Saimm 201509 sep

VVOLUME 115 NO. 9 SEPTEMBER 2015

Rodney Jones was born in 1959 in Germiston, where he grew up and attended Germiston High School – interestingly, one of the very fewschools in South Africa to have a Nobel Prize winner among its past pupils. Rodney holds a BSc(Eng) degree in chemical engineeringfrom the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in Johannesburg, a BA degree in logic and philosophy from the University of South

Africa, and has completed MSc (Eng) and PhD degrees in metallurgical engineering from Wits University.Rodney has worked in the Pyrometallurgy Division at Mintek – an internationally recognized minerals research organization, based in

Randburg – since 1985, and is currently a Senior Technical Specialist there. He has been a registered Professional Engineer since 1988. Hismain research interests are in the field of computer simulation and design of high-temperature processes, and the development ofthermodynamic software. He is the author of Pyrosim software for the steady-state simulation of pyrometallurgical processes, which hasbeen used in 22 countries around the world. Rodney has also been part of the team that developed processes which, has led to the large-scaleindustrial application of direct-current arc furnace technology to the smelting of chromite in South Africa and Kazakhstan, ilmenite smeltingin South Africa, cobalt recovery from slags in Zambia, battery recycling in Switzerland, and ferronickel production in New Caledonia. Heis one of the inventors of the internationally patented ConRoast process – an environmentally friendly way of recovering platinum groupmetals from ores that are otherwise very difficult to process. Rodney has been the recipient of a number of APEX (Acknowledgement ofPerformance Excellence) and Achievement awards from Mintek, a Mintek Technology Transfer Award (Gold category), as well as anSAIMM Silver Medal.

He was a Visiting Professor at the Center for Pyrometallurgy, University of Missouri-Rolla, during July and August 1996, and in 2002and 2003 also lectured in pyrometallurgy at Murdoch University, Perth, as an Adjunct Associate Professor. The National ResearchFoundation rated him in 2009 and 2015 as an ‘Internationally Acclaimed Researcher’. Rodney is a member of the Board of Trustees forOneMine.org, and serves as the Chairman of the International Committee on Ferro-Alloys (ICFA). He is also a Fellow of the Institution ofChemical Engineers (IChemE) and the South African Institute of Chemical Engineers (SAIChE), and a Member of the Royal Society ofSouth Africa. He serves the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) as a member of the Professional Advisory Committee forMetallurgical Engineering.

Rodney has been a member of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (SAIMM) since 1988, a Fellow since 1997, anda Council member since 2005. He has chaired the Metallurgy Technical Programme Committee since 2007, and also serves on thePublications and IT Committees. He is a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of the SAIMM. Rodney was awarded an HonoraryLife Fellowship of the SAIMM in 2010.

He has represented Mintek at many local and international conferences, sometimes as an invited keynote or plenary speaker, and hasdelivered invited lectures and seminars at universities in South Africa, the USA, and Australia. Rodney convened, and edited the proceedingsof, the Southern African Pyrometallurgy 2006 and 2011 international conferences. He also convened a conference on ‘A constructiveresponse to the power crisis’ in 2008. He has been a member of the organizing or scientific committees for the SAIMM ‘Platinum’ and ‘BaseMetals’ series of international conferences, the International Ferro-Alloys Congress (Infacon), and the European Metallurgical Conferenceseries, as well as the TMS conferences on Nickel-Cobalt and the ‘Celebrating the Megascale’ pyrometallurgical conference in the USA.Rodney is also well known for his efforts in making information openly accessible via the Internet, and has championed the digitization ofa number of old journals and conference proceedings.

Rodney is an enthusiastic person who respects people asindividuals, and places a high value on personalrelationships. He aspires to follow the teachings of Christ,and to be an unpretentious, caring person of integrity andloyalty, who cares about justice and freedom.

Rodney is married to Debbie, and they have twochildren – David (married to Vutomi) and Sarah. Rodney'swide-ranging interests include photography, trail running (hehas run the Harrismith Mountain Race seven times), hiking,travel, reading, computers, mathematical puzzles,philosophy, history, and playing the guitar. Rodney is amember of the Photographic Society of Southern Africa, theInternet Society (a founding member of the ZA chapter in1997), the Philosophical Society of Southern Africa, theGenealogical Society of South Africa, the JohannesburgHeritage Foundation, Mensa, and the Cloud AppreciationSociety.

RODNEY TREVOR JONES

Vutomi, David, Sarah, Debbie, and Rodney

Introduction to our new President...

Mintek would like to congratulate and wish Dr. Rodney Jones

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OFFICE BEARERS AND COUNCIL FOR THE2015/2016 SESSION

Honorary PresidentMike TekePresident, Chamber of Mines of South Africa

Honorary Vice-PresidentsMosebenzi ZwaneMinister of Mineral Resources, South Africa

Rob DaviesMinister of Trade and Industry, South Africa

Naledi PandorMinister of Science and Technology, South Africa

PresidentR.T. Jones

President ElectC. Musingwini

Vice-Presidents

S. NdlovuA.S. Macfarlane

Immediate Past PresidentJ.L. Porter

Honorary TreasurerC. Musingwini

Ordinary Members on Council

Z. Botha G. NjowaV.G. Duke A.G. SmithI.J. Geldenhuys M.H. SolomonM.F. Handley J.D. SteenkampW.C. Joughin M.R. TlalaM. Motuku D. TudorD.D. Munro D.J. van Niekerk

Past Presidents Serving on CouncilN.A. Barcza G.V.R. Landman R.D. Beck J.C. Ngoma J.R. Dixon S.J. Ramokgopa M. Dworzanowski M.H. Rogers F.M.G. Egerton G.L. Smith H.E. James W.H. van Niekerk

Branch ChairmenBotswana L.E. DimbunguDRC S. MalebaJohannesburg I. AshmoleNamibia N.M. NamateNorthern Cape C.A. van WykPretoria P. BredellWestern Cape A. MainzaZambia D. MumaZimbabwe S. NdiyambaZululand C.W. Mienie

Corresponding Members of CouncilAustralia: I.J. Corrans, R.J. Dippenaar, A. Croll,

C. Workman-DaviesAustria: H. WagnerBotswana: S.D. WilliamsUnited Kingdom: J.J.L. Cilliers, N.A. BarczaUSA: J-M.M. Rendu, P.C. Pistorius

The Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy

PAST PRESIDENTS

*Deceased

* W. Bettel (1894–1895)* A.F. Crosse (1895–1896)* W.R. Feldtmann (1896–1897)* C. Butters (1897–1898)* J. Loevy (1898–1899)* J.R. Williams (1899–1903)* S.H. Pearce (1903–1904)* W.A. Caldecott (1904–1905)* W. Cullen (1905–1906)* E.H. Johnson (1906–1907)* J. Yates (1907–1908)* R.G. Bevington (1908–1909)* A. McA. Johnston (1909–1910)* J. Moir (1910–1911)* C.B. Saner (1911–1912)* W.R. Dowling (1912–1913)* A. Richardson (1913–1914)* G.H. Stanley (1914–1915)* J.E. Thomas (1915–1916)* J.A. Wilkinson (1916–1917)* G. Hildick-Smith (1917–1918)* H.S. Meyer (1918–1919)* J. Gray (1919–1920)* J. Chilton (1920–1921)* F. Wartenweiler (1921–1922)* G.A. Watermeyer (1922–1923)* F.W. Watson (1923–1924)* C.J. Gray (1924–1925)* H.A. White (1925–1926)* H.R. Adam (1926–1927)* Sir Robert Kotze (1927–1928)* J.A. Woodburn (1928–1929)* H. Pirow (1929–1930)* J. Henderson (1930–1931)* A. King (1931–1932)* V. Nimmo-Dewar (1932–1933)* P.N. Lategan (1933–1934)* E.C. Ranson (1934–1935)* R.A. Flugge-De-Smidt (1935–

1936)* T.K. Prentice (1936–1937)* R.S.G. Stokes (1937–1938)* P.E. Hall (1938–1939)* E.H.A. Joseph (1939–1940)* J.H. Dobson (1940–1941)* Theo Meyer (1941–1942)* John V. Muller (1942–1943)* C. Biccard Jeppe (1943–1944)* P.J. Louis Bok (1944–1945)* J.T. McIntyre (1945–1946)* M. Falcon (1946–1947)* A. Clemens (1947–1948)* F.G. Hill (1948–1949)* O.A.E. Jackson (1949–1950)* W.E. Gooday (1950–1951)* C.J. Irving (1951–1952)* D.D. Stitt (1952–1953)* M.C.G. Meyer (1953–1954)* L.A. Bushell (1954–1955)* H. Britten (1955–1956)* Wm. Bleloch (1956–1957)

* H. Simon (1957–1958)* M. Barcza (1958–1959)* R.J. Adamson (1959–1960)* W.S. Findlay (1960–1961)

