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The looming skills crunch in mining and the need to join hands

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Created: Friday, 01 November 2013 00:00
Mining schools in South Africa have taken advantage of the global slowdown to significantly roll back skills shortages in the mineral sector, but academia and business need to boost their educational partnerships to avoid being caught short by the next recovery.

The output of graduates in mineral-related disciplines rose substantially in recent years – driven in part by increased involvement of the private sector in university course offerings. The Mining Qualifications Authority reported in 2011, for instance, that graduations in chemical engineering had risen 13.5 per cent annually, followed by geology at 13.3 per cent, metallurgical engineering at 12.9 per cent, mechanical engineering at 9.9 per cent, and electrical engineering at 7.8 per cent. While this is by no means enough to eradicate the shortages our industry faces, it is an encouraging trend that demonstrates what can be achieved by effective partnerships.
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SANCOT and the International Tunnelling Association (ITA)

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Created: Monday, 14 October 2013 19:32

The South African National Committee on Tunnelling (SANCOT) was formed in 1973 during a phase of extensive infrastructure
development in South Africa, in particular the construction of the km long Orange-Fish tunnel. This followed the success of the 1970 TUNCON conference in Durban, after which it was decided that it would be useful to form a body covering the interests of owners, designers, contractors, researchers, and suppliers in the underground construction industry. SANCOT has been active since this time, promoting the use of underground space, exchanging information, and arranging conferences and seminars.

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Introduction to our new President...

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Created: Monday, 14 October 2013 19:17

MAREK DWORZANOWSKI: Marek was born and educated in the United Kingdom. He attended the University of Leeds where he studied Mineral Processing, graduating in July 1980 with a BSc Honours. During 1979 he worked as a vacation student at Hartebeestfontein gold mine in South Africa and decided that on graduation he would start his mining career in South Africa. As it turned out he has spent his entire mining career to date in South Africa. Marek was recruited by Union Corporation, just before it became Gencor, in 1980. He decided that he would not start his career at a gold or coal mine but instead started at Impala Platinum in Rustenburg. His first job was as a concentrator metallurgist at the central mineral processing plant, where he underwent a graduate training programme followed by project work on cyclone classification and flotation reagents.

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Report for ITA World Tunnel Congress 2013, February 2013

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Created: Wednesday, 18 September 2013 00:00
The South African National Committee on Tunnelling (SANCOT) remains active in promoting tunnelling and the use of underground space. SANCOT functions as a committee within the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (SAIMM).

On 3 December 2012 SANCOT held a one day seminar entitled ’South African Tunnelling 2012 – Lessons Learnt on Major Projects’ followed by a half day visit to the Ingula Pumped Storage Project the following day.
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PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 2013

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Created: Friday, 23 August 2013 15:00

The role of metallurgy in enhancing beneficiation in the South African mining industry M. Dworzanowski

Beneficiation, in the context of this paper, has two distinct definitions. From an economic perspective beneficiation relates to adding value to a mined raw material as opposed to simply exporting the raw material, in which case other countries will benefit from the value add potential. From a metallurgy perspective beneficiation relates to processes used to upgrade the mined raw material. Clearly then, 'economic beneficiation' is dependent on 'metallurgical beneficiation'. South Africa possesses the world's largest mineral resources by value and is the world's largest producer of many mined commodities.

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Brigadier Stokes Memorial Award Winner 2013

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Created: Friday, 23 August 2013 14:39
   30531 resized_huw_phillips1_04-07duane1             Congratulations to

Prof Huw Phillips
 on receiving the 
Brigadier Stokes Memorial Award   

Download the citation
by Huw Ronald Phillips.
(PDF 199KB)
                                                                         

Diamonds - Source to Use 2013

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Created: Thursday, 01 August 2013 00:00
Re-reading the foreword in the 2010 Diamonds Source to Use Conference proceedings reminded me of the turmoil that the industry was in at that time. Since then, the survivors have dusted themselves off, new allegiances have been forged, and junior mining companies have made significant acquisitions and elevated themselves to the ranks of the majors.
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Obituary Ben Alberts

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Created: Wednesday, 05 June 2013 11:17

Barend Christaan Alberts suffered a stroke and passed away on Tuesday 8 April, 2013. The mining industry mourns his passing at the age of 74. Known by his younger colleagues as ‘Baas Ben’, he left deep footprints in the development of the South African mining industry, as well as internationally. He was a devout Christian and family man, and together with his wife Ansie and his family we are all blessed to have had the privilege of his life with us.

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Obituary Danie Krige - South Africa’s Giant of Geostatistics

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Created: Wednesday, 15 May 2013 00:32
Danie Krige - an international household name to anyone who studied or practised the science of evaluating mineral resources for mining purposes, died recently in
Johannesburg.

While his name may not be familiar to many people outside the field, so new and revolutionary were his ideas – applying mathematical statistics to the spatial evaluation of orebodies – that the processes he developed were named after him, becoming known in the industry as ‘kriging’. This technique has helped improve ore evaluation methods and reduce the financial risk of investing in mining projects.
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More Articles ...

  1. CSMI and Synergy Global - building skills to advance business–community relations
  2. Key find for acid mine drainage on World Water Day
  3. Call for Papers to commemorate the work of the late Danie Krige
  4. Brigadier Stokes Memorial Award Nomination 2013

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Other mining news

Mining Weekly | Africa

The latest mining world news and project information from Africa. providing updates on the progress of future, new and existing projects. Developments in mining legislation, policies, investments and infrastructure will be highlighted
  • Kayelekera restart to cost $50m
    A scoping study into restarting the Kayelekera uranium project, in Malawi, has confirmed that the project could be one of the first to restart production in order to meet impending uranium supply shortfall. ASX-listed Lotus Resources told shareholders that the scoping study estimated that the restart project would cost some $50-million, given the existing infrastructure at Kayelekera, which includes a 1.4-million tonne a year processing facility, an on-site acid plant and accommodation plant.
  • Small mining companies knocked for falling behind on diversity
    Small mining firms are failing to increase their hiring of women while trading companies have made little progress in boosting Black representation, an industry conference heard on Monday. Employment of women in the traditionally male mining sector has risen and averages between 5% and 15%, Carole Cable, the chair of Women in Mining UK, told a virtual London Metal Exchange seminar. She did not say how much the proportion has increased. Female employment at big mining groups is higher than the average while small firms are lagging behind, said Cable, who is joint global head of energy and resources at advisory firm Brunswick.
  • Mali Lithium conducts project review
    While a definitive feasibility study (DFS) into the Goulamina lithium project, in Mali, has proven the project’s economics, owner Mali Lithium has launched a review of both its lithium and gold assets to evaluate the ‘optimum path’ to realise value for shareholders. The DFS into the Goulamina project estimated that it would require a capital investment of $194-million.
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