The objectives of the Mineral & Metallurgical Processing Division are to:
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Provide a means for cooperation and communication among industry professionals interested in the unit processes and operations of mineral and metallurgical processing;
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Promote the advancement of mineral and metallurgical technology through related meetings and professional discourse;
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Stimulate the preparation, reading, discussion and circulation of technical papers on mineral and metallurgical processing;
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Provide scholarships and awards for students to further the recruitment of new members to the industry.
Mineral & Metallurgical Processing Division Annual Lunch
This event is a fantastic opportunity for division members to network while supporting the Mineral & Metallurgical Processing Division scholarships.
Many thanks to our generous sponsors!
Click here to view the photos on SME's Flickr page
Mineral & Metallurgical Processing Division Bylaws
Mineral & Metallurgical Processing Division Brochure
Mineral & Metallurgical Processing Division Handbook
List of MPD Chairs
Mineral & Metallurgical Processing Division Meeting Minutes
2023 Mineral & Metallurgical Processing Division Annual Meeting Minutes
2022 Mineral & Metallurgical Processing Division Annual Meeting Minutes
2021 Mineral & Metallurgical Processing Division Annual Meeting Minutes
2020 Mineral & Metallurgical Processing Division Annual Meeting Minutes
2019 Mineral & Metallurgical Processing Division Annual Meeting Minutes
2018 Mineral & Metallurgical Processing Division Annual Meeting Minutes
2017 Mineral & Metallurgical Processing Division Annual Meeting Minutes
Calling MPD Volunteers!
The MPD is seeking volunteers to help with steering the MPD technical programming of the MINEXCHANGE SME Annual Conference & Expo and with other volunteering opportunities.
Learn MoreMPD Student Poster Contest
The MPD welcomes submissions to the MPD Student Poster Contest!
Learn MoreMineral & Metallurgical Processing Division Committees
The Committee shall review the nominations for the Gaudin Award and select the recipient. The Gaudin Award is given for scientific or engineering contributions that further the understanding of the technology of mineral processing. Eligible areas for contributions are agglomeration, classification, comminution, electrical and magnetic separation, flocculation and sedimentation, froth flotation, hydrometallurgy, particulate behavior, and other related mineral processing operations.
| Name | Position | Start | End |
|---|---|---|---|
| Robert C. Dunne | Chair | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2024 |
| Clifton A Boylston | Member | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2026 |
| Leonard N. Hill | Member | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2026 |
| Dr. James E. Gebhardt | Member | 03/01/2021 | 02/28/2024 |
| Mr James R. Wickens | Member | 03/01/2021 | 02/28/2024 |
| Dr York Smith, PHD | Member | 03/01/2022 | 02/28/2025 |
| Dr Mohammad Rezaee | Member | 03/01/2022 | 02/28/2025 |
| Carol Kiser | SME Staff | 03/01/2021 | 02/28/2050 |
The Taggart Award is made for the paper or series of closely related papers with at least one common author, which, in the opinion of the Committee, represents a notable contribution to the science of mineral processing. The Committee shall review the eligible papers and select the recipient.
| Name | Position | Start | End |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qingqing Huang | Chair | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2024 |
| Dr York Smith, PHD | Member | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2026 |
| Emily A. Sarver | Member | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2026 |
| Dr. Vishal Gupta | Member | 03/01/2021 | 02/28/2024 |
| Andrew P. Cole | Member | 03/01/2021 | 02/28/2024 |
| Guikuan Yue | Member | 03/01/2022 | 02/28/2025 |
| D. R. Nagaraj, PHD | Member | 03/01/2022 | 02/28/2025 |
| Carol Kiser | SME Staff | 03/01/2021 |
Responsible for organizing programming related to hydrometallurgical processing (including leaching, precipitation, ion-exchange, solvent extraction, electrowinning, electrorefining, crystallization) and pyrometallurgical processing (including pyrolysis, roasting calcinations, reduction, smelting and fire refining) and metallurgical-processing fundamentals and principles.