D.G. Maxwell (1961–1962)* J. de V. Lambrechts (1962–1963)* J.F. Reid (1963–1964)* D.M. Jamieson (1964–1965)* H.E. Cross (1965–1966)* D. Gordon Jones (1966–1967)* P. Lambooy (1967–1968)* R.C.J. Goode (1968–1969)* J.K.E. Douglas (1969–1970)* V.C. Robinson (1970–1971)* D.D. Howat (1971–1972)

J.P. Hugo (1972–1973)* P.W.J. van Rensburg (1973–

1974)* R.P. Plewman (1974–1975)

R.E. Robinson (1975–1976)* M.D.G. Salamon (1976–1977)* P.A. Von Wielligh (1977–1978)* M.G. Atmore (1978–1979)* D.A. Viljoen (1979–1980)* P.R. Jochens (1980–1981)

G.Y. Nisbet (1981–1982)A.N. Brown (1982–1983)

* R.P. King (1983–1984)J.D. Austin (1984–1985)H.E. James (1985–1986)H. Wagner (1986–1987)

* B.C. Alberts (1987–1988)C.E. Fivaz (1988–1989)O.K.H. Steffen (1989–1990)

* H.G. Mosenthal (1990–1991)R.D. Beck (1991–1992)J.P. Hoffman (1992–1993)

* H. Scott-Russell (1993–1994)J.A. Cruise (1994–1995)D.A.J. Ross-Watt (1995–1996)N.A. Barcza (1996–1997)R.P. Mohring (1997–1998)J.R. Dixon (1998–1999)M.H. Rogers (1999–2000)L.A. Cramer (2000–2001)

* A.A.B. Douglas (2001–2002)S.J. Ramokgopa (2002-2003)T.R. Stacey (2003–2004)F.M.G. Egerton (2004–2005)W.H. van Niekerk (2005–2006)R.P.H. Willis (2006–2007)R.G.B. Pickering (2007–2008)A.M. Garbers-Craig (2008–2009)J.C. Ngoma (2009–2010)G.V.R. Landman (2010–2011)J.N. van der Merwe (2011–2012)G.L. Smith (2012–2013)M. Dworzanowski (2013–2014)J.L. Porter (2014–2015)

Honorary Legal Advisers

Van Hulsteyns Attorneys

Auditors

Messrs R.H. Kitching

Secretaries


Fifth Floor, Chamber of Mines Building

5 Hollard Street, Johannesburg 2001 • P.O. Box 61127, Marshalltown 2107

Telephone (011) 834-1273/7 • Fax (011) 838-5923 or (011) 833-8156

E-mail: [email protected]

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CContentsARTICLES

SANCOT News: Obituaries—David Lawrence 1948–2015 and James McKelvey 1954–2015by H.J. Tluczek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iv–v

The Education Working Group of the SAIMM-YPCby T. Mmola . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi

Profiles of the Branch Chairmen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viii-xii

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS

Presidential Address: Truth and error in scientific publishingby R.T. Jones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 799

Proceedings, 118th Annual General Meeting, 2015 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 819

Annual Report for the year ended 30 June 2015. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 829

Annual Financial Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 865

Annual Financial Statement for the SAIMM Scholarship Fund . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 881

Annual Financial Statement for the SAIMM Western Cape Branch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 887

International Advisory Board

R. Dimitrakopoulos, McGill University, CanadaD. Dreisinger, University of British Columbia, CanadaE. Esterhuizen, NIOSH Research Organization, USAH. Mitri, McGill University, CanadaM.J. Nicol, Murdoch University, AustraliaE. Topal, Curtin University, Australia

VOLUME 115 NO. 9 SEPTEMBER 20 15

Proceedings of the Annual General Meeting

Annual Report and Accounts

Presidential Address:Truth and Error in Scientific Publishing

by R.T. Jones

Editorial BoardR.D. BeckJ. Beukes

P. den HoedM. Dworzanowski

B. GencM.F. Handley

R.T. JonesW.C. Joughin

J.A. LuckmannC. MusingwiniJ.H. PotgieterR.E. Robinson

T.R. Stacey

Editorial ConsultantD. Tudor

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The Southern African Institute ofMining and MetallurgyP.O. Box 61127Marshalltown 2107Telephone (011) 834-1273/7Fax (011) 838-5923E-mail: [email protected]

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Advertising Representative

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The SecretariatThe Southern African Instituteof Mining and Metallurgy

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THE INSTITUTE, AS A BODY, ISNOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THESTATEMENTS AND OPINIONSADVANCED IN ANY OF ITSPUBLICATIONS.Copyright© 1978 by The Southern AfricanInstitute of Mining and Metallurgy. All rightsreserved. Multiple copying of the contents ofthis publication or parts thereof withoutpermission is in breach of copyright, butpermission is hereby given for the copying oftitles and abstracts of papers and names ofauthors. Permission to copy illustrations andshort extracts from the text of individualcontributions is usually given upon writtenapplication to the Institute, provided that thesource (and where appropriate, the copyright)is acknowledged. Apart from any fair dealingfor the purposes of review or criticism underThe Copyright Act no. 98, 1978, Section 12, ofthe Republic of South Africa, a single copy ofan article may be supplied by a library for thepurposes of research or private study. No partof this publication may be reproduced, stored ina retrieval system, or transmitted in any form orby any means without the prior permission ofthe publishers. Multiple copying of thecontents of the publication without permissionis always illegal.

U.S. Copyright Law applicable to users In theU.S.A.The appearance of the statement of copyrightat the bottom of the first page of an articleappearing in this journal indicates that thecopyright holder consents to the making ofcopies of the article for personal or internaluse. This consent is given on condition that thecopier pays the stated fee for each copy of apaper beyond that permitted by Section 107 or108 of the U.S. Copyright Law. The fee is to bepaid through the Copyright Clearance Center,Inc., Operations Center, P.O. Box 765,Schenectady, New York 12301, U.S.A. Thisconsent does not extend to other kinds ofcopying, such as copying for generaldistribution, for advertising or promotionalpurposes, for creating new collective works, orfor resale.

VOLUME 115 NO. 9 SEPTEMBER 2015

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Obituaries

here are few who live life to the full in their work as well as their private lives.One such person was David Lawrence. David managed to fulfill a career in

engineering that contributed to the civil development of major mining projects inhis home country, South Africa, as well as several landmark infrastructureprojects, including the Drakensburg Pumped Storage Scheme, where hisconnection with the international tunnelling fraternity began.

David died peacefully on 7 July 2015 at his adopted home on the Isle of Manin the UK, where he moved with his family in the 1990s.

Throughout his career, David was engaged on many important infrastructureengineering assignments. In South Africa, and as a director of the undergroundconstruction engineering company Basil Read, he worked on many minedevelopment projects as well as underground civil infrastructure projects.

In the UK, David was engaged in the early stages of the geologicalinvestigation shaft for the planned nuclear waste repository facility in Cumbria,before the government of the day cancelled the project.

Following that, he joined the Kellogg Brown & Root team that managed the Dublin Port highway tunnel in Ireland–a project that was technically demanding and politically challenging. The project was completed, and Dublin is achanged city today due to the port’s heavy freight traffic being able to bypass the city centre to the national highwayconnections.

With close-out of the Dublin Port tunnel project, David retired to the Isle of Man, but he continued to be associatedwith the tunnelling industry as an independent consultant and worked with the LBA (London Bridge Association)consulting construction firm in the UK as a contracts advisor.

In South Africa, through his association with the construction phase of the Drakensburg Pumped Storage Scheme,David worked with expatriate engineers from many parts of the word, including Terry Mellors, Martin Knights, andJohn Sharp of the UK.

David had a truly international and interesting engineering career. He counted among his most interesting projectsthe legendary Med-Dead Sea tunnel that was proposed to convey water by gravity across Israel from the theMediterranean Sea to the lower lever of the Dead Sea to replenish the depleting water resource of the Dead Sea whilegenerating hydro power. Ironically regional civil unrest and threatened factional violence that killed off the project inthe 1980s when David was already in the Middle East and working on the actual start of construction. A revival of theproject could well contribute towards reconciliation and reasonable negotiation of peace in this fractious and unstablepart of the world.

David was an engineer and professional in the international tunnelling business who was determined to presentopportunities to others to be part of the real and exciting possibilities of the underground space and tunnellingindustry. He was instrumental in advancing and developing the careers of many in the business.

His adventurous and committed, yet fun-loving approach to a professional career was a significant element of hissuccess and the esteem that so many hold for him. He will be missed.

H.J. Tluczek

Dave Lawrence at the BTSDinner in May 2015

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Obituaries (continued)

ames McKelvey, a respected and internationally-recognized tunnel design,construction, and risk management expert, passed away suddenly on 20 July 2015,

at the age of 60.Born in South Africa on 15 September 1954, Jim earned his bachelor’s degree in

Civil Engineering from the University of Natal in 1976, and that same year, joinedMurray & Roberts Roads and Earthworks and began work on what would becomenumerous South African tunnelling projects.

