Scope:

This symposium focuses on recent advances in the science and technologies associated with light metals, in particular aluminum, magnesium and titanium alloys, for ground transportation and for the aeronautical industries. It intends to bring together fundamental and applied research knowledge in the context of the growing global need for greener materials and resources, and for advanced technologies in the primary production, processing, and characterization of lightweight materials.

Sessions/Subjects to be covered:

Abstracts are solicited for, but not limited to, the following topics:

Symposium Organizers::

Chair: Mihaiela Isac, McGill University
Roderick I.L. Guthrie, McGill University
Xiaoming Wang, Purdue University
Franco Chiesa, Centre de Metallurgie du Quebec
Mamoun Medraj, Concordia University
Carsten  Siemers,Technische Universitaet Braunschweig
Frederic Laroche, Rio Tinto

Environment/Pyro Symposium: Towards Sustainable Energy Practices in Metal Extraction Processes

About 50% of the global carbon dioxide contribution to greenhouse gases (GHG) in 2010 originated from fossil fuels, for the production of electricity and heat, as well as for industrial processes such as chemical, metallurgical and minerals extraction processes. Significant progress has since been achieved around the globe to transition the power and heat generation industries to renewable energy.  However, the process industries, including metal extraction processes, have  much potential for further improvements in this area. Today, the carbon dioxide contribution to the global GHG have reached an all time high, calling for considerable effort on the part of the process industry to eliminate or reduce its emissions and in this way develop a cleaner and more sustainable industry.   

This symposium will bring together private and government reasearch organizations, metal processing plant operators solar and other carbon-free energy technology suppliers/operators in a global forum to exchange ideas in all areas of metals and minerals processing. 

Sessions or Subjects Covered:

Abstracts are solicited for, but not limited to, the following topics:

1. Existing/Development of Enabling Technologies Employed in Sustainable Processes: The science and technology of sustainable processes:
   1. Modification and/or redesign of existing fossil fuel-based processes enabling the use of renewable energy in ferrous/non-ferrous, hydro, pyro and minerals sectors
   2. Development of sustainable materials for the production of high efficiency solar power generation technologies

2. Industrial Scale Energy Storage Technologies:
   1. Existing and latest developments in large power storage systems
   2. Commercial scale recycling processes for large batteries, including economics

3. Sustainable Thermal Energy Technologies of the Future:
   1. Wind, solar (PV, CSP), geothermal, hydrogen
   2. Other innovative technologies under development

4. Latest Developments and Commercial Operation of CO₂ Capture and Sequestration Technologies (CCS)

Symposium Organizers:

Chair: Ahmed Vahed, Worley 
Chris Pickles, Queens University 
Roki Fukuzawa, Hatch 
Gillian Holcroft, CMIC 
Greg Richards, Teck 
Daniel Brosig, GCT 
Anne Naeth, University of Alberta 
George Houlachi, IREQ 
Romeo Ravoianu, SNC-Lavalin 

Keynote Speakers TBD

Session Chairs TBD

Boyd Davis, Kingston Process Metallurgy
Joel Kapusta, BBA

This symposium draws presenters from around the world who have engaged in the often difficult task of bringing new technology to commercialization. The event is a rare opportunity to celebrate successes, analyze failures, and share important lessons with the greater metallurgical community.  In the last nine years since the previous symposium, there have been a number of slow starts and outright failures with metallurgical processes and this has negatively affected the appetite for risk.  At the same time, lower ore grades, more complicated deposits, new end material demands, market volatility, and water and energy constraints have all driven new process development.  The organizers hope that this symposium can provide the metallurgical sector valuable help to successfully lower the risks and maximize the rewards of new processes.

You are invited to participate in the symposium on Chromite Processing during the 59th Annual Conference of Metallurgists (COM 2020) in Toronto, Canada. 

The symposium aims to bring together researchers to review new developments on chromite and ferrochrome processing covering mineral processing, metallurgy and environmental aspects both at the lab and plant scales. A special focus will be the R&D activities taken place on the responsible developments of the Ring of Fire chromite resources in northern Ontario. The symposium will provide a forum for discussions on the behavior of chromium throughout the mining and metallurgical processing cycles and an exchange of information on the environmental practices employed by the industry.

Topics:

• New developments on ferrochrome production processes and technologies;
• Recovery of chromite fines;
• Utilization of ferrochrome slag as a by-product material;
• Sources, formation, transport and control of hexavalent chromium during mineral and metallurgical processing and following disposal of wastes;
• Sustainable and responsible development of chromite resources;
• Regulatory issues, exposure and health effects.

