Join us in Cape Town next week for Process Mineralogy '18 and Hi-Tech Metals '18

The MEI team are now preparing to leave for sunny Cape Town. Process Mineralogy '18 gets underway on Sunday, and Hi-Tech Metals '18 on Thursday.

Hope to see you there!

#ProcessMineralogy18
#HiTechMetals18

AusIMM Complex Orebodies 2018: 5 days to go!

%%First name%%, don't miss critical discussions with industry leaders at Complex Orebodies in Brisbane next week.

BRISBANE 19-21 NOVEMBER 2018 Register now

5 days to go Hi All Don't miss global experts discuss complexities surrounding the future mineral supply needed for many of the world's most important commodities at Complex Orebodies next week. Sessions will feature key discussions on: Transformative technologies to open up new extractive possibilities Meeting future challenges, standards and expectations on the changing landscape of acceptable practice Defining and understanding complexity as it applies to the entire mining life cycle View the Conference Program Complex Orebodies 2018 boasts presentations from 40 global experts including Keynote Speakers: John Steen   University of Queensland Dr Kathy Ehrig FAusIMM   BHP Prof. Malcolm Powell FAusIMM   Sustainable Minerals Institute Mark Noppe FAusIMM(CP)   SRK (Australasia) Neville Plint     Sustainable Minerals Institute Dr Tony Hodge     Queen's University Prof. Stephen Grano MAusIMM   University of Adelaide There's only one week remaining to register for this thought-provoking conference. Don't miss your chance to attend, join us in Brisbane on 19-21 November 2018.

Join us in Brisbane on 19-21 November 2018. Register now

Recent Developments and Future of Modelling in Mineral Processing

Dr. Paul Cleary is a very familiar face at MEI and other major conferences around the world. A Chief Research Scientist at Australia's CSIRO Data61, he is a world-renowned expert on particle based modelling for industrial, geophysical and biophysical applications, including simulation of rock and slurry flow in mills. We are very privileged, therefore, to have Paul present a keynote lecture "Recent developments and future of modelling in mineral processing using particle methods" at Computational Modelling '19 in Falmouth next June.

Particle based modelling is well suited to predicting complex multiphase flows within mineral extraction processes. Applications include comminution with particle breakage and flow in crushers and particle breakage and slurry transport within mills and separation, both wet and dry, by screens. In such models the coarser particulate phases are represented by DEM (Discrete Element Method) and the finer slurry or powder phases by SPH (Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics). Emerging opportunities also exist in flotation where discrete phases for bubbles and particles can be coupled to continuous free surface liquid phases. These models have become quite sophisticated and continue to increase in the range of scales modelled and the fidelity of the physics represented as computer power continues to rise and computational modelling codes continue to develop.

Dr. Cleary's presentation will showcase a range of leading edge application examples of this modelling and discuss the increasing role of hybrid and multiscale methods.

The latest updates on Computational Modelling '19 are at #ComputationalModelling19.

A very special day of remembrance

Barbara and I were at the Falmouth War Memorial this morning for the special remembrance service on the occasion of the end of the Great War, 100 years ago at 11am today.  

War Memorial, Kimberley Park, Falmouth, 11am

The horrific First World War touched the lives of many families and although all those who fought in it are now dead, it is important that the sacrifice of men and women of all nations be remembered.

In 1984 I was at a NATO Advanced Study Institute conference in Turkey, where I met for the first time Prof. Gulhan Ozbayoglu, of the Middle East Technical University. During our time in Bursa, I learned that our grandfathers had both fought, on separate sides, at Gallipoli in the Great War, both being wounded, Gulhan’s mortally. We took a day off from the conference and visited the war memorials at the Dardanelles with her family, and it brought home to me how lucky we were to be alive.

With Gulhan and her family at Gallipoli

My grandfather (left) in Egypt in 1914,
prior to the Gallipoli landings of 1915

In his youth my maternal grandfather had joined the newly formed Territorial Army, the volunteer reserve force of the British Army, and on the outbreak of the war, he was sent to France with the 9th Battalion of the Manchester Regiment, as part of the British Expeditionary Force. In 1915 he was in Turkey, fighting in Gallipoli. Whilst taking part in a raid on a Turkish trench he found that, on reaching their objective, all his comrades had been either killed or wounded. Retreating to his home trench he was shot in the back, and lay with the dead. As the bodies were eventually removed he stirred in the hot sun and someone noticed that he was still alive. Remarkably, less than a year later, minus one lung, he was back in the trenches, in the Battle of the Somme. He survived the war, and my mother was born in 1921. A sobering thought that if that Turkish bullet had been an inch or so to the left or right, my line of the Wills family would not have existed!

