Exponential Technologies in Mineral Processing: Contemporary Methods and Sustainable Equipment for Modeling, Optimization and Control
A special issue of Minerals (ISSN 2075-163X). This special issue belongs to the section "Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 September 2026 | Viewed by 29
Special Issue Editors
Interests: multi-objective control; indirect measurements and soft sensing; process modeling; Industry 4.0; IoT; edge computing solutions; raw materials processing; design of innovative devices, circuits, and control strategies for mineral processing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: processing of mineral resources; optimization of technological processes; mineral engineering; geometallurgy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
This Special Issue is dedicated to the next wave of intelligent mineral processing. The sector is confronting intensifying demands for productivity, variability management, and sustainability, while operating under tighter energy, water, and ESG constraints. Contemporary methods, spanning hybrid/physics-informed machine learning, high-fidelity process modeling, stochastic and robust optimization, and advanced monitoring and control, are being transformed by AI, IoT, edge–cloud computing, and immersive digital transformation practices. We particularly welcome contributions that demonstrate end-to-end value creation, including digital twins for comminution and flotation, reinforcement learning and model-predictive control for plant-wide coordination, soft sensing and sensor fusion for sparse/lagged assays, and uncertainty quantification to assure safe and explainable decision-making. The Special Issue will also spotlight advances in contemporary processing equipment and machinery, especially solutions that measurably improve sustainability through energy efficiency, water reuse, reduced reagent consumption, and lower emissions.
The scope covers the full value chain, from blasting and comminution through classification, concentration, hydrometallurgy, and tailings management, with an emphasis on deployable solutions and measurable impact (throughput, recovery, energy/water intensity, reagent optimization, and emissions). We encourage papers on edge analytics for harsh environments, autonomous and cooperative control, data governance and cybersecurity for OT/IT convergence, lifecycle engineering of digital twins, and methods that integrate sustainability objectives directly into control/optimization. Submissions on novel or retrofittable machinery (e.g., high-pressure grinding, coarse particle recovery, sensorized mills, and smart thickening/filtration) that demonstrate credible techno-economic and environmental benefits are especially welcome. Submissions may include original research, rigorous case studies, benchmark datasets and baselines, or perspectives that codify best practices (FAIR data, reproducibility, interpretability, and safety). Works that release code, models, designs, or statistically sound open datasets will receive particular consideration.
Dr. Szymon Ogonowski
Dr. Dariusz Foszcz
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Minerals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- exponential technologies
- intelligent mineral processing
- sustainable equipment
- modeling, optimization, and control
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