Tuesday at Physical Separation '24

The importance of sensor-based sorting is increasing rapidly, with the need to reduce energy and water consumption, and papers from leading players, conference sponsors Steinert and Comex, opened today's proceedings, followed by a paper from Vale, Brazil on sorting performance (there will be a summary of papers in a couple of weeks' time).

The Steinert team of Jean Makola, John Knouwds (Germany),  Priscila Esteves (Steinert Latinamericana, Brazil) and Lutke von Ketelhodt (Germany)
with Bruno Kovacs of Gebr.Pfeiffer SE, Germany

The team from Vale, Brazil: Mariana Pereira, Thailli Conte, Rogerio Kwitko-Ribeiro,
Vitor Andrade and Kassia Toccolini

Magnetic and electrostatic separation took us to the lunch break, which was followed by presentations on classification and screening.

It was good to welcome Chinese company Huate Magnet to its first MEI conference. The  company is the manufacturer of the world’s largest vertical ring Wet High Gradient Magnetic Separator (WHGMS) and High Gradient Magnetic Filter (HGMF).

Candice Hsu and Jason Liu of Huate with Schalk Bekker, of Tugela Mining and Minerals,
South Africa and Wynand Erasmus of Derrick, South Africa

I first met Mike Flanagan at the IMPC in Sydney in 1993. He was the founder, in 1974, of Boxmag Rapid South Africa and was managing Director of Magnapower which became Magquip, for which he is now a consultant. His son Rory Flanagan is managing director and they are pictured in their booth with Tomas Machalek of VSB- Technical University of Ostrava, Czech Republic. 

Tomas, Mike and Rory

Eriez, USA is a well known manufacturer of magnetic separators, and they are represented here by Eriez Magnetics, South Africa, and I called in to talk to Sales Director Theuns van Rensburg.

Following the day's presentation we travelled by bus to the heart of Cape Town for an always great evening of dining and entertainment, with a 14-dish taste of Africa menu, at the Gold Restaurant.

#PhysicalSeparation24

Monday at Physical Separation '24

Jon opened Physical Separation '24 on Monday morning, welcoming our 80 delegates from 17 countries and thanking our sponsors, Steinert, Comex Group, Conundrum and Capstone Copper and our media partners International Mining and Minerals Engineering and Industry Advocate the Critical Minerals Association.

James Agenbag, of Mineral Technologies, South Africa, then got the conference off to a fine start with a keynote lecture emphasising the increasing importance of physical separation methods, and the challenge that we face in recruiting more young people into the industry and educating them on the crucial importance of the mining industry, as the future supply of critical minerals may not keep up with demand. 

The keynote was the prelude to 11 presentations during the day, which will be summarised in a couple of weeks' time.

I caught up with James during the coffee break in the exhibition area, with his colleagues from Mineral Technologies. and Dave Goldburn, of Holman Wilfley, UK, our only other delegate from Cornwall. Mineral Technologies supply a wide range of mineral processing services and equipment and  is the Southern African agent for Cornwall's Holman Wilfley, world leader in the manufacture of shaking tables.

With Dave Goldburn, James Agenbag, Beatrice Mohononi and Paul Albertyn

In the Comex booth Jacek Kolacz of Comex, Norway was talking to Dion Lusinga and Shannon McEwan of IMS Engineering, South Africa and Michael Borger of Covalent Lithium, Australia. The Comex Group is one of the conference sponsors. The company is a market leader in the field of sorting with a constantly expanding range of equipment, offering an optical sorting system based on comprehensive image analysis with advanced image processing functions.

Dion, Shannon, Jacek and Michael

A break for lunch

There is probably no more stunning a view from a conference centre than that from the Vineyard, with its backdrop of Table Mountain, and outside the conference room I caught up with Dani de Manielle of IHC Mining, South Africa and Aylin Acar Ademoglu, of IHC Mining, Netherlands. IHC is well known in the alluvial mining field, as a supplier of dredges and mineral jigs.

We timetabled an early finish today hoping to take some advantage of any sun that might be on offer, so we were lucky with the unseasonable weather to enjoy the late afternoon sundowner in the hotel gardens.

