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Mineral liberation: measurement, simulation and practical use in mineral processing
Minerals F~fineerin£, Vol. 5, No. 8, pp. 961-963, 1992 Printed in Great Britain
0892-6875/92 $5.00 + 0.00 Pergamon Press Ltd
BOOK REVIEWS Mineral Liberation: measurement, simulation and practical use in mineral processing G. Barbery Les Editions GB, Quebec, Canada, 1991. 351 pps. Price 125 SCAN ISBN 2-9802322-0-3
This is a very important book. As the author claims, it is the first volume devoted to the subject of mineral liberation, the basis of most mineral dressing operations. This situation is due to the fact that, until recently, the topic had proved intractable to analysis and little could be said other than in descriptive terms. Recent developments, both in experimental techniques and in theoretical understanding have lead to major advances and Professor Barbery's book provides a substantial and personal treatment of this rapidly developing field. The scope of the book is comprehensive. It begins by carefully defining the measures of particle populations and mineral textures which form the basis of any understanding of breakage and liberation. Initially, the simplest mode of breakage is analysed, random uniform isotropic fracture (RUIF), which has formed the basis for most models of" liberation. The results emerging from this treatment are compared with theoretical and experimental findings of other researchers. Next the measurement of liberation is discussed. Physical separation methods are included and measurements made on polished sections by image analysis techniques. This leads naturally to the work on reconstruction of volumetric particle composition distributions from measurements in sections. The author emphasises this as a topic o f major importance, reviews previous attempts to soh, e the problem and presents his own method including comparisons with all available published results. The remainder of the book deals with practical problems of importance to the mineral engineer. These are the breakage of "real" multiphase materials which do not follow RUIF; the behaviour of locked particles in separation processes; the simulation of such processes and the selection of equipment. These later sections are less complete. The book was only in draft form when Professor Barbery died and he clearly had plans to develop these topics further. I found the book quite difficult. The mathematical foundation of the subject is not easy; intuition is often misleading and errors have been made in the past. Professor Barbery has set out to provide a rigorous foundation to the development, but a significant competence in mathematics is required. Parts of the text will not be accessible to many mineral engineers. Nevertheless the aim is to treat real problems and present solutions of practical significance. There is much original work included. The author's major contributions have been incorporation of the concepts of integral geometry and the development from that basis of useful results. Many of these results are new and together with the extensive and critical review of previous work make the book of particular value. It will undoubtedly be of great influence to research groups in many countries and it is hoped others will be able to carry on with the work Professor Barbery was unable to complete. We are all greatly indebted to the Edition Committee of Laval University for preparing the text for publication. With great skill and devotion theyhave produced an attractive volume which is a worthy memorial to one of the outstanding researchers in mineral processing of our time. D. Sutherland
~/.E. s/s--.o
961
0892-6875/92 $5.00 + 0.00 Pergamon Press Ltd
BOOK REVIEWS Mineral Liberation: measurement, simulation and practical use in mineral processing G. Barbery Les Editions GB, Quebec, Canada, 1991. 351 pps. Price 125 SCAN ISBN 2-9802322-0-3
This is a very important book. As the author claims, it is the first volume devoted to the subject of mineral liberation, the basis of most mineral dressing operations. This situation is due to the fact that, until recently, the topic had proved intractable to analysis and little could be said other than in descriptive terms. Recent developments, both in experimental techniques and in theoretical understanding have lead to major advances and Professor Barbery's book provides a substantial and personal treatment of this rapidly developing field. The scope of the book is comprehensive. It begins by carefully defining the measures of particle populations and mineral textures which form the basis of any understanding of breakage and liberation. Initially, the simplest mode of breakage is analysed, random uniform isotropic fracture (RUIF), which has formed the basis for most models of" liberation. The results emerging from this treatment are compared with theoretical and experimental findings of other researchers. Next the measurement of liberation is discussed. Physical separation methods are included and measurements made on polished sections by image analysis techniques. This leads naturally to the work on reconstruction of volumetric particle composition distributions from measurements in sections. The author emphasises this as a topic o f major importance, reviews previous attempts to soh, e the problem and presents his own method including comparisons with all available published results. The remainder of the book deals with practical problems of importance to the mineral engineer. These are the breakage of "real" multiphase materials which do not follow RUIF; the behaviour of locked particles in separation processes; the simulation of such processes and the selection of equipment. These later sections are less complete. The book was only in draft form when Professor Barbery died and he clearly had plans to develop these topics further. I found the book quite difficult. The mathematical foundation of the subject is not easy; intuition is often misleading and errors have been made in the past. Professor Barbery has set out to provide a rigorous foundation to the development, but a significant competence in mathematics is required. Parts of the text will not be accessible to many mineral engineers. Nevertheless the aim is to treat real problems and present solutions of practical significance. There is much original work included. The author's major contributions have been incorporation of the concepts of integral geometry and the development from that basis of useful results. Many of these results are new and together with the extensive and critical review of previous work make the book of particular value. It will undoubtedly be of great influence to research groups in many countries and it is hoped others will be able to carry on with the work Professor Barbery was unable to complete. We are all greatly indebted to the Edition Committee of Laval University for preparing the text for publication. With great skill and devotion theyhave produced an attractive volume which is a worthy memorial to one of the outstanding researchers in mineral processing of our time. D. Sutherland
~/.E. s/s--.o
961