Met Soc News - Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy · The 25th International Mineral...

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NOVEMBER 2010 Met Soc News The Year in Review The committee has been active in several areas during the year. Perhaps the most significant result has been a decisive step in the long process to produce a revised edition of Australasian Mining and Metallurgy (The Mawby Volume), with substantial funding from the industry, and the formation of a project committee with representation from the Board, AusIMM Services and the Societies. Rob Burns was appointed Project Leader, a Project Coordinator , Chris Wyness with a publishing background has been appointed, and planning is well under way. The 25th International Mineral Processing Congress (IMPC) was held in Australia in September, at the Brisbane Convention Centre. Rod Elvish was a member of the organising committee. The conference attracted over 1000 delegates, and the program was run in four streams over four days. The exhibition had 70 booths and was a popular centre for information and networking. This was the largest event ever managed by AusIMM, and the Events Department demonstrated their professionalism to deliver a very successful conference. The year has also seen the publication of two significant metallurgical volumes: Flotation Plant Optimisation, edited by Chris Greet, and Alban Lynch‘s History of Flotation. Various committee members have provided assistance in a variety of ways to these publications. Peter Tilyard has added additional material to the Metallurgical Toolbox online. The December issue of Transactions Section C will include nine papers selected from past MetPlant conferences for their continuing relevance, plus two book reviews. Since his appointment to the editorial board of the Transactions, Philip Stewart has been active in raising the quality and relevance of the papers published. On behalf of the MetSoc committee, we wish you a happy festive season and a prosperous new year. David Pollard Chair Metallurgical Society METSOC NEWS NOVEMBER 2010 CONTENTS MetPlant 2011, update; History of Flotation 2 MetPlant 2011, Call for papers 3 Mawby Third Edition Project Update; The Mineral Processing Toolbox 4 International TransactionsSection C; 5 Vacation Work and Graduate Development; The AusIMM Bulletin 6 Contact Us 7 Calling Members working in the GeoMet field Following on from Congress this year and further discussions the AusIMM Metallurgy Society is seeking feedback from those members working in the GeoMet field. Comments are welcome and should be provided to [email protected] including expressions of interest to be involved in a possible working group.

Transcript of Met Soc News - Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy · The 25th International Mineral...

N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 0

Met Soc News

The Year in Review

The committee has been active in several areas during the year.

Perhaps the most significant result has been a decisive step in the long process to

produce a revised edition of Australasian Mining and Metallurgy (The Mawby

Volume), with substantial funding from the industry, and the formation of a project

committee with representation from the Board, AusIMM Services and the Societies.

Rob Burns was appointed Project Leader, a Project Coordinator , Chris Wyness with

a publishing background has been appointed, and planning is well under way.

The 25th International Mineral Processing Congress (IMPC) was held in Australia in

September, at the Brisbane Convention Centre. Rod Elvish was a member of the

organising committee. The conference attracted over 1000 delegates, and the

program was run in four streams over four days. The exhibition had 70 booths and

was a popular centre for information and networking. This was the largest event

ever managed by AusIMM, and the Events Department demonstrated their

professionalism to deliver a very successful conference.

The year has also seen the publication of two significant metallurgical volumes:

Flotation Plant Optimisation, edited by Chris Greet, and Alban Lynch‘s History of

Flotation. Various committee members have provided assistance in a variety of

ways to these publications.

Peter Tilyard has added additional material to the Metallurgical Toolbox online.

The December issue of Transactions Section C will include nine papers selected from

past MetPlant conferences for their continuing relevance, plus two book reviews.

Since his appointment to the editorial board of the Transactions, Philip Stewart has

been active in raising the quality and relevance of the papers published.

On behalf of the MetSoc committee, we wish you a happy festive season and a

prosperous new year.

David Pollard

Chair Metallurgical Society

METSOC

NEWS NOVEMBER 2010

CONTENTS

MetPlant 2011,

update;

History of

Flotation

2

MetPlant 2011,

Call for papers

3

Mawby Third

Edition Project

Update;

The Mineral

Processing

Toolbox

4

International

Transactions—

Section C;

5

Vacation Work

and Graduate

Development;

The AusIMM

Bulletin

6

Contact Us 7

Calling Members working in the GeoMet field

Following on from Congress this year and further discussions the

AusIMM Metallurgy Society is seeking feedback from those members

working in the GeoMet field.

