The state of the local foundry sector
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- Created: Friday, 01 February 2013 00:00
- Written by RL Paul
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Journal Comment
A monthly publication devoted to scientific transactions and specialist technical topics is unlikely to be on the priority reading list of the majority of the mining and metallurgical community. But it is the ambition of the Publication's Committee to make the Journal of much wider interest to our general membership from technician trainees to mine managers to CEO's of our constituent companies. It is to entice general readership that some 1200 words of valuable space are devoted to the Journal Comment each month. This is intended to highlight some of the features and impact of the papers to excite and activate attention.
To entice this preliminary glance before confining the publication to the book shelf or even the wpb, the author has to call on a large measure of journalistic licence in style, titles and quotations. It is essential to be spicy, controversial and even provocative to separate it from the abbreviated authoritative but necessary scientific style of the bulk of the contents.
The Journal Comment aims to be an enticement to dig into some important feature of the papers in the issue. For this reason it has been decided to include it as a separate item on the Institutes Web Site. This might provoke those who enjoy twittering, blogging and googling to submit comment and criticism, all of which will be welcomed and responded to. At least it is proof that somebody has read it.
R.E. Robinson
Student projects: Collegiate of Miners and Metallurgists
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- Created: Monday, 01 April 2013 00:00
- Written by RE Robinson
The papers in this issue are from the annual colloquium in which students are given the opportunity to present a report on project work undertaken as part of their undergraduate training. In publishing a selection of the papers it is not the intention to announce the advent of great new advances in technology, but rather to produce a window on the best examples of the state of the nation for perusal by the collegiate of professionally qualified practitioners in mining, mineral processing, and metallurgy.
Black Swans versus White Swans
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- Created: Tuesday, 01 January 2013 00:00
- Written by RE Robinson
Those who attended the Presidential Address in 2009 did not suspect that the prophetic theme of ‘Swinging with the Black Swans’ would materialize within the next three years. ‘These beasts could lie hidden, only to appear unexpectedly and cause much havoc.’
The Mining and Metallurgical industries are going through the most serious criticism that I have encountered in my 62 years’ association with them. This is at a time when South Africans are looking at them to provide the key to the solution to an even bigger crisis facing the Nation: that of unemployment and poverty.
Percolation leaching
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- Created: Saturday, 01 December 2012 00:00
- Written by RE Robinson
Six of the papers in this issue are from an international conference on a topic that many consider as one of the most important in future extraction metallurgy. It deserves its more exotic name of ‘percolation leaching’ rather than the previous names of dump or heap leaching, which suggest that the technology is best suited for treatment of waste materials.
Paste and Thickened Tailings
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- Created: Thursday, 22 November 2012 00:36
- Written by RL Paul
I am sure that every reader has heard the joke about the argument between the various organs of the body as to which would be crowned as the ‘King’. The brain, heart, and lungs all made their respective impressive cases. Then an unmentionable organ quietly announced its claim to the title, to be greeted with laughter and derision.
The best research in mining and metallurgy
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- Created: Monday, 01 October 2012 00:00
- Written by RT Jones
‘Have something to say, and say it as clearly as you can. That is the only secret.’ Matthew Arnold
This month’s issue of the Journal carries papers on a wide range of topics in the areas of mining, metallurgy, and mathematics. This gives rise to the question of what constitutes a good paper. Essentially, the subject matter should be of interest or importance to at least some readers; the content should be communicated clearly and logically; and some papers should communicate new knowledge that is worth being referenced by other authors. The ‘value’ of a
paper is a difficult thing to define, let alone to measure, but that hasn’t stopped people from trying.
International Rock Mechanics Symposium
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- Created: Wednesday, 01 August 2012 00:00
- Written by RE Robinson
In the papers in this issue we are exposed to some of the expertise that has evolved over the decades in rock mechanics - the basic science involved in rock breakage, whether accidently or intentionally.
Breakthrough Technologies
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- Created: Sunday, 01 July 2012 00:00
- Written by RL Paul
The ten papers in the July edition would appear, at first glance, to have little in common. Upon a second glance, they can be grouped into three broad themes:
* Environmental (two papers)
* Technology (four in metallurgy and two in mining)
* Human knowledge (two papers). I admit that it’s not a
very imaginative analysis, but it’s the best that I can do!
Innovation from fluidization
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- Created: Friday, 01 June 2012 00:00
- Written by RE Robinson
Innovate: ‘to invent or begin to apply’- Collins Dictionary
Several papers in this issue from an international conference on industrial fluidization represent an exceptional opportunity for innovation.
It is common cause that innovation is the prerequisite for job creation, which is rated as the highest priority in Africa.
In this context the most succinct definition of ‘Innovation’ from Collins Dictionary includes two components; invention and application. Concepts are two a penny. Inventions, (let’s call them R&D projects so as not to be confused with patents) are much more demanding in professional expertise at research institutions, and are widely reported in journals such as this one. The application component in all respects is the most comprehensively difficult.
Fascinating Possibilities
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- Created: Tuesday, 01 May 2012 00:00
- Written by RD Beck
Professor Robbie Robinson written his thoughtprovoking comments on a monthly basis since 1995, and he assures the Publications Committee that this is not the end of his comments or his involvement with the Journal. However, May 2012 has fallen to me.
This issue contains ten papers covering a range of subjects. Two mining papers concern uncertainty and planning in mining projects. A topic often discussed in the Journal. A further two present fundamental aspects of rock breakage, elastic deformation energy, compressive and tensile. As a metallurgist, when looking at such papers, I wonder whether the understanding that mining engineers have in the area of rock mechanics could not be borrowed to design a new method of rock breaking. One paper talks about abrasion which only recently appeared in modelling of comminution processes.
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