This year, CEEC stated that it is celebrating two outstanding publications, acknowledging exceptional research advances and outstanding leadership in operational improvement.

In 2017, the winner of the CEEC medal in the technical research category is Fengnian (Frank) Shi, Weiran Zuo and Emmy Manlapig for their paper titled ‘Pre-concentration of copper ores by high voltage pulses. Part 2: Opportunities and challenges’, published by Minerals Engineering in 2015.

The winner of the CEEC medal in the operations category is Aidan Giblett and Steven Hart for their paper titled ‘Grinding Circuit Practices at Newmont’, presented at the AusIMM’s Mill Operators Conference in 2016.

The CEEC medal is a prestigious annual award for the most outstanding published papers, articles or case studies, profiling beneficial strategies for eco-efficient comminution and mineral processing.

In 2017, nominations for the 2017 CEEC medal were submitted from a wide number of conferences and technical publications from around the globe.

Nominations were impressive not only in terms of the record number of papers nominated but also in the quality of the papers. The CEEC medal evaluation committee reviewed nominated papers assessing aspects such as applicability, supporting research and documentation, prospective impact, potential energy savings and presentation style.

Although all papers ranked highly, Frank Shi and his team’s winning paper in the technical research category outlined an approach to pre-concentrating copper ores by high voltage pulses, which is a potential game-changer technology, with potential to transform the energy efficiency and productivity of mining and mineral processing operations. The Sustainable Minerals Institute's Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre (SMI-JKMRC) is initiating a collaboratively sponsored research programme with the objective of realising this potential.

Equally, Giblett and Hart’s winning paper in the operational category shared Newmont’s challenges and approach to improvement in grinding practices across twelve of its operations worldwide. This was an exceptional contribution to the global mining industry by sharing learnings, practical solutions applied to different situations and clear guidance on how to reduce risks and improve performance. This provides important insights for the global mining sector on effective operations, optimisation approaches and design and testwork improvement that may significantly improve productivity and energy efficiency at other operations worldwide.

CEEC’s CEO Alison Keogh said: “Although SelFrag and Shi’s team’s high-voltage pulse particle breakage technology approach is early-stage, the impact if successful could be broad and far-reaching. Shi, Zuo and Manlapig’s outstanding publication outlines an exciting, potential industry-changing advance in energy-efficient comminution and mining.

“By supporting Giblett and Hart to share their learnings, Newmont is demonstrating leadership to the global mining industry, and a commitment to improvement, innovation and collaboration. Newmont via Giblett and Hart passes on experiences learnt by Newmont over the past 15 years, fostering collaboration and information sharing. Newmont’s willingness to share this information and collaborate deserves strong recognition and special mention.”