SAIMM - SAIMM Books for Sale

The SAIMM is a professional institute with local and international links aimed at assisting members source information about technological developments in the mining, metallurgical and related sectors.

SAIMM Books for Sale

The SAIMM offers a service to publish books on behalf of members. This service not only enhances the Institute’s reputation by showcasing its commitment to advancing knowledge and expertise in specialised fields, but also provides members with access to high-quality, relevant literature. By facilitating the creation and distribution of specialised publications, the Institute supports continuous learning, fosters a sense of community, and promotes the sharing of best practices and innovative ideas. This strategic initiative ultimately helps members stay informed and connected with their profession.

If you would like to purchase a book(s), follow the following links:
If you are a member of SAIMM click here.
If you are not a member, please create a profile by clicking here:
Please note that there will be an additional cost if you require the book(s) that you have purchased to be delivered to your home. The courier costs will depend on where you live and the weight of the book(s).
A separate invoice will be sent to you once you have paid for your order.
Contact Tsholo Sole at tsholo@saimm.co.za or 011 538 0231 if you have any queries.

The following books have been written by experts in their fields, and we encourage members to purchase these books in support of fellow members.

View the full list below:

ISBN / ISSN No	DATE	TITLE	PRICE
9781 920410834	2017	Theoretical Rock Mechanics for Professional Practice by Matthew Handley	R1 200.00
	2017	Theoretical Rock Mechanics for Professional Practice by Matthew Handley - Electronic	R600.00
978-1-928410-22-5	2021	Holey Mining Heritage by T.R. Stacey and G.J. Heath	eBook-R300 Hard copy-R150
978-1-928410-23-2	2021	Mineral and Metal Extraction An Overview, 2nd Edition, by L.C. Woollacott and R.H. Eric	eBook-R400 Hard copy-R700
978-1-928410-31-7	2022/2023	The Fall of a Giant: The story of the disintegration of the South African Mining Industry by Dr I. Robinsoin	eBook-R250 Hardcopy R350
978-1-928410-41-6	2023	COMRO’s Legacy: Research and Development of Stoping Mining Machinery and Technologies (2023) by B. Protheroe	eBook R250 Hardcopy R350

New releases

comro 15082023

COMRO’S LEGACY: RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT OF STOPING MINING MACHINERY AND TECHNOLOGIES
by Brian E. Protheroe

The Chamber of Mines Research Organization (COMRO) was active for nearly 30 years, and developed a great many technologies benefitted the industry. It would be impossible to discuss all of these in detail – some selectivity was inevitable, and I have homed in on those that had (or in some instances should have had) the greatest impact on the development of improved methods for the mining of gold at great depths. As the book is an anthology, it is only as good as the technological, personal accounts, and related people stories provided by the contributors, and I am extremely grateful to those who participated. Many of them indicated that their time with COMRO was possibly the most rewarding and satisfying period of their professional careers. This book is the story of their achievements, peppered with personal anecdotes, and which hopefully will be of interest not only to those involved with COMRO’s research programmes and those who benefitted, but also anyone planning on improving current mining operations or restarting this type of research in future. No biography – and certainly no anthology – can be complete, but I trust that the activities, events, and stories recounted here are representative of COMRO’s programme of R&D to improve productivity and the health and safety of its workforce.

State Governance of Mining Development and Sustainability 13033023

THE FALL OF A GIANT: THE STORY OF THE DISINTEGRATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MINING INDUSTRY
Dr I. Robinson

Whatever happened to our mining industry?

In 1994 the South African mining industry was a world leader; in 2020 it had descended into a state of both anarchy and paralysis. In 1994 the industry was dominated by five mining houses which all had their head offices in the Johannesburg CBD; in 2020 these premises were either derelict or occupied by government departments. In 1994 South Africa was the world’s leading gold producer; in 2020 it was ranked ninth, with the lowest annual production since 1902. In 1994 there were prosperous towns such as Welkom, Orkney, and Carletonville based on adjacent gold mines; in 2020 these had become ghost towns invaded by hordes of illegal miners. In 1994 South Africa was the world’s leading producer of chrome and manganese ferro-alloys ; in 2020 South Africa had ceded its top position as producer of ferrochrome to its major rival, China, based on imports of cheap ore from South Africa and African Rainbow Minerals was supplying manganese ore to a ferromanganese smelter it had built in Malaysia. In 1994 South Africa had flourishing industrial projects such as Highveld Steel and Vanadium and Boart and Hard Metals associated with the mining industry; in 2020 most of these projects had been liquidated or sold to foreign interests.

