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By M. Holuszko, I. Mikhalev

"Previous studies described by Galvin et al. (2017) have shown that for Australian bituminous coal fines, both in batch and in continuous process, the new improved oil agglomeration procedure based on the use of high-internal-phase (HIP) emulsions, as compared to the conventional “pure oil” agglomeration process, enables a significant reduction in the amount of oil while reaching a high yield of clean coal (approximately 90% of agglomerates greater than 355 µm in size) in a significantly shorter time. The HIP emulsion used in these experiments comprised up to 95% vol. aqueous solution of sodium chloride (3% wt. concentration) and for the rest, a mixture of kerosene (oil) and sorbitan monooleate (SMO emulsifier) in a 1:1 ratio as a binder. This study evaluates the applicability of the new HIP-oil agglomeration process to treat Canadian bituminous ultra-fine coal and Russian sub-bituminous coal fines and compares results from agglomeration to the flotation response of both coals. Oil agglomeration is known to be sensitive to surface properties of coal. Since surface properties of coals depend not only on the rank of coal but also on their origin (depositional environment) and mineralogical composition, both the applicability of this new improved agglomeration process to the non-Australian coals and its efficiency became the motivation for this study. To evaluate the applicability of the new process to both Canadian bituminous and Russian sub-bituminous coals, a series of bench-scale tests were carried out under conditions similar to those described by van Netten et al. (2016) for the Australian coals. Based on the results obtained in this research, new boundary conditions for the application of the HIP emulsion-based oil agglomeration process have been outlined and conclusions on the viability of the new process to treat ultra-fine coal from Western Canada and Russian sub-bituminous coal fines have been reached.INTRODUCTION In most cases, to meet the market requirements, the mined coal has to be processed to reduce the ash content by the removal of mineral matter and thus to increase the quality of the coal products (van Netten et al., 2016). Generally, flotation is used for processing fines from high rank coals; however, there are high losses of very fine coal due to the inefficiency of this process. Furthermore, difficulty in dewatering the fine coal results in excessive moisture levels causing coal handleability issues, which increases costs in the coal-cleaning industry (Capes & Darcovich, 1984). Much of the development that has occurred in fine coal cleaning has taken place with higher-value coal, often metallurgical (Klima et al., 2012). If the fine coal is deemed to be too difficult or expensive to process, it may be discarded as waste (van Netten et al, 2014). Such disposal not only creates an environmental liability but may also result in the loss of a valuable, high quality product that is better liberated than the coarser fractions of coal."

Jan 1, 2018

By C. A. C. Sequeira, G. N. Anastassakis

"The separation of fine or even smaller size mineral particles with conventional methods is inefficient due to the specific properties of fines (small mass, high specific surface area, and high surface energy per unit area). Hence, the production of high-grade concentrate with high recovery is very difficult to impossible and a significant share of mineral values is lost to the tailings. The aim of the current research is to investigate the possibility to efficiently separate value minerals from gangue of fine particle size. The objective of the current work is to develop separation schemes of fine mineral particles by combining an initial stage of particles agglomeration with the use of collectors (hydrophobic agglomeration) with a subsequent conventional separation method. In the current research, magnesite was used as mineral value to be separated: a) from quartz, and b) from mineral mixture (serpentine, ilmenite, and olivine). In each case, tests on single minerals and artificial mixtures were carried out. After hydrophobic agglomeration, the separation of magnesite from quartz was achieved by settling; in the second case (gangue: serpentine, ilmenite, and olivine), magnetic separation of the co-agglomerated gangue was applied. In both cases, the results of the preliminary tests on single minerals suggest that the separation of mineral value is feasible and efficient. These findings were also confirmed from the results of the tests on artificial mixtures of magnesite and gangue, either quartz only or mineral mixture. Both separation schemes provided with magnesite concentrates of commercial grade (95% magnesite) with high recovery. INTRODUCTION The generation of fine particles is inevitable in many operations of mineral commodities processing. Especially in the case of low-grade ores, the mineral value is finely disseminated in the ore, and considerable liberation occurs at a fine size range. Although there is not a uniform classification system with respect to mineral particles size, fines are usually characterized the particles with a size range of -100µm+20µm, very fines those of -20µm+5µm, ultra fines of -5µm+1µm, and colloids smaller than 1µm (Sivamohan, 1990)."

