Dear Members This is my final contribution to Horizons as MES President, but certain-ly not my last input to the Newsletter as a member. The last two years have just passed by ever so quickly and a lot has been done by your Council to keep the Society on an even keel through difficult times. Our base industries in the UK have been reducing and in some cases almost disappeared and there is no doubt that such changes will have a major effect on the future of our own and other similar organisations. Your Council are determined, no matter what, that the membership will be given the opportunity to celebrate our Diamond (60th) Anniversary in style towards the end of 2018 and plans are well in hand to achieve this. The Society’s future is dependant on the willingness of members to get involved and on the support of the industries to which we are associated. Certainly we are moving towards a po-sition where these aspects will have an increasing influence on its future. Council will explore all avenues to continue our activities and meet our responsibilities but there is inevitability that at some point we will find ourselves having to consider how we deal with this decline in active support. We have over almost 60 years made a massive contribution to the coal prep-aration and minerals processing profession around the world and whatever the future holds, we must ensure we utilise our assets appropriately to leave a long lasting legacy for the ben-efit of future activities in the minerals and/or engineering fields. On a more positive note, myself as MES President, Douglas Jenkinson as IOC representa-tive and Neil Jenkinson as MES Vice-President, have recently returned from the XVIII Inter-national Coal Preparation Congress at St Petersburg, Russia. I can assure you that the MES, quite rightly so, is still widely and highly regarded for the work it has done and contin-ues to do, and for its influence in the coal preparation discipline. I was fortunate to attend as an ‘honoured delegate’ representing the MES who remain the UK organising body on the International Organising Committee. It was a successful, interesting and enjoyable event in a beautiful city, but not without some difficulties and a full report will be included in the next edition of Horizons . This ‘bumper’ 16 page summer issue includes full reports on the six presentations given at ‘Minerals Engineering 2016’ symposium held at Kegworth in May, which proved another suc-cess, despite a slightly lower attendance. The different format with a reduced number of longer presentations was well received by the delegates, as the presenters could give more detailed information and it allowed more meaningful question periods. It seems however, that no matter what we do we cannot generate increased enthusiasm within the member-ship, hence my perhaps pessimistic view on the long-term future of the Society. Please note next year the Seminar is on 18 May so get it in your diaries or on your i-phones now! Finally, it has been a privilege to be President of the MES again and I thank you all for that opportunity. I will hand over the duties to my successor at the AGM, being held on 22 Sep-tember 2016, so come along to ‘The Stables’, have your say, listen to a couple of good tech-nical papers and attend the Dinner to support our award winners. I will continue to serve the Society in whatever way I can. I will give my successor any help he requires and I wish him an enjoyable and successful term in office. Thank you all.

President’s Prologue

Special points of interest:

Symposium report

Richard Budge Obituary

Report by Travel award winner

Technical Visits

Coming Events

National Meeting and AGM

Inside this issue:

Symposium success

2

Richard Budge “King Coal” obitu-

9

National Meeting and AGM

12

ImechE Event Bulk Material

14

Southern Group AGM

15

Northern Group AGM

15

Energy Science Lecture

16

Summer 2016 Issue 24

The Minerals Engineering Society (formerly The Coal Preparation Society)

Horizons

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Horizons

Rob had presented a paper to the Society's Annual Meeting in 2014 in the early stages of the project and he was pleased to have the opportuni-ty today to give an update as it enters its final phase. He began with a brief history of Cleveland Potash Ltd (CPL) Boulby Mine, now part of Is-rael Chemicals Ltd (ICL). CPL is a subsidiary company of ICL, and is one of the main producing sites within the Potash & Magnesium Busi-ness Unit.

The Boulby mine site is located on the north east coast of the UK, and is within the boundaries of the North Yorkshire Moors National Park. The site produces a number of products which includes concentrated potassi-um based fertilisers, road salt and Polyhalite fertilisers.

Permission was given for the mine in 1968 and development began in 1969 with the first Potash being mined in 1973 leading to full production in 1975. The mine lease area covers 42,000 hectares with part of the operation mining under the North Sea.

As part of ICL’s growth strategy, CPL has developed a new part of the underground operation so as to access and subsequently mine the Poly-halite mineral. The paper described the unique nature of this mineral, the challenges associated with both mining and processing it to a saleable product.

The move to accessing the Polyhalite reserves began in 2008 with the reserves being accessed by 2 x 800m under-ground drifts as the mineral lies 150 to 170m below the Potash at a depth of 1300m, the drifts were completed in 2011.

As part of this growth strategy CPL has invested in the construction of a multi-million pound processing facility, which is the first plant of this scale to handle and process Polyhalite anywhere in the World. The paper gave an overview of the process, and described the construction of the plant. There were no other plants handling the mineral to give a lead to plant design and equipment selection and a quantity of Polyhalite was mined at the earliest opportunity to enable testing and allow process plant decisions to be made.

