Dr Chris Greet from process optimization solutions provider Magotteaux talked to CEEC’s Communications Lead Ailbhe Goodbody for the latest instalment of CEEC’s Spotlight Leader Conversations, a series of video interviews with leading people in the mineral processing industry.
Dr Greet has worked within the mining industry in a variety of roles, from shift foreman at the Teutonic Bore copper/zinc operation in Western Australia to Principal Technologist with Pasminco. He is currently employed by Magotteaux as Manager, Minerals Processing Research, and leads the company’s technical efforts investigating the effect of grinding chemistry on downstream processes.
In the interview, he stated that Magotteaux is taking net zero very seriously. “We use a lot of scrap steel, so we are actually a recycling company in a lot of ways,” said Dr Greet. “By recycling scrap, we're actually helping to minimize what you dig out of the ground as fresh new resources.”
He noted that the company’s plants in Thailand and the US use solar energy, as does its laboratory in Adelaide, Australia. “We've been able to reduce our energy consumption from the grid by about 40%,” he added. “Shareholders of major companies are now starting to become more aware of climate change and want bigger companies to take more responsibility for our actions. We’re moving down that path to try to improve our performance.”
He also discussed Magotteaux’s MagoSense real-time mill monitor, which was launched in 2021 and is being installed at the Northparkes mine. “It should enable us to control the mill load, so that you're running at the optimum load in the SAG mill all or most of the time,” he explained. “That will enable us to measure the load in the mill, which will help us maintain the load in the mill. That minimizes the damage to the shell, but it also enables you to use the energy more efficiently, and that should lead to more stable operation.”
CEEC has previously published video interviews with FLSmidth, Molycop, Eriez, Thermo Fisher Scientific and ME Elecmetal as part of the Spotlight Leader Conversations series.