held on the Monday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings. Accompanying partners will be very welcome to join us.

 

And there's more!  The guided walks have become a feature of all MEI Conferences, both in Falmouth and Cape Town. While those in Falmouth are relatively gentle strolls, those in Cape Town are more strenuous mountain hikes, requiring a degree of fitness.  Next April's hike will be one of Cape Town's most spectacular, to the top of Lion's Head, affording magnificent views of Table Mountain and the Twelve Apostles:
 

A great week to look forward to, both technically and socially.
 

Nominate an Outstanding Young Person

Before half the world goes into hibernation for the Christmas break, I would like to remind you that we are now calling for nominations for the 2013 MEI Young Person's Award (see posting of 8th November for full details).

Although there is a shortage of young people choosing the minerals industry as a profession,  those that do are invariably of high quality, which is encouraging. It was good to see so many young people presenting their work for the first time at an international conference at Flotation '13.

International conference debutantes at Flotation '13

We look forward to receiving nominations by the deadline of February 9th.

Jim Finch joins the MEI Flotation team

It is with great pleasure that we welcome Prof. Jim Finch, of McGill University, Canada, to MEI's eminent band of consultants.

Jim joins Prof Dee Bradshaw, of Australia's JKMRC, to advise on MEI's series of flotation conferences, the next one being Flotation '15 in Cape Town.

Jim Finch and J-P Franzidis at Flotation '13

Jim is a well known figure in the world of mineral processing, and he replaces Prof. J-P Franzidis as flotation consultant. J-P retires soon and I would like to thank him on behalf of all at MEI for his valued contribution over the past few years in establishing the conferences as the premier events for flotation practitioners around the world.

We look forward to our future collaboration with Jim and Dee.

CSMA Christmas Lunch

One of the highlights of our year is the Camborne School of Mines Association Christmas Lunch, held annually at the Penventon Hotel in Redruth.

It is a great opportunity to get together with 'old boys' and staff and to reminisce of times gone by!

Below are a few photos taken at this afternoon's get together- no captions, as anyone who passed through CSM over the last few decades will recognise these people!

Nelson Mandela – a personal reflection on his legacy

The Long Walk to Freedom
Drakenstein prison near Franschhoek

Much will be written over the next few weeks on the life and legacy of this remarkable man, but to me I will always remember him for the immense changes that I have seen in South Africa, which I have been lucky enough to visit many times over six decades. In fact the whole of Southern Africa has changed beyond recognition since Barbara and I first set foot in Cape Town in September 1969.

The Cape Town that greeted us was cold, grey and unfriendly. Everywhere were taxis displaying signs ‘whites only’; park benches, beaches, all with the same ubiquitous sign. The local people, mainly coloured, were (not surprisingly) sullen and an air of hostility was all pervasive.

South Africa was in the depths of its era of apartheid and it was nowhere more iniquitous than in the Cape, with its large coloured population who were in a political and social no-man’s land. It was little wonder that they appeared unfriendly. On his election victory, D.F. Malan, the rabid leader of the first Nationalist Party government, had told his supporters: “For the first time, South Africa is our own. May God grant that it always remains our own. We Afrikaners are not a work of Man, but a creation of God. It is to us that millions of barbarous blacks look for guidance, justice and the Christian way of life.”

Although Cape Town had been oppressive, Johannesburg was even more foreboding. As in Cape Town, ‘whites only’ signs were in profusion, and one evening, after leaving the whites-only cinema, we heard the curfew siren, warning the black population, mainly Zulu, that they must no longer be seen on the streets.

We were staying with parents of friends in Johannesburg who were regular church attendees, and it was implicit that we should accompany them to church on the Sunday morning. The service in the Dutch Reform Church was entirely in Afrikaans, and after the service we were introduced to the predikant (pastor) who advised us in all seriousness not to venture near Zambia, as it was populated by black people who were all ‘heathens’. We must stay in South Africa, which he explained was ‘God’s country’. Here was our first introduction to the old Boer mentality, exhibited in this modern Afrikaner, a direct descendant of the original white settlers.

This bigoted predikant in the 1969 Transvaal provided living evidence that the old Boer attitudes had survived into the mid-20th Century. They were the basis for the apartheid system and it was evident that this archaic, racist country was on an inexorable path to self-destruction - we knew virtually nothing of Nelson Mandela and the miracle that would occur little more than 20 years later! It was therefore with a great sense of relief that we joined the Great North Road again for the 485 km journey to the Rhodesian border.

We crossed the Limpopo River, entering Rhodesia at Beitbridge, and it was immediately evident that we were in a very special country, of outstanding natural beauty. The roads were immaculate, hotels and restaurants of a very high standard and the local people were friendly and accommodating. Rhodesia, like South Africa, was also under white minority rule, Ian Smith’s Government having declared unilateral independence from Britain four years earlier, but there was no obvious evidence of the aggressive racism that we had encountered south of the Limpopo. There was a pervading air of optimism and confidence in the future of this small country, which had everything to sustain it, agriculture, minerals and enormous potential for tourism. Who could have envisaged that South Africa, the sad country that we had just left, would enjoy peaceful transition to majority black rule under Nelson Mandela, whereas Rhodesia would be plunged into a bloody civil war, leading to the horrors of Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe?

South Africa still has immense problems, and an ever increasing gap between rich and poor, but when I consider that Cape Town is now MEI Conferences'  major  venue, and that delegates from all races attend the conferences, in a hotel which would have been obliged to turn many away in the past, it is evident that Mandela’s legacy is immense.

Australian Academics inaugurated into Mining Hall of Fame

We were pleased to see that two old friends of MEI have been inaugurated into International Mining's "Mining Hall of Fame" (MEI Online).

MEI has long had strong links with Australia's prestigious JKMRC (posting of 17th September 2010), two of our conference consultants being affiliated to the JKMRC. The Centre was founded in 1970 within the University of Queensland by Prof. Alban Lynch, who is inducted into the Hall of Fame for his contribution to comminution. I first met Alban in 1986 when he presented a keynote lecture at the NATO ASI in Falmouth (posting of 12th September 2009). In 2010 he was a recipient of the IMPC's Lifetime Achievement Award (posting of 8th September 2010).

Alban Lynch (2nd right) receives the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Brisbane IMPC

Someone who surely must one day be a recipient of the IMPC Award is Prof. Graeme Jameson, of the University of Newcastle, Australia, who is inaugurated into the Hall of Fame for his contribution to concentration, significantly for his invention of the flotation cell which bears his name. Due to family circumstances Graeme had to withdraw from last month's Flotation '13, but had attended and presented papers at all the other 5 conferences in the series.

Graeme Jameson (left ) at Flotation '09 with others who have attended all conferences in the series

Congratulations Alban and Graeme. I hope that you will be able to travel to Salt Lake City in February to receive your awards.