Polyhalite, which is being marketed under the name Polysulphate, is a new 4-in-1 natural fertilizer for improved crop yields. Polysulphate contains four plant nutrients: sulphur, potassium, magnesium and calcium. Although Polyhalite has been periodically mined in very small quantities in Germany, only recently has a large scale deposit been devel-oped and exploited by CPL. Now this natural 4-in-1 fertilizer is available to farmers.

It is needed as the world has done so well in reducing sulphur emissions that the land now needs a treatment to put some back, and Polysulphate is a product that can meet the needs of humanity in developing high yield crops.

MES celebrates Symposium success Minerals Engineering 2016

Minerals Engineering Symposium Yew Lodge Hotel, Kegworth.

26th May 2016 The 2016 Symposium organised by the Minerals Engineering Society (MES), supported by the Coal Research Fo-rum (CRF) and the South Midlands Mining and Minerals Institute (SMMMI) was held at the now established venue of the Yew Lodge hotel at Kegworth on Thursday 26 May. The event opened by the MES National President, David Baillie, who welcomed 46 delegates and speakers to what he was sure would be an interesting and informative day which this year would comprise 6 papers. He thanked all present for supporting the event and handed over to Dr Rod Stace of SMMMI who would chair the morning session of four papers before handing over to Professor John Patrick of CRF after lunch for the final two papers. Dr Stace also welcomed all the delegates and introduced the first speaker, Rob McConnell from Boulby Mine who is a regular contributor and supporter of MES events."

Polyhalite Processing — Rob McConnell, Cleveland Potash Ltd.

Issue 24

Matthew holds a BSc in Environmental Science, MRes in Chemical Engineering and is currently completing an EngD in Formulation Engineering at the University of Birmingham. Matthew was also the recipient of the 2016 MES Travel Award.

The paper was based on work carried out in conjunction with his MRes project and is centred on the operations at the Mountsorrel Quarry which at that time was the largest granite quarry in Europe. As in many quarry operations, the ‘fines’ product resulting from the production and processing opera-tions can be commercially detrimental. Any possibility of re-ducing energy consumption and/or the amount of fines pro-duced could lead to greater efficiency, environmental im-

provements and increased profitability.

Following a brief introduction to Mountsorrel Quarry which at the time was the largest granite quarry in Europe pro-ducing over 5 mtpa of products, Matthew outlined the nature of the operation upon which his research was based. The <5mm material produced during the quarrying and processing operations were classified as fines and with no ready market, created an environmental problem in their disposal and had a negative impact on the profitability of the operation.

Matthew explained how two software packages Split-Desktop and JK SimMet were used to determine the particle size distribution (PSD) to the primary crusher and to model the process flows of the quarry operation. Split-Desktop uses image analysis software for determining PSD’s and with the aid of a number of illustrations Mat-thew demonstrated how the system was set up to enable fines to be identified from the images. The example used was from the feed into the primary crusher which contained particles too large to screen manually. The software us-es colours to delineate size ranges and requires user input to edit the images and reduce the risk of misidentification. The analysis of the images of the broken rock were utilised to produce a simulated PSD of the feed to the primary crusher which showed that 0.8% of the feed was fines <5mm with a top size of feed of 3810mm.

Matthew went on to explain how the process flows of the quarry were modelled using the JKSimMet software pack-age. This allowed the crusher products PSD’s to be simulated and demonstrated a strong correlation with experi-mental data, particularly in the fines region with a mean difference of 1%. The software package provides the ability to change various operating parameters and to model the effect such changes have on the PSD’s. In order to generate key data required by the JKSimMet software, some 345 samples were taken, split into 15 weight/size categories and subject to drop-weight tests at the University of Nottingham. The data derived from the tests was used to calculate the t10 and Ecs values used in the simulation program.

The simulated PSD of the primary crusher product showed 5.9% fines and a simulation of the whole quarry showed a fines content of 13.4%.The model was used to simulate power draw on all the main crushers in the process at dif-ferent flow rates, and after changing the closed-side setting (CSS) of the primary crusher from the normal operating size of 165.1 to 100.0mm, the model showed an increased fines content of 2.7%, increased power draw by 140.6kW, but reduced the overall plant production of fines by 2.4%. A further part of the investigation carried out at the quarry was to establish what, if any, beneficial effects would arise from changing the order of deck detonations during the blasting process. This involved carrying out two blasts on adjacent faces with identical blast designs but with the first blast detonating the bottom deck before the top and vice versa for the second blast. For each blast, the PSD of the feed to the primary crusher, the number of particles requiring secondary breakage, acoustic levels and vibration readings were all measured. Analysis of the data showed no significant differences between the two blasts in any of the measured parameters.

Matthew’s work had demonstrated the ability to produce a working model of the Mountsorrel quarry using JKSimMet and to validate the results from the model against site data. In addition, the Split-Desktop investigation proved suc-cessful in simulating the primary crusher PSD and providing data to the operator which had not previously been available. The study had provided confidence in the ability of the modelling tools to guide operators in improving the efficiency and profitability of their operations.

