Microwave Treatment of Minerals and Ores: Heating Behaviours, Applications and Future Directions

Dear Colleagues,

Research and development into the microwave treatment of minerals and ores is continuing to advance. While the commercialization of the application of microwaves in the mining industry has not been widespread, there are a considerable number of research papers concerning this technology. There has been a shift away from primarily experimental research to the production of studies that combine experimental and numerical modeling approaches. Some commodities have been extensively studied such as coal, copper, nickel, gold, and iron. However, there are many other commodities without an abundance of existing papers investigating their features, including kimberlite ores, rare earth ores, and PGE-containing ores.

Scaling up from bench to pilot-/commercial-level application remains a challenge. Therefore, there is interest in the research and development of the application of microwaves in the mining industry. As society requires more green processes, microwaves provide a potential solution if the energy source is clean. The numerous processing parameters and heterogeneity of ores cause complications in the development of feasible novel processes.

The attempt to find an alternative means of providing microwave energy, such as via solid-state radio frequency (SSRF), is a new area of research. While the conversion of electrical to the microwave energy is relatively inefficient in comparison to magnetrons, SSRF may be beneficial in microwave-assisted comminution via pulsing.

This Special issue is organized into three sections:

• Section 1 Microwaves in mining: Advancements in the field of rock excavation at the mine face using microwaves include open waveguide systems and powerful numerical models.
• Section 2 Microwave pre-treatment in mineral processing: This includes studies involving microwave pre-treatment to assist in grinding, sorting, and other downstream unit operations such as flotation, gravity, electrostatic, magnetic separation, etc.
• Section 3 Microwaves in extractive metallurgy: Papers, where microwaves have been used to improve hydrometallurgy and/or pyrometallurgical unit operations, are welcomed.

Dr. John Forster
Dr. Yanlong Zheng
Dr. Khashayar Teimoori
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Minerals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• microwaves
• mining
• mineral processing
• sorting
• comminution
• rock mechanics
• drying
• energy
• modeling
• extractive metallurgy