Preface

The email came as a surprise: would I be interested in editing the eighth edition of the classic Wills’ Mineral Processing Technology? The book is the most-widely used English-language textbook on the subject and the SME’s ‘readers’ choice’, making it both an honor to be asked and a daunting prospect. My old colleague, the late Dr. Rao, had always encouraged me to write another book, but after Column Flotation I vowed “never again”. Nevertheless, after a career of more than 40 years, I was looking for new challenges, and with several day’s contemplation, I agreed. This turned out to be the largest single professional task I have undertaken, consuming most of the last two years, and on several occasions I came to question my sanity.

It was at that point that I seriously started to read whole chapters of the seventh edition, as opposed to the odd sections I had consulted in the past. You have to admire that Barry Wills wrote the first book, and the following 5 editions, alone. As Tim Napier-Munn noted in the Preface to the seventh edition, a team is needed now, and for this edition the team, which included experts and recently graduated students, is recognized in the “Acknowledgments”. But what was the plan for the team?

Elsevier had hinted that the artwork could do with an upgrade, and we set about re-drawing the originals that were retained, and adding new artwork based on my teaching experience. By having students in the team, we aimed to have illustrations that addressed the usual student questions.

The next part of the plan was to use, as much as possible, the chapter structure that Barry had devised, but to number the sub-sections, as, according to the students, it was sometimes difficult to know where you were. A team member read a chapter and made suggestions, in some cases taking on the task of re-writing sections. All the chapters were finalized by me, including adding more example calculations, and then passed by Barry for a final review. I appreciate the confidence Barry had that the book was in ‘good hands’. Chapter 3 became unwieldy, and we decided to divide the contents between two chapters. To avoid altering the numbering of the established chapters, a Chapter 17 was inserted. Elsevier Americanized the English, although a few “sulphides” snuck through. This also meant that my “tonnes” became “tons” and the reader should keep that in mind when working through the example calculations.

I am proud of the final product, and grateful to Barry and Elsevier for giving me the chance to be part of this enterprise.

July 2015