Society of Mining Professors 6th Regional Conference 2018

Introduction

The Society of Mining Professors (SOMP) in collaboration with Mining Engineering Education South Africa (MEESA) and The Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (SAIMM) is proud to host

Society of Mining Professors 6th Regional Conference 2018

Overcoming challenges in the Mining Industry through sustainable mining practices

12–13 March 2018 — Conference
14 March 2018— Technical Visit

Birchwood Hotel and Conference Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa

Mining Engineering Education South Africa (MEESA) will host the Society of Mining Professors (SOMP) 6th Regional Conference with the theme: Overcoming challenges in the Mining Industry through sustainable mining practices. The Society of Mining Professors is a vibrant Society representing the global academic community and committed to making a significant contribution to the future of the minerals disciplines. The main goal of the Society is to guarantee the scientific, technical, academic and professional knowledge required to ensure a sustainable supply of minerals for mankind. The Society facilitates information exchange, research and teaching partnerships and other collaborative activities among its members. MEESA is comprised of the School of Mining Engineering at the University of Witwatersrand, the Department of Mining Engineering at the University of Pretoria, the Department of Mining Engineering at the University of Johannesburg and the Department of Mining Engineering at the University of South Africa.

The 6th Regional Conference gives a platform to academics, researchers, government officials, Minerals Industry professionals and other stakeholders an opportunity to interact, exchange and analyse the challenges and opportunities within the Minerals Industry. For any country to develop technologically and economically there must be a strong link between its industry, government & academic institutions. This conference will put together the role-players of the Mineral Industry from within and outside South Africa.

 

Rationale for SOMP Regional Conference

Rationale for Society of Mining Professors (SOMP) Regional Conference

The main aim of this conference is to facilitate information exchange. It is known that the mining industry is currently faced with big challenges ranging from the technical skills shortage, deep ore bodies, declining ore grades, challenges linked to processing ores with complex mineralogy, water quality and supply to the ever escalating energy costs and sustainability amongst others (Musiyarira et al., 2014). To address some of these challenges there must be a strong link between its industry, government & academic institutions. This will only happen when all the role-players collaboratively work together. The set-up of this conference is such that it allows the interaction between the Minerals Industry players and the academics.

Conference Approach

Conference Approach

The conference will feature peer reviewed technical presentations from academic, government and Industry professionals on a wide range of topics. While outlining the Conference programme, great emphasis is laid on participants’ interaction in addition to the presentations. The conference will be structured as follows:

• Two-day technical programme with peer-reviewed papers
• Relevant discussion workshops
• Field trips and site tours
• Networking opportunities
• Keynote lecturers

Facilitator

Facilitator

The Conference is being organised by Society of Mining Professors (SOMP) in collaboration with Mining Engineering Education South Africa (MEESA) and The Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (SAIMM). The Conference presenters are well-known and highly respected experts in their fields, and will cover a wide range of topics. Presentations will be followed by discussions.

Target Audience

Target Audience

The Conference will be of benefit to the Minerals Industry professionals, academics, non-government, government officers and other stakeholders.

Event Management SAIMM

Event Management SAIMM

For all enquiries please contact: Chair: Associate Prof Rudrajit Mitra Telephone: +27 (011) 717 7572 | Email: rudrajit.mitra@wits.ac.za

Head of SOMP Committee on Capacity Building: Dr Harmony Musiyarira

Head of Conferencing: Camielah Jardine SAIMM, P O Box 61127, Marshalltown 2107 Tel: +27 (0) 11 834-1273/7 · E-mail: camielah@saimm.co.za Website: http://www.saimm.co.za

Technical Tour

South Deep Mine Visit – 14 March 2018

The SAIMM has planned a technical tour to South Deep on the 14^th of March 2018 as part of the SOMP 6th Regional Conference 2018. South Deep is designed to access and exploit one of the largest gold ore bodies in the world. Its rebasing process has a strong operational process to deliver ramp-up, sustained steady state production and targeted cash-flow.

Operation

South Deep
Mineral Resources
63.0Moz
Mineral Reserves
37.3Moz

• Dividing the ore body into a series of mining blocks, to allow the operation to be suitably focused (Current Mine, NoW, SoW W and SoW E)
• Conducting geotechnical modelling to determine layouts of increased stability and lower seismic risk. These changes include – change from low-profile destress to high-profile destress, changes to the destress pillar layout to larger rectangular yielding pillars and migrating from primary and secondary stoping to sequential stoping
• General improvements in operational efficiencies such as: maintenance, backfilling and drill and blast
• Putting the focus on open stoping as the primary method of increasing production
• Capacity and productivity analysis
• Ore handling facilities and potential bottlenecks
• Compliance to plan and reconciliation
• Risk and mitigation
• Assessment of growth capital infrastructure
• Requirements for ventilation/refrigeration, ore handling, pumping, backfill, electrical and workshop

GPS Co-ordinates: Twin Shaft:   260 25’ 01.22” S; 270 39’ 37.22” E

Limited seats available! Please register to secure your spot on the visit.

Accommodation

Accommodation

https://app.thebookingbutton.com/properties/silverbirchdirect
 
Please use the following promo code which is SAIMM1 and click apply.
You will receive an instant confirmation.
Kindly note credit cards are required for Booking Button bookings and No Shows are charged , we are holding the 30 rooms which we will release 6 weeks prior to the booking.

Exhibition/Sponsorship

Exhibition/Sponsorship

Sponsorship opportunities are available. Companies wishing to sponsor or exhibit should contact the Conference Co-ordinator.

Call for Abstracts/Papers

Call for Abstracts/Papers

Mining Engineering Education South Africa (MEESA) will host the Society of Mining Professors (SOMP) 6th Regional Conference with the theme: Overcoming challenges in the Mining Industry through sustainable mining practices. The Society of Mining Professors is a vibrant Society representing the global academic community and committed to making a significant contribution to the future of the minerals disciplines. The main goal of the Society is to guarantee the scientific, technical, academic and professional knowledge required to ensure a sustainable supply of minerals for mankind. The Society facilitates information exchange, research and teaching partnerships and other collaborative activities among its members.

The conference will be structured as follows:

• Two-day technical programme with peer-reviewed papers
• Relevant discussion workshops
• Field trips and site tours
• Networking opportunities
• Keynote lecturers

Kindly note that acceptance of abstracts will be limited, once accepted a full paper is required. The papers will be reviewed and the abstract published in the proceedings abstract booklet. Accepted papers will also be considered for publishing in a Special SAIMM Journal.

Prospective authors are invited to submit titles and abstracts of their papers, in English. The abstracts should be no longer than 150 words and should be submitted to:

Head of Conferencing: Camielah Jardine, SAIMM E-mail: camielah@saimm.co.za, P.O. Box 61127, Marshalltown 2107, South Africa.

Telephonic enquiries may be made at:
Tel: +27 (11) 834-1273/7 · Facsimile +27 (11) 838-5923
or E-mail: camielah@saimm.co.za

Key Dates

Key Dates

18 September 2017		Submission of abstracts
25 September 2017		Acceptance of abstracts
31 October 2017		Submission of papers
12–13 March 2018		Conference
14 March 2018		Technical Visit

Contact

Contact

Camielah Jardine
Head of Conferencing
Tel: (011) 834-1273/7
Fax: (011) 833-8156 or (011) 838-5923
Email: camielah@saimm.co.za