Tunnel Boring in Mining and Civil Engineering
- Details
- Created: Tuesday, 31 January 2023 13:37
This year’s biennial symposium of the South African National Committee on Tunnelling (SANCOT) was hosted in November in the university town of Stellenbosch at the Wallenberg Conference Centre @STIAS (Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study). Needless to say, the setting in itself presented its own attraction, and soon enough we’ll have new tunnelling developments in the region to draw a second occasion!
There is yet another, more specific reason to couple the beauty of the Western Cape winelands, and the richly concentrated resources of a world class university and research instution to that of exploring tunnelling advancements. Aside from the obvious burgeoning and burning need for urban infrastructure development, this is additionally juxtaposed on that of global consciousness on sustainable development and protection of the environment. Sustainable solutions to the exploding problems associated with those indelible effects of our human footprint on this precious planet mean that not only are we bound to seek short-term results to accommodate ourselves, but an imperative to find long-term results that future generations can live with.
At the risk of expanding on a cliché, it is through tunnelling that this will be achieved – is already being achieved, and has been largely entrenched into urban development strategies globally. Underground infrastructure development provides a means through which we foresee a lasting offset to environmental impacts as a result of urbanisation. And for the Sub-Saharan region, this SANCOT symposium held special significance. In the near future, water shortages, roads, rail, urban networks, access to raw materials through mining, the establishment of storage facilities to hold grain, for underground cultivation or waste disposal, will become imperative to accommodate the approximately 2.5 billion people projected to occupy the African continent by 2050, less than 30 years from now.
Twenty-nine of the country’s leading scholars and scientists were inaugurated as Members of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) at the annual Awards Ceremony on 19 October 2022.
SAIMM is proud to partner with Implats and Sibanye Stillwater with the goal of establishing and entrenching not only strategic relationships, but useful and uplifting networks of people and professionals.
Credited with transforming one of the world’s biggest mining companies, mining veteran Mark Cutifani was awarded the Brigadier Stokes Memorial Award by the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (SAIMM). The Award is considered to be the highest honour to be bestowed by the South African mining and metallurgical sector in recognition of meritorious service to the industry.
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the world of work forever, as it catalyzed and brought forward changes to work arrangements for all companies. The Minerals Council as a progressive and agile organization also adapted to the ‘new For the last 132 years the Minerals Council (previously known as the Chamber of Mines) has had a leading presence in the inner city anchored in the Minerals Council building, which was constructed in 1921. It was a six-storey building, constructed in the Renaissance style with the Minerals Council taking occupancy at the end of 1921 and holding its first AGM in the building on 27 March 1922.
We learnt recently of the passing of Professor Emeritus Huw Phillips, a Wits stalwart renowned for his teaching, research, and leadership in mining engineering the world over. An integral part of the Wits community, Professor Phillips left an indelible mark in his field, and a legacy which will undoubtedly influence future generations of scholars.