Comments are welcome and should be provided to

[email protected]

including expressions of interest to be involved in a possible

working group.

P A G E 2

MetPlant 2011 Conference

8 – 9 August 2011, Perth WA

CALL FOR PAPERS

The 2011 conference will return to a focus on world‘s best practice and we hope that

delegates will gain take-home ideas and inspiration as well as new knowledge.

The deadline for abstract submission has been extended to December 15. While we

have had a good response so far, we are looking for more papers on world‘s best

practice in engineering design, construction and commissioning of metallurgical plants,

operating strategies and management. The conference covers mineral processing,

hydro- and pyro-metallurgy, water and tailings management and energy efficiency. The

conference website is http://www.ausimm.com.au/metplant2011/.

The delegate profile at past MetPlant conferences consistently breaks down to about 1/3

operations managers and metallurgists, 1/3 engineers (plant design and construction)

and 1/3 suppliers and manufacturers of equipment, software, etc researchers and

consultants. The conference provides a very good opportunity to keep in touch with the

companies that are planning, designing and building the next generation of processing

plants as well as cross-pollination of ideas between delegates.

The exhibition is filling quickly, as are sponsorships. The 2011 conference will keep to the

two day format which past delegates have voted for, and in 2011 it will avoid parallel

sessions. This will result in fewer papers, but a higher quality program.

History of Flotation

At IMPC 2010, The AusIMM officially launched its latest addition to the

Spectrum Series, History of Flotation, written by Alban Lynch, Greg

Harbort and Mike Nelson.

The volume was launched by AusIMM President Greg Chalmers during

the Plenary Session on Day 2. Following the launch, the authors made

themselves available to meet and greet interested delegates at The

AusIMM Booth and were kept very busy signing

copies of the book and CD Rom.

History of Flotation is available for sale now via The

AusIMM Online Shop: http://www.ausimm.com.au/

shop and reviews of the volume will be included in

both the Mineral Processing and Extractive

Metallurgy Transactions journal and The AusIMM

Bulletin.

Alban Lynch, Mike Nelson and Greg Harbort

(Photo supplied by Barry Wills)

P A G E 4

Mawby Third Edition Project Update

As flagged in the last MetSoc News a plan is now in place to produce

the 3rd edition of the Mawby Volumes over the next two years. A Project

Team under the chairmanship of Peter McCarthy has been selected to

oversee the preparation and publication of the third edition. Each of

the AusIMM technical societies will be represented on the Project

Committee as well as Project sponsors. Peter Tilyard has accepted the

role of MetSoc representative. A Project Team is also currently being

established to undertake the Project, under the leadership of Rob Burns. So far a project

proposal comprising a draft scope, budget, plan and schedule have been prepared.

This proposal is to be reviewed by the Project Committee over the next few weeks and

once approved work will commence in earnest. The Project Team will be relying heavily

on Members to be sub-editors and reviewers as well as helping produce the detailed

scope document and guidelines.

A full description of the Project will appear in the AusIMM Bulletin.

The Mineral Processing Toolbox

Over the past few years I have written numerous articles on the Toolbox for the

Metsoc News. These have mainly been of the cajoling and begging variety as I

looked for suggestions for improving and/or expanding the content. I have never

been overwhelmed by the response to these requests. The question I ask is how

relevant and useful is the Toolbox, given that much of the content (including some

of the handbooks) can be found on the internet.

From time to time it occurs to me that the presentation could be streamlined and

the content rearranged.

Possibly the main justification for maintaining the Toolbox is that it is handy to have all

of the handbooks (in particular) in the one location. Talking of which Metso have

kindly agreed to provide a copy of the Metso Slurry Pumping Handbook to add to

the collection. I did not realise that this existed until I stumbled upon the reference

while checking to see if I could find some of the more obscure handbook offerings

on the internet. There is already some useful information on slurry pump design and

selection in the Toolbox. The Slurrytech Curve Engine is also available on the internet

but Tony Griffith‘s guide isn‘t.