Jan 1, 2018

By Matthew Thurley

Optimisation and control of comminution, pelletization, and agglomeration processes is a complex task with large potential for gains in productivity, energy efficiency, and particle size distribution quality. One factor in realising these gains is the requirement for fully-automated online particle size distribution measurement. Moreover, online particle size distribution measurement that is based on the particles on the visible surface and can avoid or mitigate substantial errors that result from under-sizing overlapped particles and over-sizing areas of fines particles. Literature review indicates a body of substantially 2D photographic based particle size measurement systems that suffer from a large number of significant errors except in the simplest case of a monolayer of particles under good illumination with limited color variation in the material. In order to measure the visible particles on a pile there are a number of requirements including; avoiding particle delineation errors due to variation in material color and shadows, detect overlapping versus non-overlapping particles, and identify areas of fine particles as fines and not large rocks. Results are presented using a fully-automated online measurement system of crushed rock on conveyor belt using a 3D surface laser profile. The system provides continuous online measurement and results are shown on over four hours of production after the primary crusher. Size distribution results are calculated using volumetric estimation of the particles on the surface of the pile. The results show a strong capability to discriminate size variation especially in the 10% and 20% passing values. Furthermore results show that if areas of fines are misclassified as large rocks, and overlapped particles misclassified as small rocks, then a near complete loss of discrimination occurs for the P10 and P20 values which become largely constant values.

Jan 1, 2014

By Morin D. H., Battaglia-Brunet F., D'Hugues P.

"In the mineral-processing field, bioleaching of metal sulphide concentrates is currently operated in very large mechanically agitated tanks. Such bioreactors have considerable requirements in terms of power consumption for mixing, aeration and heat transfer. The use of slurry bubble column, where the particles are suspended by gas motion as well as by liquid upward flow, could be an alternative to achieve bioleaching in more economical conditions. In order to compare these two techniques, a unit of stirred reactors in cascade and a bubble column were comparatively operated at laboratory scale in the bioleaching of a pyrite concentrate. For both pieces of equipment, experiments were performed not only in batch mode but also in continuous conditions.Bubble column performances were significantly affected by unpredictable technical difficulties met to maintain continuous feeding in the bubble column and by a significant settling of the heavy solid particles. Nonetheless, theoretical kinetic data, extrapolated from results in batch conditions, could be compared to those obtained in continuous tests, in bubble column and in mechanically agitated reactors. These kinetic data were used to evaluate the influence of reactor design and configuration choice on bioleaching performances."