| Name | Position | Start | End |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mark Strauss | Chair | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2024 |
| Fangyu Liu | Vice Chair | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2024 |
| Chee Theng | SME Staff | 03/01/2015 | 02/28/2025 |
Responsible for organizing programming related to crushing, grinding, size classification, microwave fracturing, blast fragmentation, instrumentation and process control, particle-size measurement and materials handling in comminution.
| Name | Position | Start | End |
|---|---|---|---|
| Omar M. Arafat | Chair | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2024 |
| Clifton A Boylston | Vice Chair | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2024 |
| Chee Theng | SME Staff | 03/01/2015 | 02/28/2025 |
The Committee shall have oversight of all activities within the Mineral & Metallurgical Processing Division.
| Name | Position | Start | End |
|---|---|---|---|
| David G. Meadows | Chair | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2024 |
| Dr Tarun Bhambhani | Vice Chair | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2024 |
| Christopher A. Noble, PE, PHD | Vice Chair | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2024 |
| Dr. Ronel Kappes | Past Chair | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2024 |
| Kimberly D. Mills, PHD | Secretary-Treasurer | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2024 |
| Dr. Jaeheon Lee | Associate Chair | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2024 |
| Dr. Michael L. Free | Technical Content Advisor | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2024 |
| Mr James R. Wickens | Membership Associate | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2024 |
| Mr. Robert Nick Gow | Technical Program Associate | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2024 |
| Deniz Talan | Representative | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2024 |
| Younes Shekarian | Representative | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2024 |
| Thomas C. Rauch | Member | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2024 |
| Michael Spicher | Member | 03/01/2022 | 02/28/2024 |
| Lix Shirley Tafur Figueroa | Member | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2024 |
| Chee Theng | SME Staff | 03/01/2015 | 02/28/2025 |
Responsible for organizing programming related to flotation fundamentals and principles, machine design and hydrodynamics, innovative separation schemes, reagent and flotation chemistry, scale up, bubble-particle interactions and froths, water chemistry and efficiency, gangue and penalty element control, coarse and fine particle recovery.
| Name | Position | Start | End |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amir Eskanlou | Chair | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2024 |
| Raghav M. Dube | Vice Chair | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2024 |
| Chee Theng | SME Staff | 03/01/2015 | 02/28/2025 |
The MPD Membership Committee encourages interest and membership in MPD.
| Name | Position | Start | End |
|---|---|---|---|
| Christopher A. Noble, PE, PHD | Chair | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2024 |
| Mr James R. Wickens | Vice Chair | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2024 |
| Chee Theng | SME Staff | 03/01/2015 | 02/28/2025 |
The Committee shall review the nominations for the Milton E. Wadsworth Award and select the recipient. The Committee is also responsible for soliciting and/or submitting nominations as appropriate/necessary. The Wadsworth Award recognizes distinguished contributions that advance our understanding of the science and technology of nonferrous chemical metallurgy.
| Name | Position | Start | End |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dr Michael S. Moats, PHD | Chair | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2024 |
| Tim G. Robinson | Member | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2026 |
| Christine R. Green | Member | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2026 |
| Dr. Corby G. Anderson | Member | 03/01/2021 | 02/28/2024 |
| Dr. Janet Baron | Member | 03/01/2021 | 02/28/2024 |
| Scott A. Shuey, PHD, QP | Member | 03/01/2022 | 02/28/2025 |
| Mr. Robert Nick Gow | Member | 03/01/2022 | 02/28/2025 |
| Carol Kiser | SME Staff | 03/01/2021 | 02/28/2050 |
The MPD Nominating Committee shall recommend to the MPD Executive Committee Chair the members of MPD who will fill the different positions in the MPD committees and as MPD representatives. The Nominating Committee shall obtain acceptance from each nominee and give SME staff the proper name, title and contact information, including email address, for each appointee. The MPD Nominating Committee will contact each individual and confirm his/her willingness to serve.
