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By W. E. Stumpf

"SynopsisSouth Africa recently announced a resurgence in its commercial nuclear power programme. The implications for the development of the necessary high-level manpower within South Africa’s tertiary educational system and its national research and development (R&D) capacity in materials science and engineering, as well as in other engineering disciplines, are placed into perspective. An organized national process of developing this manpower by moving away from the previously high-risk and costly ’large programmes’ to rather a selection of ‘small and better’ research projects and a redefinition of what constitutes ‘nuclear materials’ are proposed as parts of this strategy.IntroductionSince 2008, and more particularly in 2014/2015, South Africa has woken up to the fact that significant steps need to be taken to ensure sufficient electricity generating capacity for the future, even beyond the coal-fired stations at Medupi and Kusile currently under construction. It is, therefore, encouraging to see some active large-scale wind farms in the Eastern Cape near Jeffrey’s Bay, in the Couga area, and others in the Western Cape already in operation. In addition, many solar energy projects are also progressing from the small localized scale to larger programmes in the Northern Cape, which may contribute some capacity on a national basis. South Africa needs to tap into its renewable resources of wind and solar much more, but will these projects solve the country’s long-term industrial needs? Unfortunately not. One cannot run mines and trains on solar cells. Industry needs reliable baseload capacity, and with very limited easily accessible hydrocapacity this leaves really only coal, possibly natural gas, and nuclear power as options. South Africa’s current over-reliance of about 90% on coal–fired power, however, places it in an internationally vulnerable position, and diversification into a more equitable energy mix should be a national priority for the medium to long term. South Africa cannot significant climate change confronting the human race, as the IPCC cautioned in 2013, and will have to adjust its future energy reliance to a more balanced combination of sources."

Jan 1, 2015

By M. Ericsson

?Rare earths ?will not be bargaining instruments?? was stated in a headline in China Daily of 29 October 2010. The Chinese government is trying to fend off the persistent accusations from Japan, the USA, and Europe that it is manipulating the supply of these so called ?critical? metals to gain political and economic advantages. The critics maintain that China has taken the rest of the world hostage by controlling 97% of the resources of rare earths. These elements are crucial in a number of high-tech applications. They are not impossible to substitute, but difficult to do so effectively. The name ?rare earth? is a misnomer, as even the least abundant is 200 times more common in the Earth?s crust than gold. They are, however, difficult to find in economic concentrations. The Chinese near-monopoly over the rare earths, together with China?s scramble for other resources in Australia, Africa, and elsewhere around the world, is seen as an example of a Chinese strategy to take control of vital metal resources. The Chinese are also accused of using unfair and sometimes illegal business practices in this fight for resources. Practices which, critics claim, put the Chinese interests above the interests of the host countries, in particular in Africa.

Jan 1, 2011

By Y. Qin, X. Fu, T. Qi, H. Tang

"The FASTMELT ® process was developed as an alternative to blast furnace ironmaking; in this process, high-quality molten iron is produced using direct reduction followed by high-temperature slag/metal separation. In this study, iron recovery and phosphorus removal from oolitic highphosphorus haematite using the FASTMELT® process was investigated. The performance of two reducing agents, coal and wood char, was compared. Direct reduction experiments indicated that with optimized reductant addition, the ore-char and ore-coal briquettes attained metallization values of 82% and 78%, respectively, and residual carbon contents of 0.24 and 2.35%, respectively. The slag/metal separation experiments revealed that molten iron containing 0.41% phosphorus and 0.021% silicon (by mass) was produced from optimally reduced ore-char briquettes, and molten iron containing 0.78% phosphorus and 0.91% silicon from optimally reduced ore–coal briquettes. The study indicates that carbonaceous materials with high CO2 reactivity are suitable for use in the FASTMELT ® process for phosphorus removal and iron recovery from oolitic high-phosphorus haematite. IntroductionIn China, the general depletion of iron-rich mineral reserves has led to many efforts to exploit low-grade and refractory ironcontaining resources for ironmaking (Liu et al., 2014). The efficient utilization of the highphosphorus oolitic haematite resources in central China has received considerable attention. The available resources of this material total approximately 3.0 billion tons. The oolitic units in the ore exhibit an onionlike structure with phosphorus-containing gangue layers of 2–10 µm thickness. The best concentrate produced from these resources contains approximately 50% iron (Fe) and 0.8–1.2% phosphorus (P) (by mass) (Ai, Yu, and Wei, 2009; Song et al., 2013; Wu, Wen, and Cen, 2011). Further removal of phosphorus from these ores using conventional beneficiation methods is not possible."