Jan 1, 2003

By A. Kamali Moaveni, A. Boehm

"The current research study addresses a physical separation process of basic oxygen furnace slag “BOF-Slag” (also called Linz-Donawitz “LD” slag) for the removal of phosphorous. In order to recycle the LD-Slag into the steelmaking process, the physical dephosphorization methods are considered. The systematic geometallurgical investigation carried out on particle classes of decreasing size, which were further subdivided into susceptibility classes, shows intimate intergrowth beyond 40 µm due to slag´s fast cooling rate. Generally, LD-slag is constituted of oxide and silicate phases, among which di-calcium silicate “C2S” dominates. About 0.5 mass% of phosphorous was detected in the LD- slag, which is exclusively situated in the lattice of the C2S. The comparatively high grinding resistance (Rittinger index 12.9 cm²/J) of the LD-slag reflects the energy demand to liberate the phosphorous carrying phase from the iron containing minerals, while separation efficiency decreases in the very fine particle size range. Hence, the conversion of the phase intergrowth pattern was considered alternatively to re-build the mineral phase structure of the material to a separable interlock pattern. Carbon dioxide, as the most convenient substance in the steelmaking plants, was applied to digest the C2S in the presence of water and to reduce the basicity of the slag slurry. As a result of C2S-CO2 chemical reaction, calcite and calcium silicate are precipitated at the surface of the oxide particles and carried between 25% and 75% of the total phosphorous, respectively. Accordingly, the mobility of the phosphorous content phase to the top of the grains serves the possibility to separate the precipitated layer by mechanical attrition process. This paper is focused on the impact of the intergrowth pattern alteration on the slag´s separability characteristics. Moreover, the operating conditions of the carbonization process, such as temperature and pressure, on the deconstruction kinetics of the C2S and the generated products will be considered. INTRODUCTION The steelmaking BOF-Slag is a stony aggregate waste from the steel manufacturing process. The investigated slag by the current research work was provided by voestalpine steelmaking plant in Linz, Austria. The current legislative situation in Austria restricts the historical application of slag as construction material, due to the high level of heavy metals content and corresponded land-filling and transportation costs of slag, therefore the demand for recycling of BOF-Slag to the steelmaking process has raised, as an alternative application. Statistically, voestalpine steelmaking plant produces about 130 kg BOF-Slag per ton of final steel product, which serves annual BOF-Slag production of 700,000 ton, approximately."

Jan 1, 2018

By Vladimir F. Skorokhodov, Nikolay N. Melnikov, Svetlana P. Mesyats

"Among the problems of the civilization development, a problem of interaction between man and natural environment can be highlighted. In the twentieth century the human transforming activity had got scales of geological processes and defined the contradiction between the goal to increase the quality of human life and possibilities of the natural environment. Last twenty-five years after the World Summit on the Environment (1992) indicate that the development of civilization is still based on receiving super profits from the natural resources exploitation. This statement is confirmed by economy globalization rates, growing contradictions between consumption and production, depletion and degradation natural environment. A new technological order is formed at the time of growing world population, technological capacities, organizational complexity, from one side, and global scales of geo-resources consumption, on the other side. Sciences, determining the further civilization development, should take on the task to change the social worldview, since the preservation of human population consists in remediating and maintenance of biosphere functions as a regulator of ecological balance. The new worldview in the geo-resources exploitation is based on the Ecological strategy of mining development, which consists in reducing mining-induced loading on natural environment while increasing efficient mineral production and processing, and providing for a comprehensive solution of tasks on mineral deposit development. One of strategic trend of mining development is to increase complexity and completeness of useful component extraction from ore and mining deposits while reducing wastes and decreasing their stockpiled volumes. The implementation of the ecological strategy has shown that the future is determined by reduction of the environmental impact while improving the efficiency of mineral mining and processing.INTRODUCTION The global nature of environmental problems caused by the scale of consumption of natural resources, huge amounts of waste, and intensive man-made impact on the environment requires a revision of the strategy for the natural resources development. Many existing technologies are ineffective in achieving the ultimate goal. Direct output in the raw materials - the end product technological chain rarely exceeds 10%, which implies a huge amount of work to move the soil. In addition, the feature of scientific and technological progress at the present stage is the growth of power-to-weight ratio."

Jan 1, 2018

By Felipe Sepulveda, Edelmira Gálvez, Luis Cisternas

"In mineral processing, the recovery and/or concentration of the value components cannot occur in one operational stage, therefore requiring the use of separation circuits based on several flotation stages. The components to be separated are typically distributed at different concentrations and different particle sizes, resulting in different levels of recovery. Typically, more than one value component must be selectively removed by exploiting the differences in the components’ floatability at different pH values, pulp potential and particle size. Several methods for the design of these circuits are available in the literature, but comparatively few studies present circuit analysis tools or address the design of a multiple-product flotation circuit. In this study, global sensitivity analysis was used to analyze a flotation circuit with several products, such as copper, lead and zinc. This analysis was based on the Eureka mine concentrator plant. The analysis was performed for each of the sections of the circuit as an overall evaluation of the circuit. The Sobol’ method and the correlation method were used to evaluate the Eureka mine concentrator plant using the SimLab 2.2 software."

