Pressure Hydrometallurgy 2004
October 23-27, 2004
Banff, Alberta, Canada

The 34th Annual Hydrometallurgy Meeting of the Metallurgical Society (MetSoc) of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) was held on the topic of Pressure Hydrometallurgy. This was the first time that pressure hydrometallurgy was chosen as the main theme of these annual meetings. The conference attracted 210 registrants from 20 countries and featured three major events: a sold-out short course on autoclave chemistry and engineering, technical presentations as well as an industrial tour to the Corefco Ni-Co Refinery and Dynatec Research Lab in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, just outside Edmonton. The technical presentations provided engineering, production, economic and academic perspectives on ten general themes, which were presented in eighteen sessions. The individual themes were:

• Pressure Hydrometallurgy of Copper
• Laterites
• Pressure Hydrometallurgy of Nickel Sulphides
• Autoclave Design
• Pressure Hydrometallurgy of PGMs
• High Temperature Measurements and Thermodynamics
• Materials of Construction
• Pressure Hydrometallurgy of Refractory Gold
• Process Development Studies
• Pressure Hydrometallurgy of Zinc

Sixty-two papers were reviewed and included in the conference proceedings, aptly titled Pressure Hydrometallurgy 2004, edited by M.J. Collins and V.G. Papangelakis. Three prominent speakers presented historical perspectives, the current challenges and the future outlook of the industry in an introductory Plenary Session covering three specific areas of Pressure Hydrometallurgy:

• Fifty years of pressure hydrometallurgy at Fort Saskatchewan - M. E. Chalkley, Sherritt International Corporation, Fort Saskatchewan, AB, Canada
• Bayer Process alumina production Alcan Bayer Experimental Centre- G. Forté, Alcan International Ltd, Jonquiere, QC, Canada
• Copper pressure leaching- J. Marsden, Phelps Dodge Corporation, USA

Overall, it was deemed as one of the most successful conferences in the thirty-four year history of Annual Hydrometallurgy Meetings. For more details visit www.hydrometallurgysection.org/ and www.metsoc.org/conferences/hydro2004

V.G. Papangelakis, Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto,Canada. Email: VPapangelakis@inco.com