Although this edition is for the month of July, at the time of writing we are approaching the public holiday of Youth Day. As we should all know, Youth Day in South Africa, celebrated on 16 June, is a public holiday that commemorates an event which resulted in a wave of protests across the country, known as the Soweto uprising…

Recently, I have written several articles around the 25 years of democracy that we have experienced, and the 125 years of the SAIMM’s history. These articles acknowledged the challenges we have experienced as an industry, but focused on the feeling of a ‘new dawn’ for a ‘sunrise industry’. As I write this, we are into election week, and so our…

The papers in this edition of the Journal have been written on excellent research work carried out in the field of geometallurgy, presented at the SAIMM’s Geometallurgy Conference, held in Cape Town in August 2018. This conference followed a similar conference held some years earlier, in Johannesburg, and the difference in the quality and content of the papers clearly illustrates…

The Journal this month is referred to as the ‘Student Edition’, as the papers are the published output of students registered for university degrees in various minerals-related subjects across Southern Africa. As one might expect, the topics of the research cover a broad spectrum ranging from mine planning, optimization of mining operations, productivity, safety, mineral processing, environmental treatment of wastewaters,…

The 2nd Furnace Tapping Conference (Furnace Tapping 2018) was held in Skukuza, the main camp of the world-renowned Kruger National Park, from 14 to 17 October 2018. As with the 1st Furnace Tapping Conference (Furnace Tapping 2014), Furnace Tapping 2018 was well supported and attended by 144 delegates from 17 different countries spanning five continents. A problem-based event, the Furnace…

For the first time in history, a pathway for ALD-enhanced materials to be rapidly developed and transitioned in a UJ laboratory will be available for nearly any application. The laboratory construction is a natural next step in implementing the strategy to establish national nanotechnology in South Africa.

Following the announcement in October 2018 of WorleyParsons’ binding offer for Jacobs’ Energy, Chemicals and Resources (ECR) line of business, the combined new entity has come together under a new brand – Worley – as of 29 April 2019. While financially an acquisition, operationally the transaction is a combination of two highly complementary organisations that creates a pre-eminent global provider of professional…