Relaxing with old friends

After four days of conferences, it was good to relax this evening with Ian and Pat Townsend, and Corby Anderson. Ian attended Nickel Processing '15 and Corby contributed a great deal to both conferences this week.

With Corby Anderson and Pat and Ian Townsend at MEI HQ

Ian and Pat we have known for many years; I think we met for the first time in Bulawayo at Complex Ores '97. Ian was then with Larox, which was assimilated into Outotec, and he retires from Outotec in a few months time, but will still have an involvement with the minerals industry.

Corby is a Professor at the Colorado School of Mines, and we meet up each year at the SME Annual Meeting. He is a past Chairman of the Mineral Processing Division of SME and only this week received the news that he has been made a Distinguished Member of SME. He is also the recent recipient of the Junichiro Tanaka Distinguished Achievement Award sponsored by the Tanaka Memorial Foundation in recognition of his important career contributions to the advancement of the precious metals industry.

A great evening to round off a great week, but I am now looking forward to an alcohol-free day tomorrow!

A cool evening at the Chain Locker

 Ten hardy souls braved the cooler conditions last night for the walk to the Chain Locker pub, where we met with other Nickel Processing '15 delegates. It was good, as always, to share a few beers and get to know everyone involved in what is turning out to be another small friendly conference.

At Pendennis headland on the Fal estuary

 

In the 16th century castle moat

Getting to know each other at the 17th century Chain Locker

 

Important new papers on nickel processing in latest issue of Minerals Engineering

Nickel Processing '15 got off to a fine start this morning, and we look forward to some stimulating papers on the processing of nickel sulphide and laterite ores.

Dr. Andrew Mitchell of Wood McKenzie, UK, opened the conference with an excellent keynote lecture. There is a surplus of nickel at the moment but he predicted that this would move into deficit by the end of the year and that there was "no question that the future of nickel supply will depend on laterites".

Although a very small MEI conference, the 27 delegates from 12 countries will be treated to a fine series of presentations over the next two days. As if to complement the programme, Volume 77, the latest issue of Minerals Engineering, has just been published on ScienceDirect, and this contains some excellent papers, three on the recovery of nickel and cobalt from laterites, and one on the flotation of Ni-Cu ores.

Definitely worth checking out.

....and now for Nickel Processing '15

Precious Metals '15, a great little conference, finished this afternoon. Shortly afterwards delegates started to arrive for wine and cheese and to register for Nickel Processing '15, which commences tomorrow. This is also a very small conference but hopefully the delegates from around the world will bond as well as those in the past 2 days.

 

A pleasant stroll to the pub with Precious Metals' 15 delegates

Preparing for the walk at the conference venue

It was a lovely evening yesterday, perfect conditions for the 3.5 mile walk to Falmouth's eastern extremity, the Fal estuary, and around the 16th century Tudor castle to old Falmouth, and welcome ales at the Chain Locker pub.

Overlooking the Fal estuary

Welcome ale at the Chain Locker

 

Precious Metals '15 gets underway

I opened Precious Metals '15 this morning and welcomed our 29 delegates from 12 countries.

This is the smallest of the five Precious Metals conferences in the series, which is not surprising considering the hammering that gold and PGMs have taken over the past year. Only last week London-listed platinum producer Lonmin, after emerging from the longest and costliest strike in South African history, announced plans to cut about 3,500 jobs across the country. Platinum prices have plunged about 20% since the start of last year and have failed to recover any meaningful ground since then, causing significant distress in the sector.

Lonmin’s decision comes in the wake of a similar move by Anglo American Platinum (Amplats), the South African subsidiary of Anglo American, which last week said it would cut 474 jobs as part of a restructuring programme that began in 2013.

Gold mining has similarly suffered due to large increases in production costs due to ore grades becoming ever leaner, and mining ever deeper, particularly in South Africa, now only the 6th largest producer (posting of 25 September 2013).

So it was appropriate that the conference got off to a fine start with the keynote lecture, given by Jacques Eksteen of Curtin University, Australia, who reviewed recent innovations in the processing of difficult and low grade gold. Ironically Jacques was for four years, until early 2012, Group Consulting Metallurgist with Lonmin Platinum in South Africa.