Jan 1, 2017

By A. Singh, K. Bisaka, G. Marape, T. Mokgomola

This paper investigated the pre-concentration amenability of sovite (carbonatite) ore to enhance the grade of rare earth elements (REE) bearing minerals by rejecting calcite, and to improve total rare earth elements (TREE) recovery using gravity and magnetic separation. A high proportion of calcite affects downstream processes like leaching due to high acid consumption. Multiple flowsheets combining gravity and magnetic separation were employed to target > 60% TREEs recovery to the final concentrate and > 60% calcite rejection to the tailings. Head analysis of the feed showed the sample’s main constituents as Fe (15.61%), Ca (16.04%), SiO2 (7.13%), and lastly TREEs (1.12%). Mineralogy liberation data at 2mm top size indicated poor liberation of TREEs, with the majority of minerals displaying < 30% mass greater than 80% liberated. Grain size distribution data showed that the majority of REE minerals are fine grained and report to the < 20 μm size class. Calcite liberation mineralogy showed < 60% mass greater than 80% liberation.A combination of a single-stage shaking table with a wet high intensity magnetic separator at a magnetic intensity of 7520 G was found to be the optimum flowsheet. For a shaking table feed with P80 of 150 μm followed by tails regrind to P80 of 45 μm as feed to wet high intensity magnetic separator, the overall mass balance results showed that 60.5% TREEs are recovered to the concentrate while 63.0% calcite is rejected to the tails. However, due to the fine-grained nature of This paper investigated the pre-concentration amenability of sovite (carbonatite) ore to enhance the grade of rare earth elements (REE) bearing minerals by rejecting calcite, and to improve total rare earth elements (TREE) recovery using gravity and magnetic separation. A high proportion of calcite affects downstream processes like leaching due to high acid consumption. Multiple flowsheets combining gravity and magnetic separation were employed to target > 60% TREEs recovery to the final concentrate and > 60% calcite rejection to the tailings. Head analysis of the feed showed the sample’s main constituents as Fe (15.61%), Ca (16.04%), SiO2 (7.13%), and lastly TREEs (1.12%). Mineralogy liberation data at 2mm top size indicated poor liberation of TREEs, with the majority of minerals displaying < 30% mass greater than 80% liberated. Grain size distribution data showed that the majority of REE minerals are fine grained and report to the < 20 μm size class. Calcite liberation mineralogy showed < 60% mass greater than 80% liberation.A combination of a single-stage shaking table with a wet high intensity magnetic separator at a magnetic intensity of 7520 G was found to be the optimum flowsheet. For a shaking table feed with P80 of 150 μm followed by tails regrind to P80 of 45 μm as feed to wet high intensity magnetic separator, the overall mass balance results showed that 60.5% TREEs are recovered to the concentrate while 63.0% calcite is rejected to the tails. However, due to the fine-grained nature of TREEs, no flowsheet improved their grade.

Nov 6, 2024

By M. J. King, W. K. B. Loftus, H. S. Simpson

SYNOPSIS The history of the early diamond fields and primitive methods of diamond recovery are traced, giving a brief description of the improvements made in final diamond recovery processes and techniques up to the present day. In particular the emphasis is on the effect of improved equipment in reducing final hand sorting time and labour, better security and greater recovery of fine diamonds.

By M. Stachowiak, M. Nowicki, K. Walas, A. Skoczylas, P. Stefaniak

In this paper the authors present a walking robot dedicated to the inspection of a belt conveyor’s transportation system in an underground mine. The developed robot can independently diagnose all of the key rotating elements of the belt conveyor (pulleys, bearings, drums, gears, engines) based on vibration and acoustic signals as well as typical RGB (red, green, blue) and thermal images. The article presents key diagnostic procedures applied to real industrial data obtained during robot testing.The work was developed as part of the ‘THING–subTerranean Haptic INvestiGator’ project. The authors presented the main assumptions of the research methodology developed for the needs of technical diagnostics of conveyor elements typical of inspection work performed by mining staff. Based on industrial data, the use of algorithms for elements such as rollers, drive stations, and the conveyor belt were shown. The main assumption of the research is to develop a robot adapted to the conditions of a deep mine, capable of carrying out an autonomous inspection of mining infrastructure. The conducted tests and the developed fault detection algorithms were aimed at preparing the robot for underground tests in the operating conditions of the mine.

