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The Warren Centre Engineering Building J13 Sydney University NSW 2006 T: (02) 9351 3752 F: (02) 9351 2012 E: warrenc@eng.usyd.edu.au |
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The Warren Centre Engineering Building J13 Sydney University NSW 2006 T: (02) 9351 3752 F: (02) 9351 2012 E: warrenc@eng.usyd.edu.au |
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| ISSUE 38, June 2004 |
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Chris Kelsey, Inventor and Developer An innovation must meet a real need if it is to be truly commercially successful. In that respect alone Chris Kelsey, one of the 2004 Warren Centre Innovation Heroes, is a born — and ideal — innovator. Chris Kelsey’s career is studded with products and systems that owe their existence to his ability to identify a need while on the job and work through to a solution that would meet that need. So how does he get his ideas? “The ideas just come out of necessity,” says Chris, who has spent a large proportion of his working life in the mining industry. “You become aware of a problem, generally when you are working, then you think about it when you go home at night and work through to a solution. “The mining industry is in certain aspects inefficient, mostly because each mine has its own peculiar ore body, and a lot of our work is on pilot projects to improve performance in mines. That’s where the ideas come from. You don’t think of something that nobody wants.” One of Chris’ best inventions to date is the Kelsey Centrifugal Jig, which after more than 20 years of development has become an overnight success in the mining industry. The Kelsey Centrifugal Jig works at up to 40 times gravity at substantial tonnages to recover fine and difficult-to-extract ore bodies. It thus avoids the need for chemical processes that damage the environment. It is the only commercial centrifugal jig in the world, and is currently responsible for recovering more than half a billion dollars worth of ore worldwide per annum. This figure is expected to double in the next two years. Chris, who trained initially as a fitter and turner and subsequently studied draughtsmanship and engineering, first conceived the idea of a centrifugal jig while heading up the drawing office and then as the mill senior engineer at the CRA copper mine in Bougainville in 1980. He noticed that the technology then current resulted in significant quantities of very fine gold being lost to the mine’s tailing stream. He was convinced that a high performance spinning jig was the solution to more efficient recovery of this gold. Over the next 20 or so years, Chris obtained funding, developed the idea and brought into production successively improved models of the jig. He achieved his first commercial sale of a laboratory-sized machine in 1989, to a Nova Scotia tin mine, where it proved remarkably successful. In partnership with a Canadian colleague he obtained venture capital and formed his company Geo Logics, which went on to develop the Kelsey Jig through a 5 t/hr model (the J470) in 1990, the 10 t/hr J650 unit in 1992 and the 25 t/hr J1300 unit in 1993. He introduced automatic screen cleaning to the product range in 1999, and in 2000, the state-of-the-art j1800 60 t/hr unit was commissioned at the Colquiri Tin Mines in Bolivia. In 2001 Chris sold his interest in Geo Logics to Roche Mining, an Australia company which is now a subsidiary of Downer EDI, an ASX listed company. Today the Kelsey Jig, which is manufactured entirely in Australia, can be found operating at 60 locations in 13 countries and is used for the commercial recovery of mineral sands, tin, tantalum, gold, nickel, iron, chromite, platinum group minerals, copper, lead, zinc and cobalt. One of Chris’s earlier inventions was the IBES 3-D system, which enabled a probe to scan clay models, transferring surface profiles to punched tape. The technology was first introduced at the Ford Motor Company in Geelong in 1967 to develop press tooling and tilted lofting lines (lofting is derived from the old ship building term where the hull curvature lines were developed and laid down in a loft, the automobile began its life with the only known technology of the times, maritime!) for the first vehicle manufactured there, the Ford panel van. Chrysler then used the system for the first time in 1968, on its first Valiant Charger model. The Valiant Charger became one of the Chrysler’s best sellers and in 1970 Chris received a Prince Phillip Design Award for the invention. Other inventions include the Kelsey Crusher, a high impact crusher for rapid reduction of ore from ~100 mm to less than 1 mm (with 50 per cent less than 75 microns), in a single pass, and the Kelsey Geoflow control valve with linear operating characteristics, which has a central orifice that remains circular regardless of the flow rate. The valve is used in very abrasive situations and is able to control the flow of slurries accurately at high pressures with a minimum of wear. Currently, Chris is developing the Kelsey Fine Autogenous Grinding (FAG) mill, a product which he believes has the greatest potential of all his inventions. The Kelsey FAG mill is unique for its ability to grind material down to the < 2 micron range without using added grinding media while delivering many other benefits, including:
The mill achieves these targets in a very high acceleration (up to 2000 “G”s) to grind already fine minerals down to sub-micron size. With one production model currently operating successfully at 1 t/hr, Chris and Roche Mining are working with the CSIRO to upscale the mill to a capacity of hundreds of tonnes, which is where the mill’s full potential lies. In May, Chris was presented with a 2004 Warren Centre Innovation Hero award, principally for the invention, development and commercialisation of the Kelsey Centrifugal Jig. |
 Chris Kelsey (left), receives his Innovation Hero's award from Warren Centre chairman, Peter North
J1800 Kelsey centrifugal jig. Approximately 3 metres in diameter and weighing about 14 tonnes. The rotating portion weighing around 7 tonnes and spinning and pulsating at 40 gs.  The spinning portion of the Centrifugal Jig. (looking more like an alien space ship)
FAG 500 mill |
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Nanotech Resource Book 2004 Innovation Lecture Handbook | ||
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22 July
2004
An international forum of sustainable
transport initiatives Click here for more information and to register. Email: ac21@usyd.edu.au
Difficulties with
the above, Venue: Sydney Convention Centre & various Sydney University venues Web: www.usyd.edu.au/ac21 Email: ac21@usyd.edu.au 21st & 22nd July 2004 Australian Energy & Utility Summit 2004 The future of Australia's energy and utility sector Venue: Sydney Convention Centre Click here for more information or Contact Anthony Sprange (02) 9922 5609Email: anthonys@acevents.com.au
"Disruptive Technologies - Risk and Reward" An ATSE workshop Email: Dr John Nutt, ATSE for more info. 23 & 24 September 2004 Engineers Australia - Engineering Leadership Conference 2004 Venue: Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre Click here for more information on the web or here to request info by Email 27 to 29 September 2004 CHEMECA 2004 Venue: Australian Technology Park, Sydney Click here for more information on the web or here to request info by Email 15 & 16 November 2004 ATSE 2004 Symposium - "Living Longer, Living Better" Venue: Adelaide Hilton Hotel see www.atse.org.au for more details Paula Williamson (03) 9347 0622 or paulaw@atse.org.au | ||