Following his presentation, Matthew gave the audience a brief introduction to his current work on his EngD at the University of Birmingham which involves working in conjunction with AkzoNobel on low carbon footprint opacifiers in paint. This taster, involving references to contrast ratios, refractive indices, Mie Theory, Kubelka-Munk Theory, flat air particles and hollow CaCO3 spheres which was interesting in itself, will hopefully lead to Matthew giving us a more detailed presentation on the completion of his EngD.

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Mine to Mill Optimisation — Mathew Ruzala, Birmingham University

Horizons

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Following the morning coffee break, proceedings continued with the third presentation from Steve Frankland, Past President of the MES and Di-rector of Dargo Associates. This pa-per expanded his technical presenta-tion to the Northern Group of the MES in March 2016 entitled - Modifi-cations to Arcelor Mittal Coal Prepa-ration Plants in Kazakhstan. Arcelor Mittal are the largest Steel makers in the world, their HQ being based in Luxembourg. Their mining interests in Kazakhstan consist of eight mines in the Karaganda area. The area of Kazakhstan is equiva-

lent to that of Europe. The output of the mines is around 10Mtonnes of raw coal per year which equates to a yield of 5Mtonnes of Coking Coal and 1-2Mtonnes of Middling (which are 40% ash). The ROM is very difficult to process as it comprises of up to 25% near gravity material. Coal preparation facilities are located at Temirtau and Vostochnaya. In 2010 the processing plant in Temirtau com-prising essentially of jig washers and froth flotation of < 1mm, whereas the plant at Vostochnaya included dense

medium baths as well as jig washers and froth flotation. The Project Objectives established in 2010 were as follows: Increase Yield in Coking coal Introduction of New Coal Preparation Techniques Improved Automation Reduction in operating costs A further objective, inevitably, was to spend as little as possi-ble. In his earlier presentation to MES Northern Group in March 2016, Steve concentrated on the installation of the hydrosizer and primary cyclone circuit. This was primarily to improve the cleaning of 2-0.2mm materials. This initiative was responsible for a 5% increase in yield of coking coal to 50%. In this presentation he went on to highlight initiatives to improve the overall process. These initiatives were having PC control of plant, replacement of Froth flotation cells with two Jameson cells in series and the introduction of horizontal belt filters. The existing froth flotation separators consisted of eleven banks of eight cells which occupies a large area of the plant and required up to 3Mw of power. The removal of the old cells created space for future D.M. cyclones as well as a significant saving on power. Steve concluded his presentation by taking the delegates through the operation of both the Jameson cells and the hori-zontal belt filter.

Arcelor Mittal CPP Kazakhstan — Steve Frankland, Dargo Associates.

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The final presentation of the morning session was a paper by Dr Yousef Ghorbani, Research Fellow at Camborne School of Mines, describing the OptimOre Project, which is part of the €7b EU HORIZON 2020 pro-ject. Dr Ghorbani explained that the OptimOre project was a relatively small (€5m), but very important part of the EU HORIZON 2020 concept. The main objective of the OptimOre Project (with Spain acting as the lead partner) is to: examine ways to ensure a long-term sustainable supply of raw materials for EU industry and to increase the contribution of industry up to 20% of GDP. The project team comprises a total of 8 partners from 4 different coun-tries including 7 from ‘industry’ to ensure a practical emphasis on the research. The €5m has been assigned largely to the research into tung-sten and tantalum, considered as two Critical Raw Materials (CRMs), with the objectives of: increasing the yield currently obtained through best production process practise by between 7-12%, and targeting an overall 5% energy saving. New software systems are being developed to assist in achieving these targets. The main mineral beneficiation processes being examined in the study include crushing, milling, gravity separation (dense medium / spirals and concentrating tables), magnetic separation and froth flotation. As the testing of different processes is being carried out by several institutions in different countries it is essential to ensure that they all examine the same base samples. The Wolf Minerals tungsten plant at Hemerdon in Cornwall is being used

as the base production operation to obtain the necessary mineral samples and Camborne School of Mines (CSM) has been assigned the role of preparing the Hemerdon samples to ensure compatibility of any subsequent test work carried out by the other partners in the project. Computer modelling is being used exten-sively and image analysis has been uti-lised to determine the performance of the concentrating tables. The emphasis is on validation of process performance, initially through simulation and system dynamics, then through pilot plant test work, and fi-nally at production (mine) level. The project is currently half way through its 3 year planned programme and has reached a critical stage in its progress, with decisions on its direction and further development imminent. The subsequent questions regarding the scale and scope of the pilot plant test facil-ities available, the thorny issue of Intellec-tual Property Rights and the definition of ‘best available technology’ were all well answered by Dr Ghorbani before everyone departed for an excellent lunch.

The Optimore Project - Dr Yousef Ghorbani, Camborne School of Mines

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Horizons

The fifth and first paper after lunch was presented by Gary Wain from Bretby Gammatech Business Unit, Parker Hannifin Instrumentation Products Divi-sion Europe, entitled ‘Handling Data in Coal Quality Monitoring’. Mr Wain started by giving an overview of the acquisition of Bretby Gammatech Ltd by the multi-national company Parker, a company with global sales of $13 bil-lion and 64,000 employees.