Jan 1, 2014

By Markus A. Reuter, Jacques J. Eksteen

The modelling of bath type furnaces tends to be either fundamental in nature or total empirical "black box models". While models of the first kind are robust, they tend to lack accuracy, in cases where they are to be used for process control, and may take an overly long in development time. On the other hand, black box models tend to lack robustness of prediction for all circumstances and tend to be limited to interpolate based on historical data. While this may very often provide short-term accuracy, the models may have problems with stability in the long term. Moreover, the model structure may not reflect any of the fundamental properties of the system and remains opaque to fundamental analysis. The aim of the model development is in obtaining a model that have robustness, high accuracy, a short development time and which is adaptive to a changing environment. The models are specifically developed for on-line decision support or control of furnaces. The modelling approach is evaluated for a chromite bath smelting furnace. The role of systems analysis, mass balance smoothing, thermodynamic analysis are integrated into one generic algorithm for bath type furnaces. Therefore, this paper argues that to understand complex metallurgical furnaces a hybrid approach is the only method to fully grasp the intricacies of metallurgy, to improve operations, economics as well as environmental performance.

Jan 1, 2003

By R. D. van der Weijden, W. F. C. van Wageningen

"Copper(II) can be recovered or removed from acidic copper sulfate solutions as cuprite or metallic copper powder by reduction with carbohydrates (van der Weijden et al., 2001, 2002). In order to make this process suitable for a commercial scale pipe reactor, process conditions and reactor configuration need to guarantee proper throughput of the dilute suspension. This is where crystal engineering also comes into view. Copper powder characteristics, such as size and shape of particles, influence the tendency to adhere to reactor walls and to agglomerate, which in turn influence the throughput. Furthermore, separation, drying, packaging and product quality, are dependent on the powder characteristics.In this paper the effect of both chemical and physical parameters on the shape and size of particles were systematically studied in a number of autoclave experiments. These parameters include mixing, Cu(II) concentration, pH, temperature, seeding, use of additives and reactor materials. Additionally, Monte Carlo simulations of copper growth inside a Kenics static mixer were made. Results show that the use of additives, and the use of static mixers influence particle characteristics the most."

Jan 1, 2003

By S. M. Viduka

This paper presents a numerical investigation of solid separation in jigging device, which is a gravity separation method widely used in ore processing. Separation is recognized as being heavily dependent on fluid motion in the jig. This study explores the effects of the inlet time dependent velocity profile on jigging performance. Modelling of the liquid-solid system is performed through a combination of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to simulate liquid flow and discrete element method (DEM) to resolve particle motion. The initial packing conditions consist of a binary-density particle system of 1130 particles each 1 cm in diameter. A variety of jigging profiles are implemented in jigging. The saw tooth pulsation profile is selected with three variations in both amplitude and frequency. The performance of each profile variant is compared in terms of solid flow patterns, separation kinetics, energy, and mean particle position. These quantitative comparisons demonstrate significant differences in the segregation rate, energy, and solid phenomena, helping find an alternative optimum operating setting for the system.