Jim joined Keeve Steyn Incorporated in 1980, and during his more than 20-yearcareer with the company, he became recognized as one of the foremost tunnellingengineers in South Africa. He led the company’s tunnelling team on many majorprojects, such as the Inanda-Wiggins Tunnels and the Midmar Potable Water Tunnel.In 1998, he took up the position of Chief Resident Engineer on the Matsoku Weir andDiversion Tunnel, followed by the same role on the 32-kilometer Mohale Tunnel. Bothprojects are part of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, one of the largest water transfer programmes ever developedin Africa and recognized by the South African Institution of Civil Engineering as the Project of the Century.

Jim moved to the United States in the early 2000s and joined Black & Veatch in 2002 as a senior member of thecompany’s geo-engineering group. In 2003, he moved to Charleston, South Carolina, to lend his talents to a multi-phased wastewater tunnel replacement programme. An Associate Vice President at Black & Veatch, he later began thecompany’s Tunnelling Center of Excellence in Indianapolis before taking on the role of Tunnel Chief Engineer in 2013.During his 13-year career at Black & Veatch, Jim was engaged on many of the company’s large-diameter tunnel andpipeline projects throughout North America.

Jim has left a lasting legacy by mentoring many professionals along the way, and he has also left an indelible markon the industry as a tunnelling authority known for his practical, insightful solutions to complex design andconstruction challenges. He served on both the Executive Council and the Organizing Committee of the InternationalTunnelling and Underground Space Association (ITA), and he represented Black & Veatch as a sustaining member ofthe Underground Construction Association (UCA) of the Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration (SME). Withinthe UCA , he served as a member of the George A. Fox Organizing Committee. He was also a member of the OrganizingCommittee for the ITA-AITES World Tunnelling Conference 2016, to be held in San Francisco. He also formerly servedas a member of the ITA working group on shotcrete, a tutor in the ITA working group on contractual practice, Chair ofthe South African National Committee on Tunnelling (SANCOT) and of SANCOT’s working group on shotcrete. Hechaired the organizing committee for the memorable ITA-AITES World Tunneling Conference 2000, which was held inDurban, South Africa. He authored numerous papers and chapters of books, including a logistics chapter inMegaprojects: Challenges and Recommended Practices.

Jim is survived by Jacqui, his wife of 12 years; children (and their spouses) Bianca and Greg, Monique and Kevin,Katherine and Mitch, Stuart and Andrea, and Ross; grandchildren Cameron and Jude; and a sister, Dianne.

H.J. Tluczek

James McKelvey - 1954-2015

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vi

In the June edition of the Journal, three areas that the YPC will focus on, namely education, career guidance, andenterprise were presented. A working group for each focus area has been constituted by the YPC. This article brieflyintroduces the Education Working Group (EWG).

Importance

The YPC’s mandate is to represent members of the SAIMM in the ‘Student’ category. With this category constitutingnearly 25% of the SAIMM membership and effectively representing the future of the Institute, identifying and servingthe needs of the student membership is an important function of the YPC. In this regard, the YPC has identified currentchallenges and opportunities faced by students in the minerals industry that need attention.

Challenges

Students in the minerals-related fields of study face a number of challenges that have arisen due to the recentcontraction in demand for commodities. Whereas in the last decade students were well sponsored by mining companies,this funding for education has dwindled significantly. It had been anticipated that universities would have to collectivelyproduce upwards of 300 graduates annually to meet the demands of the minerals industry. While the universities arenow able to produce this number of graduates, the industry is unable to absorb them all. The unfortunate result is thata growing number of students find themselves unemployed after graduation. The throughput of students in mining andmetallurgy remains a challenge for the universities and greater academic support for students is desirable.

Opportunities

Despite the challenges in education, there are still significant opportunities. Current graduates receive some of the besteducation in the world, which not only equips them with excellent technical knowledge but also instils anunderstanding of contemporary issues such as sustainability, ethics, social consciousness, health, safety, and theenvironment. This education takes place in an innovative and high-technology surround at universities equipped withcutting-edge technology such as three-dimensional virtual reality training. This quality education provides theopportunity for industry to absorb high-calibre graduates that can bring a fresh wave of energy, innovation, andresponsible leadership to move the minerals industry into the forefront of sustainable wealth creation on the Africancontinent.

Mission statement

It is therefore apparent to the YPC that specific focus on education is a strategic imperative. The purpose of the EWG isto represent the interests of primarily undergraduates in basic and higher education on matters of career guidance,academic development, and life skills. In order to fulfil its purpose, the EWG will aim to influence policy on education inmining and metallurgy; support efforts to secure funding for education, chiefly through the SAIMM Scholarship TrustFund; provide guidance on career choices in the minerals industry; provide academic support to learners and students;facilitate mentorship and life skills initiatives to guide students through their academic life; and also to encourage life-long learning and postgraduate education.

Call to action

The EWG currently consists of members of the YPC, student representatives from the universities, and other SAIMMmembers. The EWG is part of the organizing committee of the Young Professionals Conference to be held from 21 to 22October 2015. This conference brings together the annual student colloquium, showcasing the top students from theuniversities, and the Young Professionals Conference, which provides an opportunity for the young professionals of theminerals industry to present their work to their peers. For more information on the EWG and to join this workinggroup, contact Desmond Klenam ([email protected]) or Sihe Nhleko ([email protected]).

T. MmolaChairman: Young Professionals’ Council (SAIMM)

The Education Working Group of theSAIMM—Young Professionals Co

Educating and leading mining engineers to become ImagineersThe broad-based curriculum of the Department of Mining Engineering at the

University of Pretoria, emphasises the international engineering education model

of conceptualising, designing, implementing and operating mines.

For more information contact the Head of Department:

Johannesburg Branch Ian Ashmole

Ian has been a member of the SAIMM Johannesburg Branch committee since 2009. He was elected ViceChairman in 2011, and has been Chairman since 2012. He also represents the SAIMM as an observer on theCouncil of the Geological Society of South Africa.

Ian started in the mining industry as a learner official with Rand Mines in 1985, and graduated from theUniversity of the Witwatersrand with a bachelor’s degree in mining engineering in 1989. He worked at DurbanRoodepoort Deep, Douglas Colliery, and Harmony Gold Mine before leaving Rand Mines in 1993 to take upthe position of mine manager of a small gold mine on the East Rand.

Ian became involved in the dimension stone mining industry in 1994, when he joined Kudu Granite as groupmining engineer, with a mandate to transform the company’s traditional quarry operations into modernprofessionally-run mines through the application of geological knowledge, formal mine planning, newtechnology and methods, and professional management techniques. By 1996, the company’s operationswere recognized in the industry as being on a par with the best-run operations in Europe, and the standardsdeveloped at Kudu were a major factor in the acquisition of Kudu by the Marlin Group in 1997. The health andsafety and environmental performance of the Rustenburg Division of Marlin, where Ian was General Managerfrom 2001 to 2005, was recognized by both the DME and environmental pressure groups as being among thebest in the South African mining industry. In 2005, Ian became Technical Director of the Marlin Group, withresponsibility for the operation of all quarries in southern Africa and exploration in Africa, as well as consultingwork for the group's operations in Brazil.

In 2008, Ian left the Marlin Group to establish an independent consultancy. While his initial focus wasmainly, but not exclusively, in the dimension stone sector, he subsequently consulted in the gold, uranium,platinum, chrome, and industrial minerals sectors. Ian is a generalist,, and while his technical expertise isvalued in feasibility and due diligence work, he also provides project and operational management assistance,and is widely experienced in the fields of health and safety, environmental management, and mineral rights.

Ian has travelled extensively in Africa, South America, Europe, and the USA during the course of his career.He is a keen runner, having completed five Comrades Marathons, trail runner and trail run course designer,and mountain biker. �

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SAIMM Branch Chairmen

Susa Maleba graduated from the University of Lubumbashi, DRC, with a BSc Eng. (Mining) and completed aBSc (Hons) in Mining Engineering, specializing in Mining Environment, at Pretoria University.

Susa has been involved in the field of mining engineering, specializing in mining design, mining ventilation,and mine planning, for the past 16 years. His expertise includes:

• Underground mine design, layout, and scheduling• Mine ventilation and refrigeration, environmental control, and occupational hygiene• Open pit design, optimization, and production scheduling• Feasibility studies on open pit and underground operations• Environmental and social research, impact assessment, stakeholder engagement• Recruitment, training. and coordination of mining-related personnel• Consulting and contracting.

