Calendar of international conferences, symposia, courses and meetings of interest
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Conference Reports 143 International Symposium on Research and Development in Extractive Metallurgy of Tin and Related Metals The above symposium was held at the Royal Casuarina Hotel, Ipoh, Malaysia, from 17th to 21st October 1988. It was organised by the Universiti Sains Malaysia, in association with the Southeast Asia Tin Research and Development (SEATRAD) Centre, and was sponsored by the Institution of Engineers of Malaysia. About 100 delegates attended, mainly from Malaysia and the other Southeast Asian tin-producing countries Thailand and Indonesia, with a small contingent from Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, China, India, Japan, Nigeria and the UK. Around twenty-five papers were presented, dealing with research and development carried out in recent years in the fields of both primary and secondary extraction of tin and other related metals, with a view to increasing efficiency and throughputs and lowering costs. The symposium was opened by Malaysia's Deputy Minister of Primary Industries, Datuk Alias Md. All, who spoke of Malaysia's need to use cost-effective methods of tin mining in the face of competition from Brazil, which is poised to overtake Malaysia as the world's biggest producer, having larger and higher grade deposits. SEATRAD's activities are now aimed primarily at reducing production costs and assisting the industry in this period of low tin prices. Five of the technical sessions were preceded by keynote speeches by invited speakers from around the world. A. Hasbi, general Manager of HICOM Diecastings, Malaysia, and a former Director of SEATRAD, discussed issues on research and development with reference to tin and related metals in the context of a developing country, arguing that much research effort is aimed only at generating technical publications, with little effort being made to promote practical application. Many of the developments which have taken place in the Malaysian tin industry have been due to the ingenuity of the miners themselves rather than to R & D operations, and Dr. Hasbi argued for stronger links between R & D centres and industry, and that the success of R & D programmes be judged not only on the number of publications produced. This paper generated some controversy, and P.R. Khangaonkar of the National Metallurgical Laboratory, Madras, India, argued that research leading to publications only was also of value, as a potential source of information to other workers. He instanced Geological Surveys, which may have no immediate practical value but provide important published data for future developments. Prof. Khangaonkar also gave a keynote speech reviewing the available thermodynamic data on various aspects of the extractive metallurgy of tin. Although tin is a low melting point metal and amenable to reduction from its oxide by common reducing agents, the nature of the gangue precludes its successful melting at low temperatures. High slag temperatures lead to a very fluid metal, which is difficult to hold without seepage through furnace joints, as well as appreciable loss of metal to slag and to fume, etc. The resultant retreatment requirements make the overall extractive metallurgy process lengthy and complicated. New approaches involving hydrometallurgy, chloride metallurgy or injection techniques are therefore welcome steps for improvements in the technology of tin extraction. One of the major problems in the beneficiation of cassiterite is the high losses which are often incurred due to the production of ultra-fine particles. This is particularly serious in the treatment of hard-rock tin ores, and B.A. Wills of the Camborne School of Mines, England, discussed developments which have taken place in South-West England to try to combat this problem. Many interesting developments in tin flotation have originated from Cornwall, the Wheal Jane mine having used flotation since start-up in 1971. Column flotation has recently been incorporated into the circuit, with substantial improvements in concentrate grades. Tin flotation feeds need efficient de-sliming, and Dr. Wills spoke of the contribution that Richard Mozley's company has made, the 2- inch hydrocyclone being widely used for such duties. Such cyclones 'cut' at about 7 microns, but the particle size range treated by flotation can now be extended down to only 3 microns, by the use of Mozley cyclones of only 10 mm in diameter. Wheal Jane uses a sulphosuccinamate collector, and this and other cassiterite flotation reagents were discussed by T. Wakamatsu of Kyoto University, Japan, who reviewed current flotation practices for the treatment of tin ores and the rare earth minerals monazite, zircon and xenotime.
Transcript of Calendar of international conferences, symposia, courses and meetings of interest
Conference Reports 143
International Symposium on Research and Development in Extractive Metallurgy of Tin and Related Metals
The above symposium was held at the Royal Casuarina Hotel, Ipoh, Malaysia, from 17th to 21st October 1988. It was organised by the Universiti Sains Malaysia, in association with the Southeast Asia Tin Research and Development (SEATRAD) Centre, and was sponsored by the Institution of Engineers of Malaysia. About 100 delegates attended, mainly from Malaysia and the other Southeast Asian tin-producing countries Thailand and Indonesia, with a small contingent from Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, China, India, Japan, Nigeria and the UK. Around twenty-five papers were presented, dealing with research and development carried out in recent years in the fields of both primary and secondary extraction of tin and other related metals, with a view to increasing efficiency and throughputs and lowering costs.
