MinSouth Videos

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Technical Meeting: 14th December 2023, “The past, present, and future of kaolin exploitation in Cornwall”

Mr Bill Cooper MSc ACSM MIMMM is a exploration and resource geologist with Imerys Minerals Limited, who has worked in the mining industry for 16 years, in a variety of roles. These include underground and open pit mining geology in the Eastern Goldfields of Australia, mineral exploration in Australia and Western USA, and exploration and resource estimation consulting in the UK.

Prestige Lecture: 8th June 2023, “The advancement of UK’s REE self-sustenance”

Mr. Atherley is chairman of Pensana Plc. Pensana is developing one of the world’s largest Rare Earth deposits vital for electric vehicles, wind turbines, and other strategic industries and is looking to establish a separation facility at the Saltend Chemical Park, Humber UK.

Tees Valley Lithium has planning approval for Europe’s Lithium Refinery at the Wilton International Chemicals Park Teesside UK.

Mr. Atherley is an experienced resources executive and a strong supporter of women in STEM.

Joint Women in Mining, MinSouth Lecture, 18th May 2023

“Indigenous Women in the Mining Industry: From Challenges to Opportunities”. This discussion brought together a diverse group of global Indigenous women leaders who will share the challenges they continue to encounter in the mining industry while embracing the opportunities. The moderator for this panel discussion will be Stacy Hope Ph.D. fom WIM UK

Young Persons Lecture Compitition March 2023 Hybrid meeting at Royal School of Mines London

This years compitition winner: Lara Tritton, from the University of Leicester, presented: “Sourcing critical metals Te, Bi and W as by-products from Björkdal Gold Mine, Sweden”

Te, W and Bi are on many critical metals lists, and my work aims to source these metals as by-products from gold mining using environmentally-benign, low-cost Deep Eutectic Solvents (DESs), with Björkdal as a feasibility study.

Gold deposits are often enriched in other rare metals, and Björkdal produces gold concentrates and waste (tailings) variably rich in Te, Bi and W-bearing minerals. Currently, there are few economical options by which to extract these additional metals. Developing a method for their recovery on site would be ideal for meeting demand without opening new mines.

Tracing the flows of Te, Bi and W through the processing plant, and mineralogically characterising feed, tailings and concentrates reveals some promisingly high enrichments. The next steps are to test the feasibility of inserting DES leaching stages and/or altering the processing procedures.

YPLC – In joint second place: Marek Zastapilo from Imperial College, presents – Iron oxide impurities in ore concentrates from the Moma titanium mine, Mozambique – their origin and implications for processing.

The ore processing plant in Moma, Mozambique is responsible for the manufacturing of various iron-titanium products, which involves separation of the major ore minerals into different fractions. In this work, the mineralogy of concentrates from the fraction supposed to undergo the final processing step is investigated, in order to determine the source of iron oxide impurities in a monomineralic ilmenite fraction. Scanning electron microscopy of the concentrates reveals that most samples contain significant numbers of composite iron oxide mineral grains, in addition to a minor hematite component within the ilmenite population. This goes against previous theories, which attributed the lowered titanium content solely to a supposed high degree of hematite within the ilmenite grain population The results allow for the introduction of an improved separation method.

YPLC- In joint second place: Oscar Ryans from WSP presents – Tailings Storage Dam Break Assessment – Triple Cascade Failure

Breaches from Tailings Storage Dams can have catastrophic impacts. It is therefore imperative to understand the potential impacts before constructing any tailings storage facility (TSF). This is especially true when dealing with the impact of cumulative breaches from more than one TSF. This presentation will focus on a mine site in which a potential triple cascade failure could take place, with a breach from one TSF leading to a breach of two further dams downstream. The analysis required the evaluation of credible failure modes, and the estimation of outflow volumes and breach parameters for each facility. Due to the material deposited in TSFs, it was necessary to undertake rheological analysis to understand whether the material would demonstrate non-Newtonian flow characteristics during the breach. The final simulation used 2D modelling in HEC-RAS software, with the results carried forward to inform the consequence classification of the mine’s proposed new facility.