He is currently Country Manager/Mining Engineer for SRK Consulting in the DRC �

Democratic Republic ofCongo BranchSusa Maleba

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Nikowa is the Deputy Head of Department and Lecturer, Mining and Process Engineering, Polytechnic ofNamibia

The key attributes include:

• Mining Engineering Degree from University of Zimbabwe• Over ten years of industrial and academic experience• Strong team building capability and leadership skills• Strong research interest in industrial engineering processes and ergonomics• Certified energy auditor• Small scale mining consultant

Nikowa has a good understanding of the mining industry in Namibia. �

Namibian BranchNikowa Mabvuto Namate


Cedrick Van Wyk was born and grew up in Luderitz, Namibia. He completed schooling at the ConcordiaCollege in Windhoek, Namibia.

Cedrick joined JCI in 1989 as a learner official and completed the Higher National Diploma in ExtractiveMetallurgy from the University of Johannesburg (Wits Technikon) in 1993. He completed the AngloAmerican MDP with the University of Stellenbosch Business School in 2005.Cedrick was employed with Rustenburg Base Metals Refiners (Anglo Platinum) for seven and a half years.

Four of those years were spent at the Base Metals Refiners (BMR) and a further three years’ productionexperience was obtained in the Magnetic Concentration Plant (MC Plant). Cedrick also obtained two and ahalf years’ experience in gold metallurgy at the Randfontein Estates Gold Mine, while studying towards hisdiploma.

Cedrick started working at Kumba Iron Ore Ltd in 2007 as a senior process engineer. He was promoted toManager: Quality Assurance and Stewardship in 2008, followed by appointment to the post of ProcessDevelopment Manager, DMS Plant. He is currently Principal Metallurgist in the Technical ServicesDepartment at Kumba’s Sishen Mine, a post he has held since October 2012.

Cedrick is a member of the South African Coal Processing Society and the South African Institute of Miningand Metallurgy. He is married to Mildred and the couple have three children: Griffith, Tracy-Leigh, and Robin.They currently live in Kathu in the Northern Cape. �

Northern Cape BranchCedrick van Wyk

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Pretoria BranchPierre Bredell


Pierre has been an active Mining Engineer since 1995. His early years were with Randfontein Estates GoldMines and Centrocen Projects. In 2000, Pierre co-founded and developed LQS International, a geological andmining engineering consultancy with offices in Johannesburg, Perth, Vancouver, Santiago, and London. From2005 to 2009, Pierre was responsible for developing the company’s international business from a base inLondon, UK. His primary responsibilities during this period were corporate development, client relations, andproject management. He has considerable experience in managing and coordinating people and working inthe technical environments of open pit and underground mining. LQS International was bought by DRAInternational at the end of 2009.

In 2012, Pierre joined the University of Pretoria, South Africa, as a senior lecturer in the Mining EngineeringDepartment. Here he shares his expertise in mineral economics and risk management. The universityencourages lecturers to engage in outside consulting, and to that end, Pierre has been involved in projectswith South Africa’s Mine Health and Safety Council, Kalagadi Manganese, Debswana Sasol Mining, and MineSupport Products. �

Western Cape BranchAubrey Mainza

Aubrey Mainza has a wide range of experience in the areas of comminution and classification. Apart fromone year’s experience at Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines, Aubrey has spent more than 17 years at theUniversity of Cape Town working in the Comminution Research Group in the Centre for Minerals Research.As a researcher in field of comminution and classification, Aubrey has participated in design and optimizationprojects for many mines, including most of the major platinum and gold mines in Africa and overseas. Inaddition to teaching Chemical Engineering core courses, he has taught Metallurgy and Mineral Processingundergraduate courses and supervised numerous MSc and PhD students in the fields of comminution andclassification. He is currently Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at theUniversity of Cape Town and Head of Comminution Research and the Deputy Director for the Centre forMinerals Research. �

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Darius was born and grew up in the Luanshya district of Zambia’s Copperbelt Province. He graduated fromthe University of Zambia (UNZA) in Lusaka in 2004 with a BSc in chemistry, and worked as an EnvironmentalProject Assistant with the Advocacy for Environmental Restoration Zambia (AREZ) group at UNZA School ofMines. In 2005 he took up a position as Graduate Chemist at Nchanga Mine in Chingola, owned by KonkolaCopper Mines plc, where he progressed through the ranks to become Acting Head of the Analytical ServicesDepartment. During this time he also gained a Diploma in Business Management from the Association ofBusiness Executives, UK. He is currently Assistant Superintendent: Technical in the Analytical ServicesDepartment at the Mufulira mine site of Mopani Copper Mines plc.

Apart from the SAIMM, Darius is a Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), the Chemical Societyof Zambia (he is current secretary for the Northern Region), and the Engineering Institution of Zambia. �

Zambian BranchDarius Muma


Zimbabwean BranchStephen Ndiyamba

Stephen is a professional Metallurgical Engineer with over 24 years experience in the mining and mineralprocessing industries. He has extensive experience in managing processing and production functions andcarrying out productivity improvements projects.

Education and Qualifications• Pr. Eng• Management Development Program, University of Cape Town Graduate School Business.• MBA. Nottingham Trent University Business School.• B.Sc. Eng (Hons) Metallurgical. University Of Zimbabwe

Other Institutions• Member: Southern Africa Institution of Mining and Metallurgy• Member: Zimbabwe Institution of Engineers (ZIE)• Board Member: Zimbabwe School of Mines Board of Management• Board Member: Zimbabwe Institution of Engineers (ZIE)• Chairman: Masvingo Chapter (Zimbabwe Institution of Engineers)• Chairman: Mzilikazi High School Old Students Association

Employment Summary• Transalloys (Highveld Vanadium and Steel Corporation)• ZIMASCO• Ngezi Mining Company• Bindura Nickel Corporation• Geomet (Anglo American Research Laboratories)• Wankie Colliery Company• Current: Senior Manager Plant at Mimosa Mining CompanyStephen is 49 years of age and is married with three daughters. He enjoys playing golf, social work and

reading. �

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Christo was born on 18 November 1963 in Vereeniging and matriculated in 1981.

He obtained his Dip Tech (T5) in Metallurgical Engineering from the Vaal Triangle Technikon.He worked at Iscor Vanderbijlpark in Blast Furnaces Production for a year, then moved to IscorResearch and Development in Pretoria, where he worked in the Process Metallurgy Departmentfor four years. His area of focus was iron manufacturing, with particular interest in the evaluationand characterization of iron ore, coal, and coke for the blast furnace, direct reduction, and thenewly developed Corex-process.

During 1992, Christo accepted a position with Richards Bay Minerals (RBM), the heavy mineralssands operation then jointly owned by Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton. He started in the DevelopmentMetallurgy Section, where his responsibilities included flow sheet development, processoptimization, and evaluating new technologies.

He gained valuable metallurgical and production experience over the next 14 years at variousRBM plants including the roaster, char plant, iron processing, slag processing, and the smelter.His metallurgical responsibilities included increasing prime grade slag and pig iron production,furnace rebuilds, working in conjunction with the marketing department to establish new marketsand customers, and the introduction of best practises in the process metallurgical field.

His human resources responsibilities included the management, training, and development ofmetallurgists. He completed his MDP through the University of Durban Westville during 1997.

Christo obtained valuable experience with regard to business restructuring (‘right-sizing’) whilein the position of team leader responsible for the SHEQ and technical departments.

He joined Spectrum Technical (Pty) Ltd in 2006 as a director and shareholder; his currentposition. Services to clients includes plant feasibility studies, flow sheet design, process equipmentselection and supply, pilot-scale test work, plant commissioning, troubleshooting, and costanalyses in the metals and minerals industry.

Christo is married to Marietjie, and has two boys – Francois and Christo Jnr. He is also a keen jogger. �

Zululand BranchChristo Mienie


799 �VOLUME 115 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS

IntroductionA quick inspection of today’s news mediashows that there are numerous scientificissues facing us at the moment. Some currentcontroversies such as climate change make itdifficult to know just where to find the truth.There is certainly much evidence that showsthat the global climate is changing. However, itis also questioned by some, perhaps on shakygrounds, whether that change is in thedirection of warming the globe, and whetherman has played a significant part in climatechange. How do we go about establishing thetruth of the various claims that are made, andhow do we interpret where they are comingfrom?

Another area that affects all of us is the setof dietary guidelines that we have been givenregarding how to balance the amounts ofprotein, fats, and carbohydrates that we eat.Certainly, some of the conventional wisdomhas been based on appalling science. But,there are many claims and counter-claimsdoing the rounds at the moment. Where doesthe truth lie, and how do you judge how to liveyour life and feed yourself?

These topics rely on scientific evidence toget closer to the truth. Scientific progress relieson the publication of ideas that can beimproved over time, and experimental resultsthat can be replicated and tested.

Many people have spoken over the yearson the subject of truth and knowledge, whichhas to be the beginning of a discussion suchas this. For example:

The wisest of men is he who knows that heknows nothing – SocratesAll men by nature desire knowledge –Aristotle

Presidential Address: Truth and error inscientific publishing

by R.T. Jones*

SynopsisScientific progress relies on the publication of ideas and experimentalresults that can be replicated, tested, and improved over time.