Symposium Organizers:

Chair: Dogan Paktunc, NRCan
Matthew Cramer, Hatch
Isabel Geldenhuys, Mintek
Markus Erwee, SAIMM
Mika Muinonen, XPS

The symposium will honor the contributions of Dr. Rodney Jones to the field of pyrometallurgy and chromite processing in particular. Rodney is a chemical engineer and metallurgist with over 30 years of pyrometallurgical experience in a wide variety of processes that have been taken from concept to industrial implementation. Rodney is a Past President and an Honorary Life Fellow of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (SAIMM) – a professional institute that looks after the interests of almost 5000 mining and metallurgical engineers. Rodney has worked for over thirty years in the Pyrometallurgy Division at Mintek – an internationally recognized minerals research organization, based in Randburg, and is currently a Senior Technical Specialist there. Rodney holds a BSc (Eng) degree in chemical engineering from the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in Johannesburg, a BA degree in logic and philosophy from the University of South Africa, and MSc (Eng) and PhD degrees in metallurgical engineering from Wits University. He has been a registered Professional Engineer since 1988.

Rodney has also been actively involved with several professional societies around the world, including the MetSoc of CIM in Canada where is still hold a position in the Executive committee of the Pyrometallurgy Section of MetSoc and has been a contributor and organizer of several symposia sponsored or co-sponsored by the Section. Most recently, Rodney was serving in the International Organizing Committee of Cu2019. Through his dedication to collaboration, Rodney has helped develop a greater bond between MetSoc of CIM and SAIMM.

His main research interests are in the field of computer simulation and design of high-temperature processes, and the development of thermodynamic software. He is the author of the Pyrosim software, for the steady-state simulation of pyrometallurgical processes. This software has been used in 22 countries around the world. Rodney has also been part of the team that developed processes for large-scale industrial application of direct-current arc furnace technology to the smelting of chromite in South Africa and Kazakhstan, ilmenite smelting in South Africa, cobalt recovery from slags in Zambia, battery recycling in Switzerland, and ferronickel production in New Caledonia. He is one of the inventors of the internationally patented ConRoast process – a more environmentally friendly way of recovering platinum group metals from ores that are otherwise very difficult to process.

The South African National Research Foundation (NRF) rated him in 2009 and 2015 as an ‘Internationally Acclaimed Researcher’. Rodney is also a member of the Board of Trustees for OneMine.org, and serves as the Chairman of the International Committee on Ferro-Alloys (ICFA).  He has been a leading advocate for open publications to help disseminate technical information.

Rodney is also a Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE), the South African Institute of Chemical Engineers (SAIChE), and the South African Academy of Engineering, and a Member of the Royal Society of South Africa. He is an Honorary Adjunct Professor in the School of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering at the University of the Witwatersrand, and has previously held visiting positions at the Center for Pyrometallurgy, University of Missouri-Rolla, USA (1996), and at Murdoch University, Perth, Australia (2002-2003).

The recent incidents within the mining industry with tailings storage facility failures and surface/underground mining disasters show the magnitude of consequence which occurs because of these events. Metallurgical surface facilities such as concentrators, smelters and refineries are not inherently immune to events of similar magnitudes. Multiple fatality incidents, community exposure to acute risks and large-scale environmental damage have and do result from surface facility operations.

The mitigation of low-likelihood, high-consequence risks presents unique challenges for metal processing operations. Often there are neither industrial guidelines nor sufficient experience gained from incidents within the facility (or even across multiple facilities operated by the same entity) to assure that such risks have been controlled to the greatest reasonable extent.

The symposium focuses on both the methods of identification of such risks as well as best practices in analyzing, controlling and monitoring. Papers will be presented in three sessions:

• Management and Assurance Program Development and Implementation
• Risk Identification and Mitigation in Pyrometallurgical Plants
• Risk Identification and Mitigation in Mineral Processing and Hydrometallurgical Plants

Symposium Organizers:

Chair: Terry Koehler, Hatch
Bobby Reid, Hatch
Nils Voermann, Hatch

The theme of COM2020 is Emerging Technologies in Materials and Metallurgical industries.

As the name suggests, the symposium on “Processing of Critical Materials” will focus on those critical materials essential for modern energy storage systems, electric motors and generators, electronics, and lightweight, high-strength alloys.  The field is characterized by rapid development and changing requirements, and consequently the resource and processing industry that generates these materials must in turn adapt and develop quickly.  This symposium aims to address the need of the Extractive Metallurgist to learn about developing methods of improving extractive technologies.

