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Obituary: Darius Muma

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Created: Tuesday, 09 November 2021 07:31

26 September 1976 - 20th October 2021

Darius Muma graduated from the University of Zambia (UNZA) in 2004 with a BSc Chemistry degree. He worked as an Environmental Project Assistant at UNZA School of Mines with the Advocacy for Environmental Restoration Zambia (AREZ), before joining Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) Nchanga Mine in Chingola as a Graduate Chemist. He remained with KCM for 8½ years, progressing through the ranks to Senior Chemist, Sectional Chemist, and Acting Head of Analytical Services. During this time, he gained a Diploma in Business Management (Association of Business Executives, UK). In February 2014 Darius moved to Mopani Copper Mines Mufulira Mine to take up a position of Assistant Superintendent: Analytical Services the position he held when he passed on.

Obituary: Henry Edward James

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Created: Friday, 29 October 2021 08:34

Henry Edward James was born in Parys on 19 April 1939, and was educated at Grey College in Bloemfontein. He completed high school there in 1956. He spent a year with Gold Fields working at Libanon and Venterspost gold mines before going to the University of the Witwatersrand on a Chamber of Mines bursary to study chemical engineering. After graduating in 1961 with a BSc degree, he was awarded a postgraduate bursary by the Atomic Energy Board (AEB), which led to an MSc degree in chemical engineering from the same university. The subject of his thesis was 'The dynamic response of a packed tower to step changes in the concentration of the inlet gas for a single-phase gas and countercurrent gas-liquid flow'. In 1964, Henry began his professional career as a research officer with the Extraction Metallurgy Division of the AEB.

Henry Edward James

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Created: Thursday, 07 October 2021 08:06

The SAIMM would like to inform members of the passing away of Mr Henry Edward James, a Past President (1985-1986). Mr James was born on 19 April 1939 and passed away on Friday, 1 October 2021. He joined the SAIMM as a Fellow on 20 February 1976 and was awarded Honorary Life Fellowship on 23 June 1995.

SAIMM Past Presidents and Council members passed on their condolences and commented that Henry was a fine man who cared much about other people. He will be remembered fondly and missed greatly by everyone who knew him.

He is survived by his two sons, Marc and Darrell, his sister, Dalene Henry, his daughter-in-law, Amanda and his two grandsons, Michael and Ethan.

An extended obituary will be added to our website and published in the SAIMM Journal in due course.

(Left) Henry and Joan James  (Right) Henry James with other Past Presidents of the SAIMM.

How to identify and respond to the continuing threat of predatory publishers and journals

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Created: Monday, 20 September 2021 09:54

History and background
It is now more than a decade that Jeffrey Beall - a former librarian at the University of Colorado in Denver – coined the term ‘predatory’ journals to refer to journals (and their publishers) that exist for the sole purpose of making profit.

In his first major publication on the topic published in Nature in 2012, Beall provided a first description of what is meant by predatory publishing:

Then came predatory publishers, which publish counterfeit journals to exploit the open-access model in which the author pays. These predatory publishers are dishonest and lack transparency. They aim to dupe researchers, especially those inexperienced in scholarly communication. They set up websites that closely resemble those of legitimate online publishers, and publish journals of questionable and downright low quality. Many purport to be headquartered in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada or Australia but really hail from Pakistan, India or Nigeria. Some predatory publishers spam researchers, soliciting manuscripts but failing to mention the required author fee.

Beall uses the term ‘predatory’ to refer to journals that ‘prey’ on (often unsuspecting and often young) scholars to submit their manuscripts for the sole purpose of making money from these scholars. In this process, normal good editorial and review processes are violated or suspended.

DOWNLOAD THE FULL ARTICLE HERE (PDF 0.5MB)

2021 SAIMM Annual Report and Proceedings

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Created: Thursday, 26 August 2021 12:34

The 2021 SAIMM Annual Report and Proceedings have been published and can be downloaded:

DOWNLOAD (PDF 4MB)

SAIMM President Isabel Geldenhuys talks to Mining Weekly

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Created: Tuesday, 24 August 2021 15:39

South Africa on verge of nice breakthroughs in hydrogen, says new SAIMM president
17th August 2021
By Martin Creamer

Speaking to Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview, Geldenhuys expressed the view that all the big mines with big moving machinery will have the opportunity to move away from diesel and switch to a hydrogen-based fuel system because of the contained ecosystem. While the use of green hydrogen is always first prize, Geldenhuys pointed out that many processes have grey hydrogen as a byproduct and expressed the view that where grey hydrogen is at the ready, it should be used as an imperfect solution rather than being left to go to waste.