Sep 1, 2012

By Sunil Tripathy, Y. Rama, Srinivasulu. A., Amit Ranjan

Process improvements in an operating plant are always challenging. Mineral beneficiation plants based on gravity concentration techniques need continuous evaluation and monitoring of its processes for getting maximum recovery and better grades. But, in an operating plant it is very difficult to control all the parameters due to numerous reasons such as unsteady operation, fluctuation in the quality of run-off-mine ore, overall flow rate etc. For better understanding of the beneficiation circuit, it is necessary to evaluate the critical operating parameters which affect the performance in terms of grade, recovery and throughput including losses of valuable materials into tailing. Accurate data collection and proper data interpretation followed by making necessary change which is implementable in an operating plant play very critical role in performance of the circuit. In case of gravity operated beneficiation circuits of chrome ores where the quality of the feed and physical parameters varies continuously, the operators are required to modify the critical operating process parameters on continuous basis which is very difficult and tiresome. There are many causes of the data variability, including both error (sampling and assay), and real variation in performance due to changes in ore mineralogy, operating conditions and other factors. In this article, attempts made to evaluate the performance of ultra-fine beneficiation circuit in terms of silica reduction in the concentrate of chrome ore beneficiation plant (COB), India are discussed. The approach adopted and practical problems encountered during the study were also discussed. Results obtained from plant audit based on the above methodology has shown that SiO2 content in the concentrate can be reduced to <4%.

Jan 1, 2014

By Jochen Petersen, Steven Bradshaw, Guven Akdogan, Ngoie Mpinga, James Mwase, Jacques Eksteen, Cornelius Snyders

"The platinum group metals (PGMs) and associated minerals are particularly refractory to most traditional direct leach processes. However, the remoteness of many new ore deposits, socio-political risks, the scarcity of skilled labor and constraints on the availability of water and electrical power makes it increasingly more difficult to implement the conventional mill-float-smelt-refine process routes to extract and refine PGMs in remote areas. This paper discusses a process to extract PGM’s from low grade ore and concentrate using a sequential stage heap leach process entailing heap bioleaching and high temperature cyanide leaching, and evaluates the feasibility of implementing a carbon-in-pulp process to recover the PGMs from the pregnant leach solution. The heap bioleaching extracts the base metals in an acidic sulfate medium using a mixed culture of thermophiles. After heap bioleaching the heap is reclaimed, rinsed, agglomerated and restacked for high temperature cyanide leaching where the cyanide liquor is directly heated via solar energy in panels. Palladium, gold and platinum are recovered during the cyanide leaching stage. The pregnant leach solution was evaluated for potential carbon-in-pulp adsorption and subsequent elution similar to gold processing. The kinetics of adsorption and elution compared well with gold adsorption and elution."

Jan 1, 2014

By A. Norori-McCormac

"Air recovery, the fraction of air entering a flotation cell that overflows the cell lip, is linked to flotation performance, and it has been shown through industrial testwork that operating flotation cells at air rates that yield the Peak Air Recovery (PAR) results in high mineral recovery. For operating parameters over which flotation plants have little control, such as particle size, investigating the effect on the position of PAR, and the subsequent effect on flotation performance, proves more challenging. To this end, we have developed a bench scale flotation system that runs continuously and exhibits froth behavior similar to that found industrially, allowing the study of such parameters as particle size in addition to air rate. The bench scale system comprises a 4 l baffled cylindrical flotation cell, stirred by a Rushton impeller. The concentrate is recycled back into the pulp, allowing for continuous operation. Glass beads are used as solid particles, allowing a wide range of particle sizes to be tested, with TTAB as collector and MIBC as frother. The system allows operation at air rates typical of industrial flotation systems (1 -2 cms-1 superficial gas velocity), in addition to yielding a froth that coalesces and bursts and exhibits a peak in air recovery as cell air rate in increased. Solids and water recovery is also measured. The results show that air recovery is sensitive to changes in particle size. The intermediate size distribution showed a peak in air recovery (PAR) that corresponded with the maximum solids flowrate, as found industrially. It is shown that finer particles do result in more stable froths and higher recoveries, particularly at low air rates. The effect of particle size on the position of PAR is not yet unequivocally determined from these results."