He followed this by presenting a time line showing how Bretby’s ash moni-toring equipment data transfer of information to customers had developed from 1988 to 2016. He explained that for the first 35 years all the data for both the ‘Ash Eye’ a conveyor mounted system and ‘Ash Probe’ was trans-ferred by a serial link between the control system and a local Personal Com-puter (PC). He informed the audience that the introduction of Microsoft’s Windows 7, which provides no support for ‘Hyper Terminal’ a serial data transfer pro-gram, had

forced Bretby Gammatech to review their data transfer methods.

He explained the appointment of Kevin Corcoran, a software engineer in 2013 to the company provided the opportunity to develop remote on-line monitoring of the Ash Eye based systems. In 2013 Bretby Gam-matech introduced the ‘EyeGraffix’ software, providing the facility for customers to monitor up to 25 conveyor mounted systems from a single PC.

Mr Wain explained although the EyeGraffix provided a customer to view more than one system on a PC (usually situated in the plant control room) it didn’t ini-tially allow data to be shared with other areas of the business. This lead Bretby Gammatech to develop the ‘Matrix Data Delivery’ (MDD) system allowing the control room based monitoring PC to share its data via either an Ethernet or Internet connection with up to 10 other PCs, creating a nodal network of data connections. The MDD system also offers the customer some protection from network routing faults, as each node in the network is capable of communi-

cating with each other. Data security was also noted as a concern to customers, but had been addressed by Bretby Gammatech developing its own communi-cation protocols for data transfer.

Mr Wain explained that the introduction of EyeGraffix and MDD system had provided the amenity for on-online ash monitoring systems in Kazakhstan and Turkey to be remotely monitored from the Bretby Gammatech offices in the UK, something not possible before.

He concluded his presentation on the current devel-opment by Bretby Gammatech to produce an ‘off the shelf’ Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) based on-line ash monitor, this will provide easier maintenance for customers by using worldwide available components; and the opportunity to use standard communication protocols to interface with customer’s plant and machinery control systems.

Handling Data In Coal Quality Monitoring—Gary Wain, Parker Hannifin.

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Issue 24

The final paper of the symposium was given by Dr. Richard Maslen. Richard is no stranger to many of our active members, As a member of the society he and his colleagues from Fairport Engineering, who hold company membership of the Society, have given active support to a number of recent activities includ-ing a presentation to the Northern group in March 2015 and more recently he was one of a large party who attended the visit the Hemerdon Tungsten mine in Devon. Richard’s paper continued the progress being made with the Barruecopardo Tungsten project in North West Spain. The site near Salamanca is a brownfield, the deposit having been previ-ously worked to shallow depths by a series of open pit workings from the early 1900s until closure in 1992. The site comprises mainly metamorphic rock with intrusions of granite that hold tungsten mineralisation. The major tungsten mineral is scheelite with smaller quantities of wolframite and is mostly contaminated by pyrite and arsenopyrite. Saloro SLU engaged Fairport Engi-neering to deliver a basic engineering study in 2014 to validate the plant design and costing. Following completion of that exercise Fairport was then retained in June 2015 to deliver the Detailed Engineering Works for this project. Richard’s presentation expanded this development. Fol-lowing a short video which explained the whole project from de-velopment, process plant and final remediation.

Richard continued with a more detailed review of the process and its key elements and equipment. The plant will pro-cess up to 1.1Mtonnes of ore per annum, with an enrichment ratio of 250:1 and a size reduction of 5000 to 1. This reduces the < 800mm ROM ore to a process plant feed size of <5mm and a final concentrate size of <135 microns. From the initial crushing and screening the process proceeds to the Pre- Concentrator section where the mineral is separated in a jig circuit followed by spiral separators. The final separations are made in the Concentrator section using shaking tables and froth flotation. The final product is then con-centrated in a hi-rate thicken-er followed by rotary drum vacuum filter and lastly a pad-dled dryer. The product is then bagged. Richard then conclude his presentation by describing the water treatment plant and the overall water manage-ment of the project including future remediation schemes. An excellent present well re-ceived with a lively question time.

Barruaecopardo Tungsten Project — Dr Richard Maslen, Fairport Engineering.