| Name | Position | Start | End |
|---|---|---|---|
| Garland Davis | Chair | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2024 |
| Christopher A. Noble, PE, PHD | Member | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2028 |
| David G. Meadows | Member | 03/01/2020 | 02/28/2025 |
| Dr. Jaeheon Lee | Member | 03/01/2021 | 02/28/2026 |
| Dr Tarun Bhambhani | Member | 03/01/2022 | 02/28/2027 |
| Dr. Ronel Kappes | Member | 03/01/2019 | 02/28/2024 |
| Chee Theng | SME Staff | 03/01/2015 | 02/28/2025 |
Responsible for organizing programming related to gravity concentration, electrical and magnetic separation, ore sorting, solid-liquid separation and other selective physical separations, and materials handling in separation processes.
| Name | Position | Start | End |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jacob E D McDonald, PHD | Chair | 03/01/2023 | 04/28/2024 |
| Joelson Alves | Vice Chair | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2024 |
| Chee Theng | SME Staff | 03/01/2015 | 02/28/2025 |
Responsible for organizing programming related to process-plant operations descriptions and practices, maintenance practices, process improvement and optimization, process instrumentation and control, plant-engineering design, plant construction, process-selection and flow-sheet design, and process economics.
| Name | Position | Start | End |
|---|---|---|---|
| Michael Spicher | Chair | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2024 |
| Thomas Boundy | Vice Chair | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2024 |
| Chee Theng | SME Staff | 03/01/2015 | 02/28/2025 |
| Name | Position | Start | End |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dr. Jaeheon Lee | Chair | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2024 |
| Dr Tarun Bhambhani | Vice Chair | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2024 |
| Mr. Robert Nick Gow | Member | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2024 |
| Dr. Michael L. Free | Member | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2024 |
| Omar M. Arafat | Member | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2024 |
| Amir Eskanlou | Member | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2024 |
| Michael Spicher | Member | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2024 |
| Mark Strauss | Member | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2024 |
| Jacob E D McDonald, PHD | Member | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2024 |
| Chee Theng | SME Staff | 03/01/2015 | 02/28/2025 |
The Robert H. Richards Award Committee is responsible for reviewing the nominations for the Robert H. Richards Award and selecting the recipient. The Richards Award recognizes achievement in any form which unmistakably furthers the art of mineral beneficiation in any of its branches.
| Name | Position | Start | End |
|---|---|---|---|
| David E. Perkins | Chair | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2024 |
| Fangyu Liu | Member | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2027 |
| Dr. Hamid Akbari | Member | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2027 |
| Mr James R. Wickens | Member | 03/01/2020 | 02/28/2024 |
| Tim G. Robinson | Member | 03/01/2021 | 02/28/2025 |
| Dr Joseph Grogan | Member | 03/01/2021 | 02/28/2025 |
| Dr. Daniel R. Palo | Member | 03/01/2022 | 02/28/2026 |
| Adam R. House, QP | Member | 03/01/2022 | 02/28/2026 |
| Carol Kiser | SME Staff | 03/01/2021 | 02/28/2050 |
The Committee shall review all applications for the Klimpel and MPD Scholarships and Rong Yu Wan Ph.D. Dissertation Award and select the recipient(s).
| Name | Position | Start | End |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lei Pan | Chair | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2024 |
| Amy E. Jacobsen | Vice Chair | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2024 |
| Sumedh Gostu | Member | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2026 |
| Deniz Talan | Member | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2026 |
| Mr James R. Wickens | Member | 03/01/2021 | 02/28/2024 |
| Dr Mohammad Rezaee | Member | 03/01/2021 | 02/28/2024 |
| Zachery A. Zanetell | Member | 03/01/2022 | 02/28/2025 |
| Jordan M. Rutledge | Member | 03/01/2022 | 02/28/2025 |
| Carol Kiser | SME Staff | 03/01/2021 | 02/28/2050 |
The MPD Student Poster Contest Committee organizes and encourages student participation in the annual MPD Student Poster Contest. Prizes at the undergraduate level and graduate level are awarded.
