News

The SAIMM Western Cape Branch

Outotec "Sustainability in the Minerals Industry" prize

The Western Cape Branch of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy are pleased to announce the Outotec "Sustainability in the Minerals Industry" prize.

This prize will be given for papers, accompanied by a poster, presented by students registered at a South African tertiary institution at the Branch's annual conference.

MINPROC 2012

Southern African Mineral Beneficiation and Metallurgy Conference
2-3 August 2012, Vineyard Hotel, Cape Town

The award of prizes will be adjudicated by a panel of judges appointed by the SAIMM, Western Cape Branch, whose decision will be final.

The main consideration for the prize will be the value of the idea (technologically, economically, socially, and environmentally) and its potential to improve sustainability. Credit will be given for the quality, innovation and excellence of the project, design or engineering of the idea. Thus contributions can come from any level of student as long as the abstract, presentation and poster clearly presents the merit dictated by this criteria.

Prizes of 1st R10 000, 2nd R6 000 and 3rd R4 000 will be awarded at the discretion of the Judges.

Journal President's Corner

The papers in this issue of the Journal concentrate on projects, mostly performed as compulsory subjects during the break preceeding the final year.These projects are the real test of a student’s ability to perform an investigation, starting with the identification of a problem, deciding how to investigate, performing the investigation, and then reaching valid conclusions based on the outcomes of the investigation. So simple, yet often so difficult for even seasoned people in practice to stick to the rules!

Read more: Performing an investigation

Journal Comment

Every year the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy holds a student colloquium. This provides the opportunity for selected undergraduate students to present a paper before an audience of their peers and senior members of the Institute. Presenters are drawn from those universities in the region where courses are offered in mining engineering, metallurgy, and minerals processing. This edition of the Journal is devoted to the nine papers prepared subsequently by the presenters, sometimes in conjunction with their academic or industrial mentors.

Our Institute is the professional home of people with widely diverse backgrounds, interests, and careers associated with the mining and extraction of minerals. This diversity is again reflected in the range of topics chosen by the students for their project work – from material science to mining methods. The more scientific approach of the metallurgists is well balanced by the pragmatic way in which the mining engineering students have undertaken their projects. I’ve chosen four of the nine papers to illustrate how academic study, combined with even limited practical experience, allows quality projects to be undertaken. This choice in no way reflects on the quality of the other five papers.

The material science paper by Khan looks at the addition of rare earth metals to both mild and stainless steel to improve corrosion and oxidation resistance and also its hardness. A battery of laboratory tests were undertaken to prove the initial hypothesis. This paper shows that the classical scientific approach to solving a problem and generating new knowledge is still being instilled in our current students.

Cromarty and Dawson in their paper present an economic model of a ferrochrome electric arc furnace. Following an excellent literature review, the model is developed and shows great sensitivity to the issues of today. The question of efficient use of electricity, at a time when energy-intensive industries are being asked to cease or at least cut back their production and sell back their unused electricity, makes this topic particularly relevant. The balance of economic growth, increased employment, expenditure on the infrastructure necessary for increasing electricity generating capacity, and the need for an energy mix that reduces environmental impact is particularly pertinent. This paper highlights the fact that today’s graduates entering the mining and minerals industry, in addition to being technically competent, must be well versed in the safety and health, ecological, social, and financial consequences of decisions they will take during their careers.

Two of the papers deal with the constant quest for improvements in safety, efficiency, and productivity in the underground mining of platinum. Rampedi has looked at the need to review the underground transport of personnel to their place of work in order to increase productive time and minimize fatigue, and Ferreira has compared two mining methods using a number of performance criteria, each of which was given its own weighting. The two studies both make use of a literature study, underground observations, and consultation / interviews with mine personnel. From this one can learn some very important lessons that should guide young graduates entering the industry. Never be too proud to ask for information and advice, learn from the experience of others, observe what is relevant to your task, and draw your own conclusions.

Much of the data presented in these papers was collected during periods of vacation work or experiential learning, usually spent in industry. While some within our industry, already carrying high workloads, may feel the mentoring of students is an imposition, the vast majority of companies and individuals are pleased to assist with defining projects and supervising students. Those individuals who spend many hours ensuring students have a positive experience while with them deserve the thanks of our profession, and the SAIMM, by organizing the student colloquium and devoting an entire edition of the Journal to student papers, recognizes the important role that project work and industrial experience both play in the development of young graduates.

The authors of all nine papers should be congratulated on the quality of their work. One of the things one must guard against as you grow older is the tendency to think your generation had it harder, young people these days are not so hard-working as you were, standards are slipping, etc. While there are many things in the schooling system that require urgent attention, the old saying that cream will always rise to the top is still valid today and the proof of that is what you see in this edition of the Journal.

The nineteenth century American jurist Oliver Wendell Holmes said ‘The great thing in this world is not so much where you stand, as in what direction you are moving’. Those of us standing at the end of our careers can look to the future of our industry with some confidence as we see the quality of those beginning theirs.

Journal President's Corner

This is the month of the year when we say that ‘time is marching on’ and ‘we can’t believe how quickly it is going’. Just a personal observation regarding the passage of time, with perhaps a lesson in relativity, is that I notice that the older you get, the longer the weeks become but the shorter the years.

Read more: Time Marches On

Journal Comment

“Old Soldiers Never Die They Only Fade Away” Song of 1914–18 war.

I was particularly delighted to work through the papers in this issue, for two reasons.

Firstly, a high proportion of the papers are the work of two of the most prestigious research capabilities in South Africa, namely those of Anglo American and De Beers, with headquarters in what might be described as the Crown Mines research park.

Read more: Physical beneficiation

News

                        Update of the South African Mineral Asset Valuation Code
                                                                   (SAMVAL)

The Institute has reconvened the SAMVAL Working Group, in order to conduct a review and update of the SAMVAL Code.

This work has been initiated as a result of certain inconsistencies in the current Code, but also as a result of a number of external activities and events that have created the need for the update.

Read more: Update of the South African Mineral Asset Valuation Code (SAMVAL)