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Horizons

On Tuesday 10 May, a goodly number of MES members set off to pirate country to visit the only Tungsten mine in the UK. This visit was organised following the paper given by Arthur Gill at the 2015 Symposium. The mine is located approximately seven miles north of Plymouth at Drake-lands. During the course of the day fourteen members of the soci-ety including our National President arrived at the Sports-man Inn in Ivybridge to plan the following day’s events. The 'planning' went very well helped by an excellent meal and some refreshments. Included in the group was a significant contingent from Fairport Engineering led by - or should I say driven by? - Ian Tole. The following morning the group travelled the short distance to the mine and were met by Jeff Harrison, Operations Manager for Wolf Minerals, the mine owner. Jeff then gave a detailed presentation of the history, geology and opera-tion of the mine including the new processing plant. Over 80% of the world's tungsten is produced in China and

the Hemerdon mine is one of the world’s largest tungsten and tin resources mine, with proven reserves in excess of 23Mtonnes. The word 'tungsten' derives from the Swedish 'tung sten' which directly translates to 'heavy stone' and it has the highest melting point of all the elements. Tungsten’s many alloys are used in numerous applications includ-ing bulb filaments, superalloys, military and not forgetting carbide tooling. Jeff went on to describe how the mineral body was identified using borehole data to build up a better picture of the mine to a depth of 20m (eighteen months of mining). The ore body is approximately 120m wide and 850m long with a projected depth of 260m, which is 60m below sea level. Work commenced two years ago and one of the first stag-es was to construct a crescent-shaped structure of 85% rock on the hillside for process tailings. This containment was lined to maintain the quality of ground water particularly with regard to mitigating increases in arsenic levels. All process water used on the site is contained and controlled thereby minimising any additional requirements. Strict environmental controls are used to minimise water contamination, dust and noise. Furthermore, there is much liaison with neighbourhood groups. The presentation was concluded by describing the processing of the Run of Mine material. Plant input is 514 tonnes per hour to the primary and secondary crushers with < 9mm-0.5mm material going to primary and secondary dense medium cyclones and the <0.5mm material to spiral separators and shaking tables. The plant produces 20t/hour of tungsten concentrate together with 20t/hour of tin concentrate. The group then toured the mine area and the processing plant, thus completing an excellent visit. The Society is indebted to Jeff and his management team for this opportunity to visit a modern mining facility.

Northern Group visit to Wolf Minerals, Drakelands Mine

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Richard Budge, who has died aged 69, was an ebullient min-ing entrepreneur who became known as “King Coal” after he acquired the rump of the UK coal industry. In 1994, Budge’s company RJB Mining – until then chiefly an opencast operator – quadrupled its size by acquiring 17 of the 19 deep mines still in production under the state-owned British Coal (formerly the National Coal Board), which had already closed the vast majority of its remaining pits in the years following the miners’ strikes of 1984-85. On the basis of a huge loan from City banks, Budge’s firm paid £815 mil-lion for a package which also included opencast sites and some 50,000 acres of land.

Despite the industry’s troubled history, as well as an increas-ing policy preference for gas-fired electricity generation over

coal both on cost and environmental grounds, Budge’s approach was bullish. Armed with three-year contracts to supply power stations across the Midlands and north of England, he invested in new equipment for his mines and explored new projects. Defying suggestions that he had overpaid in the privatisation, his profits jumped from £20 mil-lion in 1994 to £186 million two years later, and he was able to pay down much of RJB’s bank debt. But by 1999 mar-ket conditions had deteriorated, and profits had fallen to just £11 million. Budge was frequently at odds with Labour ministers who accused him of running his mines badly, then using the threat of job losses to extract state funding to keep them open. The government appeared to favour the idea of a takeover of RJB on the basis, as one minister put it, that “when the devil you know is not up to much, then anything is an improvement”.

Budge shrugged off that threat and conditions began to improve again as natural gas prices rose and coal burn in power stations rose. But boardroom disagreements over his plans for further expansion led to his departure from RJB Mining (subsequently renamed UK Coal) in March 2001. The fortunes of UK Coal declined over the following years and its last deep mine, Kellingley Colliery at Beal in North Yorkshire, closed in 2015. Richard John Budge was born at Boston in Lincolnshire on April 19 1947, the son of a local builder, and educated at Boston Grammar School. A talented painter at school, he went on to study fine arts at Manchester University, but left in 1966, after only three months, to join AF Rudge, his older brother Tony’s fledgling civil engineering business based at Retford.

The firm initially specialised in building sections and junctions of major roads. Richard claimed to find roadbuilding “as creative as art”: his first big assignment, at 21, was a contract to build five miles of the A19. In 1974, the brothers diversified into opencast mining – as an efficient use of roadbuilding machinery in winter – and won contracts from the NCB in County Durham and elsewhere.

Richard took charge of the mining side as it became more specialised and grew apart from the rest of the business – which diversified into unrelated activities ranging from military equipment, small arms and yachts to property develop-ment and airport ownership, and came under increasing financial strain. In 1992, a few months before AF Rudge went bankrupt with huge debts (leading to a department of Trade and Industry inquiry, in which Richard was cleared of any wrongdoing) he bought out the mining operation with private equity backing and struck out on his own. RJB Mining was floated on the stock exchange in May 1993. After his departure from RJB Mining, Budge acquired the Hatfield Colliery at Stainforth near Doncaster (having outbid, among others, the US energy giant Enron) but the new venture fell into administration in 2003. He re-opened the pit in 2007 with Russian backing and developed ambitious plans for a carbon capture and storage scheme adjacent to it. But government and EU funding was not forthcoming and again money ran out. In 2013, Budge was declared bankrupt.