This book tells the story of the disintegration of the South African mining industry over a period of more than a quarter of a century since the ANC’s accession to power. In 1994 the ANC inherited a flourishing mining industry. However, despite its world class status, the mining industry that the white government bequeathed to the ANC was incompatible with the Freedom Charter (1955) due to the concentration of wealth in white hands. The Freedom Charter had stated that ‘The national wealth of our country, the heritage of South Africans, shall be restored to the people. The mineral wealth beneath the soil ... shall be transferred to the ownership of the people as a whole.’ Thus the inheritance of the mining industry represented a ‘poisoned chalice’ to the ANC. It was politically and morally obliged to make changes to the industry in order to remedy the injustices of the past, its neglect of the health and safety of its workers, and the damage to the environment and communities surrounding the mines. Yet it was also obliged to maintain, or even grow, mining’s contribution to the national economy.

Not only was the South African mining industry in 1994, predominantly based on five domestically domiciled mining houses, incompatible with the ANC’s principles and policies; it was also incompatible with the new world economic order of globalization. London institutional investors placed pressure on the mining houses to unbundle their non-mining assets and focus exclusively on their core business, mining. New mining opportunities were limited in South Africa and with the full cooperation (or indulgence) of the new South African government, South Africa’s two largest mining houses were allowed to transfer their primary listings and head offices to London. Thereafter, predictably, their international interests prevailed over any vestige of loyalty to their previous homeland.

This left a an investment vacuum in the South African mining industry which resulted inter alia in the abandonment of projects to exploit the northern Free State gold field, which a massive exploration project had established over two decades as the world’s largest unmined gold resource. However, instead of seeking to attract foreign investment to replace the loss of development capacity through the demise of the domestic mining houses, the ANC focused on widening the ownership of the existing industry through Black Economic Empowerment (BEE), thereby imposing onerous conditions on potential foreign investors.

The ANC’s mining policy was finally imposed through the Minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA), which was promulgated in 2004 and which vested the ownership of mineral resources in the state, thereby replacing the previous system of private ownership. In association with the MPRDA the government also enacted the Mining Charter, which obliged mining companies to expand their ownership to include BEE – initially set at 15% but increased in subsequent versions to 30%.

Although based on the noble principle of sharing the wealth created by the mining industry among all the people, the implementation of these policies degenerated through corruption and maladministration leading to chaos and a decline in investment. In addition the mining industry has been forced to operate within an extremely difficult and hostile environment resulting from the incapacity of the government to provide the basic services of reliable power, rail transport and port facilities, and the protection of the legal rights and personal safety of mining companies and their employees.

Thus, the combination of maladministration, lawlessness and the collapse of government infrastructure has devastated a once proud industry. Yet the potential for recovery remains; South Africa still has vast resources of platinum group metals (PGMs) and ferrous metals (ores of iron, manganese, and chrome) and institutions such as the Minerals Council and the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (SAIMM), which are dedicated to rebuilding an industry which will bring prosperity and be a source of pride to all South Africans.

Mineral and Metal Extraction
An Overview
2nd Edition
by L.C. Woollacott and R.H. Eric

ABOUT THE BOOK

The intention of this book is to provide a concise overview of the processing of mined material that is comprehensive in scope and digestible in form. Both mineral beneficiation and extractive metallurgy are considered with each receiving about the same amount of attention.

The overview will be helpful to anyone interested in the processing of mined material and the extraction of metals. For the most part, non-practitioners are interested only in the broad issues and not the fine detail. The overview addresses their needs directly. For students—who might sometimes lose sight of the more general aspects in their efforts to understand the detail—it provides a broad perspective that will strengthen their overall understanding of the subject. Even for practitioners the overview will be helpful when needing to review those aspects of the technology with which they are less familiar.