Sep 1, 2021

By K. C. Corin, M. S. Manono

The mining and mineral concentration of Cu-Ni-PGM sulfide ores in South Africa occurs in semiarid regions. The scarcity and availability of water resources in these regions has become one of the biggest challenges facing mineral concentrators.S Owing to this challenge, concentrators have to find ways through which they can manage and control their water usage. Recycling and re-use of process water in mineral concentrators has therefore become common practice. This practice is beneficial in that it reduces reliance on municipal water, harnesses compliance to stringent environmental regulations on water usage, and it also offers a better response to the Sustainable Development Goals. This could however be somewhat concerning to the operator as recirculated water often has higher concentrations of ions compared to fresh or potable water. The unintended change in the process water quality may potentially affect critical aspects of flotation such as the stability of the froth. This has led to the need to find those process water ions that have the greatest impact on froth stability. Thus, this paper investigates the effect of various ions common in process water of a typical Cu-Ni-PGM concentrator on froth stability. Bubble size, water recoveries, foam height, and dynamic froth stability in both twophase and three-phase flotation systems are used as proxies for froth stability. Findings of this study are deemed crucial towards the development of a process water management protocol in sulfidic Cu-Ni- PGM ore concentrators. Keywords: Bubble diameter, electrolytes, flotation, froth stability, water quality

Jan 1, 2020

By F. K. Crundwell

The rate of dissolution of sulphide minerals is frequently interpreted in terms of the passivating behaviour of a layer of material on the surface. This interpretation has driven research to identify and possibly remove this layer from the surface, and thus yield higher rates of dissolution. The identification of such layers has proved difficult, with different researchers claiming different compositions for possible layers. An alternative framework has been pursued by the author and co-workers, who have argued that the rate of dissolution is governed by the electronic structure of the minerals which give rise to their semiconducting properties. Researchers sceptical of this approach have argued that semiconducting properties are only important in highly pure substances. In this paper, we review the electronic and semiconducting properties and discuss how they impact dissolution behaviour. These properties affect their colour and dissolution properties even though the minerals are not high purity substances. Keywords: Dissolution, leaching, passivation, semiconductor, chalcopyrite

Jan 1, 2020

By N. Snyders, I. Mwandawande, S. M. Bradshaw, M. Karimi

"Flotation columns are normally operated at optimal superficial gas velocities to maintain bubbly flow conditions. However, with increasing superficial gas velocity, loss of bubbly flow may occur with adverse effects on column performance. It is therefore important to identify the maximum superficial gas velocity above which loss of bubbly flow occurs. The maximum superficial gas velocity is usually obtained from a gas holdup versus superficial gas velocity plot in which the linear portion of the graph represents bubbly flow while deviation from the linear relationship indicates a change from the bubbly flow to the churn-turbulent regime. However, this method is difficult to use when the transition from bubbly flow to churn-turbulent flow is gradual, as happens in the presence of frothers. We present two alternative methods in which the flow regime in the column is distinguished by means of radial gas holdup profiles and gas holdup versus time graphs obtained from CFD simulations. Bubbly flow was characterized by saddle-shaped profiles with three distinct peaks, or saddle-shaped profiles with two near-wall peaks and a central minimum, or flat profiles with intermediate features between saddle and parabolic gas holdup profiles. The transition regime was gradual and characterized by flat to parabolic gas holdup profiles that become steeper with increasing superficial gas velocity. The churn-turbulent flow was distinguished by steep parabolic radial gas holdup profiles. Gas holdup versus time graphs were also used to define flow regimes with a constant gas holdup indicating bubbly flow, while wide gas holdup variations indicate churn-turbulent flow. IntroductionTwo types of flow can be distinguished in gasliquid flows in bubble columns: bubbly flow and churn-turbulent flow. The bubbly flow regime is characterized by uniform flow of bubbles of uniform size. Churn-turbulent flow, on the other hand, is characterized by a wide variation in bubble sizes with large bubbles rising rapidly and causing liquid circulation.Flotation columns are normally operated in the bubbly flow regime, which is the optimal condition for column flotation (Finch and Dobby, 1990; Yianatos and Finch, 1990; Ityokumbul, 1992). However, it has been generally observed that flotation column performance deteriorates when the superficial gas velocity is increased beyond a certain limit where the flow regime changes from bubbly flow to churn-turbulent flow (Xu, Finch, and Uribe-Salas, 1991). The identification of this critical or maximum superficial gas velocity is therefore important for optimal operation of flotation columns."