With this theme in mind the organizers of the Processing of Critical Materials Symposium are inviting papers in the following commodities:

• Energy storage materials: Lithium / Vanadium / Nickel / Cobalt / Graphite
• Alloy Elements: Scandium / Niobium
• Electronics: Gallium / Germanium / Indium
• Rare Earth Elements: Magnets, catalysts, phosphors, and other diverse areas

The organizers are specifically interested in the following subject areas:

• Mineral Beneficiation – Process development and operations from ore and recycled material
• Hydrometallurgy – Process development and operations from ore, concentrates, and recycled materials.
• Overall Project Advancements
• Challenges in Processing Plant Engineering
• Separation of REEs – technology, feed specifications, chemical and physical specifications of products
• Critical Materials and the Environment
• Recycling (batteries, electronic waste, etc)

Symposium Organizers:

• Chair: Niels Verbaan, SGS Minerals
• Gisele Azimi, University of Toronto
• John Goode, J. R. Goode and Associates
• Mike Johnson, SGS Minerals
• Ian London, CREEN

Advances in Materials Manufacturing IV Symposium will focus on the latest developments in manufacturing and processing of the conventional and advanced materials using experimental and/or numerical approaches. It will provide an opportunity for researchers from academic and research institutes and industries around the world to present the newest achievements, technical innovations, trends, and challenges in the fields of advanced materials manufacturing and processing. The scope includes (but is not limited to):

• Additive Manufacturing
• Welding and Joining
• Laser and Laser-Assisted Materials Processing
• Micro and Nano Manufacturing
• Casting
• Advanced Powder Manufacturing and Processing
• Metal Forming
• Precision Machining
• Surface Modification
• Repair and Remanufacturing
• Hybrid Manufacturing, etc.

Symposium Organizers :

Chair: Abu Syed Kabir, Carleton University
Daolun Chen, Ryerson University
Xinjin Cao, Zhejiang University of Technology

Keynote Speakers: To be invited

The symposium honors the memory of Dr. Jason Lo who was a principal scientist and manager of the Emerging and Defence Materials Program at CanmetMATERIALS, Natural Resources Canada. His field of expertise was advanced materials and fabrication processes.

Dr. Lo received his Ph.D. and M.Sc. degrees in Materials Science and Engineering from Cornell University. He worked briefly as Technology Manager at Ontario Research Foundation before joining Materials Technology Laboratory (MTL) in 1988 as a research scientist. He developed the metal matrix composite laboratory at MTL which later evolved into Advanced Materials program. In 1994 he became the program manager.  He holds 21 U.S. and international patents for the many materials he had developed.

Dr. Lo had organized the biannual Canada-Japan Composites Workshop multiple times and Chaired the 2006 event in Canada. In 2005 Dr. Jason Lo led the efforts to develop the Canada-China-USA collaborative research program on ‘Magnesium Front End R&D’ for transportation program.  He served as the Canadian advisor to the three country executive committee.

Since 2008, Dr. Lo worked with Canadian National Defence which has evolved into a full pledged research program at Canmet. This program delivered services to DND including material development, testing and characterization for more than a decade. During this time Jason worked on armor materials and blast protection technologies. In late 2018, Dr. Lo also assumed the position of Acting Program Manager for Pipeline materials.

He had published over 120 papers in the field of composites, nuclear materials, armor materials and nanomaterials. He had given over 100 presentations (25 were keynote and invited presentations) in conferences, edited three books. He served as conference organizer, technical reviewer and thesis advisor for post-graduate students in many Canadian Universities. He was also an Adjunct Research Professor of McMaster University.

Scope:

The symposium will focus on new technologies to reduce the environmental footprint of mineral processing operations, including those processing mineral ores and mine by-products. Technologies that improve the social responsibility of operations, in particular, those that have the potential to reduce water and energy required for processing and carbon footprint, are welcome. Papers involving demonstration of novel processing technologies, application of advanced manufacturing and computational tools, novel sensing, control, and data analysis methods (AI, IoT, VR/AR), carbon capture and utilization technologies such as mineral carbonation in mining tailings, mining waste utilization, and resource recovery from the mining by-products are particularly encouraged to submit their work.

