Media - Mineral Processing Blog by renowned Barry Wills elevates two COEMinerals' Chief Investigators, and the "Lasting Legacy of Australia's University of Newcastle", our Centre's home-base

Article/​Post of Monday, 23 June 2025

The Evolution of Flotation Cell Technology and the Lasting Legacy of Australia’s University of Newcastle

–

Thanks to mineral processing guru Barry Wills for profiling technology inventions by two COEMinerals CIs: Emeritus Professor Graeme Jameson and Centre Director, Laureate Professor Kevin Galvin. Barry also elevated the incredible innovation coming out of Centre’s home-base of University of Newcastle.

The JamesonCell, ConcordeCell, NovaCell and suite of REFLUX technologies are game changers for mineral separations and recovery in Australia and around the world. 

This is our favourite quote from the article:

Thanks to mineral processing guru Barry Wills for profiling technology inventions by two COEMinerals CIs: Emeritus Professor Graeme Jameson and Centre Director, Laureate Professor Kevin Galvin. Barry also elevated the incredible innovation coming out of Centre’s home-base of University of Newcastle.

The Jameson Cell, Concorde Cell, Nova Cell and suite of REFLUX technologies are game changers for mineral separations and recovery in Australia and around the world. 

This is our favourite quote from the article: ​“It is quite remarkable that five major advances in #flotation technology have originated from the University of Newcastle (UON). This single department has profoundly shaped the future of mineral processing…” 

Some more content and quotes from the blog follow. You can read the blog and article in full here: https://​min​-eng​.blogspot​.com/

The Jameson Cell was invented by Prof. Jameson of UON. His two major follow-up inventions are the Concorde Cell and the NovaCell. ​“He remains the only mineral processor to be elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. Had he been based in the UK, he may well have received a knighthood — many argue he deserves that level of global recognition. Although Australia no longer awards knighthoods, Prof. Jameson holds its equivalent honour as an Officer of the Order of Australia, and is also a recipient of the IMPC’s Lifetime Achievement Award.“

Another major innovation … is the REFLUX Flotation Cell (RFC), invented by Professor Galvin, also from UON. Prof. Galvin’s accolades include the Ian Wark Medal, the ATSE Clunies Ross Award, and the SME’s Antoine Gaudin Award.
“..the RFC has received the 2023 Mining Magazine Technology Innovation Award after moving successfully through pilot and full-scale trials and has since achieved its first commercial sale. Following successful pilot testing at BHP​’s Carrapateena copper operation in South Australia, FLS announced last month that it is set to supply its first full-scale cell island to the mine to enhance copper concentrate grade and recovery. The RFC is known for its enhanced cleaning performance, while the lower system of inclined channels increases its capacity. More recently FLS launched its CoarseAir, for use in coarse particle flotation, based on Prof. Galvin’s REFLUX Classifier.”