The Cornish contingent: Dave Goldburn with the MEI team

#PhysicalSeparation24

Sunday in Cape Town: the first Physical Separation '24 delegates arrive

A beautiful crisp sunny Sunday in Cape Town, with a pleasant temperature of 18C. Some of the 80 delegates registered for Physical Separation '24 began to arrive today from 17 countries.

Lunch with Profs. Kevin Galvin (Australia) and Lev Filippov (France)

It was great to meet 45 of the delegates in the evening for the welcoming drinks reception. Lots of familiar faces and some new ones, all boding well for a fine start to the conference tomorrow.

#PhysicalSeparation24

Winter in Cape Town

Cape Town and Cornwall have much in common (posting of 30 November 2012), including the capricious weather. Winter in Cape Town is very much like summer in Cornwall and when I left Falmouth on Thursday, bound for Heathrow, it was a sunny morning with a temperature of 16C. I arrived in Cape Town on Friday morning, with a welcoming 16C and sunshine!  And the view from the plane as we approached the airport was as awe-inspiring as ever.

On Friday night I ate alone at the Vineyard Hotel's excellent The Square restaurant and my quest for a poor South African steak remains unabated. It was superb as usual, as was the Lion Hound Shiraz from Ridgeback in Paarl, which I highly recommend to next week's Physical Separation '24 and Mill Circuits '24 delegates.

I awoke Saturday morning to another wonderful view of the mountain, this time from the lower perspective of the Vineyard Gardens.

Amanda and Jon arrived mid-day Saturday in time for lunch in the sunshine on the Vineyard terrace, and then we spent the evening at the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, for a fine meal at the Harbour House restaurant.

We are now looking forward to welcoming the first of the Physical Separation '24 delegates this evening. It's going to be a great week in Cape Town and it is not too late to register for Physical Separation '24 and Mill Circuits '24. You can even turn up and register on the door!

Recent comments

There have been comments on the following postings since the last update:

Summer and winter hiking in Switzerland's Jungfrau Region
Twenty years on- the first Falmouth Biotech conference
March summary: family time
Prof. Guven Onal: 1940-2024
2023 MEI Young Person's Award to Paulina Vallejos
New book: The Engineering Science of Mineral Processing
Dr. Samayamutthirian Palaniandy: 1974-2024
Return to Chingola
Is copper THE most critical metal? It always has been
Four mineral processors in top 0.05% of all scholars worldwide
Memories of our first journey to Cape Town in 1969

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Lithium mineral flotation: The past, present, and future

The global demand for lithium is expected to outpace supply over the coming decades; a recent analysis by the International Energy Agency suggests that the world's current supply of lithium will meet only 50% of global demand by 2035. Governments around the world have responded by incentivising the rapid development of their lithium resources, including hard-rock mineral deposits. 

To extract lithium from hard rock ore, lithium-bearing minerals first must be separated from associated gangue by two primary methods: dense media separation and/or flotation. Dense media separation is a straightforward process with relatively low operating costs, making it a preferred processing route for lithium mineral recovery. However, when finer grinding is required to liberate lithium minerals from ores with greater mineralogical complexity, flotation is the critical method of separation. 

In a keynote lecture at Flotation '25, Charlotte Gibson, Assistant Professor at Queen’s University, Canada, will explore the industrial history of lithium mineral flotation around the globe, highlighting practical challenges and gaps in our understanding of flotation mechanisms. A review of recent advances in lithium flotation research reveals a pressing need to expand global research and innovation capacity in the field,from reagent development to bespoke equipment design.

Before joining Queen’s in 2020, Charlotte held various roles in the mining industry across Canada, the United States, and Australia. She has worked in mine operations, mineral processing flowsheet development, mineral processing technology development, and data analytics for a number of companies including SGS, Barrick Gold, and Vale. She now leads the Critical Minerals Processing Lab in The Robert M. Buchan Department of Mining, where her research group develops processes to concentrate critical minerals from primary and secondary resources.

#Flotation25