经济衰退对矿业产生了巨大影响,在此期间,许多矿业公司重点致力于降低成本,特別是能源成本,而不是革新设备。与此同时,微处理机的价格迅速下降以及其可靠性不断增强,从而导致自动化在一些选矿过程中的应用日益增多。 1984年2月,在洛杉矶举行了第一届选矿和过程冶金自动控制国际讨论会。随后,在伦敦召开了第十八届矿业计算机和数学应用国际讨论会(APCOM)。自五十年代末以来,计算机被用于选矿过程。其早期应用限于过程模型化和工厂最优化。七十年代开始,计算机已广泛用于工厂控制,特别是磨矿、碎矿、重介质分选和浮选等方面。美国赫伯斯特和巴斯丘尔回顾了选矿过程控制 The economic downturn has had a huge impact on mining, during which time many mining companies focused their efforts on reducing costs, especially energy costs, rather than innovating equipment. At the same time, the rapid decline in the price of microprocessors and their increasing reliability have led to a growing use of automation in some beneficiation processes. In February 1984, the first International Symposium on Automatic Control of Mineral Processing and Process Metallurgy was held in Los Angeles. Subsequently, the 18th International Symposium on Mining Computer and Mathematical Applications (APCOM) was held in London. Since the late 1950s, computers have been used in mineral processing. Its early applications were limited to process modeling and factory optimization. Seventies, computers have been widely used in factory control, especially grinding, crushing, heavy media sorting and flotation and so on. Herbst & Bathurst in the United States reviewed the process control of beneficiation