Abstract:A review of the current status and future trends in the automation and control of mineral and metal processing is presented. An evaluation of publications on IFAC MMM events during the last 20 years shows some trends in the application of a number of process control methods in the MM industry. Classical control has seen an extraordinarily wide application, but its inability to solve all the application problems of interest has led to further developments in control system methodologies and theory. One aim of this paper is to review the success of the translation of theoretically based developments into practice. Finally, the importance of information technology for the MM industry and process automation is highlighted and discussed. r