The symposium was opened by Malaysia's Deputy Minister of Primary Industries, Datuk Alias Md. All, who spoke of Malaysia's need to use cost-effective methods of tin mining in the face of competition from Brazil, which is poised to overtake Malaysia as the world's biggest producer, having larger and higher grade deposits. SEATRAD's activities are now aimed primarily at reducing production costs and assisting the industry in this period of low tin prices.
Five of the technical sessions were preceded by keynote speeches by invited speakers from around the world. A. Hasbi, general Manager of HICOM Diecastings, Malaysia, and a former Director of SEATRAD, discussed issues on research and development with reference to tin and related metals in the context of a developing country, arguing that much research effort is aimed only at generating technical publications, with little effort being made to promote practical application. Many of the developments which have taken place in the Malaysian tin industry have been due to the ingenuity of the miners themselves rather than to R & D operations, and Dr. Hasbi argued for stronger links between R & D centres and industry, and that the success of R & D programmes be judged not only on the number of publications produced. This paper generated some controversy, and P.R. Khangaonkar of the National Metallurgical Laboratory, Madras, India, argued that research leading to publications only was also of value, as a potential source of information to other workers. He instanced Geological Surveys, which may have no immediate practical value but provide important published data for future developments.
Prof. Khangaonkar also gave a keynote speech reviewing the available thermodynamic data on various aspects of the extractive metallurgy of tin. Although tin is a low melting point metal and amenable to reduction from its oxide by common reducing agents, the nature of the gangue precludes its successful melting at low temperatures. High slag temperatures lead to a very fluid metal, which is difficult to hold without seepage through furnace joints, as well as appreciable loss of metal to slag and to fume, etc. The resultant retreatment requirements make the overall extractive metallurgy process lengthy and complicated. New approaches involving hydrometallurgy, chloride metallurgy or injection techniques are therefore welcome steps for improvements in the technology of tin extraction.
One of the major problems in the beneficiation of cassiterite is the high losses which are often incurred due to the production of ultra-fine particles. This is particularly serious in the treatment of hard-rock tin ores, and B.A. Wills of the Camborne School of Mines, England, discussed developments which have taken place in South-West England to try to combat this problem. Many interesting developments in tin flotation have originated from Cornwall, the Wheal Jane mine having used flotation since start-up in 1971. Column flotation has recently been incorporated into the circuit, with substantial improvements in concentrate grades. Tin flotation feeds need efficient de-sliming, and Dr. Wills spoke of the contribution that Richard Mozley's company has made, the 2- inch hydrocyclone being widely used for such duties. Such cyclones 'cut' at about 7 microns, but the particle size range treated by flotation can now be extended down to only 3 microns, by the use of Mozley cyclones of only 10 mm in diameter.
Wheal Jane uses a sulphosuccinamate collector, and this and other cassiterite flotation reagents were discussed by T. Wakamatsu of Kyoto University, Japan, who reviewed current flotation practices for the treatment of tin ores and the rare earth minerals monazite, zircon and xenotime.
144 Conference Reports
Titanium minerals have been a significant factor in the world's economy, producing products such as titanium oxide pigment, titanium metal and welding electrodes. H.N. Sinha of CSIRO, Port Melbourne, Australia, critically reviewed the occurrence and reserves of titanium minerals and pigment production techniques. He also described in detail the researches carried out on synthetic rutile and ilmenite upgrading processes. Various methods used for the production of titanium metal were also discussed.
In general the quality of the papers presented in the technical sessions was high, and the material original, which is indeed a refreshing change. It is a pity that the papers did not generate more lively debate, the audience being a little reticent at times in participating in discussion. The proceedings of the conference, which will be of great value to all those working in this field, are to be published shortly by the Universiti Sains Malaysia, and copies can be ordered from Dr. Radzali Othman, School of Materials and Mineral Resources Engineering, Perak Branch Campus, Jalan Bandaraya, 30000 Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia.
Ipoh is situated in the heart of the Kinta Valley, the world's largest alluvial tin field, and the last two days of the symposium were devoted to two field trips, visiting dredging, gravel pump and smelting operations, as well as the Ipoh-based Mines Research Institute, SEATRAD Centre and Geological Survey.
The symposium was faultlessly organised and the organising committee are to be congratulated not only on this but also on the hospitality provided. All in all, a very worthwhile meeting, which hopefully will be repeated at not too infrequent intervals.
The Kinta Valley from the air, showing the environmental impact of alluvial mining (courtesy K.Hosking)
B.A. Wills
Reviewers
D.E. Jenkinson is a consultant for Jenkins Ltd, Retford, Notts. DN22 7AN, UK
R.C. Villas Boas is Associate Professor in the Dept. Engng. Metalurgica, Universidade Fed. do Rio de Janeiro, caixa postal 68505, 20000 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
S.T. Hall is a lecturer at Camborne School of Mines, Pool, Redruth, Cornwall, England
B.A. Wills is a principal lecturer at Camborne School of Mines, Pool, Redruth, Cornwall, England