Despite these reversals, it was well recognised that no one had done more than Budge to try to sustain a viable UK coal industry. He was president of the Coal Trade Benevolent Association, chairman of the Coal Industry Social Wel-fare organisation and a trustee of the National Coal Mining Museum at Wakefield. A large man with a flamboyant streak, Budge took up motor racing in his mid- thirties in Chevron cars, mostly built in the late 1960s, of which he collected a dozen; he raced at Brands Hatch and Oulton Park, where he won the Gold Cup in 1983, and was a top competitor in his class for several years until persuaded by his family to retire from the track.

Richard Budge married, in 1968, Rosalind White, who survives him with their sons Kurt and Grant – who both be-came entrepreneurs in the mining sector. Richard Budge, born April 19 1947, died July 18 2016

Richard Budge “King Coal” - Obituary

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Horizons

Partec 2016 International Congress on Particle Technology was located in the historic city of Nuremberg, on the 19th – 21st April. The conference itself was held in the Nuremberg Conference Centre in the corner of the former Nazi rally grounds, with Powtec 2016 (a trade fair for processing, analysis, and handling of powder and bulk solids) being housed in 6 adjacent halls. Along with a number of keynote presentations, there were 7 concurrent sessions, with topics including modelling and simulation, particles in contact and processing, interface controlled processes, (nano)-structured materials, particles from renewable materials, applications of particle technology, particles and energy, pharmaceutical particles, and life and food science.

The conference was opened with an interesting talk by Prof. Hatton from MIT looking at different ways that particles can be used for CO2 adsorption, including new research into on-board carbon capture technology that could be di-rectly fitted to vehicles. From there, I continued the first day listening to the presentations in the particles from renew-able materials session, which included a talk about how product design and engineering should be combined into one discipline to oversee operations from concept to commencement to make sure that all needs are met, and that nothing is overlooked when designing and manufacturing a product or process. Another interesting talk was based on research into determining the particle size distribution of particles as they are being fed into silos using a laser sheet and a camera. The other talks in this session highlighted how one person’s waste is another person’s material, and how in the current global situation, it is important now more than ever to reduce waste, and to find uses for what is currently discarded to landfill. In the afternoon R. Artoni showed how he was using discrete element modelling (in both 2D and 3D) to model breakage during crushing based on contact and cohesion. J. Walter on the other hand presented work on a new analytical centrifugation technique which can be used for particle characterisation of multi-modal samples.

The second day of the conference started with Dr K. Keller from DuPont pointing out that Europe as a whole, is trail-ing with respect to China and USA, regarding academic-industrial collaborations. Dr Keller also pointed out that he believes that these collaborations are the future of research, and stronger links between academic institutes and in-dustrial companies need to be strengthened. R. van Ommen presented some interesting research on atomic layer deposition by controlling how different reactants are used. The process can be repeated to produce the desired thickness, and the technique can be applied to make a film, but also in a fluidised bed to coat particles. The final talk I attended on the second day was by R.-E. Bräunig on using acoustic monitoring to determine particle size, which has application in the control of grinding particles from the microscale to the nanoscale. The third and final day of the conference was opened by Dr. D. Wieckhusen from Novaris Pharma talking about par-ticles in the pharmaceuticals industry. This day I attended talks that were more focussed on characterisation, includ-ing talks about dispersions, and nanoparticles. There was a particularly interesting presentation on detecting lung cancer from the chemistry of a person’s breath. A. Gϋnter showed how micro-sensors had been developed to detect levels of different chemicals in a per-son’s breath, including formaldehyde, the concentration of which can be indic-ative of lung cancer.

Throughout the conference, coffee breaks and lunches provided an excel-lent time to meet people from industry, and other academic institutes, as well as some time to explore Powtec and see the wide variety of manufacturers, and their equipment involved in the par-ticles industry. All in all Partec 2016 was very interesting, allowed me to discuss thoughts with other academics and in-dustrialists, and provided me with some interesting ideas for my research. Finally, I would like to give my thanks the Minerals Engineering Society for their generous travel grant that allowed me to attend Partec 2016 International Congress on Particle Technology. Attending the conference proved to be very useful, and I am extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to have been able to go.