Technical Meeting, 12th January 2023, a Hybrid Lecture. Courtney Gendron, MPH, CIH Senior Occupational Hygienist with WSP Golder, Canada. Presents: “Worker Health Considerations in Rare Earth Element Mining”

Courtney is an Occupational Hygienist with WSP Golder Canada, based on Nanaimo British Columbia. She has over ten years of experience within the disciples of environment, health and safety (EHS), and community health. Courtney graduated with a Master of Public Health in Occupational and Environmental Health from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of Western Ontario. Courtney’s primary focus is managing occupational hygiene programs and performing risk assessments in the mining sector. Courtney is committed to applying her scientific knowledge to protect workers and their communities through open communication of risk.

Technical Meeting, 10th November 2022, a Virtual Lecture. Katie Fedosenko, Director, ESG Engagement (Teck Resources Limited) presents “Trends & Best Practices in ESG in Mining”

Since joining Teck in 2013, Katie has held progressively more senior roles within sustainability and external affairs, leading Teck’s award-winning sustainability reporting and ESG disclosure and most recently embedding sustainability into Teck’s transformation program RACE21. Prior to joining Teck, Katie was a freelance writer and communications consultant who worked for ENGOs. She holds of Bachelor of Arts in English (Honours) from the University of British Columbia.

Technical Meeting, 18th October 2022, hybrid Lecture in The Counting House. Ken Darlington, Vice-President of Business Development for Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation (USNC) gives a presentation on Using Micro Nuclear Reactors at mining operations.

USNC , based in Seattle, USA and active in the UK, is committed to bringing safe, commercially competitive, clean and reliable nuclear energy to global power and industrial markets. Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation,  is a global leader and vertical integrator of nuclear technologies and services, on Earth and in Space. Ken introduces a green technology to power mining operations. He is an engineer and has been involved in mining and metallurgical projects around the world.

Prestige Lecture: 9th June 2022, hybrid lecture in The Counting House. Lucy Crane, An Exploration Geologist by training, presently the ESG & Sustainability Manager for Cornish Lithium. Presents Lithium in Cornwall: The Foundation For A Responsible UK Battery Supply Chain

Cornish Lithium is an innovative mineral exploration and development company, focussed on the environmentally responsible extraction of lithium from geothermal waters and hard rock in Cornwall. In this talk, Lucy will describe the Company’s approach to utilising new technologies to unlock the potential to extract critical metals such as lithium in a low carbon and responsible manner.

It should be said that Lucy is the first Women presenter of a Prestige lecture. Lucy also won a grant from MinSouth whilst a student at CSM.

Technical Meeting: Joint meeting with Women In Mining 19th May 2022 Hybrid Meeting, held at I.M3 Warren Street Office. Dr Santos introduces technology to clean up mine waste including acidic mine waterDr Ana Santos. Ana graduated with a PhD from Bangor University in 2018 and is currently a Research Fellow in Geomicrobiology at the London Natural History Museum.

Her Lecture is on “Microbial-based technologies for extraction and recovery of metals from mine wastes”. These waste materials contain concentrations of critical and other metals that make them attractive for reprocessing using bioleaching and bioremediation technologies, with the important secondary benefit that this can eliminate or greatly reduce the threat that these wastes pose to the surrounding environments. Strategies have been developed for extracting and recovering metals from both solid and aqueous mine wastes and example of these strategies are presented as case studies.

SNAP MEETING: 27th April, virtual meeting, Glynn Williams, CEO of Silixa, introduces its Fibre Optic solution for monitoring Tailings Dams.

Glynn introduces Silixa’s unique solution using Fiber Optics they can monitor Tailings Dams. The technology evolved from the oil industry. It has other applications from measuring stress and strain in open pit slopes to measuring flow of fluids in pipes.

