Innovation in Mineral Processing:  Celebrate the Past…Look to the Future

The mineral processing industry has a long history of innovation that is recognized but not often celebrated. These include significant advances in mineral measurement, testing, comminution, mineral separation and process control technologies that have transformed many mineral assemblages into ore.

This presentation presents some of the major mineral processing innovations and the impact they have had on our industry. As we look to the future, it is critical that we innovate and change. The role of our past and present industry leaders, champions and mentors of technology are explored with some examples of the next developments and how they can be catalyzed in the face of risk management, lower metal price cycles, resource constraints, inertia and the challenge of short term value delivery.  

Where do I start?  A Troubleshooting Guide for the Mill Engineer

Mineral processing plants continue to play a major role in the business case for many mining projects. The combination of ore variability, process complexity, scale and resource limits combined with continued pressure on operating costs and quality targets make the mineral processing plant challenging, yet fascinating and ripe with opportunity.

The ability to distill this complex network to its most basic elements is essential in achieving entitlement from the ore and installed equipment. In this presentation, the author presents a simple and elegant view of these elements and to the Mill Engineer, Mill Manager or Superintendent.  Ore, Water, People and Process are presented discretely and their interactions are described through case studies from our industry.