The first printed book on metallurgy to have been published in Europeis considered to be De la Pirotechnia, written in Italian by VannoccioBiringuccio, and published in Venice in 1540. Together with De ReMetallica, written by Georgius Agricola and published in Latin in 1556, thiscan be considered to mark the start of scientific and technical literature inthis field. Scientific publishing of journal papers has been in existence for350 years, since the world's oldest and longest-running scientific journal,the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, was first published inLondon in 1665.

The nature of scientific societies has changed significantly since theearly days when regular meetings were held to discuss science and conductexperiments, and the reading of scientific papers took place, andpublication of papers was undertaken to record the proceedings ofmeetings, often including rather robust debate. In today’s world, there is aplethora of publications, and it is close to impossible for anyone to keep upwith the vast flow of information. International conferences with hundredsof presentations have taken the place of the local meetings that used todiscuss a single paper or experiment. In this frenetic environment, it isessential that researchers are able to trust the material they read.

The system of peer review is used to maintain standards and toimprove the quality of papers. This vital system is, however, significantlyflawed. There is little incentive for reviewers to invest sufficient time inpicking up all errors in publications, and any ineptitude on their part isusually protected by anonymity. It has reached the point where somereviewers have mistakenly permitted the publication of hoax papersdeliberately presented with a complicated scientific facade. In light of suchastounding inadequacies, perhaps a more open review process would be animprovement. Electronic publishing allows errata to be linked to theoriginal papers. This might improve the current situation, where errors tendto be propagated from one paper to the next.

There is an increasing trend towards open access for papers inscientific journals and conference proceedings, which helps to reach aswide an audience as possible. This also supports the statement in theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights, which says ‘everyone has the rightfreely to … share in scientific advancement and its benefits’.

Various measures (including the impact factor) have been used to ratethe performance of journals, while a count of citations (or the h-index) isoften used to rate the performance of scientific authors. Some flaws in thisapproach have been highlighted.

Scientific publishing remains alive and well, despite some problems andchallenges. Electronic technology provides some wonderful opportunities toimprove the way we communicate scientific results.

* Mintek, Randburg.© The Southern African Institute of Mining and

Metallurgy, 2015. SA ISSN 2225-6253. Addresspresented at the Annual General Meeting on 13 August 2015.

http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/2411-9717/2015/v115n9a1

If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessarythat at least once in your life you doubt, as far aspossible, all things – René DescartesAll truths are easy to understand once they arediscovered; the point is to discover them – Galileo GalileiIn questions of science, the authority of a thousand is notworth the humble reasoning of a single individual –Galileo GalileiAll truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed.Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted asbeing self-evident – Arthur Schopenhauer

This whole notion of truth being something out there tobe discovered is something that Isaac Newton spoke about asan ‘undiscovered ocean of truth’. He said: ‘I do not knowwhat I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to havebeen only like a boy playing on the seashore, and divertingmyself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or aprettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truthlay all undiscovered before me.’ (Brewster, 1855)

Epistemology (the study of knowledge)The foundations of the study of knowledge are to be found inthe branch of philosophy known as epistemology. Knowledgewas seen by Aristotle as ‘justified true belief’, that is, beliefthat is true, and that is known to be true on the basis ofcompelling reasons and evidence supplied by a rationalmethod of enquiry. It is necessary for knowledge to bearrived at by a process of reasoning, and not merely a luckyguess. Knowledge of the truth can be obtained either by apriori reasoning (such as in mathematics or logic), or byempirical experience (such as in science or engineering).

Albert Einstein spoke of epistemology saying:

‘Science without epistemology is – insofar as it isthinkable at all – primitive and muddled. However, nosooner has the epistemologist, who is seeking a clearsystem, fought his way through such a system, than heis inclined to interpret the thought-content of science inthe sense of his system and to reject whatever does notfit into his system. The scientist, however, cannot affordto carry his striving for epistemological systematic thatfar. ... He therefore must appear to the systematicepistemologist as an unscrupulous opportunist.’(Einstein, 1949)

In the discussion that follows, I will try to avoid too much‘unscrupulous opportunism’ as we focus more on scientificmatters.

What is truth?There are many different views of truth. At the one extreme,there is Solipsism – the denial of reality – where life isperhaps seen as an illusion. While this is a possibility thathas to be entertained, solipsism is not a view that is heldwidely. One notch below that is Radical scepticism, where itis claimed that our only direct knowledge is of our senses,and anything else is known only indirectly. Relativismmaintains that everything depends on one's point of view.This view goes back many centuries, as Marcus Aureliussaid: ‘Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact.Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.’ A morepragmatic view is held in Instrumentalism, where it is saidthat quantities can be measured, even if we have no way ofknowing whether theoretical entities actually exist.Thermodynamics employs this approach quite effectively.Fallabilism says that one can know things, even though weare sometimes wrong. Empiricism is based on observation orexperience. This is getting much closer to the centralapproach of science. Rationalism maintains that truth isbased on reason. At the other end of the spectrum isDogmatism, whose adherents are quite certain of their truth,although this implies a degree of closed-mindedness. As USJustice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr said: ‘Certitude is not thetest of certainty’.

Attitude towards knowledgeDogmatism is problematic, at least in part because it oftenoccurs in close conjunction with ignorance. The Dunning–Kruger effect (Kruger and Dunning, 1999) is a cognitive biaswhere unskilled individuals overestimate their abilities (dueto the meta-cognitive inability of the unskilled to evaluatetheir own ability levels accurately), and conversely highlyskilled individuals underestimate their competence (becausethey assume that tasks that are easy for them are also easyfor others). Their study was inspired by the case of McArthurWheeler, a man who robbed two banks after covering his facewith lemon juice, mistakenly believing that, because lemonjuice is usable as invisible ink, it would prevent his face frombeing recorded on surveillance cameras. He was arrested thesame night. As Charles Darwin said: ‘ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge’ (Darwin,

Truth and error in scientific publishing

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800 VOLUME 115 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS

Figure 1—Isaac Newton (Portrait in 1689, age 46, by Godfrey Kneller) Figure 2—Albert Einstein


VOLUME 115 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 801 �

1871). William Shakespeare said much the same thing in AsYou Like It: ‘The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise manknows himself to be a fool.’ (Shakespeare, 1623)

A more helpful attitude towards knowledge is one ofgreater humility that keeps in mind the strong possibility thatthere is more to the real world than our own perspectiveallows us to see. This is well illustrated by Edwin Abbott's1884 satirical short novel entitled Flatland: A Romance ofMany Dimensions (Abbott, 1884). The book comments onthe hierarchy of Victorian culture, but its most enduringcontribution is its examination of dimensions. The story isabout a two-dimensional world occupied by geometricfigures, and is told from the perspective of a Square whodreams about a visit to a one-dimensional world (Lineland)inhabited by ‘lustrous points’, in which he attempts toconvince the realm’s monarch of a second dimension, but isunable to do so. The Square describes (from a two-dimensional point of view) a visit by a three-dimensionalSphere, which he cannot comprehend until he sees Spaceland(a tridimensional world) for himself. The book also talks ofPointland, where the Point (sole inhabitant, monarch, anduniverse in one) perceives any communication as a thoughtoriginating in his own mind (Solipsism).

Socrates and PlatoSome useful perspective can be gained by going back to thetime of the Ancient Greeks. Socrates lived from 469 to 399BC. He introduced a method (the Socratic method) ofteaching that involved asking questions. This greatphilosopher, Socrates, did not record his own words forposterity, but fortunately Plato recorded the teachings ofSocrates in many of his books. It is often said that all ofphilosophy following Plato is just a set of variations on thethemes he introduced. The Socratic method led to thedevelopment of the scientific method.

A number of other people also played a part in thedevelopment of the scientific method. A few of these arehighlighted here.

Karl PopperSir Karl Raimund Popper is generally regarded as one of thegreatest philosophers of science of the 20th century. He wasan Austro-British philosopher and a professor at the LondonSchool of Economics. He introduced the notion of falsificationand falsifiability as being central to the scientific enterprise(Popper, 1959). Popper is known for his rejection of theclassical inductivist views on the scientific method, in favour

of empirical falsification: a theory in the empirical sciencescan never be proven, but it can be disproved or falsified,meaning that it can and should be scrutinized by decisiveexperiments. If the outcome of an experiment contradicts thetheory, one should refrain from ad hoc manoeuvres thatevade the contradiction merely by making it less falsifiable.

This view led Popper to posit that the strength of ascientific theory lies in its both being susceptible tofalsification, and not actually being falsified by criticismmade of it. He considered that if a theory cannot, in principle,be falsified by criticism, it is not a scientific theory.

Logically, no number of positive outcomes at the level ofexperimental testing can confirm a scientific theory, but asingle counterexample is logically decisive: it shows thetheory, from which the implication is derived, to be false.

