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CIM Distinguished Lecturers
1994CIM Distinguished Lecturers
James Finch was a professor in the department of mining and materials engineering at McGill University from 1973-2014. Holding a succession of industrial research chairs, he supervised 50 PhDs, authored 400 + articles, and co-authored two books: Column Flotation (1990) and the 8th Edition of Wills’ Mineral Processing Technology (2016). He is a recipient of the Gaudin Award (SME), the Alcan Award, the Falconbridge Innovation Award, the Leo Derikx Synergy Award for Innovation (NSERC), and the IMPC Lifetime Achievement Award. He is a two-time recipient of the CIM Distinguished Lecturer and the CMP Best Presentation Award. A conference in his honour was held in Sudbury in 2009, and he was general chair of the XXVIII IMPC held in Québec City in 2016. He is a CIM Fellow and in 2002 was elected to the Academy of Science of the Royal Society of Canada. He retired in 2014 as the Gerald G. Hatch Emeritus Professor in mining and metallurgical engineering.
Distinguished Lecturer 2024-25
Lecture Abstract
Cells, Banks, and Circuits
Since the 1980s developments in flotation cells have come out of the lab and into the plant. Flotation columns came to dominate cleaning stages and prompted development of the Jameson Cell now experiencing growing acceptance in sulphide plants. Other examples include the Imhoflot™, Reflux™, Staged Flotation Reactor, and Hydrofloat. In the first part of the talk, these cell developments are organized through a first principles approach to flotation kinetics.
After illustrating the performance advantages of cells in series to form banks, part two proposes and examines theories of bank optimization.
Performance is further enhanced by networking banks (stages) into a circuit. A method to judge circuit separation efficiency is introduced in part three which reveals the flexibility of the rougher-scavenger-cleaner network and illustrates an unexpected feature of the increasingly popular rougher-cleaner-cleaner/scavenger arrangement.