| Name | Position | Start | End |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zachery A. Zanetell | Chair | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2024 |
| Michael Spicher | Vice Chair | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2024 |
| Mr James R. Wickens | Judge | 03/01/2023 | 02/28/2024 |
| Chee Theng | SME Staff | 03/01/2015 | 02/28/2025 |
Mineral & Metallurgical Processing Division Awards
Robert H. Richards Award
Robert H. Richards, inventor, author and teacher, was one of America's pre-eminent ore dressing engineers, and he can rightly be called the father of ore dressing in the United States. In 1874, Richards began studies of hydraulic classification that led to his discovery of and extensive research on the phenomenon of hindered settling. Based on these fundamental studies, he developed a series of sizing and concentrating classifiers, the Richards pulsator jig, and the concept of sizing before gravity concentration. In addition to this important research, Richards' encyclopedic, four-volume treatise, Ore Dressing, published in 1909, was the first comprehensive work to codify and publicize all that was known about ore dressing American at that time.
In 1868, Richards was in the first graduating class at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Upon graduation, Richards stayed at MIT as an instructor, advancing to the rank of professor in 1884, and served as the head of the department of Mining and Metallurgy until his retirement in 1914. He joined AIME in 1873 and became its president in 1886. AIME honored Richards' memory in 1948 establishing the Robert H. Richards Award as the premier award in the field of ore processing.
Frank F. Aplan Award
The award was established by AIME in 1989 with voluntary contributions of friends and associates as a tribute to Frank F. Aplan for his lifelong productive career in coal and mineral processing research and education. Dr. Aplan was the initial award recipient.
In 2011, AIME transitioned administration of this award to SME.
Antoine M. Gaudin Award
The Antoine M. Gaudin Award, established in 1975, is for scientific or engineering contributions that further understanding of the technology of mineral processing. Eligible areas for contributions are agglomeration, classification, comminution, electrical and magnetic separation, flocculation and sedimentation, froth flotation, hydrometallurgy, particulate behavior, and other related mineral processing operations. There are no limitations regarding nationality, membership in the Institute, or otherwise. The award shall consist of a plaque, appropriately engraved with the name of the award, the name of the recipient, and the citation of the particular achievement for which the award is being conferred. Election to this honor is by the MPD Executive Committee with notification to the SME Executive Committee.
Outstanding Young Engineer Award
The MPD Outstanding Young Engineer Award, established in 1984, recognizes significant contribution of a young individual within the Mineral Processing/Extractive discipline. The nominee must be less than 36 years of age before January 1st of the year the award is presented.
Arthur F. Taggart Award
The Arthur F. Taggart Award, established in 1970, is made for the paper or series of closely related papers with at least one common author, which in the opinion of the Committee represents a notable contribution to the science of minerals processing. The selection shall be made from papers on mineral processing, published in Minerals and Metallurgical Processing Journal, Mining Engineering, Transactions, or any other appropriate SME publication published within the year preceding the Award. For the purpose of this Award, an Award year shall be considered to run from June 1 to May 31. The Award shall be presented at the next Annual Meeting of the Division. Nominations cannot be accepted, view the guidelines for the procedure.
Milton E. Wadsworth Award
The Milton E. Wadsworth Metallurgy Award, established in 1992, recognizes distinguished contributions that advance our understanding of the science and technology of non-ferrous chemical metallurgy.
Mineral & Metallurgical Processing Division Scholarships
MPD Div & Richard Klimpel Memorial Scholarship
The Richard Klimpel/MPD Scholarships are open to undergraduate or graduate students to students interested in pursuing careers in the area of mineral and metallurgical processing. To submit an anonymous recommendation letter for a student, please email it to scholarships@smenet.org with the student's first and last name and the scholarship name as the file name.
Rong Yu Wan Ph.D. Dissertation Scholarship in Metallurgical Engineering
Dr. Rong Yu Wan (1932-2009) was an internationally renowned metallurgist and 22-year member of SME. During her career, Dr. Wan not only made many important contributions in the field of metallurgical engineering but also tirelessly mentored many young scientists and students. The Rong Yu Wan Ph.D. Dissertation Scholarship will be presented annually to a recent Ph.D. recipient for outstanding dissertation research in the general area of metallurgical engineering (that is, mineral processing, hydrometallurgy or extractive metallurgy, etc.). To submit an anonymous recommendation letter for a student, please email it to scholarships@smenet.org with the student's first and last name and the scholarship name as the file name.