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Member Notice

SAIMM Annual General Meeting

Thursday, 13 August 2020 at 12:00, via Zoom

  1. Welcome
  2. Confirmation of minutes
  3. Obituaries
  4. Honorary Life Fellowship
  5. Brigadier Stokes Memorial Award
  6. Announcement of awards, medals, and certificates
  7. Announcement of student prizes
  8. SAIMM 5 Star Incentive Programme and Top Advertiser in the Journal
  9. Annual report of the Council and accounts for the year ended 30 June 2020
  10. Declaration of election of Office Bearers, members of Council and other positions for the year 2020/2021
  11. Election of auditors and honorary legal advisors for the year 2020/2021
  12. Outgoing Presidential Award
  13. Induction of President—V.G. Duke
  14. Presidential address
  15. Vote of thanks
Presidential Address:

Ethics, Morals, and Leadership

Members of the SAIMM are facing a rapidly changing global environment and uncertain times at home.

The world is being increasingly challenged by climate change, shortages of arable land and potable water, sustainable energy needs, food security, and a huge growth in urban populations.

Closer to home, South Africa finds itself entrenched in a climate of continual political and economic uncertainty. South Africans are experiencing unemployment, corruption, civil unrest, xenophobia, polarization, increasing debt, and poverty. The reputations of numerous businesses, including Steinhoff, EOH, Tongaat Hulett, KPMG and McKinsey, have been compromised over allegations of corruption.

These dynamics, together with a growing digital economy, are changing the way we communicate, absorb information, and interact with one other. This in turn creates new challenges for the SAIMM, including increasing competition for our members’ attention with respect to attendance at conferences, meetings, and working groups.

So, to remain relevant, the SAIMM needs to transform itself. A suitable strategy has been developed and the code of ethics updated to provide ethical guidance to members as they face today’s challenges and issues. This update entailed a move away from a more rules-based code to a less prescriptive, values-based code of ethics that is more suited to today’s world, and which emphasises the SAIMM’s principles and values.

Effective leadership is clearly needed, now more than ever. The SAIMM can and should contribute to the enormous challenges facing South Africa, and this can be achieved by urging members to act ethically and lead effectively when needed.

In this address, on Ethics, Morals, and Leadership I will expand on the above, clarify the differences between ethics and morals, and discuss the essence of leadership and how an appreciation of the difference between ethics and morals can impact our performance as professionals and leaders.

Hopefully, these insights will contribute positively to members as they continue to influence and impact developments across Southern Africa by leading ethically, whenever and wherever required.

Vaughn Glenn Duke

VaugnVaughn was born in 1962 in Boksburg, where his father worked as a geologist on ERPM for Rand Mines. He grew up with two younger sisters and a brother. Geologists move around a lot and so, although Vaughn started his schooling at Christian Brothers College in Boksburg, he completed grade 7 at Princess Primary in Krugersdorp before attending Krugersdorp High to grade 11. Circumstances changed again and he ended up matriculating at Glenwood High School in Durban, where he made a wise choice to stop playing rugby and instead achieved a university exemption. Vaughn was accepted by the University of the Witwatersrand to sit for a BSc (Hons) Mining Engineering and graduated in 1986.

He then worked for COMRO for six months before moving to Zimbabwe to work for his father in a small business that researched, ’pegged’, and packaged small mining prospects for lease and/or sale to larger companies. Geologists and mining engineers traditionally disagree, so Vaughn accepted a job with the Cementation Company (Zimbabwe) Ltd to work on a shaft sinking contract at Dalny Mine, which was Zimbabwe’s deepest mine at the time. He was 25 years old and had to learn quickly because it was a 6 m diameter shaft that was being sunk without the help of a ’boesman’ or a cactus grab. He did learn fast and was soon appointed to run the site as a Site Manager, after which he was transferred to a large civil tunnelling contract at Darwendale near Harare.

