2016 with MEI

It will be a long time before people forget, or come to terms with, the momentous political events of 2016. The EU referendum in UK and the Presidential Election in USA were both divisive and hard-fought, with unexpected and marginal results, no doubt reminding many people of the great Winston Churchill's opinion that democracy is the worst form of government - except for all the others.

But rightly or wrongly Brexit and Trump are realities and we now have to accept the will of the people and look forward with optimism to the future.

There is speculation that Donald Trump’s promise to revive American infrastructure means commodities, such as steel, iron ore, nickel and zinc, used to build everything from airports to bridges, will benefit under his presidency, and already in recent months there have been encouraging signs that these metals are bringing the mining industry out of its long decline. Copper, perhaps the best indicator of the state of the industry's health, has been one of the worst performing commodities in the past two years, but has enjoyed a bullish resurgence in the last few months, fuelled by a pick-up in Chinese imports.

In contrast to the base metals, gold began the year with encouraging price rises, but unfortunately prices have fallen again in recent months, for various complex reasons.

Amidst all this turmoil it has been another interesting year for all at MEI, with a great deal of global travel and as always productive networking with people at various events. Here are a few memories of a remarkable year:

Representing MEI at African Mining Indaba '16 in Cape Town, February.
With Dame Judith Macgregor, the British High Commissioner to South Africa,
and Ben Tordoff and Allister McBride of Zeiss UK 

With Jim Finch at the SME Annual Meeting in Phoenix in February,
signing copies of the 8th edition of Mineral Processing Technology.
With Guven Onal of Istanbul Technical University, Turkey,
and Erik Spiller and Hunter Sceats of Colorado School of Mines

Reunion with past CSM students at the CSM Annual Dinner in Falmouth in March

Presenting the 2015 MEI Young Person's Award to Hakan Dundar in Cape Town in April.
He was nominated for the award by Prof. Aubrey Mainza

Relaxing with delegates at Comminution '16 in Cape Town

A Copperbelt reunion in Cape Town in April,
with Roger and Janet Thomas, and Rod and Kathy Whyte 

Delegates from Biohydromet '16 at the Chain Locker pub in Old Falmouth in June

Amanda with Biohydromet '16 delegates in the Camborne-Redruth mining district

A very special Cornish Mining Sundowner at the Chain Locker in June,
where we were joined by Sustainable Minerals '16 delegates on EU Referendum Day

Sustainable Minerals '16 delegates at the gates of the 16th century Pendennis Castle, Falmouth

Montana Tech's Prof. Courtney Young and his wife Miriam were in Falmouth
in June for the conferences, and were on their first visit to UK.
Pictured with Barbara and me at MEI HQ

Amanda made a brief trip to Windhoek, Namibia in July to look at possible venues
for 2018 MEI Conferences. She met up with Associate Professor Harmony Musiyarira,
Head of the Department of Mining and Process Engineering at the
Namibia University of Science and Technology, and Professor Jonas Addai-Mensah

Barbara and I took some time off in July to visit wonderful Peru....

...and then on to Brazil and Argentina to visit the magnificent Iguasu Falls....

...with a final call to Rio de Janeiro, where we met up with former IJMP editor
Prof. Mauricio Torem, and his wife Ana

Prior to the IMPC in Quebec City in September, we were shown around the
Laval University Campus by Prof. Fathi Habashi and his wife Nadia

The big event of the year was the IMPC in Quebec City, where we met up with old friends
and made new contacts at the MEI booth

Jon was in Perth, Australia in October, representing MEI at the AusIMM Mill Operators Conference,
by all accounts a great event......

...while back in Cornwall, I had a very pleasant evening in Penryn, where CSM staff, past and present, and alumni met current CSM students at a pasty and pints evening in the Union bar



In November Barbara and I took advantage of a cancelled conference
to catch some winter sunshine in Cancun, Mexico

And in between all the travelling, we managed to find time to continue
to explore the magnificent Cornish coastal path

A great year, and, as always, about people, so a big thankyou to all who were a part of it. We wish you all the very best for 2017.

Twitter @barrywills

CRC ORE to sponsor Physical Separation '17

We are delighted to announce that the Cooperative Research Centre for Optimising Resource Extraction (CRC ORE) is to sponsor Physical Separation '17 in Falmouth in June, joining co-sponsors Holman-Wilfley and Steinert Elektromagnetbau.

CRC ORE was founded under Australia's Cooperative Research Centres programme, and is supported by AMIRA, Anglo American, Bear Rock Solutions, BHP Billiton, Comet Strategy, CRC Mining, CSIRO, Curtin, DataMine Australia, Gekko Systems, Glencore, Hatch, IMDEX, JKTech, Kellogg’s Institute (KIN), METS Ignited, Mipac, MRIWA, Newcrest, NRC Canada, Orica, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Sedgman, Sodern, Split Engineering, SRK Consulting Canada, Sumitomo, Teck, University of Adelaide, University of Queensland (UQ), University of Tasmania (UTAS) and Whittle Consulting.

This global consortium of Mining companies, Mining Equipment and Technology and Services (METS) companies and research institutions provides a platform for sharing information, drawing on a diverse, cross-section of expertise and decreasing the risks associated with the implementation of innovation on operational mining sites.