Technical Meeting: 14th April 2022, hybrid meeting at the Counting House. Peter Robinson, Chairman, British Fluorspar Ltd presented his lecture: Past, Present and Future of the Milldam Mine

Peter discusses the past, present and future of the Milldam operation which is operated by Fluorsid. The mine is in a UK National Park which created its own environmental challenges. Fluorspar is a strategic mineral and Milldam mine is operated in a sustainable manor.

SNAP MEETING: 22nd March, Dr. Robert Pell, Founder and CEO of MINVIRO introduces his company to us.

Robert’s lecture is titled: “Crash Course to LCA in Mining.”

Robert Pell PhD is the Founder & Director of Minviro, a spin-out company from the University of Exeter. Minviro supports mining companies in adopting life cycle assessment approaches to their projects, highlighting environmental impacts and opportunities for improvements during the development stages of projects.

Robert completed his PhD at Camborne School of Mines (University of Exeter) as part of the NERC funded SoSRare project on the topic ‘responsible sourcing of rare earth elements. During this project novel, life cycle assessment approaches were developed and applied to rare earth projects in the pre-feasibility stage of development.

A unique method to apply life cycle assessment to mine planning was also developed and these technologies have been further refined and applied in commercial settings. Prior to this Robert worked as Assistant Editor at International Mining, a globally distributed magazine covering technical innovations and project case studies for the mining industry.

10th March 2022 Young Persons Lecture Competition MinSouth Heats. The heats were held virtually.

YPLC 10th March 2022 Martha Needs (the heat winner) presents: Reducing the Risk of Legacy Tailings Facilities

Tailings are an unavoidable product of mining industry. Despite this, the design, operation and closure of tailings storage facilities are often an afterthought in the mine lifecycle. Managing the geotechnical, environmental and social risks inappropriately have made tailings storage facilities one of the highest risk assets on a mining site, and closed legacy facilities have proven to be some of the most critical challenges for the industry. This study identifies the key hazards of legacy tailings storage facilities and presents a remediation framework to establish successful closure. This has been achieved through investigation and sensitivity analysis of the key hazards seen at tailings storage facilities globally, and comprehensive assessment of a closure case study project in Central Asia.

YPLC 10th March Manvir Dhillon pesents: How does Lithium mining contribute to domestic water shortages in Northern Chile?

The demand for Lithium-based resources is expected to triple by 2025, due to increased battery demand. Lithium brine Extraction is a method of mining that has negative environmental consequences. Chile, accounting for 38% of the worlds lithium’s reserves, has increased its Lithium mining operations cover from 20.54km2 to 80.53km2 – predominately in the Atacama Desert. This project is centred in the Atacama Desert, where lithium Is extracted from brine. Brine extractions have resulted in water extraction to be 21% greater than the flow of water into the Atacama; contributing to the further aridity and the domestic water shortages for the region. Through secondary research and online interviews, this project investigates the effects brine extraction has on the local communities and offers a prediction on groundwater stores till 2040 if this method of lithium mining continues.

YPLC 10th March 2022 John Morley presents: Increasing Demand for Minerals and Metals for the Green Energy Transition – a Wicked Problem?

Demand for minerals and metals is rapidly increasing due to their inextricable link to climate change. A vicious cycle is generated as the mining of minerals and metals for green energy products requires vast quantities of energy to produce. Increasing demand often goes hand in hand with increased illegal activity and mining. Metals such as cobalt, lithium and tantalum, used in modern battery technology, are often touted in the media due to the conditions and legality of their mining. Within the public sphere, little thought is often given to the huge quantities of base metals and minerals required for the green energy transition. Often hidden are the extensive quantities of aggregates required to make the concrete needed for green energy infrastructure. The increased extraction and use of all minerals and metals create a wicked problem that must be faced for the green energy transition to be truly sustainable.