Vaughn’s marriage to his university sweetheart Lynne in 1988 was followed by his return to South Africa in 1989, where he joined AngloVaal Pty Ltd to work at its Hartebeesfontein Gold Mine. He was moved to Loraine Gold Mines in 1992 to work as a Section Manager at the No 1 Shaft and for AngloVaal’s new Target Project. He returned to Harties on promotion in 1995, and was transferred to head office in 1997. He worked as the Group Mining Engineer, General Manager: Technical Services, and Project Manager for the Northern Free State Expansion Project until AngloVaal was absorbed by African Rainbow Minerals in 2004. Vaughn also completed an MBA with distinction at the Gordon Institute of Business Science of the University of Pretoria during this period.

Vaughn established Sound Mining Solution (Pty) Ltd in 2004, and after working out of rented offices in Marshalltown, purchased a building in Rivonia in 2008. Sound Mining is now well established and Vaughn is privileged and blessed to be working with a fantastic group of colleagues who have chosen to remain with Sound Mining. They have been successfully working together for many years.

Vaughn has been associated with the Southern African Institution of Mining and Metallurgy since his university days. He is now a Fellow and has contributed to numerous committees and working groups. Vaughn is a recognised Project Management Professional and a registered professional with the Engineering Council of South Africa.

Vaughn has been married to Lynne for 32 years. Their eldest son Michael is studying chemistry at Wits, their daughter is currently completing her degree at Lisof (London Institute of Fashion), and the youngest, Daniel, is in his second year at the University of Pretoria studying mechanical engineering. Lynne and Vaughn cherish and prioritize their time together and are often found cycling in the Cradle.

Uncertain about submitting an abstract or paper?

We understand your concern. The SAIMM is well aware of the current uncertainties surrounding COVID-19 and the future of events and public gatherings. We have postponed all 2020 events to 2021 and have scheduled several online conferences as well as free webinars for the remainder of the year.

We are moving forward with our plans for all 2021 events. The submission dates for abstracts and papers remain the same for all events, and the peer review processes will continue as planned. We are monitoring the current COVID-19 situation and will continue to do so throughout the year. Events will be changed and modified to adapt to the situation we are faced within 2021.

We will be working closely with our venues and will monitor event planning best practices for the safety of our attendees. If there are any changes with the planned events, authors and attendees will be informed timeously. If your ability to present or submit an abstract or paper changes closer to the event date, let us know so that we can update the programme before it is finalised.

Continue to submit your work for the 2021 planned conferences. We look forward to your submissions.

COVID-19 statement

Following the outbreak of COVID-19 (coronavirus), SAIMM is adhering to the request by the national government and the World Health Organisation. The welfare of everyone remains our top priority. Please visit https://sacoronavirus.co.za/

Before the announcement of the national 21-day lockdown, the SAIMM Council debated the way forward at length and we will continue monitoring the situation closely and communicate with our members to keep them informed on how this will impact the Institute going forward.

We have postponed all conferences and other events that were scheduled up to the end of July and instead plan to deliver some of them later in the year or via virtual conferencing platforms. We will share more information on this in the coming weeks. The various Organising Committees are deliberating options for the affected events and participants will be contacted directly with more information on how these events will be rolled out.

We urge all our local members to follow the rules as laid down by our national government, and our international members to follow those implemented by their respective governments.

SAMCODES APP Launched

SAMCODES have launched an App that allows one to access and search the SAMREC, SAMVAL and SAMOG Codes, the JSE Section 12 listing rules as well as SAMESG and the Diamond Guidelines for reporting.

It is now possible to have the SAMREC, SAMVAL and SAMOG Codes in your pocket so that it can be available at any time and you don’t have to search through a PDF to find the detail you need.

Go to the Google Play store and download it now.
You are now able to download the app via the Android Store or you can follow the below URL from your Android device.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=za.co.easyappcreator.android5a72bad2ac009

The IOS/Apple version will be available soon.

