ACPS to celebrate milestone at 2016 conference

The Australian Coal Preparation Society (ACPS) will celebrate 50 years of operation at its biennial conference and exhibition in March 2016. The event will take place in Wollongong, New South Wales, and take the theme: ‘Optimising your Coal and Asset Resources’.

“Celebrating a golden anniversary is remarkable in any situation,” said ACPS National Chairman, Glen Fewings. “And today we are proud to welcome a membership of almost 900 members from across Australia and around the world.”

According to Fewings, the inaugural meeting of the Coal Preparation Society of New South Wales was held at the School of Mining Engineering at the University of New South Wales on 16 March 1966. The Coal Preparation Society of Queensland followed the year after with the assistance of the Queensland Coal Owner’s Association. In 1989, these two societies merged to form the current ACPS.

Dr Russ Burdon, a founding member of the society, will attend the 2016 conference as a VIP guest. Dr Burdon worked on the first coal washery construction in Australia – at Broken Hill Propriety’s Newcastle steelworks in 1946. He subsequently lectured on this emerging technology and these activities over the next 19 yr. And this focus on education carried into the ACPS, which remains focused on the education of coal preparation personnel.

“The 2016 conference, built around an extensive technical programme, including two technical tours for delegates, will see presentations on the following topics: old and new coal preparation; future coal preparation; new plants and upgrades; coarse coal processing; fine coal processing; and flotation and dewatering,” explained Fewings. The conference will also include a series of power papers sessions for the first time 2016.

Written by Jonathan Rowland.

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcoal.com/handling/23072015/acps-to-celebrate-milestone-at-2016-conference-2615/