YPLC 10th March 2022: David Coulton – Backfill Design: Engineering Waste for Sustainable Mining

Global demand for metals has never been greater, and with the transit to green technologies this demand is only expected to increase. Falling ore grades, means mines produce a higher proportion of waste per tonne of metal. Backfilling offers a way to utilise this waste product to fill voids left by underground excavations. Backfill is typically an afterthought when it comes to underground mine design with a basic backfill design implemented out of geotechnical necessity. Correct design of backfill improves the resource of a mine and provides environmental benefits. Encapsulation the waste underground reduces waste storage on surface and immobilizes minerals preventing leaching and Acid Mine Drainage (AMD). This presentation will provide an overview to the backfill design process and quantify the possible benefits from optimisation including: Tailings Storage Facility (TSF) size, mine resource, mining costs, and cement usage (CO2 emissions).

10th February 2022, Technical meeting, lecture presented online by the former leader of the Mineral and Energy sector portfolio at the Afghanstan President’s Office, Ismail Amin will be discussing “Present day opportunities and the future of mining in Afghanistan and more”

13th January 2022, Technical meeting, presented online by Professor Richard Herrington of the London Natural History Museum “Mining our way towards a green future”

The concept of a “Circular Economy” is a key component for the transition to a green and more sustainable future. However, what will a circular economy look like? Can it be achieved and how? Are certain resources more crucial or suited for a circular economy? How will it affect the extractive industries?

Prof. Richard Herrington, Head of Earth Science Department at the Natural History Museum, and experienced economic geologist will share his views on the topic.

14th October 2021, Technical Meeting, Presented at the Counting House and online, Mike Armitage Presents “Welsh Gold and exploring for gold with the Sarn Helen Gold Exploration Company”

Mike tells us about the history of gold mining in Wales and introduces the company that he is using to explore for gold in Wales.

23 November 2021 Snap meeting: Kari Lentowicz, a First Nations women from the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation in Northern Saskatchewan, Canada, will be presenting Diversity in Mining: An Indigenous Female’s Perspective.  This has been arranged jointly with Women In Mining UK.  

Kair Lentowicz, from the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation in Northern Saskatchewan, Canada, is a Jill-of-all-trades,with 20 years of experience in the mining industry and currently runs her own consulting company will be presenting this lecture.

13th July 2021 Snap Meeting: Joe Carr, Mining Innovation Director  at Axora will be presenting about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine vision for safety in operation

Joe introduces us to AI and informs us how it can improve mine maintenance and safety on mines.

22nd June 2021 Snap Meeting: Gareth Thomas, MD of Metal Innovations, introduces his powerful mini mining machines.

Gareth tells us how his mining tools have increased production in coal mines and how they can follow lead veins leaving the waste underground – thus increasing profits and reducing the environmental impact of mining.

10th June 2021 Prestige Lecture: Tin, the essential technology Metal

This years Prestige Lecture is presented by Owen Mihalop, Chief Operating Officer, of Cornish Metals will talk about Tin, its uses, the market, operating mines and new mines coming on stream including South Crofty.

13th May 2021 Technical Meeting: Blockchain technology in the Mining Industry

Tanya Matveeva will be presenting Blockchain technology for the mining industry: what is blockchain, where it works for us now and what is the bright and not-too-distant future for all mining industry stakeholders.  This is a joint presentation of MinSouth and Women in Mining UK.

27th April 2021 Snap meeting: “Challenging the Orthodoxy of Traditional InSAR Ground Motion Surveys“

Presented by: Dr. Andrew Sowtor, Chief Technical Officer of Terra Motion

Over the last 20 years or so, Interferometric SAR (InSAR) has become an established method for measuring land motion from satellites and, since the advent of free data from remote sensing missions such as Sentinel-1, can be a very cost-effective way to support civil engineering and infrastructure asset management projects.  However, there is a serious downside in that most current techniques, such as PSInSAR and SBAS, are very poor at monitoring motion over rural landcover, such as soils and vegetated surfaces.  In this presentation, Dr Andy Sowter from Terra Motion Limited will describe the current capability of satellite InSAR and, using case studies from the mining industry, show how he and his colleagues have seriously challenged the preconceptions of InSAR experts everywhere, opening up new and exciting opportunities for ubiquitous and remote ground motion monitoring at all latitudes and in all terrains.