CRC ORE's goal is to transform the minerals sector by deploying innovative world-class technology to effect a step change in value across the whole-of-mine system, by focusing on radically improving the productivity, energy and water signatures of mining operations. They are also dedicated to reversing the ‘conventional wisdom’ of grade decline through new gangue rejection techniques.

The group is determined to unlock the synergies of existing and latent technology already available which has not been integrated on mining sites. They also wish to develop co-creation partnerships to access and implement emerging technologies from other industrial sectors.

CRC ORE is a not for profit organisation funded by the Australian Federal Government and the global minerals industry, and after its initial 5-year funding term, which commended in 2010, was awarded a further 6-years of funding until July 2021.

MEI looks forward to a continuing involvement with this worthy and ambitious venture.

Current Physical Separation '17 sponsors

#PhysicalSeparation17- a reminder that the deadline for abstracts is the end of this week.

One of the world's oldest mining inns hosts the Christmas Cornish Mining Sundowner

There is no one who has been associated with Cornish mining who has not heard of Tyacks, situated in the centre of Camborne, itself once the epicentre of the world's copper and tin mining industries.

Established in 1780 the hotel is only a few yards from the site of the original Camborne School of Mines (CSM), and during my first few months at CSM, when I lived in rented accommodation just around the corner on Camborne Hill, it was my 'local' and was frequented by local miners and CSM students and staff. Once CSM moved to Pool, between Camborne and Redruth, and the family and I moved to Falmouth, I turned to other more convenient hostelries, and last night's sundowner at Tyacks was my first visit in over 40 years.

The old inn is steeped in atmosphere, as is our summer sundowner location, Falmouth's Chain Locker. But whereas the Chain Locker reflects Falmouth's nautical heritage, Tyacks highlights the area's rich mining history, and dotted all around the pub are pictures of Camborne's most famous mining engineer, Richard Trevithick (posting of 25 April 2015) and photos by arguably the 19th century's most accomplished mining photographer, also a Camborne man, J.C. Burrow (posting of 25 May 2015).

Appropriately there was a great turnout for the last sundowner of 2016, and I am sure that many of the faces in the photographs below will be familiar to many of you.

Twitter @barrywills

Forthcoming merger of Minerals Engineering and International Journal of Mineral Processing

This is the first announcement of important journal news which will affect all mineral processing researchers. As of January 2018, Minerals Engineering and International Journal of Mineral Processing will merge into one journal with the title Minerals Engineering incorporating International Journal of Mineral Processing. Full details of the reasons for the merger can be found on MEI Online.

This merger will obviously affect the Editorial structure, and details of the new editorial team and the associated editorial board and reviewers will be announced early next year.

Season's Greetings from all at MEI

Many thanks to all of you who sent us best wishes by cards and emails. Wishing you all the very best for Christmas and for 2017.
Barry, Amanda, Jon and Barbara

 

New Book: How Mining Works

I first came across this book at the SME Meeting in Phoenix earlier this year, when the author W. Scott Dunbar was signing copies at the SME Bookstore.

Scott Dunbar (right) at the SME Bookstore, Phoenix

This colourful book, available from SME, consists of eight chapters. Chapter 1 provides an explanation of how mineral deposits are formed and how they are found. Chapter 2 describes mining methods, the systems and machines used to extract ore from the earth. Chapter 3 describes a few of the methods used to process the ore and produce metals. Much of mining refers to the production of metals, but nonmetallic minerals are a huge part of the industry. Chapter 4 discusses the particular examples of coal, diamonds, and gravel (aggregates). In addition to minerals and metals, mining and processing ore produce large amounts of waste products that must be managed, often for an indefinite period. The science and technologies applied to this important part of mining are the topics of Chapter 5. Mining also involves people, the communities in which they live, and the government of the country in which the mine is located. As described in Chapter 6, the related issues are important, interesting, and sometimes challenging. Chapter 7 describes the mechanisms for establishing prices of metals and minerals and discusses the legal definition of ore. Finally, Chapter 8 presents some ideas about mining in the future.

In his Preface, Scott acknowledges that he was encouraged to write this book by Jane Olivier, the books manager at SME and I am grateful to Jane for providing me with a review copy.

The first thing that I noticed on flicking through the book is how beautifully it is illustrated, with a profusion of excellent informative diagrams and photographs. As Scott so rightly says pictures in a book like this are worth far more than a thousand words, and the majority of the images in the book were generously provided by many companies and individuals.

The second thing that is evident is that this is not intended as a reference book for the serious mining professional. It is very basic, and that is its beauty as it will be of great value to anyone working in the industry who seeks a wider view of what makes mining work. So, personally, I did not learn a great deal from Chapter 3 on Mineral Processing and Refining, my own specialist area, but I did from the other seven chapters, which explained all other aspects of the industry, such as mining methods, in a very clear and simple manner.

This book should be high on the essential reading list for first year undergraduates on degree courses in geology, mining, mineral processing or any other areas of the minerals industry. I would also like to see it on the library bookshelves at schools, to hopefully enthuse pre-University students in this essential industry, although it is a shame that Scott does not put more emphasis on just how important the mining industry is, all other industries being dependent on it for a continuous supply of metals and minerals.

In summary Scott Dunbar must be congratulated on producing a much-needed book which I hope will achieve all the success that it deserves.

Twitter @barrywills