IMPC, the International Mineral Processing Congress has been in existence now for more than fifty five years. The very first congress was held in September 1952 as a symposium on Mineral Dressing in London, organized by the then Institution of Mining and Metallurgy (IMM), which coincided with its 60th years’ celebrations. The symposium was held in the Imperial School of Science and Technology, London. With 39 technical papers and 332 delegates, it was indeed an impressive beginning to what is known today as IMPC. IMPC has been a major driving force for the promotion of scientific and technical knowledge in mineral processing and extractive metallurgy worldwide. It is the most prestigious event in the field of mineral processing in the world today. The congress has been truly international with delegates from all parts of the world deliberating on issues facing the industry over a period of five days. A brief summary of all the international congresses held till now are listed in Table 1. For more details the readers are referred to the excellent review of IMPC by Prof. Fathi Habashi*.

Prof. Cyril O’Connor took over as the Chairman of the IMPC council from Prof. Eric Forssberg in Istanbul. Prof. Forssberg very ably steered the IMPC council for twenty-one years before passing on the baton to Prof. O’Connor.

Since the year 1995, IMPC has started honouring an eminent personality with a Lifetime Achievement Award during each Congress. The proud winners of the IMPC Lifetime Achievement Award include Prof. Douglas Fuerstenau (1995), Prof K. Schonert (1997), Prof Jean Cases (2000), Prof. Peter King (2003), Prof. H Schubert (2006) and Prof Janusz Laskowski (2008). In 2008 at the Beijing Congress the prestigious IMPC Council Award, for outstanding and noteworthy contributions to the activities of the Council and its various activities was awarded for the first time to Professor Nathaniel Arbiter. (click here)

The venues of the next three IMPC’s have already been announced:
The XXV IMPC will be held in Brisbane, Australia in the year 2010. It is indeed a matter of pride for us working in this field in India that the venue of XXVI IMPC will be New Delhi, India in the year 2012, when IMPC will be celebrating its sixtieth birthday. We will be hosting this event in India for the very first time.

1953

XI

XII

Sao Paulo, Brazil

XX

XXIII

With new challenges facing the mining and mineral processing industry today, the importance of IMPC as an international forum where the latest advances in the field are shared amongst the participants both formally and informally is going to increase in the coming decades. The technical exhibition organized as a part of IMPC showcases the new process technologies, instruments and equipments and provides an occasion to make and/or renew professional contacts and build business relationships. IMPC has become an international event where the technical and business experts present their views on the challenges facing the industry and the new directions which need to be taken to face them. It is indeed a professionally rewarding experience to participate in IMPC for all the delegates.

Mining, mineral and metal industries worldwide, in particular in China and India are witnessing unprecedented growth rates. The challenges facing the industry are also different from those in the past. Land and water scarcity are likely to be technological drivers in the near future. Environment compliance will be dictating the choice of technology options in the project under development. Exciting times are on the horizon for those who dare to dream and innovate. All this excitement and coming up with innovative solutions will be shared by the professional leaders with the delegates during forthcoming mineral processing congresses. All are invited to participate in these IMPC’s; Brisbane in 2010 and New Delhi in 2012.