Given the global significance of mining and mineral processing as a field, why do most countries avoid establishing specialized institutes dedicated to mineral processing, which could significantly contribute to the development of this sector?
Avoid is probably a biased view. My experience is that there is insufficient student demand for the narrow field of mineral processing and businesses have adapted to utilising generalised processing engineers as part to substitutes. This does introduce some technical risk as graduates are less likely to have specialised and relevant collaborative knowledge such as geology/mine planning exposure and awareness of unit operations that are unique to the minerals industry.