Associate Professor Peter Harris (UCT)
pharris@chemeng.uct.ac.za |
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Peter
Harris graduated with a BSc (hons) degree in Chemistry from
the University of Witswatersrand in 1963 and a PhD in 1967.
He worked as a research fellow in the Rochester Institute for
Technology, in the USA for three years before returning to South
Africa to work for the National Institute of Metallurgy (which
later became Mintek). At Mintek he was closely involved in many
aspects of flotation chemistry, a particular focus being the
behaviour and characterisation of polymeric depressants. During
this time he was responsible for the early developments of what
has now become the UCT bubble sizer. In 1995 he retired from
the position of Assistant Director: Process Chemistry in Mineralogy.
He consulted to Trohall, a depressant supplier company, for
two years before joining the MPRU as an Associate Professor.
In 1998 he and Dee Bradshaw initiated the "Chemical Interactions
in Flotation" program, and in 1999 they established the
Depressant Research Facility to study the use of polymeric depressants
in flotation. His research interests include all chemical aspects
of flotation.
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Ying
Gu obtained his B.Sc (1982) and M.Sc. (1985) from the Department
of Earth Sciences of Nanjing University, PR China. From 1985
to 1987, he worked as an Associate Lecturer at the university.
In 1987 he was awarded a postgraduate scholarship from the
Monash University to undertake his PhD study which he completed
successfully in 1993. From 1992 to 1995 he worked as a Research
Mineralogist for WMC Resources Kambalda Nickel Operations,
responsible for the software development of an automated mineral
liberation analysis system. From 1995 to 1996, he was a Research
Scientist with CSIRO Minerals in the software development
for the "Next Generation" QEM*SEM. He joined the
JKMRC in 1996 as a Senior Research Fellow to start the development
of the JKMRC/Philips Mineral Liberation
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Dr
Phil Guerney (JKMRC)
p.guerney@mailbox.uq.edu.au
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Phil
Guerney has 20 years experience in extractive metallurgy and
the chemical and mineralogical aspects of mineral processing.
Particular experience has been obtained in gold recovery, flotation,
copper heap leaching, treatment of smelter by-products, fine
coal recovery and commercial R&D laboratory management.
Holding a PhD in Inorganic Chemistry (University of Sydney),
Phil worked with the MIM Hydrometallurgical Research Laboratory
for seven years and then managed a metallurgical testwork and
development laboratory for Minproc Engineers for five years
before joining JKTech. Phil is responsible for the JKMRC Pilot
Plant operations and contributes to some research and consulting
projects involving hydrometallurgy, sampling and metallurgical
accounting. Currently his main duty is Manager of the JKMRC/Philips
Mineral Liberation Analysis (MLA) Bureau at the JKMRC.
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Dee
Bradshaw graduated in Chemical Engineering at the University
of Cape Town in 1981. From 1984 she worked for Senmin Mining
Chemicals at UCT, developing collectors for sulphide mineral
flotation. She completed her PhD in this field 1997, on the
topic of synergism between flotation colectors. Since 1998,
she and Peter Harris (see below) have been involved in an industry-funded
research programme to develop an understanding of the interactions
of various chemical factors in flotation, particularly with
reference to the flotation of platinum group metals and copper
ores. The focus is on the use of reagents and their interactions
and on the development of better reagent suites. Dee, together
with Peter Harris, has also been instrumental in establishing
a Depressant Research Facility within the MPRU which aims to
become a centre of expertise for the characterisation and study
of the use of polymeric depressants in flotation. Research interests
include all chemical aspects of flotation including the role
of the reagents such as collectors, activators, frothers and
depressants, the effect of mineral type and the pulp chemical
environment.
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Dr
Rob Morrison (JKMRC)
r.morrison@mailbox.uq.edu.au |
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Rob
Morrison received a B.E. from the University of Queensland in
1972, and a PhD from the JKMRC in 1976 for a thesis on mineral
sand processing. His 20 years of industrial experience includes
four years with Bougainville Copper Limited as project and senior
metallurgist, and six years with Fluor Australia as a supervising
and specialist engineer. Projects with Bougainville included
design, installation and commissioning of an OSA system, trials
of two-stage cycloning, and process control development. Major
projects with Fluor included design and commissioning of the
Elura lead-zinc concentrator and the design of a china clay
processing plant, as well as a range of studies which included
an innovative zinc refinery and a magnesium refinery. He joined
JKTech - the commercial division of the JKMRC - in 1986 as a
principal consultant with responsibility for major process design,
optimisation and control studies in Australia and overseas,
particularly in comminution. From 1989 to 1998 he was Manager
of JKTech. Rob is currently Technical Director and Deputy Director
of the JKMRC with overall responsibility for technology development
and transfer to industry. Special interests include software
development, process plant design and engineering, data analysis
and modelling and the introduction and maintenance of optimising
techniques at remote mine sites. |
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Dan
Alexander has been employed by JKTech as a senior consultant.
