The last nominations to the International Mining Technology Hall of Fame (www.im-halloffame.com) indicate that comminution will be one of the hottest categories with Samuel McLanahan, Elizabeth Lewis-Gray, the CEEC, John Starkey, Prof Alban Lynch, T.C. Rao, Bob Moorhead, Fred Bond, Harlow Hardinge, and the latest, Dr John Russell’s mill relining technolgy and Joe Pease and the IsaMill, all in contention. And, though entered in the surface load and haul category,  Dr Shahram Tafazoli ‘s ToothMetrics saves damage to crushers.

Joe Pease, COO, Xstrata Technology, has been in the mining industry for over 30 years, in a range of technical and managerial roles. A large part of his career has been at Glencore Xstrata’s Mount Isa Mines (MIM), and more specifically, in the lead/zinc concentrator at that site. During this time, the ‘spark’ of using small scale industrial fine grinding in mineral processing was initiated in the labs at MIM to combat the company’s deteriorating ore quality, which lead to the birth of IsaMill™ comminution technology.

Then there is the RME mill relining technology. Leaving MIM in 1985, Dr John Russell formed Russell Mineral Equipment. Before RME entered this market, a large SAG mill commonly required 160 hours for a standard reline. RME’s goal was to halve this. In 2012, the RME RUSSELL Twin 8 Mill Relining System relined a 38’ SAG Mill in Chile in less than 40 hours.

New to surface load and haul is an advanced vision-based system to monitor shovel bucket teeth, ToothMetrics™. When Motion Metrics International Corp started out in 1999, Dr Shahram Tafazoli led a team of just three engineers who had the goal of solving some of the mining industry’s most challenging problems. According to MSHA, “When a broken tooth from a mining shovel or loader gets caught in the mine’s crushing or processing equipment, there is a potential for the tooth to be shot from the equipment at very high speeds potentially creating a lethal situation.” Now with ToothMetrics, when a broken tooth is detected, the system alerts the equipment operator and the mine is then able to take the appropriate measures to prevent the tooth from reaching the crusher.