Popper states that while there is no way to prove that thesun will rise, it is possible to formulate the theory that everyday the sun will rise; if it does not rise on some particularday, the theory will be falsified and will have to be replacedby a different one. Until that day, there is no need to rejectthe assumption that the theory is true. Popper and DavidHume held to a similar view that there is often apsychological belief that the sun will rise tomorrow, but bothdenied that there is logical justification for the suppositionthat it will, simply because it always has in the past.

The search for truth is ‘one of the strongest motives forscientific discovery’ (Popper, 1959).

Perhaps our attitude as scientists should be one ofdeliberately trying to prove wrong all of the things that wehold true and closest to us. Go out and test things. If they aretrue they will be true; if they are not, then it was a good thingto test it anyway.

Thomas KuhnThomas Kuhn, an American philosopher, introduced somenew ways of looking at the scientific method, describingrevolutions in science by paradigm shifts, a paradigm beingthe accepted corpus of methods and theories within a field(Kuhn, 1966). For example, in the biological sciences,understanding changed dramatically after Darwin; insociology, economics, and politics, things changeddramatically after Karl Marx published his work; as they didin physics after Albert Einstein made known his theory ofrelativity.

Figure 3—Socrates and PlatoFigure 4—Karl Popper (1902–1994) (Image courtesy of the archives ofthe London School of Economics, ca. 1980)

Science textbooks expound the body of accepted theory,show many successful applications, and provide exemplaryobservations and experiments. Before such books becamepopular in the early 1800s, many of the famous classics ofscience fulfilled a similar function. Aristotle’s Physica,Ptolemy’s Almagest, Newton’s Principia and Opticks,Franklin’s Electricity, Lavoisier’s Chemistry, and Lyell’sGeology served for a time to define the legitimate problemsand methods of a research field for succeeding generations ofpractitioners. Kuhn explained that the study of the paradigmspresented in these books prepares the student formembership in the particular scientific community, andprovides a common fundamental basis for effectivecommunication.

History suggests that the road to a firm researchconsensus is extraordinarily arduous, and often proceeds bya series of scientific revolutions, or shifts away from theprevailing paradigm of the day. For example, in the 1700sNewton’s Opticks taught that light was made up of materialcorpuscles. In the 1800s physics texts taught that light wastransverse wave motion. In the 1900s, the work of Planck,Einstein, and others taught that light is photons – quantum-mechanical entities that exhibit some characteristics of wavesand some of particles.

Paradigms determine what problems are studied, whatmethods are used, and what criteria are employed to judgethe results. For example, chemists, after Dalton introducedhis atomic theory, reported chemical compositions as ratiosof integers rather than as decimals with fractions.

The paradigm provides a framework to suggest whichexperiments are worth conducting and which are not. Bothfact collection and theory articulation became highly directedactivities. Here, Francis Bacon’s comment is appropriate:’Truth emerges more readily from error than from confusion’(Bacon, 1869, p. 210).

By using an established paradigm (or textbook) as abase, the creative scientist can begin his or her researchwhere it leaves off. Research can then be embodied not inbooks addressed to a general audience, but in shorterresearch articles addressed to professional colleagues whowork within the same paradigm.

As physicist Max Planck observed (before Popper orKuhn): ‘A new scientific truth does not triumph byconvincing its opponents and making them see the light, butrather because its opponents eventually die and a newgeneration grows up that is familiar with it’ (Planck, 1949).

Scientific methodScience is an error-correcting process that tests our ideasagainst the real world.

Observations of the world lead to the recognition ofpatterns (through inductive reasoning) which lead tointeresting questions about why the pattern might occur.Hypotheses are formulated in such a way that they areframed as testable questions. The scientific method cannot beapplied to untestable, unfalsifiable questions. A number ofpossible explanations are found, and the scientist needs tothink up ways of testing which ones might be wrong. Datasets are gathered (and repeated) to test the prediction. Thehypothesis is then rejected, accepted, or refined and re-tested. Experiments should be replicated reproducibly. Where

appropriate, control groups should be used as a reference. Inthe medical or pharmaceutical fields, double-blind protocolsare used where both the subjects being experimented on andthe experimenter do not know exactly what is happening inthe experiment. If two ideas explain the data equally well, thesimpler one is preferred. Occam’s razor suggests that thesimpler theory with fewer (or less onerous) unprovedassumptions is probably the most appropriate one. Generaltheories then gather together the hypotheses that areconsistent with all current data. They remain provisional andtentative until something better comes along.

Scientific theories cannot be proven (only corroborated),but can be shown to be beyond reasonable doubt. We can bequite confident that the sun will rise tomorrow. But this doesnot imply that it will rise ten billion years from now (bywhich time its fuel will most likely have been exhausted).In science there are no authorities. There are experts at most,and even their opinions can be challenged by anyone – solong as there is an argument, and evidence to back it up.

Laws of thermodynamicsThermodynamics is a collection of useful mathematicalrelations between quantities, every one of which isindependently measurable. Although thermodynamics tellsus nothing whatsoever about the microscopic explanation ofmacroscopic changes, it is useful because it can be used toquantify many unknowns. Thermodynamics is usefulprecisely because some quantities are easier to measure thanothers.

The laws of thermodynamics provide an elegantmathematical expression of some empirically discovered factsof nature. The principle of energy conservation allowscalculations to be made of the energy requirements forprocesses. The principle of increasing entropy (and theresulting free-energy minimization) allows predictions to bemade about the extent to which those processes may proceed.

Thermodynamics deals with some very abstractquantities, and makes deductions from mathematicalrelations. In this, it is a little like mathematics itself, which,according to Bertrand Russell, ‘may be defined as the subjectin which we never know what we are talking about, norwhether what we are saying is true’. However,thermodynamics is trusted as a reliable source of informationabout the real world, precisely because it has delivered thegoods in the past. Its ultimate justification is that it works.


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Figure 5—Thomas Kuhn


Library of AlexandriaMuch of the knowledge of the ancient Greeks was captured inpapyrus scrolls in the Library of Alexandria in Egypt fromaround 280 BC until a few hundred years later when, sadly, itwas destroyed. During its existence, the library was thelargest in the world. Perhaps it could be argued that itsleading position came about because Alexandria dominatedpapyrus production – the required technology of the time. (Inthis way, Alexandria could almost be seen as the SiliconValley of the ancient world.) In addition to collecting ancientworks, the library also hosted numerous internationalscholars, paid for by the Egyptian rulers. This allowed theLibrary of Alexandria to work towards the fulfilment of itsmandate of collecting all of the world’s knowledge at thetime. Scholars such as Euclid and Archimedes are said tohave studied, written, and experimented at Alexandria.

Historical mining and metallurgical publicationsThe tradition of scientific and technical literature in the fieldof metallurgy dates back to the mid 1500s. The first printedbook on metallurgy to have been published in Europe isconsidered to be De la Pirotechnia, written in Italian byVannoccio Biringuccio, and published in Venice in 1540. Thisbook (Biringuccio, 1540) gives details on mining practice, theextraction and refining of numerous metals, and theproduction of alloys such as brass.

Georgius Agricola (1494-1555) was not the first writeron the subjects of mining and metallurgy, but is well knownas the author of De Re Metallica (‘of things metallic’ or ‘onthe nature of metals’), a book that documents and illustratesthe observations he made in the course of his extensivetravels in the 1500s. Agricola wrote extensively about miningmethods and metallurgical processes that were in place in theMiddle Ages. The original Latin version of De Re Metallicawas published in 1556, the year after Agricola died. It waslater translated into English by Herbert Hoover, a miningengineer and later President of the United States, and hiswife Lou Henry Hoover, a geologist and classicist. TheEnglish version of De Re Metallica was published in 1912.

In his preface to De Re Metallica (Agricola, 1556), theauthor says: ‘I have omitted all those things which I have notmyself seen, or have not read or heard of from persons uponwhom I can rely. That which I have neither seen, norcarefully considered after reading or hearing of, I have notwritten about.’

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal SocietyScientific publishing of journal papers has been in existencefor 350 years. The world’s oldest and longest-runningscientific journal, the Philosophical Transactions of the RoyalSociety, was first published in March 1665, in London.‘Henry Oldenburg – Secretary of the Royal Society and firstEditor of the publication – ensured that it was “licensed bythe council of the society, being first reviewed by some of themembers of the same”, thus making it the first ever peer-reviewed journal’ (Royal Society, 2011). The motto of theRoyal Society is ‘Nullius in verba’ – Latin for ‘take nobody’sword for it’.

In the interests of making scientific information availableto a wider audience, the Royal Society announced in October2011 that it had made the historical archives of thePhilosophical Transactions (over 60 000 scientific papers)permanently free to online access from anywhere in theworld. All of the historical archival papers (published morethan 70 years ago) from the Philosophical Transactions arenow freely available on the website of the Royal Society. It isnow easy to read the original published work of Newton, andBenjamin Franklin’s account of his experiments withlightning by means of holding a kite in a thunderstorm.Current publications are available through delayed openaccess where older articles (12 months for biological sciences,and 24 months for physical sciences) are made freelyavailable. They also allow a hybrid open-access or open-choice option where authors can pay an article-processingcharge that allows for their article to be made freely availableimmediately upon publication. Such articles are covered by aCreative Commons licence allowing redistribution and re-use(Royal Society, 2012).