Jan 1, 2014

By A. Singh, M. Ntlhane, V. Ross, M. Dlame

"Fine valuable particles are often lost to flotation tailings streams due to inefficient collection by air bubbles as well as passivation of surfaces by oxidation and slimes. The application of high-shear hydrodynamic cavitation devices (HCDs) to overcome this problem has already proven to be a considerable success in the industry. This paper details the results of further investigations that were undertaken at Mintek to better understand the mechanisms involved when preconditioning feed slurries in an HCD. By promoting inter-particle attrition and conditions of high shear within the reactor, cleaning of particle surfaces is enhanced as well as the formation of superfine (nano) bubbles which are believed to aid their agglomeration and subsequent collection by normal sized bubbles. In order to broaden the envelope of understanding with regard to application of the technology, rather than tailings material as investigated earlier, a Platinum Group Mineral (PGM) UG2 ore from the Bushveld Complex in South Africa was used in this study. The results of a series of batch flotation tests in a 10L Denver cell are presented, being conducted after the feed has been subjected to different methods of preconditioning. It was demonstrated that the preconditioning significantly improved the flotation kinetics of the PGMs, the optimum being obtained after around 20 passes through the reactor. This was accompanied by a much enhanced recovery-mass pull relationship and a significant improvement in the grade-recovery response. Significantly, the selectivity between the PGM and the deleterious chromite (expressed as Cr2O3) gangue more than doubled under these conditions. Modelling of the PGM data by means of the modified Kelsall model indicated that both the fast and slow floating rate constants were improved.INTRODUCTIONIt is well known that the flotation recovery of fine and ultrafine particles, typically less than 10 micron in size, is a challenge (Yoon et al., 1989; Miettenin et al., 2010). Although these particles are typically well liberated, due to their very low mass and inertia, the collision efficiency with air bubbles is low as a result of the inability of particles to penetrate the liquid streamlines around bubbles. Hence the probability of contact is often regarded as the ratedetermining step in flotation of ultrafine particles. Introducing more power into conventional flotation machines is likely to solve only part of the problem, as conventional mechanisms are effective only to a point in terms of shear and micro-turbulence. Further challenges are posed by the treatment of low-grade or oxidised tailings dump material, where valuables are passivated due to prolonged exposure to the atmosphere or slimes. Over the years, various mitigating strategies have been investigated, including the use of dissolved air flotation (Martinez-Gomez et al., 2013; Calgaroto et al., 2015), shear flocculation (Subrahmanyam and Forssberg, 1990), seed or carrier flotation (Tabosa and Rubio, 2010), sonication to clean particle surfaces (Aldrich and Feng, 1999; Newell et al., 2006), high intensity conditioning (Bulatovic and Salter, 1989; Chen et al., 1999; Tabosa and Rubio, 2010), and various electrochemical approaches such as changing Eh in order to promote formation of dixanthogen, dissolution of oxidation products by lowering the pH, activation by sulphidisation (Newell et al., 2006; Becker et al., 2014), and the use of alternative collectors."

Jan 1, 2018

By Osvaldo A. Bascur, J. Pat Kennedy

"The profitability of mining and metallurgical operations continues to lag behind that of other industries despite the technical advances that have occurred in recent years. A primary reason for poor performing in this economic sector is the lack of integration of mining and metallurgical information. The mine cut-off grade can be optimized if mining and metallurgical engineers have the data to optimize milling for the type of ore in hand.Integration of mine transactions, stockpile inventories, process flows and assays is the key to determining the economics for each blast strategy in a mining site. Real-time information from manufacturing assets greatly affects the profitability and flexibility of a company, but gross errors from faulty sensors, inaccurate instrument calibration, or incorrect process models may corrupt actionable information. New software tools can model the process, sift through available data to identify and eliminate gross errors, and use statistical data reconciliation to create materially balanced and consistent readings. The reconciled data is unified for use by both monitoring and decision making processes.Creating a real-time information environment where upgrade and change are allowed is becoming an accepted methodology to accelerate and simplify the integration of applications such as production monitoring, equipment performance management and yield and inventory management.This paper describes the data integration requirements in a mine, concentrator and port for unification of the redundant data. The capture of the mining events, stock pile management and the metallurgical information is the base requirements for a dynamic environment to reduce the overwhelming amount of information to unified set of information. Part of any decision support program should entail these results to continuously improve the measurement system to address the costs in mine and milling the ore."

