17 March 2015 – Illovo, Johannesburg: Collaboration between Wits University’s School of Mining Engineering and consulting engineers SRK Consulting is nurturing scarce rock engineering expertise, benefiting the mining and other sectors in Africa and beyond.
Young professionals and the youth at large can make valuable contributions in the civil and mining industries. Like many other organizations within different industries, SANCOT has the responsibility of ensuring that there is effective youth involvement in all professional activities within the industry.
CALL FOR PUBLIC COMMENT - PUBLIC CONSULTATION - THE NEW REGISTRATION SYSTEM (NRS)
The Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) is a statutory body established in terms of the Engineering Profession Act, (EPA No 46 of 2000). ECSA is charged with the responsibility to regulate the engineering profession with the objective to register engineering practitioners. ECSA has recently finalised the New Registration System (the "NRS") and as enjoined by section 36 of the EPA, the Council has taken a decision to embark on a public consultation process in respect of NRS.
Through his work and exposure to the data and information received while working for the Government Mining Engineer’s office in the early 1950s, as well as his methods of comparing sampling information and derived block values by means of regression, Danie Krige became a leader in the field of mineral resource estimation, out of which the science and methods of geostatistics were developed. The Danie Krige Commemorative Volume was designed to attract contributions from local and international geostatisticians, practitioners, researchers, and academia in the field of geostatistics with the intention of honouring Danie Krige, who passed away in March 2013, for his work and the impetus it provided in stimulating the creation of new knowledge and improved mineral extraction.
Let me start the story in 1969, when I was a final-year mining engineering student at the University of Chile. At that time, Andre Journel, a young man from the Paris School of Mines (Fontainebleau), came to Chile to teach a two or three months-long seminar on geostatistics. If I am not mistaken, that was the very start of geostatistics in Chile. This effort was continued in the early 70’s by Andre´s colleague Alain Merechal. In those days, geostatistics was highly mathematical and theoretical, as commercial software did not exist and enthusiastic users had to write their own code. It is not surprising that geostatistics in Chile had a distinct French flavor and Kriging was referred to as ‘Krigeage’. In my ignorance, I grew up thinking that Daniel Krige was a very clever Frenchman.
Anglo American Coal's Zibulo Colliery was named the runner-up in the Resources and Non-Renewable Energy category at the prestigious 2014 Nedbank Capital Sustainable Business Awards held in Johannesburg recently. Zibulo was recognized for what it has achieved through its Phola sanitation and waste management initiative.
The awards honour companies that are able to balance economic profitability with truly sustainable business practices. This competition has become a vehicle to challenge African companies operating across all major industries to ensure they deliver sustainable value, in all its forms, to their stakeholders.
The University of the Witwatersrand (Wits University) has received an investment of R15 million from Anglo American for a new research chair, to be known as the Anglo American Endowed Chair in Occupational Hygiene, in the Wits School of Public Health in the Faculty of Health Sciences.
The Chair will conduct research, and engage in other scholarly activities, with the aim of decreasing employee exposure to dust, noise, and other health hazards in mining and other industries, thereby contributing to employee wellbeing.
The Society of Mining Professors (SOMP) was established in 1990 during a special inaugural meeting hosted by the Montanuniversität in Leoben, Austria. The Society is considered the natural successor of the historic Societät der Bergbaukunde, which was formed in the early 18th century and is recognized as the world's first international scientific society. Since its inception, the Society has functioned primarily as a European entity representing senior academics in the mining engineering discipline.
The Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA), the Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development (GDID), and the University of Johannesburg (UJ), have entered into a memorandum of understanding aimed at supporting and coaching engineering students at UJ who are recipients of the GDID bursaries. This tripartite initiative follows GDID’s recognition of the need to mentor first- and second-year students, the majority of whom fail to complete their qualifications as they are unprepared for the level of academic commitment required when studying engineering. This has been linked back to the need for stronger life-skills support, and ECSA, as the custodian of the engineering profession in South Africa, has designed the pilot model for the support of students in partnership with both the GDID and UJ.
The University of the Witwatersrand - The University of the Witwatersrand has received a R12. 5 million donation from Sibanye Gold Limited towards mining and engineering education.
At a handover ceremony held on 25 July 2014 at the Sibanye Gold Academy on the West Rand, Professor Beatrys Lacquet, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Knowledge, Information and Management at the University of the Witwatersrand, received the donation on behalf of the University from Sibanye Gold Chief Executive Officer Neal Froneman. Said Lacquet: ‘This generous donation provides the opportunity for Wits to offer additional student support with respect to needy and deserving students. It will also enable us to further progress our Digital Mine Research Project, while also affording us the much-needed funds to extend the laboratory facilities in the Richard Ward building for the chemical and metallurgical engineering students.’