Partec 2016 International Congress on Particle Technology

Mathew Ruszala

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Issue 24

Members of Northern Group and others met at the Holiday Inn at Dodworth on 15th March to hear the Group's final technical pa-per of the 2016 session given by a Past President of the Society. The presentation given by Steve Frankland, a Director of Dargo Associates, attracted thirty delegates from all parts of our Socie-ty. A number of members expected this to be one of the more notable papers as it took many people from the Society back to their roots of Coal Preparation. They were not disappointed. Steve started his presentation entitled “Acelor Mittal, Kazakhstan - Evolving into the 21st Century” by giving a brief history of his involvement in the project dating back to before 2010. The min-ing interests of Acelor Mittal in Kazahkstan centre in the Kara-ganda area comprises eight mines served by two Coal Prepara-tion Plants, Temirtau and Vostochnaya. The plants are supplied by rail with up to 10Mtonnes of raw coal annually and they pro-duce 5Mtonnes of coking coal together with 1-2Mtonnes of mid-dlings product. Steve continued by highlighting the problems associated with the facilities at the time, those being the loss of coking coal to mid-dlings and discard and other poor separation issues. The mineral is notably difficult to separate with up to 25% of near gravity ma-

terial. Steve identified the project objectives which were to increase the yield of coking coal by 9%, introduce automation, reduce operating costs and spend little money on the solutions. Lack of capital at the time precluded the use of Dense Medium Plant, so Hydrosizers, Primary Cyclones and a Froth Plant upgrade were chosen. Steve then high-lighted the installation of this equipment and the introduction of PC control to improve the performance of the plant. Hydrosizers, Jameson Flotation Cells and horizontal belt filters were installed under contract by MEP Ltd. The remainder of Steve's presentation con-centrated on the operation and performance of this equipment particularly the Hydrosizers and Primary Cyclones. The performance of the Jameson Cells and HBFs is covered in a second paper given to our 2016 Symposium and reported earlier in this issue of Horizons. Many of the attendees then contributed to a lengthy but interesting Q&A session. Greg Kelley, Northern Group Chairman, then pro-posed a Vote of Thanks to Steve for an ex-cellent presentation. The evening had certainly lived up to its promise!

Northern Group Technical Meeting - Arcelor Mittal Coal Preparation Steve Frankland, Dargo Associates

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Horizons

After the success of last years National Meeting, The 2016 National Meeting will be held again at The Stables Conference Centre, High Melton, Doncaster. This

meeting will consist of two technical presentations, the Society’s AGM, Lunch and an awards Dinner. I am sure most of you will already know and have experienced this facility and it is a first class venue for the our most pres-tigious event and we hope to see you there in September, to meet with colleagues old and new involved in all aspects of Mineral Processing both in the UK and overseas.

The Minerals Engineering Society National Meeting and Dinner. 22nd & 23rd September 2016

The Stables Conference Centre - High Melton - Doncaster

The 2016 National Meeting:

A one-day Meeting

The meeting has been arranged to cover a half day and an evening including the Society’s AGM and Awards dinner. Proceedings will commence with Lunch starting at 12:30. This will then be followed by the two Technical presentations, a short break and then the AGM fol-lowed by the Presidential Address. Dinner will be at 19:30 and will in-clude presentation of the Society's awards for 2016. Overnight accom-modation is available and the whole package will be subsidised for mem-bers, the event concludes with Breakfast on 23rd October 2016.

Target Audience

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Issue 24

Venue —The Stables Conference Centre, High Melton.

For those wishing to extend their stay at the meeting, we have arranged an Evening Dinner and Accommodation. The cost of this for member delegates is subsidised and can be purchased by Members for the special price of £35 . The fee for non-members is £75 This Includes Din-ner, overnight accommodation and breakfast and is Payable to The Minerals Engineering Society by the methods below. The Society’s Annual awards will also be presented at the Dinner. So come and us join in a convivial atmosphere and congratulate the winners of this years awards.

Evening Dinner with Awards Presentation: 7pm for 7:30pm

How to book: Online or via E Mail

The Stables is set within the 120 acre grounds of Doncaster College's High Melton site, which itself nestles in the centre of the picturesque village of High Melton. It is located five miles from Doncaster town centre and just a few miles from junction 37 of the A1.

www.mineralsengineering.org or E Mail: hon.sec.mes@lineone.net

Thursday 22nd September: - 1230 Light buffet lunch with tea and coffee 1400 Technical Presentations. 1545 Tea & Coffee 1600 AGM 1630 Presidential Address 1700 Council meeting 1930 Annual Dinner and presentation of awards Overnight accommodation at the Stables complex Friday 23rd September: -

0730 Breakfast and depart

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Horizons

Event: Compliance in Bulk Materials 2016 Date: 22 September 2016 Venue: IMechE Engineering Training Centre, Sheffield Organised by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the upcoming Compliance in Bulk Materials Handling is a one day seminar that will cover the latest developments in bulk materials compliance, with particular focus on ATEX and DSEAR directives. With major parts of the industry either in the process of implementing the new Industrial Emis-sions Directive (IED) or preparing for that change, now is the time to come together to discuss how the engineers can help shape the emissions limits (on dust and water) of the directives. Key topics include: Detailed overview of current ATEX and DSEAR regulations Case studies and lessons learned from dust explosions The essentials of Functional Safety Silos Euro-Code: successfully ensuring safety and structural security in large storage vessels Best practice to avoid criticalities in the food industry Major hazards in bulk materials handling and compliance with COMAH 2015 Speakers include representatives from: ABP Humber Ports, Gexcon, Environment Agency, ATEX Explosions Haz-ards, University of Milan, DEKRA Insight, Engineering Safety Consultants and The Wolfson Centre for Bulk Solids Handling Technology. For full details and to book your place visit www.imeche.org/bulkhandling2016 Discount information: Minerals Engineering Society members are warmly invited to join and benefit from this event. Secure the supporting partner rate and save 10%, simply select “supporting organisation” when booking your place.