Jan 1, 2003

By P. Huang, D. W. Fuerstenau

Various factors that control the natural flotability of talc, including differences due to crystal face and edge effects, were delineated. For study of talc depression phenomena, dextrin was used as a model depressant. For the enhancement of talc flotation, dodecylammonium acetate (DDAA) was used as the collector. The interaction of DDAA with talc was assessed by flotation experiments and electrokinetic (zeta potential) measurements, from which the role of hydrophobic bonding can be demonstrated. The results presented in this paper provide useful information on how the crystal chemistry and surface chemistry control the electrical double layer, adsorption phenomena, wettability, and flotation behavior of talc in aqueous media.

Jan 1, 2003

By Rodney J. Hundermark, Sharif Jahanshahi, Shouyi Sun

"The major platinum producers in South Africa make use of electric furnaces for the melting of PGM bearing nickel - copper concentrates. To gain better understanding of the furnace operation, research was conducted at CSIRO Minerals in Melbourne, Australia. One aspect of the research project was the investigation of the factors affecting the electrical conductivity of melter type slags.Electrical conduction in slags can occur through two mechanisms: ionic and electronic. There is good understanding of the ionic mechanism. In slags containing high levels of iron, the dominant mechanism is electronic. There is limited understanding of the electronic mechanism and one of the aims of the research was to investigate this mechanism further.Experimental work was carried out on Al2O3.CaO.FeOx.MgO.SiO2 slags similar in composition to the melter slags. Conductivity increased significantly with iron oxide content. Above 20wt% FeOx, electronic conduction was significant and the conductivity varied with the oxidation state of the slag. As the iron oxide content was increased further, the electronic mechanism became more dominant. The conductivity reached a maximum at around pO2 = 10-7 to 10-4 atm., although this value was dependent on the total iron oxide content and basicity of the slag."

Jan 1, 2003

By James A. Finch

"Developed countries are in the midst of re-structuring education in minerals-related disciplines as raw materials, once vital to wealth generation, contribute progressively less to the economy. The changing circumstances mean institutions must justify mineral processing by new criteria. After considering what a mineral processor needs to know the ways to deliver are considered. Taking twenty graduates per year to illustrate, one institute could justify this number as a program in a department or school (of whatever grouping of disciplines). A strong research component would make the package additionally attractive. Divide among four institutions and mineral processing is best served in a research centre with delivery taking advantage of multi-centre and distance learning opportunities.INTRODUCTIONThis is one of five plenary lectures at the Congress. I may have preferred a technical subject, as that is what occupies most of my thinking hours, but it is reasonable as an academic that this topic should come to one of us. The fact the topic has not been high on my agenda may provide one advantage: that I can suggest directions free of pre-conceived notions, just as when reviewing the background to a technical article the temptation to select in support of one?s interpretations is resisted. The trick will be to add something new.One reading of the title seems to query whether mineral processing education has a future. (I will refrain at this juncture from defining mineral processing and assume for now we share an understanding of the term.) The proximity of natural and human resources led to the Industrial Revolution and the interaction continues to stimulate and sustain industrial and economic development in many parts of the world. The search for raw materials has historically played a key role in opening frontier areas, with undersea and outer space next. The reason is obvious: raw materials along with food and energy underpin society. Thus mining will remain part of human activity along with the need to pass on the knowledge and skills.What happens over time is resource relocation. Raw materials become exhausted in one area to be replaced by sources elsewhere; the demand for some materials lessens while growing for others. Educational institutions can find themselves with the wrong geography or with staff focussing on the wrong subjects. When this happens the restructuring produces much discussion. This is where we are in parts of the world. Japan, Western Europe and the United States are the prominent examples (Dowd, 1998; Flemings and Suresh, 2001; McDivitt, 2002). Mineral processing is becoming a series of courses in related disciplines: resource engineering, environment engineering or materials engineering. The start of the transition is evident in Canada and Australia, perhaps earlier than expected given the contribution of raw materials to their economies. A common backdrop in the developed countries is social pressure to reduce the impact of the ?untidy? aspects of life, and that includes mining. (This is not new: in classical times the mine face was the preserve of slaves and convicts.) These values are exportable, potentially affecting recruitment into mining schools everywhere."