Technical societies and the SAIMMIn the early days of scientific societies, regular meetings wereheld to discuss science and to conduct experiments. Thereading of scientific papers took place, and publication ofpapers (and the ensuing discussion) was undertaken torecord the proceedings of meetings. Meetings often includedrather robust debate. A typical scene from a meeting of ascientific society is shown in Figure 8.

The origins of the SAIMM can be traced back to a meetingof fourteen chemists and metallurgists that took place on 24March 1894 at the North-Western Hotel, 21 Pritchard Street,Johannesburg. The meeting saw the formation of the


Figure 6—Georgius Agricola, and one of the woodcut illustrations of asmelter in De Re Metallica

Figure 7—Henry Oldenburg and Philosophical Transactions of theRoyal Society


Chemical and Metallurgical Society of South Africa and theelection of a council. At that stage Johannesburg was a veryyoung city, with gold having been discovered there only afew years earlier, in 1886.

In his inaugural address as President of the Chemical andMetallurgical Society of South Africa in 1894, William Bettelmade the following remarks:

‘As Chemists and Metallurgists of the Rand you havebefore you much useful and interesting work, and itremains with you, gentlemen, by publication or diffusionof accurate scientific information, by exposure ofpseudo-scientific frauds, … to claim as a right therecognition of your proper status in relation to thiscommunity. I heard a rumour about a certain companygetting an actual extraction of 125 per cent. fromconcentrates. Such results as I have instanced areobviously imagined, or as chemists say, “cooked”’(Bettel, 1894).Some further examples of forthright comment can be

found in the records of monthly meetings from 1895.‘As for Mr Suckling’s process, I fail to see the novelty orusefulness of the method. The use of a blast (pressure)instead of a draught of air (suction) is, to my mind, aretrograde movement, and absurd from its manifestconditions’ (Bettel, 1895).‘I have examined the Sulman process from boththeoretical and practical points of view, and I can onlycome to the conclusion that it is not a brominationprocess, neither is it a cyanide process, but that it is avery bad oxidation process, consequently useless’(Schlunde, 1895).In 1903, mining engineers were included in the society

and the name was changed to the Chemical, Metallurgicaland Mining Society of South Africa. In 1956, another namechange took place, with the new identity being the SouthAfrican Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Fifty years later,in 2006, the expansion of activities to the wider region led tothe current name of the Southern African Institute of Miningand Metallurgy.

Not only do names change, but the passage of time hasbrought about a change in the nature of scientific societies.In today’s world, there is a plethora of publications, and it isclose to impossible for anyone to keep up with the vast flowof information. International conferences with hundreds ofpresentations have taken the place of local meetings thatused to discuss a single paper or experiment. In this frenetic

environment, it is essential that researchers are able to trustthe material they read.

Learned societies nowadays exist to promote an academicdiscipline or profession, and are mostly not-for-profitorganizations. They typically hold conferences for thepresentation and discussion of new research results, andpublish or sponsor academic journals in their discipline. Thesystem of peer review (significantly flawed, but the best wehave) is used to maintain standards and to improve thequality of papers, but reviewers need to be chosen carefullyand monitored. Nowadays, some learned societies continue topublish journals themselves, while others have contractedthis job to commercial publishing companies. The SAIMM isfortunate to be in control of its own destiny in this regard.

Information explosion and electronic publishingIn recent times, the Internet, and the World Wide Web(Berners-Lee, 2000) – devised by Tim Berners-Lee in 1989,and which attained mass popularization about twenty yearsago – have transformed the dissemination of knowledge, acapacity once exclusive to publishers.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt said in 2010: ‘Between the birthof the world and 2003, there were five exabytes ofinformation created. We [now] create five exabytes every twodays.’ It is fair to describe this as an information explosion.

Along with the exponential growth in the world’spopulation in modern times, there has been an even greaterexponential growth in the world’s accumulated knowledge.The advent of the Internet, the World Wide Web, and searchengines such as Google has made it easy to find informationon almost any topic. This would have been almostunimaginable as little as twenty years ago. Open access toinformation is invaluable and taken for granted by many.

Science has grown exponentially since the late 1600s,both in respect of number of researchers and publications.According to Price (1963), the ‘size of science’ has increasedby an estimated five orders of magnitude in three centuries.Price also said: ‘we can say that 80 to 90 percent of all thescientists that have ever lived are alive now’.

Journal publishing of scientific papers is the mostcommon form of dissemination of new research results, inparticular in science and medicine. Other types of scientificpublication include conference papers, book chapters, books,and reports.

Björk and colleagues (2009) estimated that 1.35 millionscientific journal papers were published in 23 750 refereedjournals in 2006. The total number of active scholarlyjournals, refereed plus non-refereed, was 60 911. There were2690 open access scholarly journals, including 1735 thatwere also refereed. They also found that 19.4 per cent ofthese papers were openly available online.

According to Reich (2013), more than 2 million paperswere published in 2012.

The rise of China in the internationally influential journalliterature indexed by Thomson Reuters – in terms of share ofworld output – is the most significant event in the structureof scientific research in the past 30 years. In 1983, Chinaproduced just 0.6 per cent of articles surveyed by ThomsonReuters in the Science Citation Index (Web of Science). By2013, China produced some 13 per cent of the literature,second only to the United States at 29 percent (King andPendlebury, 2013).

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Figure 8—Nikolai Tesla giving a demonstration in 1893

PLoS ONE, published (as paid open access) by the not-for-profit Public Library of Science, published 6749 papers in2010, which makes it the world’s largest journal (Whitfield,2011). Articles published in this journal undergo peerreview, but some of the standard criteria that older journalsuse to screen out articles — such as ‘degree of advance’ or‘interest to a general reader’ — are not used by PLoS ONEreviewers; all papers of scientific merit are posted to thepublic record. Only weeks (not months) go by before asubmitted article is published; the journal is in a state ofcontinuous publication, not printed periodically.

In some fields of science, such as physics and astronomy,print journals have receded in importance owing to onlinerepositories such as arXiv (pronounced ‘archive’) thatdisseminate studies without the nuisance of peer review.Physicist Paul Ginsparg, formerly at the Los Alamos Lab andnow at Cornell University, created a free archive ofunrefereed physics “e-prints” – a pre-publication server thatis now a primary means for physicists to exchangeinformation. Worldwide readership discovers errors quickly,and authors revise their submissions in response tofeedback. This works well for physics, but might be lesssuitable for the medical community where it might promotethe use of unfounded cures.

Recent developments in electronic publishing on websitesmake it possible to disseminate information more widely andcost-effectively than before. Professional societies have anopportunity to serve their members and their industry bypublishing high-quality peer-reviewed papers on theirwebsites as well as in printed form. Older publications can bescanned, and optical character recognition (OCR) can be usedto provide searchable text.

A long title, a long list of authors, and a shortabstractThe style of a journal paper follows a typical stylised form. Italways has a title, a list of authors, their affiliations, and anabstract. Typically, papers have a length of 3 000 to 10 000words. However, there have to be those who take things tothe extreme.

Among the contenders for the longest title of a researchpaper is ’The nucleotide sequence of a 3.2 kb segment ofmitochondrial maxicircle DNA from Crithidia fasciculatacontaining the gene for cytochrome oxidase subunit III, theN-terminal part of the apocytochrome b gene and a possibleframeshift gene; further evidence for the use of unusualinitiator triplets in trypanosome mitochondria’ (Sloof et al.,1987).

A physics paper with 5154 authors (Aad et al., 2015)broke the record for the largest number of contributors to asingle research article. This paper presents collaborative workdone at the Large Hadron Collider to determine the mostprecise estimate yet of the mass of the Higgs boson. The 33-page article in Physical Review Letters devotes nine pages todescribing the research itself (including references) and 24pages to listing the authors and their institutions(Castelvecchi, 2015).

More refreshing in style is the following example of apaper (Berry et al., 2011) with a very short abstract:

Title: Can apparent superluminal neutrino speeds beexplained as a quantum weak measurement?

Abstract: Probably not.

The shortest paper (Upper, 1974) is entitled Theunsuccessful self-treatment of a case of “writer‘s block”; itcontains no words at all in the body of the paper. Thepublished review of the paper said: ‘I have studied thismanuscript very carefully with lemon juice and X-rays andhave not detected a single flaw in either design or writingstyle. I suggest it be published without revision. Clearly it isthe most concise manuscript I have ever seen—yet it containssufficient detail to allow other investigators to replicate Dr.Upper's failure. In comparison with the other manuscripts Iget from you containing all that complicated detail, this onewas a pleasure to examine. Surely we can find a place for thispaper in the Journal—perhaps on the edge of a blank page.’