The role has focussed on providing strategies to assist a
variety of clients in improving flotation machine and circuit
performance. Previous experience includes roles as technical
superintendent, project metallurgist and plant metallurgist
at various WMC sites. Dan is also studying for a doctorate
degree at the JKMRC in the area of flotation circuit modelling
and optimisation. |
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| Matthew
Brennan (JKMRC) |
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Matthew
Brennan graduated in Chemical Engineering from the University
of New South Wales in 1981 and worked for two years at the
BHP Port Kembla Steelworks. He gained an MSc in 1984 and in
1988 completed a PhD at UNSW studying the recovery of natural
gas condensates using membrane technology. He worked for COSTEC
Pty. Ltd. from 1988 to 1993 where he developed process models
for power station simulators.
He
came to the JKMRC in 1993 where he developed a dynamic model
of a rotary kiln for RGC Mineral Sands Pty. Ltd. Since that
time he has been engaged in further modelling projects for
RGCMS (now Iluka Resources) and also has been working on simulations
of mineral processing equipment using Computational Fluid
Dynamics. The CFD studies include simulations of gravity sluices,
flotation cells and cyclone separators.
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| Cyril
O'Connor obtained his Ph.D. at the University of Cape Town in
1978. He was appointed as a Senior Lecturer in the Department
of Chemical Engineering in 1979 and subsequently as Professor
(ad hominem) in 1990. He served as Head of this Department for
eight years between 1988 and 1998 and was appointed as Dean
of the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment in July
1998. He is presently a Fellow of the University of Cape Town,
the Royal Society of South Africa, the S.A. Institution of Chemical
Engineers, the S.A. Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (Hon.)
and the Academy of Engineering of South Africa. He is a Foundation
Member of the Academy of Science of South Africa. He is registered
as a Professional Engineer with the Engineering Council of South
Africa. His research interests cover two main areas, viz. mineral
processing and catalytic processing and he serves as a member
of the Editorial Board of a number of international journals.
Cyril is the immediate past Vice-President of the International
Zeolite Association. He has been appointed as Chairman of Organizing
Committee to host the XXII International Minerals Processing
Congress (IMPC) in Cape Town in 2003 and is a member of the
IMPC Council. He is also chairman of the Organizing Committee
to host the 14th International Zeolite Conference in Cape Town
in 2004. He has served as a consultant to various chemical and
mining companies. He has supervised/co-supervised to date 25
PhD theses and 24 MSc theses and published over 150 papers in
International Journals and refereed International Conference
Proceedings. |
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Jenni
Sweet (UCT)
jsweet@chemeng.uct.ac.za |
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Jenni
Sweet graduated as a Chemical Engineer from the University of
Cape Town in 1996 and obtained an MSc (Chemical Engineering)
from the same institution in 1999. Her masters research focused
on ways to decouple the physical and chemical effects of a reagent
change on the flotation performance of a platinum ore. She joined
Impala Platinum Ltd in 1999 where she gained operations experience
as a plant metallurgist and production superintendent on several
platinum concentrator plants. She was also involved in the provision
of technical support to the operations.
Jenni returned to the University of Cape Town in 2003 to join
the Minerals Processing Research Unit. Her portfolio currently
includes work with both the Comminution and Flotation research
groups. A substantial aspect of her job is to assist in the
development and coordination of continued professional development
courses for graduate metallurgists in industry. |
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Dr
Peter Holtham is Project Leader of the ARC-SPIRT Titanium Minerals
Project, the AMIRA P255D Titanium Minerals Project and the MCS
Tomography Project. He is also Project Leader of a Mine to Mill
Project.
Peter
gained hands-on mineral processing experience in industry,
in his case in Africa, where he worked for mining companies
in Zambia and Namibia, before undertaking a masters degree
at Manchester University in the UK.
Moving
from the United Kingdom to Australia in 1984, Peter completed
a part time PhD in spiral concentrators while lecturing at
the University of New South Wales.
Peter
joined the JKMRC in 1992, initially as Mineral Sands Project
Leader, before moving to Coal Preparation in 1995.
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