Technical English for Metallurgists

Module III
Topic 7: Thickening
Past Perfect
Objectives:
* Identify the structure and function of the past perfect.
* Distinguish the use between Past Perfect and Present Perfect in terms of meaning
and structure.
* Apply and understand the different aspects of thickening and solid/liquid
separation of concentrates.
Introduction
Had the Internet been invented when you were born?

How would your life be different without the Internet?

Had the Internet been invented when you were born?
Well, according to the video, yes,. When I was born the Internet had been invented.

How would your life be different without the Internet?

I have no idea, maybe I’d have tons of books to use them at work…
Past Perfect
See the example:
Sara went the safety talk yesterday. Paul went to the safety talk
too but they didn't see each other. Paul went to the office at
5:30 and Sara arrived at 6:00 o’clock. So:

When Sarah arrived to the meeting, Paul wasn’t there.

He had gone to the office.

Had gone is the past perfect:

5:30 6:00

Paul had gone to the office. When Sarah arrived to the meeting
When Sarah arrived to the meeting, Paul wasn’t there. He had
gone to the office.

Had gone is the past perfect:

I/we/they/you
gone
had (=I’d etc.)
He/she/it (= he’d etc.) seen
finished
We use the Past Perfect to talk about something that happened in the past:

Sarah arrived to the meeting.

This is the starting point of the story.

If we want to talk about things that happened before this time, we use the
past perfect:

When Sarah arrived to the meeting, Paul had already gone to the office.
The past perfect simple is had + past participle (gone/seen/finished, etc.)

Example:

When I got home last night, I found that somebody

had broken into the house.
Example:

Carlo didn’t want to come to the

cinema with us because he had
already seen the film.
 Example:

At first I thought I’d done the right thing, but I

soon realized that I’d made a serious mistake.
Example:

The man sitting next to me on the plane was very nervous.

He hadn’t flown before / he had never flown before.
Example:

Had you already seen that film?

Present Perfect vs. Past Perfect
 Differences
Present perfect Past perfect

* I didn’t know who she was. I’d never seen her

* Who is that woman? I’ve never seen her before. before. (= before that time)

* We aren’t hungry. We’ve just had lunch. * We weren’t hungry. We’d just had lunch.

* The house is dirty. They haven’t cleaned it for * The house was dirty. They hadn’t cleaned it for
weeks. weeks.
Past Perfect and Past Simple
We can use the past perfect with the past simple to make a
sequence of events clear. We use the past perfect for the
earlier action and the past simple for the later one:

When I got back, the boss had sent me an email.

8:30 9:30

The boss had sent an email. I got back

Notice the difference if both verbs are in the past simple:

When I got back, my boss sent me an email.

9:00 9:10

I got back My boss sent me an email.

Thickeners, Filters, and Dryers
THICKENERS
Thickening and filtering systems have many uses in mineral processing. They may be used to:
• separate pregnant solution from leach circuits,
• dry electro-winning sludge prior to smelting, and
• prepare concentrate for shipping.
It is said that the lower the moisture content, Producing a properly filtered and dried product
the better conditions for shipping. is very important. This means consistently
Unfortunately, air movement accounts for a high keeping the percentage of moisture within an
percentage of concentrate loss if the concentrate operating range, not too wet and not too dry.
is too dry. Air movement is created naturally as This range will be different for each plant and
wind or artificially by trucks and trains as the depends upon which mineral is being mined
concentrate is moved from point to point. Very and the type of climate that the concentrate
dry concentrate can also pose a hazard for both will experience.
the health of workers and the maintenance of
equipment. Fine dust particles often contain
silicates and other crystalline particles that
damage lungs and wear away moving parts on
equipment.
 MOISTURE PERCENTAGE VS. DENSITY

Moisture percentage is the amount of water in the slurry or filter cake.

Density is the percentage of solids in slurry. One reports the water, the other the solids.

The Process The first, the thickener, does just what its name
implies—it thickens the concentrate or slurry. This
Within the scope of a de-watering step is often needed because filtering equipment,
circuit there are three types of which is next in the process, works best when the
equipment. feed to it is fairly thick. At this stage the pulp is
still thin enough to be fluid; however, it is the
 thickeners filter's job to take the moisture content past the
 filters fluid state so that the dryer, which is the last piece
 dryers of equipment, is able to produce an end product
whose moisture content is at the desired point of
dryness.
Sources:
B.A. Wills, T.J. Naiper-Mum (2006) Wills’ Mineral Processing Technology
Edumine, Ron Magill (2016) Mineral Recovery
Pearson (2012) My Grammar Lab
Cambridge University Press (1995) English Grammar in Use