We are pleased to announce that Prof. Dr. Zhiyong Gao has been appointed as Associate Editor-in-Chief of Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy Section of Minerals (ISSN 2075-163X). His term started in February 2021.

Prof. Dr. Zhiyong Gao received his Ph.D. degree in Minerals Processing Engineering from Central South University (CSU), China in 2013, and now is professor and Vice Dean at the School of Minerals Processing and Bioengineering at CSU. His research interests include mineral flotation chemistry, flotation reagent design, and grinding media technology. The surface broken bond density (Db) index proposed by Prof. Dr. Zhiyong Gao has been widely accepted as a rapid way to study mineral surfaces and to assess their surface reactivity. This Db index has interestingly also been more widely recognized and applied in different areas, such as material science, crystal growth, geochemistry, and mineralogy. Prof. Dr. Zhiyong Gao’s research activities have also included extensive use of AFM and DFT on molecular recognition for the development of a series of novel collectors and reagent mixtures for improving separation selectivity when treating different minerals. Prof. Dr. Zhiyong Gao has developed a method to regulate crystal surface exposure and hence particle reactivity of different minerals by optimizing the grinding media parameters. Based on these fundamental studies, various new reagent schemes and grind technologies have been developed and utilized to optimize the currently used separation process and address key environmental and energy-related challenges in mineral processing. He has won the MEI Young Person’s Award, China–Australia Young Scientist Exchange Award, and Young Elite Scientists Award from the China Association for Science and Technology.

The editorial team warmly welcomes Prof. Dr. Zhiyong Gao as Associate Editor-in-Chief of the Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy Section and looks forward to his contribution to the continued success of Minerals.

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