Jan 1, 2003

By G. Mucsi

This paper deals with the laboratory investigation of cathode ray tube (CRT) glass based glass foam, a relatively new product so called ?Geofil bubbles?. The main process engineering material properties of raw materials, such as particle size distribution, moisture content, density and specific surface area are shown. Then the preparation of raw cathode ray tube glass waste is presented including the following steps: crushing in impact crusher, grinding in laboratory scale ball mill, mixing, pelleting and sintering. We found that it was possible to produce foam glass (with proper mechanical stability and particle density) from the investigated waste CRT glass. The material characteristics of the final product strongly depend on the sintering conditions. Optimum conditions were determined particle size fraction was found to be 4-6 mm, temperature 800 0C, residence time 7.5 min. Keywords: waste CRT glass, grinding, pelleting, sintering, glass foam

Sep 1, 2012

By V. A. Zhilina, I. V. Shadrunova, O. E. Gorlova

"The aim of the study is to develop and scientifically justify a new adaptive approach to the separating processes of deep and complex processing technogenic mineral raw materials. Technogenic mineral resources as a waste of mining and processing industry are mostly complex objects that have specific features of material composition and technological properties and make it processing ineffective with traditional schemes of mineral raw materials enrichment. Mineral wastes are regarded in this study as a complex object with a large number of signs in conditions of uncertain environment and object. However, adaptation is regarded as the process management system’ adaptation to the specific the properties of the object and the environment that has several hierarchical levels corresponding to different stages in the management of complex object. An adaptive approach is considered as a methodological basis of multivariate schemes for opening the mineral resources and creating mechanisms that could transfer these potential technogenic resources to the actual that significantly expand the mineral resource base of the country's black, coloured, rare, noble metals and construction materials. In this case, potentially the solution to the most pressing social and environmental problems associated with the adverse effects of past economic activity simultaneously with the commercial objectives. This approach to the wastes mining and related processing manufacturers meets the core idea of sustainable development as the balance of interests of State, society, business, private enterprise and each person in the areas of rational use of resources, economic efficiency and environmental safety. On the example of metal-containing raw materials in the form of slags of ferrous and nonferrous metallurgy, ferrous metallurgy sludge, mature fine tailings, the application of adaptive approach illustrates to the development of technologies of its deep and complex processing as phased, thoughtful movement from a comprehensive study of technogenic raw materials to build optimal topologies of technological schemes for processing the mineral wastes. INTRODUCTION Involving the Russian economy in the system of global economic relations significantly changes the nature of the country's competitiveness in the development of the world market and urgently requires competent management of its own natural and mineral resources. The latter at the present time in real economic processes cease to be a passive material foundation and become the producing basis in the production processes in the status of so-called natural capital. Introduced in the field of economic theory at the end of the 20th century, this term means both the flow of natural services and real natural resources. Consequently, natural objects, which act as natural resources of a certain production, today must necessarily be evaluated in a strategic sense. Modern standards of sustainable development presuppose that the economy should equally be oriented to balance the interests of the state, society, business, individual enterprise and each person in the spheres of rational use of resources, preservation of healthy ecosystems, ensuring well-being, high quality of life and environmental safety of not only the current generation, but also respect for the rights of future generations, that is, intergenerational equality. Most types of minerals are classified as non-renewable resources, therefore resource-saving in the sphere of mineral and raw materials complexes is one of the most important factors-indicators characterizing the degree of approximation to the model of rational subsoil use, and, consequently, sustainable development (State Report, 2017)."

Jan 1, 2018