Good News
Dear Readers
The year ends with a piece of good news. In the past decades, the extraction of mineral raw materials in Germany was mainly related to the coal, potash, salt as well as the rock and associated products industries. After a standstill of about 40 years, a mine was again opened in East Germany for the mining of fluorspar and heavy spar (baryte) at the beginning of November 2013 (p. 20).
A report from page 40 focuses on the most state-of-the-art-technology in ore mining in the largest open pit ore mine in Central Europe – the Styrian Erzberg. For the first time a sensor-based sorting system by means of a REDWAVE XRF/C-S was integrated into the processing line so as to further improve the quality of the extracted finished ore.
International projects are also described in detail in this issue of AT MINERAL PROCESSING. From page 50, Mauro Nogarin reports on new technologies in the different refining processes of rare-earth elements in Latin America. From page 55, Indian scientists present the results of their investigations regarding the effect of microwave heat treatment on the grindability of zircon in a planetary ball mill.
We already inform you about the most important international conferences and fairs in 2014 on page 64 with our tips concerning events covering the extraction and processing methods of mineral raw materials.
The team of AT MINERAL PROCESSSING wishes you many good news and exciting meetings in the year to come!
Ulrike Mehl
Editor of AT MINERAL PROCESSSING