Post-mining use of rehabilitated land – an opportunity for the South African mining industry for sustainable development

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS
By M.I. Mthenjane

Background
The paper discusses post-mining land use however, the essence of the topic is the emotional motivation behind the decisions related to mining investment and development. Therefore this is not a typical SAIMM technical paper about the science and techniques of post-mining land use. There are already numerous papers written and conferences held on this aspect of post-mine land use; the science is well understood, but the evidence of the practical application of the (environmental, social, and economic) science is sparse. At a recent conference held in November 2017 on the theme of ‘Science, Business, Society Dialogue – linking science, society, business and policy for the sustainable use of abandoned mines in the SADC region’, it was demonstrated through the delivery of several papers on the possible viable options of post-mine land use. The conference was structured in nine sessions, covering the following relevant topics:

  • Sessions 1 and 2: Nature and magnitude of the problem: raising awareness
  • Sessions 3 and 4: International experiences in remediation: case studies
  • Sessions 5, 6 and, 7: Technological solutions: converting liabilities into assets
  • Session 8: Implementing solutions: social and legal aspects
  • Session 9: Wrap up, lessons learned: conference resolution.

DOWNLOAD THE FULL ADDRESS HERE (PDF 4.7MB)

 

CRIRSCO expands its reach with India as its latest member

PRESS RELEASE

The National Committee for Reporting Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Reserves in India (NACRI) has become the latest member of the Committee for Mineral Reserves International Reporting Standards CRIRSCO India, further strengthening the adoption of internationally recognized and accepted reporting standards for solid mineral reserves and resources.

SAIMM President 2019/2020– Mzila Isaac Mthenjane

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS

Post-mining use of rehabilitated land – an opportunity for the South African mining industry for sustainable development

Over the two decades of my career the landscape of the global mining industry has changed fundamentally. In South Africa it has changed irrevocably. As industry professionals and leaders, it is incumbent on us not only to salvage what remains of our sector, but to restore it from its present low base to the size and international profile that it had at the time of the country’s transformation to democracy in 1994. As an industry, and by implication as an Institute, we have to think very carefully and very creatively as to where we take the sector from here.

Dave Tudor

The SAIMM bids farewell to Dave Tudor, Editor of the SAIMM Journal and Chair of the Publications Committee, who is relocating to the UK.

Dave hails from Oswestry, a historic market town in Shropshire, England, close to the Welsh border. He graduated from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) with a degree in Chemical Engineering, and began his career with Anglo American in Zambia, where he worked at the Rokana smelter in Kitwe and the lead-zinc operation at Broken Hill (now Kabwe).

Elections are over. This is how SA can bounce back!

Now that the elections are over, it’s time for government - every South African, in fact - to consider how to help the nation recover from its past woes and once again pursue progress and development.

The answer, says Christopher Palm, Chief Risk Advisor at the Institute of Risk Management South Africa, is right in front of us.

Every system must maintain an upward trend in development to survive.

Eskom: the road to recovery.

Whether as corporates or as individuals, we have all suffered inconvenience and frustration through this most recent period of load shedding.
The Minister of Public Enterprises called several meetings with stakeholders to effect a "call to action" to address what he described as a crisis facing the country as a whole. One such meeting was convened through the Engineering Council of South Africa, and included some 18 voluntary associations, related to engineering, of which the SAIMM was one.

SAIMM on twitter

Other mining news

Mining Weekly | Africa

28 March 2024

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
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    Rainbow Rare Earths is bullish about the potential of its Phalaborwa rare earths project in South Africa, as it is expected to be the highest margin rare earth elements (REEs) project in development owing to its different capital and operating cost profile compared to traditional projects, CEO George Bennet says in an unaudited results statement for the six months ended December 31. “Phalaborwa is a unique project in the rare earths space. Due to the fact that it is focused on the reprocessing of phosphogypsum stacks to recover rare earths, it has a fundamentally different cost profile to traditional mining projects, and it is therefore expected to be the highest margin rare earth project in development today,” he comments.