8th April 2021: Technical Meeting – ScotGold Resources Limited’s Cononish Mine Update.

Scotgold Resources Limited returned to MinSouth after almost exactly 7 years, 10th April 2014, to update us on Scotland’s first commercial gold mine, Cononish. Presented online by Richard Gray, Non Executive Director, and a Mining Engineer.

23 February 2021: Snap Meeting – Greener Mining: Is it Achievable and How?

Tim Patterson, CEO of Fuel Economy Solution (http://www.fueleconomysolution.com) offers routes to greener mining. If your organisation is interested in any of the technologies described in this presentation please feel free to contact support@fueleconomysolution.com   for further information.

Young Persons Lecture Competition 11th March 2021 online presentation from –

This years MinSouth heat winner: Alex Lipp, RSM, “All the world in a grain of sand? Geochemical surveying by unmixing of large-river sediments”

Geochemical surveying provides information essential to mineral exploration and environmental baseline monitoring. However, dense spatial surveying is costly, slow and logistically challenging. Novel methods which can produce geochemical maps but minimise these downsides are therefore highly desirable. Typically, geochemical surveys sample stream-sediments from small river catchments across the target region. Here, I will describe how we can instead use smaller numbers of samples extracted from large rivers to reconstruct the geochemistry of the source region. This novel approach ‘un-mixes’ the geochemistry of downstream sediment samples using an inverse method to produce a geochemical map of the source-region. This approach is demonstrated with a case-study from the Cairngorms, UK: using just 67 downstream samples we are able to produce geochemical maps that compare favourably with independently gathered geochemical-survey maps produced with more than 100 times as many samples. This novel method could therefore reduce the logistical, temporal and financial cost of geochemical mapping.

Finlay Goodwin, CSM, “The Tin Bearing Pegmatites of Uis, Namibia”

The area of Uis is situated within the Erongo region of Namibia. The area comprises the margins of several granite plutons, likely to represent the upper, fluid-saturated cupola of intrusions that themselves contain zones of intense tourmalinisation and pegmatite formation. These granite-hosted pegmatites do not contain tin mineralisation. By contrast, the exogranitic pegmatites in the Uis pegmatite belt are pervasively stanniferous and CGM-bearing, and are believed to be metamorphogenic in origin, related to the late stages of the Damaran orogenesis – accordingly they are likely to be genetically unrelated to the adjacent granite intrusion. Characterisation of the contrasting mineralised and unmineralised pegmatites is considered to be important for any future assessment of the prospectivity of the region. In this presentation, an alternative hypothesis is put forward, presenting evidence that the Uis pegmatite swarms may have evolved along a single liquid line of descent from a granitic parent magma.

Alexander Moss, CSM “Exploration for LCT Pegmatites in Leinster, Ireland”

Lithium bearing pegmatites were first discovered along the eastern margin of the Leinster Granite, Ireland in the 1980’s. At the time it was noted “if only we have had a use for lithium”, now, 40 years on, societal demand for lithium is set to increase due to the rise in interest in EVs and the green agenda. Following this increase in interest in lithium, prospecting for lithium in the area was renewed. Modern mineral exploration techniques were deployed, including geostatistics, to build a model of lithium prospectivity for the region. The known occurrences of lithium mineralisation were used to train a fuzzy logic model of lithium prospectivity along the eastern margin of the Leinster Granite, before extending its utility to northern portions of the Leinster Granite. This study presents the geostatistical methods utilised, including potential issues with the technique and ideas for future work and improvements to the model.

12th November 2020 Sensors and Mining, virtual meeting.

Andrew Bamber from BARA Consulting Presents: Modifying your Modifying Factors with the use of Sensors.

