Gravity Mining are keen to acknowledge the engineering genius and impact of Richard Mozley, the original inventor of the Multi Gravity Separator and founder of company that bore his name. Our own Treve Mildren worked with Richard for a short period before his death and when Mozley’s was later sold to a US Oil and Gas business, Gravity Mining continued the machines development and production.
Richard Henry Mozley MBE studied mining engineering at the Camborne School of Mines in the 1950s. During his time there he undertook a final year project on a prototype wet high intensity separator. This must have ignited Richard's passion for R&D work as he then spent 2 years at the University of Bristol, working on spiral related gravity concentration, leading to the development an orbital concentrator for the recovery of fine tin particles, which was subsequently licensed to the Cornish company Bartles Ltd.
After a period overseas, he took a position at the Warren Spring Laboratory, where he was involved in the development of gravity devices, before returning to Bristol University as a Research Fellow. It was here that his interest in developing gravity concentrators to treat ultrafine cassiterite in the Cornish tin mines took over and he developed a modern separator to replace the round frames and Vanners traditionally used in Cornwall. The result was the first machine to bear his name, the Bartles-Mozley Concentrator followed by the Bartles Cross-Belt Separator both of which are still in situ at the Geevor Tin Mine museum.
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After eventually settling in Cornwall, he established Richard Mozely Ltd a company built around inventing and developing processes for recovery of fine heavy minerals. By 1986 the growing business had moved to premises near to our current site in Redruth.
The company initially concentrated on the development of small hydrocyclones for desliming feeds to gravity concentrators, and a sand separator that eventually led to the development of a laboratory tool, the Mozely Table or Superpanner; A invention that is still widely used for testwork at hundreds of institutions and mine laboratories around the world.
Richard described his greatest invention, the MGS, as a shaking table wrapped through 360 degrees into a circular drum which was not only shaken, but rotated to increase the G force and enhance separation. The Mozley Multi Gravity Separator (MGS) was tested and developed at the local Wheal Jane tin mine and then showcased at the 1988 IMPC in Stockholm. The machine has since been used successfully in many mines around the world and still sets the standard for the recovery of ultrafine heavy minerals.
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Those who knew Richard, describe him as a larger than life character and despite having passed away over 25 years ago, he is still fondly remembered by the mineral processing community. At Gravity Mining we are keen acknowledge his ground-breaking designs and are proud to build on his original ideas and legacy.
Adapted from an original article by kind permission of Barry Wills at MEI