Send your comments or contributions to [email protected]

P A G E 5

Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy

December Issue

The December issue of ―Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy‖ comprises a

considered selection of papers from the 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2008 MetPlant

conferences. These papers were judged to be of sufficient significance to merit to

exposure to a wider, international audience. They all refer to Australian practice or to

plants either in Australia or operated by Australian companies.

Several of these papers reflect the close and productive working relationships between

industry, those involved in design and construction, universities and research

establishments that have existed in Australia for a long time and all papers relate in some

way to full-scale plant. In addressing real industrial problems these papers show the

particular challenges that exist in plant work compared to laboratory studies. In the

laboratory, experimental conditions can be closely controlled and it should be possible

with careful work to replicate an experiment from one day to the next. In an operating

plant many variables such as head grade, mineralogy, breakage resistance and pulp

temperatures are subject to uncontrolled variation and this creates additional

challenges. The various papers have approached this difficulty in different ways.

The papers cover a wide range of plant activity – selecting treatment rate, the stages of

development of a new facility, design of flotation circuits, selective flotation of fines,

meaningful recoveries in CIL/CIP plants, the influence of grinding media and collector

addition point on metallurgical results in a Pb/Zn concentrator, identifying the reason for

gold losses.

This issue is essentially practical in emphasis and should therefore be a significant

resource for many metallurgists engaged in operations. It is hoped that all involved in

mineral processing research will find something of value in terms of becoming aware of

the ultimate context for their studies and the challenges that have to be addressed

and the investigation required to make significant advances in practice.

Philip Stewart

Co-Editor

Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy

(Transactions Part C)

Online Access

To access AES and the Transactions journals free of charge, please

log in to the AusIMM website members only area at: http://

www.ausimm.com.au/content/default.aspx?ID=81

If you have misplaced your member login details, click on the ‗forgot

password ID/password?‘ link on the login page or email:

[email protected] for assistance.

P A G E 6

Vacation Work and Graduate Development

The early experience of students and graduates in the industry is important for both

employees and employers. A variety of vacation work experiences helps students to

decide which aspects of the industry most interest them, and it gives potential

employers an opportunity to assess the students working for them, while contributing

to their development.

Once a graduate starts work with a company, the range and quality of the graduate

development program will help to shape preferences, while also familiarising

graduates with the technical, management and cultural aspects of the company.

The MetSoc is interested to explore how we can assist students, graduates and

employers in these areas. We invite suggestions from members about the elements

that produce good programs. This will help us to focus our attention in those aspects

where we can assist with suggestions for both vac work and graduate development

schemes.

Please email your comments and ideas to Donna Edwards

[email protected] with the subject line MetSoc Vac Work & Grad

Development.

The AusIMM Bulletin Update

The December 2010 edition of the Bulletin has been published! Features include:

Africa

Drilling and Blasting

Base Metals

Victoria

Indigenous and Community Relations

The February 201 edition of the Bulletin is currently in

production, with features to include:

China

New South Wales

Coal

Water in Mining

Underground Mining

If you are interested in submitting to future editions of the Bulletin, please send an

outline of your proposed article to the Editor via [email protected]

The AusIMM Bulletin is also available online! Members Only section: http://

www.ausimm.com.au/content/default.aspx?ID=43 (please ensure you are logged in).

CONTACT US

If you have any feedback, would like to make a suggestion or contribute to the MetSoc

Newsletter, please email the Secretariat via [email protected] or any of the

Met Soc Committee members list below:

David Pollard (Chair): [email protected]

Peter Tilyard (Vice Chair): [email protected]

Donna Edwards (Secretariat): [email protected]

Rod Grant: [email protected]

Andrew Newell: [email protected]

Rod Elvish: [email protected]

Philip Stewart: [email protected]

Dean David: [email protected]

Greg Martin: [email protected]

Roger Jackman: [email protected]

Michael Catchpole: [email protected]

Or you can find out more about the Metallurgical Society by visiting our

website! : http://www.ausimm.com.au/content/default.aspx?ID=232

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