She said that South Africa had the required hydrogen know-how as a consequence of the Department of Science and Innovation having supported the hydrogen economy concept for nearly 20 years. “What really excites me is the focus on being greener and more efficient," Geldenhuys said. On the multidisciplinary front, she said: "There are many opportunities for us to work together and bring interesting, transdisciplinary thinking into metallurgy to solve our big problems.” Under her leadership, the SAIMM plans to strengthen its online presence so that it can communicate optimally with the rest of the mining and metallurgy world at a time of rising mining fortunes. South Africa’s mining and metallurgy history extends across more than a century, which has resulted in a wealth of knowledge being accessible from SAIMM’s databases.

Read the full article on miningweekly.com

SAIMM awards its most prestigious prize to Neal Froneman, CEO of Sibanye-Stillwater

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Created: Thursday, 12 August 2021 13:48

Known for his skills as an ace dealmaker, mining giant Neal Froneman has been honoured with the 2021 Brigadier Stokes award by the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (SAIMM), considered the highest distinction to be bestowed by the South African mining and metallurgical sector.

Having taken over duties as executive director and CEO on 1 January 2013, Froneman has spent the past eight years transforming Sibanye-Stillwater from a 1.5Moz South Africa-based gold producer into a leading precious metals miner with an international operating footprint ranking among the world’s top three PGM producers.

OBITUARY: NAVIN SINGH

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Created: Wednesday, 21 July 2021 07:24

14 November 1971 – 12 July 2021

Navin Singh was born on 14 November 1971 in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal.

He started his career at South Deep Gold Mine in 1996 as Strata Control Officer, progressing to the position of Chief Rock Engineer (Operations). In 2000 he relocated to Australia, and joined Western Mining Corporation as Senior Geotechnical Engineer at Olympic Dam Mine in South Australia. He returned to South Africa in 2001 to take up the position of Research Manager for Rock Engineering at the CSIR, and subsequently that of Programme Manager for Mining. He served for a time as New Technology Manager at Gold Fields Ltd, then moved to the Mine Health & Safety Council as Chief Research and Operations Officer, remaining in that position for the next 6 years. Navin returned to the CSIR in 2015 as Manager for Mining R&D. He was involved in establishing the Mandela Mining Precinct in partnership with the DST and the then Chamber of Mines and became the Co-Director of the Precinct for the period 2016–2020. He held the position of Head of Technology, Kumba Iron Ore (Anglo American) when he passed on.

Annual General Meeting Thursday, 12 August 2021 at 12:00, via Zoom

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Created: Tuesday, 15 June 2021 15:37

REGISTER HERE FOR THE AGM

AGENDA:

1. Welcome
2. Confirmation of minutes
3. Obituaries
4. Honorary Life Fellowship
5. Brigadier Stokes Memorial Award
6. Announcement of awards, medals, and certificates
7. Announcement of student prizes
8. SAIMM 5 Star Incentive Programme and Top Advertiser in the Journal
9. Annual report of the Council and accounts for the year ended 30 June 2021
10. Declaration of election of Office Bearers, members of Council and other positions for the year 2021/2022
11. Election of auditors and honorary legal advisors for the year 2020/2021
12. Outgoing Presidential Award
13. Induction of President—I.J. Geldenhuys
14. Presidential address
15. Vote of thanks

OBITUARY: DENNIS LAUBSCHER

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Created: Wednesday, 26 May 2021 10:40

OBITUARY: DENNIS LAUBSCHER
PIONEER OF BLOCK CAVING

A legend in the mining industry, Dennis Laubscher, South Africa’s and the world’s foremost authority on block caving techniques, died 3 February at the age of 91 at Bushman’s River Mouth, Eastern Cape. He is survived by four grown-up children (Susan Stampanoni, Dionne, Tessa, and Robert Laubscher) from his first marriage to Patricia May (nee Binnie) who died on 29 August, 2002; their elder son Carl having also passed away. On 27 February 2004, Dennis married Michelle (nee Broster).

Born in Tulbagh, Western Cape, on 1 October 1929, Dennis Laubscher earned a BSc (Eng.) in mining geology in 1952, and a PhD in 1964, both from the University of the Witwatersrand. His career was highlighted by numerous awards: the South Africa Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (SAIMM) Gold Medal in 1995; a Lifetime Achievement Award from the South African Institute of Rock Engineering in 1998; the De Beers Mass Mining Award at Massmin 2000; and the Brigadier Stokes Platinum Medal from SAIMM in 2007.