As President of the Indian Institute of Mineral Engineers as well as Director of the National Metallurgical Labo-ratory, I would like to add to the welcome greetings already extended to you on the occasion of National Seminar
on Mineral Processing and the concurrent IX Annual Tech-nical Convention of the IIM E. It is indeed a great privi-lege to have the Hon'ble Minister with us inspite of his very busy schedules and prior commitments. The Indian Institute of Mineral Engineers just completed 16 years of its fruitful existence and, as you are all aware, it cons-titutes the pioneering forum for the discussion of all the scientific, technological and engineering aspects of mineral industries, not only in India but also in the world wide context