Feb 1, 2019

By G. Akdogan, P. Mutimutema, M. Tadie

The South African gold mining industry has a legacy of abundant tailings dams, which have attracted the attention of investors because of their potential as a cheaper secondary gold resource. In this we investigate study gold recovery from a refractory calcine tailings dam. Bulk mineralogy of the tailings silicates and iron oxides to be the most abundant phases. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) showed gold to exist in submicrometre and micrometre sizes, as free gold, and associated with arsenic, sulphur, and silicates e.g. quartz and talc. Gold recovery by direct cyanidation was low at 17.3%. Mechanical (ultra fine grinding P80 -16μm) and chemical (alkaline, NaOH) pre-treatment and microwave roasting and microwave-assisted cyanide leaching were investigated to increase gold recoveries. Ultrafine grinding was the most effective, producing recoveries of 66.5%. NaOH pre-leaching of ultrafine milled material increased recovery to 71.5%. Alkaline pre-leaching overall increased recoveries for non-pretreated material, making this process the most preferred because it is less costly than ultrafine grinding. Microwave roasting and microwave-assisted leaching did not achieve higher recoveries than alkaline pre-treatment or fine grinding. The investigation highlights and confirms that chemical treatment with NaOH is a powerful tool for gold extraction from refractory tailings.

Oct 1, 2022

By J. P. Coetzee

Dr. K. Gebhard In his excellent and comprehensive survey on the future development of the Iron and Steel Industry in South Africa, Mr. Coetzee has also mentioned the direct reduction processes as a possible method of converting iron ore to iron. Mr. Coetzee has made it quite clear that at this stage one should not consider these processes as a &apos;magic formula&apos; which herald a &apos;break through&apos;. I agree entirely with this point of view. Once upon a time I held the opposite view, but in the meantime I have revised my views. To do so, I had 40 years at my disposal. In 1930 I had the privilege of being connected with the first commercial sponge iron plant in Germany1 - a plant which was capable of producing 40 tons of sponge iron a day. We were determined to prove that the blast furnace would become obsolete in the near future. We considered it as an unnecessary detour to convert iron ore first into an iron-carbon alloy, which contained further quite a number of undesirable elements, and to remove this carbon by an endothermic process. Direct iron-making seemed to be a logical short cut. Unfortunately, we were not able to establish this &apos;short cut,&apos;, but the life of our sponge iron plant was cut short. We had solved all technical but not the economic problems. Basically the positon is still the same today - mainly economic and to a lesser degree technological aspects determine the rate at which sponge iron plants are installed. More has been said and written than done about direct reduction plants. I think that there are two main reasons for this stagnation in the introduction of direct reduction processes. The first reason is that modern blast furnaces are just too good and too economic ever to be replaced by direct reduction processes on a large scale. This, of course, already limits the field of application for direct reduction plants. The second reason is that sponge iron production and utilisation is based on technical considerations, which increase not only the production cost of sponge iron but also the conversion cost to steel to such an extent that under special conditions only are direct reduction plants an economic proposition. Are these technical considerations still as forceful and valid today as they were when &apos;direct steelmaking&apos; was first contemplated? The development of sponge iron production as a method of direct

Jan 3, 1971

The AMIRA Code of Practice and Guidelines for Metal Accounting was developed in response to demand from a number of sponsor companies, including one major platinum producer. Since its publication in 2007, the Code has become widely accepted in the mining industry world-wide as a guide for best practice in metal accounting. With the changes in the structure of the platinum mining industry in South Africa over the last 10 ? 15 years, in particular, the starting up of a number of small platinum producers who must have their concentrate smelted and the contained valuable metals refined by third parties, the need for metal accounting systems that are accurate and have an acceptable level of precision has become even more critical to the success of a platinum-producing operation. The current state of metal accounting in the industry is discussed and possible areas for improved accounting and associated metallurgical efficiencies are identified.