I have lost touch with Gulhan since our last meeting at the IMPC in New Delhi 6 years ago. I assume she has now retired from METU, but if anyone has news of her, I would very much like to hear from you.

High capacity fine screens: the future for closing grinding circuits

Although Prof. Alban Lynch has been involved with hydrocyclones for very many years, in his conversation with me (posting of 11th August 2014)  he said that "the way they are used now is an absolute nonsense, with circulating loads in some cases of well above 200%. The future is high frequency screens.....it is very clear that these screens are so much better than hydrocyclones."

By classifying by size-only, screens, compared to hydrocyclones, give a sharper separation with multidensity feeds and reduce overgrinding of the dense minerals. Derrick Corporation is the leader in this field and at Comminution '18 Nic Barkhuysen, of Derrick Solutions International, South Africa, said that replacing the ubiquitous cyclone cluster with Stack Sizer screens creates additional capacity, improved mineral recovery and a simultaneous reduction in power consumption. He said that payback ranges from two to seven months, based on sixteen case studies where before and after audits were performed, replacing cyclones with Stack Sizers.

At Comminution '16 Elizma Ford, of Mintek, South Africa, evaluated the potential throughput benefit of adopting Derrick fine screening technology in a PGM slag ball mill circuit. Mintek was contracted to quantify the effect on circuit throughput associated with changing from the current hydrocyclones to Derrick fine screening technology, and Elizma concluded that it is becoming apparent that the ability of these machines to accurately classify by size only at efficiencies in the mid 90% range, as fine as 45 micron, has resulted in a paradigm shift in milling circuits, replacing hydrocyclones in the closing of secondary and tertiary circuits.

Derrick Corp polyurethane screens on display at SME '16 in Phoenix

We will hear much more of developments of such fine screening technology at Comminution '20, as we are pleased to announce that Derrick Corporation has confirmed sponsorship of the event, the first time that the company has sponsored an MEI Conference.

Current Comminution '20 sponsors

The latest updates on Comminution '20 are at #Comminution20.

Twitter @barrywills

Process Mineralogy '18 and Hi-Tech Metals '18 are only two weeks away

And it is certainly not too late to register for either or both of these conferences, which will be held in Cape Town's Vineyard Hotel.

The Vineyard Hotel Gardens

Two weeks today Process Mineralogy '18 sponsor ZEISS will be presenting an afternoon workshop on new developments in automated mineral analysis where the use of automated mineralogy software across 2D and 3D throughout the mining value chain will be discussed by leading players in the automated mineralogy field. Registration for the workshop is free of charge.

The workshop will be followed by the Process Mineralogy '18 welcoming reception and pre-registration, which will take place in the exhibition area, giving early arrivals a first chance to mingle with the exhibitors.

The welcoming reception at Process Mineralogy '17

The 3-day Process Mineralogy '18 conference gets under way on Monday November 19th, with a keynote lecture "When scientists and engineers talk – lessons from the oil industry and applications to mining" presented by Prof. Alan Butcher of the Geological Survey of Finland. There will be great opportunities for networking, with long coffee and lunch breaks in the exhibition and poster area, a very informal conference dinner at nearby Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens and two 'sundowners' in the Vineyard gardens.

Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens

The final day of the conference begins with a keynote lecture "Common problems, and progress towards solutions, in the process mineralogy of rare earths" by Prof. Frances Wall, of Camborne School of Mines UK. This will be followed by a day of presentations on the mineralogy of the rare earths, lithium minerals and other 'critical hi-tech metals', a prelude to the 2-day Hi-Tech Metals '18 conference which begins on Thursday November 22nd. There is the opportunity to register for this final day and for the 2-days at Hi-Tech Metals '18 should you wish to make Hi-Tech Metals '18 essentially a 3-day event.

Hi-Tech Metals '18 begins with a keynote lecture by Prof. Jens Gutzmer, of Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology, Germany, on "High technology metals: facts, fiction and recycling" and the conference will highlight the problems of recycling the hi-tech metals, as well as the beneficiation of rare earth minerals, and the minerals of lithium and other metals which are crucial to our hi-tech society.

It is going to be a great week in Cape Town so join us if you can!

The latest updates are at #ProcessMineralogy18 and #HiTechMetals18.

Twitter @barrywills