Thursday, 22 August 2024 at 16:30,
at the Country Club Johannesburg, 1 Napier Road, Auckland Park
AGENDA
1. Welcome
2. Confirmation of minutes Obituaries
3. Obituaries
Financial and Administrative Matters
4. Annual financial report for the year ended 30 June 2024.
5. Declaration of election of the Office Bearers and Members of Council for the year 2024/2025.
6. Election of auditors and legal advisors for the year 2024/2025.
7. Corporate Partnerships
YPC Matters
8. Declaration of election of the Young Professionals Council for the year 2024/2025.
9. Outgoing YPC Chairperson Award.
Awards and Recognition
10. 50 Year Membership Award
11. Presentation of awards, medals, and certificates for Transactions published in the Journal.
12. Top Advertiser in the Journal.
13. Presentation of student prizes.
14. Brigadier Stokes Memorial Award
Presidential Matters
15. Outgoing Presidential Award.
16. Induction of President-E Matinde
17. Presidential address - Metallurgical slags: A drive to circularity and search for new research agenda
Closing Session
18. Vote of Thanks.
Presidential Address
Metallurgical slags: A drive to circularity and search for new research agenda
Humans have been dependent on metals and alloys for livelihoods since time immemorial, and over time, these materials have evolved to become ubiquitous in modern society. Life as we know it today is intricately linked to the use of metals and alloys, in areas ranging from industrial and residential infrastructure to agriculture, energy generation and storage, mobility, communications, and manufacturing. Since metals and alloys are among the most technologically important materials for industrialized society, global population growth and rapid urbanization and industrialization will continue to drive demand for these materials. With up to 5 billion people estimated to be living in urban areas and mega-cities by 2030, the demand for metals and alloys will naturally increase in order to satisfy the requirements for housing and infrastructure, among other needs, and the increased production will lead to unintended socioeconomic and environmental challenges in the form of greenhouse gas emissions and mining and metallurgical waste generation.
Most of the critical metals and alloys can only be economically extracted and refined via pyrometallurgical approaches. Pyrometallurgical processes utilize high temperatures to extract and refine metals and alloys from their primary ores and secondary resources. Although most pyrometallurgical processes have matured and employ optimized flowsheets and technologies, these processes generate huge amounts of residual and hazardous waste streams, such as process slags and metallurgical dusts, in addition to the toxic and greenhouse gas emissions which are being extensively investigated by many researchers. Notwithstanding the impact of other waste streams on ecosystems and communities near smelters and refineries, metallurgical slags are increasingly drawing the attention of researchers due to the high volumes produced and the high ecotoxicity posed by transition metals and their oxides inherently present in discard slags. The need to mitigate the environmental impact therefore increases the urgency to explore ways to increase the valorization potential of slags, with the ultimate objective of eliminating slag dumps in the near future.
This address provides a brief overview of the production and properties of metallurgical slags produced in the processing and refining of common metals and alloys. Expanding on previous discussions on the valorization of slags, it will explore the potential of deliberately engineering slag properties as a strategy to increase their valorization potential, thereby ultimately improving the industrial ecology of smelters.
Elias Matinde Biography
Elias Matinde was born in rural Shurugwi, Zimbabwe, in 1978. He completed high school at Kwekwe High in 1997. Elias holds a PhD in Metallurgical Engineering from Tohoku University in Japan, a Master of Business Administration and a BSc (Hons) Metallurgical Engineering (cum laude) from the University of Zimbabwe, and Postgraduate Diploma in Higher Education from the University of the Witwatersrand.
He is a Professional Engineer, a Fellow of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (SAIMM) and is a Past Fellow (2017-2018) of the African Science Leadership Program.
Elias has over 20 years of experience in academic and applied research, including more than 5 years at mid-senior to senior management levels leading multidisciplinary research, development, and innovation teams in extractive metallurgy. His areas of expertise include the development of nascent pyrometallurgical processes across various commodities, with particular emphasis on ironmaking, steelmaking, ferroalloy smelting, and production of technological and base metals. He is a co-author of a specialist textbook on waste production and utilization in the metal extraction industries (Taylor & Francis, 2017) and a book chapter on metallurgical unit processes and the production of slags (Royal Society of Chemistry, 2021).
Elias is a researcher whose passion lies in developing fit-for purpose technologies and pyrometallurgical flowsheets capable of processing a variety of feed materials at high productivity but with less energy consumption and CO2 emissions. His current research activities are focused on developing integrated pyrometallurgical flowsheets and sustainable technologies to recover valuable metals from industrial and urban wastes such as mining and metallurgical wastes, e-wastes, and spent autocatalysts and batteries, among other materials, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and other emerging nexuses. He is an avid reader of scholarly works on technological and economic catch-up within the context of using natural resources as platforms for technological upgrading and foundations for industrialization.
Elias joined the SAIMM in 2011 and was extensively involved in revitalizing the Institute‘s Zimbabwean Branch, where he was renowned for organizing ‘sold-out’ technical visits and networking events. He has actively supported the organizing of a number of successful conferences and was instrumental in organising the 1st International Conference on Southern African Rare Earths and the International Conference on Enhanced Use of Thermodynamic Data in Pyrometallurgy Teaching and Research. Elias also served on the SAIMM Council for over eight years.