Because the overview will be of particular interest to geologists, mineralogists, and mining engineers a slight bias has been introduced for their benefit. Those topics that are closer to their areas of interest—namely ore properties, physical processing and mineral beneficiation—have been presented in slightly greater detail than have other areas of the technology.

Several strategies have been adopted in an effort to make the overview comprehensive, concise, and easily understandable. In the first place, concepts and principles have been given particular attention. In regard to detail, only as much as is needed to gain a good general grasp of the various aspects of the technology has been presented. To cater for a broad audience the level of the discussion is predominantly qualitative, and no assumptions are made about the readers background beyond a general familiarity with physics and chemistry.

ABOUT THE SECOND EDITION

Three additional chapters have been included in this edition. Chapter 14 addresses the more general aspects of extractive processing: namely process economics and cost engineering; materials handling (the ancillary operations and equipment needed to ‘handle’ solids, liquids and gases appropriately before and after processing stages) and a fairly detailed treatment of process control and process management. Chapter 15 focuses on topics relating to environmental impacts—namely recycling and the disposal of processing wastes—while the final chapter addresses the issues of sustainability, the circular economy and the future of the mineral and metal industry.

In addition to the updating of all topics covered in the first edition, three sub-chapters have been added dealing with sampling, centrifugal gravity concentration, and ionic liquids. The sections on the textural and liberation characteristics of ores, and on the design of mineral processing circuits have also been largely rewritten. The review of mineral and metal extraction routes has also been updated.

JOHANNESBURG AND ITS HOLEY MINING HERITAGE

by T.R. Stacey and G.J. Heath

ABOUT THE BOOK

The City of Johannesburg is probably unique in the world, in that it is a major urban area that was developed on and around a historical goldfield, discovered in 1886. Today the old mine workings run directly beneath the central business district and adjacent areas, as illustrated in the attached photograph showing open stopes exposed in the basement excavation for a building. It is probable that very few residents of the city know that they cross old mine workings, which run at a depth of about 180 m beneath the full length of the M2 motorway, on a daily basis. Although most of the mine entrances were closed when mining ceased, the quality of the closure was often inadequate. Over time, many holes into the old mine workings have appeared on surface, which often present a significant hazard. The increased urbanization that has taken place in South Africa over the past two decades has led to a shortage of land for housing, and the open areas that had been left undeveloped due to the undermining, have seen the growth of informal settlements.

The preparation of this book was prompted by an investigation of old mine openings in the Johannesburg and Central Witwatersrand area by Greg Heath, owing to the potential hazard to residents of the informal settlements. This research, a Council for Geoscience project, was written up as a Master’s dissertation at the University of the Witwatersrand, supervised by Dick Stacey. Although the information is therefore in the public domain, it is not easily accessible by the general public; therefore publication was motivated.

During the project 244 mine openings were located and the degree of hazard assessed. As a result of the evaluation, 80 of the more dangerous openings were subsequently sealed, and this work is also documented in the book. The investigation and sealing of these holes provided a substantial volume of information, which is considered to be of significant historical and scientific value. One of the purposes, then, of this book is to illustrate Johannesburg’s historical mining environment, and to ensure that the valuable recent and historical information that has been collected is preserved in an easily retrievable document.

In addition to details of the investigation and sealing project, additional published information associated with the undermining in Johannesburg, considered to be of historical interest, is included. This material embraces several major development projects across reef outcrops, and cases of subsidence associated with past mining, as well as other examples that are considered to be of interest. Much of this information is based on undermining projects carried out by Dick Stacey and colleagues while employed by SRK Consulting.

A seminal SAIMM Journal paper by Dr F.G. Hill, entitled ‘The stability of the strata overlying the mined-out areas of the central Witwatersrand’, is reproduced in its entirety in an Appendix, acknowledging the major contribution that Dr Hill made to the safety of development works over undermined ground in Johannesburg. Also included are undermining case studies from Dr Tony Brink’s book ‘Engineering Geology of Southern Africa’.