Jan 1, 2012

By K. C. Mills

The objective of this work was to provide process engineers with values of the physical properties of various slag systems involved in high-temperature processes. Software that calculates the thermo-physical properties of slags from chemical composition is available on the www.pyrometallurgy.co.za website. This paper outlines the principles underlying the various models available in the program. The software calculates the following properties of crystalline, glassy, and liquid slags (where appropriate) as a function of temperature: heat capacity, enthalpy, density, viscosity, thermal conductivity, electrical conductivity, and surface tension. We hope, in the future, to update the program to (i) add new models as they become available, (ii) remove any ?bugs? discovered in existing programs, and (iii) provide guidance on the limitations of individual programs.

Jan 1, 2011

By J. A. Theron

"This paper provides guidelines on performing mass and energy balance modelling involving coal and coal derivatives. Usually, the inputs to a pyrometallurgical process would be specified in terms of elements and compounds. Reliable thermochemical data is more widely available for species involving uniquely defined, relatively smaller molecules. However, in the case of coal, the molecules are extremely large and not uniquely defined. Consequently, modelling processes involving coal and its derivatives have several potential pitfalls. These are outlined in the present paper. The main findings are as follows:•,Coal proximate analysis should not be regarded as absolute; it could vary with several parameters, including heating rate •,For modelling, the use of ultimate analyses should be considered a preferable option to proximate analyses, where, ‘fixed carbon’ and ‘volatiles’ are not defined in terms of chemical composition •,Significant errors could be made if the larger molecules are neglected during calculation of the calorific value (CV) of coal gas (the gas liberated when coal is heated in the absence of oxygen) •,For elemental analyses, the oxygen content (which is calculated by balance) should be checked to ensure it is within the expected range •,For representation of sulphur in coal, double-counting due to SO3 in the ash analysis should be avoided •,Potentially, oxygen in coal could be represented as O2, H2O, CO, or CO2; however, use of some of these species without considering the experimentally determined gross CV results in significant errors in the energy balance. If coal enthalpy is calculated from elemental analyses without correction, representation of coal oxygen as H2O(l) gives reasonable accuracy (up to 6.9% error for a set of South African coals). Coal volatiles could be represented by a complex mixture of compounds, even using different oxygen-containing species than the abovementioned four, provided the enthalpy is corrected •,It is recommended that an ‘enthalpy correction value’ is incorporated in energy balances involving combustion, devolatilization, or conversion of coal and coal derivatives, e.g. coke, char, or tar. That would imply that proximate analysis, elemental analysis, as well as the gross CV would be required for all solid or liquid coal-derived substances being modelled. No other correction due to the form of carbon being different than graphite should be used, as that would imply doublecounting some effects."

Jan 1, 2014

I appreciate the honour that has been bestowed upon me by my election as President of this Institute. We are starting what I believe will be a challenging year. The first challenge facing the Institute is financial. From the accounts for you will note that the Institute operated at a loss for the first time since 1987. average membership subscription was increased by only 10 per cent, reflecting desire to keep costs down in the minerals industry. The Institute will therefore to rely on other income to meet its budget requirements and break even financially. source of these funds will be the activities of the Technical Programme Committees. disciplines-Mining, Extraction Metallurgy, and Metals Technology are planning programmes for the coming year. I urge al members to increase their support of colloquia schools. Increased membership would also bring in more funds. Please, therefore, encourage colleagues who are not yet members of the Institute to join it.

Jan 1, 1991

By A. L. Hinde, A. A. Bradley, K. H. Stanton, P. J. D. Lloyd, G. K. Schymura

As part of its programme to develop methods for concentrating minerals underground, the Chamber of Mines of South Africa in conjunction with Lurgi evolved and tested a I MW centrifugal mill. The machine is capable, in the autogenous mode, of grinding more than 25 t/h of minus 75 plus 44 mm hard quartzite to a minus 3 mm product containing over 50 per cent minus 75 µm material, and as a ball mill of grinding more than 60 t/h of minus 19 mm quartzite to a minus 3 mm product containing over 35 per cent minus 75 µm material. Extrapolation of computer models of the process suggests that these limits can be comfortably exceeded. Long-term continuous testing is in hand, aimed at proving that this I m in diameter by I m long mill is in every respect the equivalent of a conventional 4 m by 6 m ball mill.

