The parable of the blind man and the elephant!

Dr Chris Greet's career has been varied, multifaceted, a real mixture of operational and research activities.  Chris started in 1978 as a Trainee Metallurgist for Bradken in Adelaide and Sydney, before shifting to Western Australia to work at Seltrust’s Teutonic Bore copper/zinc mine as a shift foreman.  While at Teutonic Bore Chris realised that he could be a metallurgist so enrolled in a Bachelor of Engineering in Metallurgical Engineering in 1985, at the South Australian Institute of Technology.  After graduating, Chris has held various metallurgical roles with Ok Tedi Mining Limited, Mount Isa Mines, Pasminco and AMDEL, before joining Magotteaux in 2003. Chris undertook his PhD with The Wark at the University of South Australia, and was awarded in 2002

Put simply, flotation is a surface chemical phenomenon which relies on differences in the hydrophobicity between the valuable minerals and the gangue in the pulp to achieve a separation.  Ultimately, the comminution/classification circuit within a concentrator is more than just a mechanism to obtain a specific particle size distribution, but is also critical to achieving the desired particle surface chemistry.  Fortunately, the industrial flotation process is remarkably robust, however significant improvements can be achieved by firstly measuring some basic pulp chemical parameters (pH, Eh, dissolved oxygen, temperature, oxygen demand and EDTA extractable metal ions), and secondly used these data for better control.  The objective of this seminar is to impart how the composition of the grinding media can influence particle hydrophobicity and the flotation response, and secondly explore how measurement of pulp chemical parameters can be used to improve flotation outcomes.