Sensors come in many forms and can be used for many things, but possibly the best use of sensors is for the discovery, definition, and characterization of ore bodies both before and during mining activity. This talk will review several types of sensor plus examples of use in each of these roles, and present some case study examples of where either significant dilution or loss was avoided through the application of sensor technology.

Gordon Stove from Adrok presents: Low-carbon, Low-cost, Low-risk, High value-adding Technology for Mineral Exploration;

Sensors come in many forms and can be used for many things, but possibly the best use of sensors is for the discovery, definition, and characterization of ore bodies both before and during mining activity. This talk will review several types of sensor plus examples of use in each of these roles, and present some case study examples of where either significant dilution or loss was avoided through the application of sensor technology.

8th October 2020 Intelligent Robotic Mining Systems

Dr. Steve Henley presents results of intelligent underwater robot trials at Ecton Mine for the EU funded UNEXMIN project, commercialization of UNEXMIN with UNEXUP and the robotic mining project, Robominers.

11th June 2020 Prestige Lecture – Virtual meeting

Neil Kermode, Managing Director of the European Marine Energy Centre Ltd

presents

The Relevance of Mining in a Climate Change World

(Harvesting energy and mining materials)

Chairperson: Sue Struthers – MinSouth President

13th May 2020 Kathryn Hadler, MinSouth and Women in Mining Joint Meeting

Kathryn is a minerals processing engineer at Imperial College, her talk is on ““Dry Mineral Processing – for the Moon and Earth”.

14th November 2019, MinSouth Exploration Forum:

Antony Benham of SRK Exploration provides an update on what we know so far about the geology and prospects of the Arabian-Nubian Shield

Simon Large of the Natural History Museum talks about the FAMOS project in general and his work on the giant Los-Bronces porphyry Cu deposit district (Chile). He will show how they integrate current research interests in igneous petrology with application to exploration.

14th October 2019 Pat Willis of Bara Consulting shared some lessons learnt through performing feasibility studies. Over the last 10 years or so Patrick Wills of Bara Consulting has undertaken numerous studies and reviews. He will share some of the more important lessons learnt and personal frustrations in undertaking studies.  He will then highlight some common issues arising from reviews (be they formal due diligence, expert witness roles or peer reviews). He stresses that this is not a tick box on how to undertake studies or how to comply with stock exchange codes but rather a more light-hearted approach to the subject.

9th September 2019 Philip Shaw of SureWave Technology Ltd gave a short presentation on new technology for monitoring of tailings dams, followed by a panel discussion with Hans Otto, Senior Tailings Engineer with Golder Associates (MinSouth Silver sponsor) and Brett Garland of Knight Piésold (MinSouth Silver sponsor).  Thank you Brett for standing in for John Thuysbaert who was called away on the morning of the talk.

13th May 2019 A joint Women in Mining and MinSouth’s event in recognition of the 150th anniversary of the establishment of IOM3’s earliest predecessor, the Iron and Steel Institute

Gavin Bowyer, MinSouth Council member gives a brief history of MinSouth, followed by Fiona Cessford MSc, PrSciNat, Director and Corporate Consultant (Environment) at SRK Consulting (UK) on “Impact assessment and feasibility studies – amalgamate or separate”.

8th April 2019 Presented by Roger Emmot, a recent past president of MinSouth and presently a Consultant to the Iron and Steel industry “150 years of Steel”

Young Persons Lecture Competition

Young Persons Lecture Compitition MinSouth heat 2019
Sidharth Talan (Imperial College) “Risk-based Maintenance of Mining Equipment”
MinSouth heat winner

Young Persons Lecture Competition MinSouth heat 2019 – Luc Phillips (CSM) “The Operational Running of a Remote Junior Open Pit Gold Mining Operation”

Young Persons Lecture Compeitition 2019 Joshua Rasera (Imperial College) “Mining on the Moon: The Future of Space Exploration”