Sessions/Subjects to be covered: 

Abstracts are solicited for, but not limited to, the following topics:

• Novel processing technologies for water and energy reduction of mineral processing operations
• Advanced computational modeling of mineral processing systems 
• Novel process control and IIoT technologies (AI, IoT, VR/AR) 
• Novel sensing and sorting technologies 
• Carbon capture and utilization technologies such as mineral carbonation in mining tailings
• Value recovery from waste/reprocessing

Symposium Organizers:

Chair: Erin Bobicki, University of Toronto  
Sanja Miskovic, University of British Columbia
Rafael Santos, University of Guelph 
Rory Cameron, NRCan 
David Turner, MineSense 

Scope:

The objective of the symposium is to showcase the recent strides in the area of rapid solidification processing of advanced metallic, intermetallics, and composite materials that have enabled advances in the manufacturing for emerging applications that is synchronous with advances in technology.  The sessions in this symposium aims to showcase recent advances in research, development and implementation of technologies; a few salient themes would include metal-based powders, consolidation and processing, rapid prototyping, casting using non-equilibrium solidification processes, amorphous, nano-crystalline and crystalline materials, thin filament structures, and joining and integration of rapid solidified components.  Application of technologies in commercial sectors such as transportation, energy and defense would be highlighted with focus on the science, principle, technology, advances and application. 

Sessions/Subjects to be covered:

Abstracts are solicited for, but not limited to, the following topics:

• Alloy Development for Rapid Solidification.
• Solidification Processes Involving Rapid Solidification.
• Microstructure, Properties and Performance of Rapid Solidified Components.
• Thermo-physical and Thermo-Mechanical Properties of Rapid Solidified Materials.
• Post Processing: Joining, Coating, Finishing.
• Corrosion and Environmental Aspects.
• Innovation in Commercial Application of Rapid Solidification.

Symposium Organizers:

Chair: Sumanth Shankar, McMaster University
Aziz Bogno, University of Alberta
David Lavasseur, Cégep de Trois-Rivières College
Jonas Valloton, University of Alberta
Xiaoming Wang, Purdue University

Photos provided by Wikipedia, SFGATE and SIFCO ASC

Corrosion and degradation of engineering materials continues to adversely affect the safety, reliability and cost of engineering products and systems of value to society. This symposium aims to bring together scientists, engineers and technologists from academia, government and industry to present and discuss recent advances in theory, computational modeling and experiments related to corrosion and degradation of engineering materials and its control. Topical aspects of particular interest include, but are not limited to, solution corrosivity, metallurgical influences, chemical-mechanical interactions mechanistic initiation/propagation studies, corrosion control (cathodic/anodic protection, metallic/non-metallic coatings and inorganic/organic inhibitors) and corrosion sensing/characterization techniques. Material performance applications of particular interest include, but are not limited to transportation, energy generation, oil/gas pipelines, manufacturing and biomass/chemical processing.

Keynote Speaker
Dr Salim Brahimi, Director of Engineering & Technology, Industrial Fasteners Institute (IFI)

Specific topics (topics of focused sessions)

• Localized Corrosion
• Environmentally assisted cracking
• Hydrogen embrittlement
• Sustainable corrosion control technology
• Corrosion Modelling

Learning objectives

• Improved awareness of recent advances in theory, computational modeling and experiments related to corrosion and degradation of engineering materials and its control
• Enriched understanding of material performance challenges and emerging corrosion control technologies
• Increased familiarity with corrosion science and engineering capabilities and expertise available in academia, government and industry 

Symposium Organizers:
Chair: Joseph Kish, McMaster University
Jun Song, McGill University
Frank Cheng, University of Calgary
Sriraman Rajagopalan, IBECA & McGill University
Nafis Ebrahimi, NRC
Yimin Zeng, NRCAN

ICME has become the new paradigm in materials design, promising substantial reduction in the time and cost in materials design and development of materials. Despite some success ICME stories, challenges remain in bridging modeling/simulation and experimentation, integration of different time/length scales, and etc. This symposium provides a forum to discuss recent advances in ICME, with particular focus on its application to structural and energy materials. The specific topics include (but not limited to) the following:

ICME has become the new paradigm in materials design, promising substantial reduction in the time and cost in materials design and development of materials. Despite some success ICME stories, challenges remain in bridging modeling/simulation and experimentation, integration of different time/length scales, and etc. This symposium provides a forum to discuss recent advances in ICME, with particular focus on its application to structural and energy materials. The specific topics include (but not limited to) the following:

• New theoretical/computational tools development
• Atomic-scale, meso-scale, micro-scale and multi-scale materials simulations
• ICME-assisted experiment design and process design/optimization
• Material database and data analysis/extraction tool development 
• Machine learning in material research

Learning objectives

• Improve awareness of recent ICME related research development and new tools towards more efficient materials design
• Promote discussion of new modeling and simulation techniques, and new approaches to better integrate modeling/simulation and experimentation

Keynote speaker 
Prof. Normand Mousseau, University of Montreal

Symposium Organizers:
Jun Song, McGill University
Chandra Veer Singh, University of Toronto