Book reviews / Minerals Engineering 18 (2005) 905907

Maurice C. Fuerstenau, Kenneth N. Han (Eds.). Principles

of Mineral Processing, Society for Mining, Metallurgy,
and Exploration, Littleton, CO, ISBN 0-87335-167-3,
x + 573 pages, 18.2 3 26 cm, hard cover, www.smenet.
org, US$ 124
This is a collective work by 16 US authors, 2 Canadians, 1 Australian, and only one European from Bulgariaa total of 20. So it can be said that the book
reects the North American English Speaking expertise.
It covers particle characterization, size reduction and
liberation, size separation, movement of solids in liquids, gravity concentration, magnetic and electrostatic
separation, otation, liquidsolid separation, metallurgical balances and eciency, bulk solids handling,
hydrometallurgy and solution kinetics, mineral processing wastes and their remediation, and economics of the
minerals industry. Thus it covers all areas of mineral
processing in a systematic way.
According to the editors in their introduction to the
work, the book is meant to be a textbook for students
and a reference work for professionals in industry. This
goal was certainly fullled. I would even add that it is an
advanced textbook for graduate students and for senior
professionals in industry. Each of the fourteen chapters
is well documented by a long list of literature citations
with full title of the references, and the index is well prepared in 13 pages. Figures and diagrams are clear and
the book in general is very well produced.
It would have been a good idea if the authors had referred to the Handbook of Mineral Processing published
in 1985 by SME in their introduction so that there could
be a continuation in the publications policy. Certainly
the Handbook is still an important document in this
domain.
doi:10.1016/j.mineng.2005.05.008

907

The number of pages per chapter is usually about 50,

and a few about 20. While the chapter devoted to hydrometallurgy is the largest in 76 pages. Traditionally
hydrometallurgy and aqueous electrometallurgy are
considered a part of mineral processing although the
domains are now very well established as independent
elds.
While chapter 8 (Flotation) is comprehensive and up
to date, chapter 4 (Size Separation) is very well presented but the latest reference cited in 1986. Similarly
chapter 5 (Movement of Solids in Liquids) the latest reference cited is 1984. The chapter entitled Hydrometallurgy and Solution Kinetics (chapter 12) includes a
good summary of the work by Han and co-workers published in the 1990s but also suers from the absence of
recent publications in the eld by other authors. Further
it is based heavily on chemical engineering books, e.g.
Bird et al. (1962), Smith (1970), Levenspiel (1972), Geiger and Poirier (1973), Sherwood et al. (1975), as well as
standard works on thermodynamics such as Kubaschewski and Evans (1979).
The book is an excellent present to the mineral beneciation community and is highly recommended. The
editors and authors are to be congratulated for this magnicent eort.
Fathi Habashi
Departement de genie des mines
de la metallurgie et des materiaux
Faculte des sciences et de genie
Universite Laval, Quebec, Canada G1K 7P4
Tel.: +1 418 656 7269; fax: +1 418 656 5343
E-mail address: fathi.habashi@gmn.ulaval.ca
Available online 13 June 2005