2016 CEEC Medal Winners

"The CEEC Medal is intended to bring attention to ‘best-in-class’ research or documentation in the field of eco-efficient comminution. The area of comminution (crushing and grinding ore) provides significant opportunities for improved profit and energy efficiency gains in the mining industry,” noted CEEC Director, Dr Zeljka Pokrajcic.

For the first time in CEEC medal history, CEEC’s Technical Review Committee announced two 2016 winners: one recognising excellence in operations and a second recognising significant contribution to research. Dr Zeljka Pokrajcic, CEEC Technical Review Committee Chair, stated “The CEEC medal selection committee decided unanimously to award two medals as the two outstanding papers contribute equally to different areas of our industry.

The 2016 CEEC Medal for excellence in operations goes to Jim Wallace, Sam Strohmayr and Keith Cameron for their outstanding paper focused on successful implementation of heavy medium pre-concentration to improve energy efficiency at the McArthur River Mine. The paper was titled “McArthur River Plant Heavy Medium Mine – The Benefits of Applying the Concepts of Modern Coal Plant Design Principles to Base Metal Heavy Medium Separation” and was delivered at MetPlant 2015.The winning research paper is: “Using Piston Press Tests for Determining Optimal Energy Input for an HPGR Operation“, by Zorigtkhuu Davaanyam, Bern Klein, and Stefan Nadolski, delivered at SAG 2015. Focusing on the important issue of energy optimisation, the paper presents a new method for HPGR selection and sizing using a laboratory piston press. These generic piston press tests are simpler and more accessible than the current pilot-scale vendor specific HPGR tests. They can run with significantly less sample at any facility with a hydraulic press.

Nominations for the 2016 CEEC medal came from around the globe, with a prominent theme of pre-concentration at coarse size. Papers detailing applications of ore sorting in operations including successful use of well-established heavy media separation techniques, as well as the application of simple selective mining techniques. Other papers featured plant optimisation and HPGR in design and testing methods. The CEEC Technical Review Committee assessed aspects such as originality, applicability, supporting research and documentation, prospective impact, potential energy savings, and presentation style.

Other notable mentions were:

  • J-F Dupont “Beneficiation of Low Grade Ore at the Detour Lake Mine”, Presented at the CMP Conference, 2016.
  • Jim Vanderbeek and A. J. Gunson “Cerro Verdue 240,000 t/d Concentrator Expansion.” Presented at the SAG Conference, Vancouver, 2015.
  • Grant Ballantyne and Malcolm Powell “Development of the Comminution “Energy Curve”. Presented at the SAG Conference, Vancourver, 2015.

Although all these papers ranked highly, and highlighted some of the great work being done to reduce energy consumption in comminution, the two papers selected showed that proven technology and methods when retrofitted to operations as well as new testing methods using readily available laboratory equipment are equally effective in the march toward improved energy efficiency. CEEC and its Board congratulate Jim Wallace, Sam Strohmayr and Keith Cameron, and Zorigtkhuu Davaanyam, Bern Klein, and Stefan Nadolski on their wins, and the other short-listed authors for their important contributions to the cause of reducing comminution energy consumption.

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