Jan 1, 1982

By K. Wu, X. Yuan, R. Du, C. Chao

"Lump coals are currently employed to replace part of coke in the COREX melter-gasifier for ironmaking. In order to optimize the process, the pyrolysis kinetics of Datong coal used in the COREX process was studied. A sectioning method is proposed to overcome certain shortcomings of traditional methods for studying the pyrolysis of coal. Based on the sectioning method and the characteristics of the coal pyrolysis process, the temperature range was divided into three intervals. In the first, the adsorbed gas and water of crystallization were removed; in the second, the coal was transformed into semi-coke; and finally, the semi-coke was further coked. Three models of reaction were then established to study the different stages of the pyrolysis process: an interfacial chemical reaction model, a random pore model, and internal diffusion with shrinking volume. The results showed that the experimental data fitted the models well, with all correlation coefficients (r2) exceeding 0.97. Finally, the mechanisms of reaction and kinetic parameters for each temperature range were derived, which laid a necessary foundation for optimizing the usage of non-coking coal in the COREX process. IntroductionIn view of environmental concerns and the shortage of good-quality coking coal, the COREX process was designed as a new ironmaking technology, attracting wide attention (Fang et al., 2005). In this process, lump coal and a small quantity of coke are directly charged into the melter-gasifier, where a high-quality reducing gas is generated for the reduction of the iron ore (Kumar et al., 2009). In contrast to the conventional blast furnace (BF) process, non-coking lump coal is used as the reducing agent and as the energy source, and the iron charge consists of lump ore and/or pellets, which results in the elimination of the coke oven and sintering plant as well as a decrease in investment (Kumar et al., 2009; Liu et al., 2012).Although the COREX process has made great progress, in current production practice the energy consumption greatly exceeds that of the BF, and it requires a certain amount of coke to maintain permeability of the semi-coke bed (Wang et al., 2008). In addition, the process consumes a lot of good-quality lump ore and lump coal. The pyrolysis of coal is the first step in most coal conversion processes, such as carbonization, gasification, and combustion (Aboyade et al., 2013). The reaction behaviour of lump coals in the COREX melter-gasifier is crucial, as it determines energy utilization and gas composition, as well as the metallurgical properties and particle size of the semi-coke produced (Prachethan et al., 2011; Zhang et al., 2014). In order to optimize the process and improve its competitiveness, the pyrolysis kinetics of Datong coal used in Baosteel’s COREX C-3000 facility was studied."

Jan 1, 2016

By B. M. V. Baloyi, D. Mchabe, D. Chetty

South Africa accounts for the largest global manganese ore production share, primarily from its Kalahari Manganese Field deposit. Despite this, domestic smelting is beset by energy constraints, resulting in most ore being exported for smelting. Mintek is investigating energyefficient pathways for ore reduction, specifically undertaking prereduction tests to reduce energy consumption for manganese smelting. The present contribution considers the effect of methane, anthracite, and holding time, at a fixed temperature, on the extent of reduction of Mamatwan-type ore, primarily from a mineralogical perspective. In particular, the aim was to carburise the monoxide Mn phase to Mn carbide, as this is less energy intensive than producing metallic Mn from the monoxide. Based on thermogravimetric test results, the ore and products from three experiment sets were analysed using X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy to assess the phases and textures present. The findings show that carburisation of manganese monoxide and its equivalents is most advanced under conditions of 8% anthracite, 10% methane, and 60 minutes of holding time, thus confirming with the thermogravimetric data. These results show promise for reducing energy consumption for Mn smelting in ferromanganese production.

Mar 4, 2025

Fig. 4 and 5 of the paper &apos;The analysis of ventilation and cooling requirements for mines&apos; by J. van der WaIt, E. M. de Kock, and L. K. Smith are positioned incorrectly in the February issue (J.B. Afr. Inst. Min. Metal., vol. 83, no. 2, Feb. 1983). Extractive metallurgy of zinc At a professional development seminar to be held in Montreal (Canada) from 18th to 22nd April, 1983, specialists from industry and university will discuss the extractive metallurgy of zinc from ore to finished metal with special emphasis on the theory and practice of modern technology.

Jan 1, 1983

By Arvi Parbo

I would like to use the occasion to reflect on how the world environment for the minerals industry is undergoing substantial change, and how this change may affect the industry. I have given my talk the title &apos;The Quest For Competitive Edge&apos;, because the net effect of the changes taking place is that competition is increasing. To set the scene, let us look back at the situation which has existed in our industry in the past.

Jan 1, 1993