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Issue 24

Southern Group AGM 2016

Northern Group AGM 2016

The MES would like to thank all who contributed to this edition of Horizons.

The Southern Group AGM was held at Willesley Park Golf Club on 26th May 2016 with only 7 members attending. The Chairman, Arthur Morgan gave his report on the successful events held by SG over the last year, namely the Hopley lecture with an attendance of 81 and the exceptional Caterpillar technical visit. The following members were elected as follows for 2016/17:- Chairman Neil Jenkinson Secretary David Baillie Treasurer Douglas Jenkinson

Committee Members and Council Representatives Brian Everitt Mike Gurr Neil Jenkinson Arthur Morgan Des Redmond

The new Chairman received the Chairman’s Jewel from the retiring Chair-man before thanking Arthur for his excellent previous two-year term as SG Chairman.

The Northern Group held it’s AGM on Monday,25th April 2016 and, as usual, out of a membership of 146, it was disappointing to have only 7 hardy soles in at-tendance !!! In the absence of the previous Chairman, Greg Kelley, (who was on yet another cruise) Peter Skinner was inaugurated as our new Chairman by Andrew How-ells. The result of the Group election was as follows :- Chairman - Peter Skinner. Vice Chairman - Andrew Howells. Secretary/Treasurer - Colin Scargill. Committee Members - Vic Branfoot, Peter Cooper, Greg Kelley, John Sowter. Steve Pringle was invited to join the Committee as a co-opted member to which he agreed and was unanimously elected.

The Chairman thanked all the members of the Committee for their support and commitment over the previous year in keeping the Northern Group alive and active. He particularly highlighted the great effort put in to get 17 members to travel down to Devon to visit the Hemerdon Tungsten Mine. Peter said he is optimistic about the viable future of the Society and he wants to be part of it. He is looking to put an interesting programme in place for the 2016/2017 Session and asks for everyone’s support at both Technical and Social events.

News, News, News.

I am pleased to announce that Dr Les King, of Doosan Babcock Energy Limited, has accepted an invitation to present the 2016 Energy Science Lecture. Dr King joined Babcock and Wilcox (Operations) Lim-ited’s Research Centre in Renfrew in 1977 after graduat-ing with a PhD from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. In his early career he worked in the fossil and nu-clear sectors, and by the mid-1980s was heavily involved in the company’s low NOx burner development and ap-plication to NOx reduction in the UK coal fired fleet. He subsequently developed, through a range of roles in the organisation, to Vice- President Power and Technology in 2010. In 2013 he became MD of the PC Boiler Busi-ness Unit. He is currently Director of Technology, Policy and Liaison for Doosan Babcock Energy Limited. This role covers a number of activities, providing legislative and technical advice to the organisation, as the transition to a low carbon economy is initiated in the UK and Euro-pean power and process markets. His lecture is entitled “How UK thermal power plants cleaned up their act… for what future?” and will take place at the University House Conference Centre, Uni-versity of Leeds at 6.00pm on Tuesday, 20th September 2016 preceded by tea and biscuits from 5.15 pm. At the end of the lecture there will be a short ceremony during which the Energy Science Medal will be presented to Dr Les King. After this presentation there will be a re-ception with drinks and buffet for all those attending. BF2RA Research Presentations Again, this year, a selection of PhD students will be pre-senting projects for which BF2RA has given them grants. The students will be giving their presentations between 2.30pm and 5.00pm also in the Conference Centre. There will be a cash prize to the student with the best presentation.

Society News

After the success of last year’s meeting the 2016 Na-tional Meeting and AGM will again be held at The Stables Conference Centre, High Melton, Doncaster. The meeting will start with a lunch on Thursday at 12:30 followed by two presentations from members of the Society.

After a short break this will be followed by the Socie-ty's AGM.

On Thursday evening there will be an informal awards dinner commencing at 7:30pm .

The meeting concludes on Friday morning with breakfast.

Again this year the cost to members is being subsi-dised with the cost for whole event starting with Lunch on Thursday and concluding with Breakfast on Friday and including overnight accommodation being only £35.

National Meeting & AGM

22nd& 23rd September 2016 Stables Conference Centre

Doncaster

The Society’s AGM will commence at 4pm on Thursday 22nd Septem-ber 2016 at The Stables, High Melon, Doncaster.

The informal awards din-ner will take place at

7:30pm in the restaurant of The Stables Conference Centre, pre dinner drinks with the President will be served from 7pm onwards, in the bar.

AGM

Dinner

The Christmas Dinner and Dance will be held again at it’s new venue of Ye Olde Bell Barnby Moor on Friday 2nd December 2016

Save the Date:

Horizons

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