Citations are rareThe frequency of citations that a paper receives is often usedas an indicator of quality, even though this approach has itslimitations. When a work is cited, it generally indicates that itis taken as being relevant to the citing author’s research.Citations allow scientists to gauge how much their research isused by other authors. Citations, in this way, are an indicatorof productivity as well as impact.

As reported by Garfield (1998) and Schwartz (1997),studies conducted on the journals indexed by the Institute forScientific Information (ISI) indicated that large percentages ofthe scholarly literature were never cited. It was found that 55per cent of the papers published between 1981 and 1985received no citations at all in the five years after they werepublished. Another study of papers published in 1984 foundthat 47 per cent of articles in the physical sciences, 75 percent of articles in the social sciences, and 98 per cent ofarticles in the arts and humanities had not received anycitations by the end of 1988. More than 72 per cent of allpapers published in engineering had no citations at all, andfor metallurgy and mining the figure was 75 per cent. Thesestatistics apply to the total of every type of article that wasindexed (including journal papers, editorials, obituaries, andletters). A narrower interpretation of the data applying onlyto journal papers found that 22 per cent of articles in thephysical sciences, 48 per cent of articles in the socialsciences, and 93 per cent of articles in the arts andhumanities had not received any citations by the end of1988. Citations of journal papers are most common in thebiological and physical sciences, but less so in engineeringwhere conferences are more important, and whereimplementation is more important than publication. Socialsciences and the humanities tend to place greater reliance onbooks than on journals.

A more recent study found that, in a sample of over 1.3million papers across all disciplines and years, 61 per cent ofpapers had zero citations, and 12 per cent had only onecitation, with 4 per cent having 16 or more citations.

The point was also made by Garfield (1998) that a smallgroup of journals account for the vast majority of significantresearch publications, and the overwhelming majority ofarticles published in the 200 journals with the highestcumulative impact are cited within a few years of publication,and after five years, uncitedness is almost nonexistent.

Negative citationsNot all citations are positive. For instance, Andrew Wakefieldwrote a controversial paper on the association between the




MMR vaccine and autism, which was published in a leadingmedical journal The Lancet. This paper has received nearlytwo thousand citations, whereas most authors would bethrilled to receive a hundred. However, the quality ofWakefield’s research is not at all reflected by this largenumber. Many of these citations are a product of the storm ofcontroversy surrounding the work, and are contained withinpapers which are critical of the methods used. Wakefield’sresearch has now been robustly discredited, and the paperwas retracted by The Lancet in 2010. Nevertheless, thisextreme case highlights serious problems withmechanistically judging a paper, or an academic researcher,purely by number of citations.

Open accessThe Universal Declaration of Human Rights says thateveryone has the right freely to … share in scientificadvancement and its benefits’. Access to information is abasic human right that is also entrenched in the Constitutionof South Africa. Electronic publishing has changed thedynamics of the dissemination of information, and it is nowpossible to provide universal, unrestricted free access to full-text scholarly materials via the Internet. An argument foropen access publishing (Jones, 2012) has been presentedpreviously in this Journal. Through proper management ofopen-access publication, it is possible to maintain the samestandards of high-quality production of peer-reviewedpapers, with the potential for greatly increased disseminationand citation. The SAIMM made its Journal papers availablethrough open access in 2007.

Today’s world faces many policy choices, including issuessuch as climate change, and food production and intake, asmentioned earlier. These issues cannot be properly addressedwithout widespread access (by researchers and the generalpublic) to the results of scientific research in each of theseareas. In 2012, the British government announced aninitiative to make all taxpayer-funded research availableonline to anyone who wants to read or use it (Jones, 2012).In February 2013, the US White House announced thatgovernment-funded research should be made free to readwithin 12 months of publication. From 2014, the results ofall research funded by the European Union must be openaccess.

Estimates of the proportion of papers currently availablefree online range from 30 per cent to 50 per cent. Half of thepapers published in 2011 are now free to read (Van Noorden,2013).

Wikipedia and Encyclopaedia BritannicaIn 2005, Nature published a study it undertook of theaccuracy of articles from Wikipedia and EncyclopaediaBritannica. This showed that the difference in accuracy wasnot particularly great (averaging out to 2.92 mistakes perarticle for Britannica, and 3.86 for Wikipedia). Britannica isbased on strong scholarship, sound judgment, anddisciplined editorial review. Wikipedia is very current,comprehensive in coverage, and is based on continuouscorrection by many people. The core Wikipedia values includea neutral point of view, no original research (as appropriatefor an encyclopedia), verifiable information only, and citingsources.

Stigler's LawStigler’s Law of Eponymy is a process proposed by StephenStigler, a professor of statistics at the University of Chicago(Stigler, 1980). In its simplest and strongest form it says: ‘Noscientific discovery is named after its original discoverer’.

Stigler pointed out that ‘[i]t can be found that Laplaceemployed Fourier Transforms in print before Fourierpublished on the topic, that Lagrange presented LaplaceTransforms before Laplace began his scientific career, thatPoisson published the Cauchy distribution in 1824, twenty-nine years before Cauchy touched on it in an incidentalmanner, and that Bienaymé stated and proved the ChebychevInequality a decade before and in greater generality thanChebychev’s first work on the topic.’ For that matter, thePythagorean theorem was known before Pythagoras, andGaussian distributions were not discovered by Gauss.

Historical acclaim for discoveries is often assigned topersons of note who bring attention to an idea that is not yetwidely known, whether or not that person was its originalinventor. Eminent scientists will often get more credit than acomparatively unknown researcher, even if their works aresimilar; it also means that credit will usually be given toresearchers who are already famous. Some examples fromthe Wikipedia entry for Stigler’s Law are listed below.

� Alzheimer’s disease had been previously described byat least half a dozen others before Alois Alzheimer’s1906 report which is often (wrongly) regarded as thefirst description of the disorder

� The Bessemer process was discovered by William Kellyin 1851. Henry Bessemer was the first to obtain apatent in 1855

� Fibonacci was not the first to discover the famoussequence of Fibonacci numbers. They had existed inIndian mathematics since 200 BC. Fibonacci providedthe series in 1202 AD

� The normal or Gaussian distribution was introduced byAbraham de Moivre in 1733, but was named after CarlFriedrich Gauss who began using it in 1794

� Newton’s first and second laws of mechanics wereknown and proposed in separate ways by Galileo,Hooke, and Huygens before Newton described these inhis Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica.Newton owns the discovery of only the third one

� The Reynolds number in fluid mechanics wasintroduced by George Stokes, but is named afterOsborne Reynolds, who popularized its use

� Stokes’s theorem was discovered by Lord Kelvin.

Stigler explicitly named the sociologist Robert K. Mertonas the true discoverer of ‘Stigler‘s Law’, and so avoided thislaw about laws disobeying its very own decree. ‘Stigler‘sLaw’ is an example of itself. Robert Merton described theprinciple in his 1957 Presidential Address to the AmericanSociological Society (Merton, 1957). Merton is regarded asone of the founding fathers of sociology. He also developedand popularized notable concepts such as ‘unintendedconsequences’, as well as coining the phrases ‘role model’,and ‘self-fulfilling prophecy’. Throughout his career, Mertoncame to publish about 50 papers in the sociology of science.

Newton and LeibnizRobert Merton talks about the structure of the scientific

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enterprise and the pressure that is placed on scientists withregard to priority in scientific discovery. (This can be seen,for example, in the way that scientific journals often print thedate on which the manuscript of a published article wasreceived, in order to record its priority date.) One example ofthese pressures arose in the invention of calculus – an ideawhose time had come, and was independently invented intwo places at a similar time, by Isaac Newton (1642–1727)and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716). [There arediscrepancies in the recorded dates of birth and death,depending on whether Julian or Gregorian calendars wereused.] Newton was the first to conceive of the methods ofcalculus, but Leibniz was the first to publish on the topic.

Much controversy arose between Newton and Leibnizover the invention of calculus. When the Royal Society finallyestablished a committee to adjudicate the rival claims,Newton, who was then president of the Royal Society, packedthe committee, helped direct its activities, anonymously wrotethe preface for the second published report – the draft is inhis handwriting – and included in that preface a disarmingreference to the old legal maxim that ‘no one is a properwitness for himself’. Newton must have felt intense pressurefor self-vindication that made him adopt such offensivemeans for the defence of his valid claims. According toMerton, it was not because Newton was so weak but becausethe institutionalized values were so strong that he was drivento such lengths.

Fraud in scienceConcerns about fraud in science have been around for a longtime. In 1830, Charles Babbage deplored unreliable science,and was concerned about the prevailing state of affairs in thescientific world of his day. He discussed ‘hoaxing, forging,trimming, and cooking’ of data (Babbage, 1830).

Merton (1957) mentions the remarkably prolific Vrain-Lucas who, in the mid-1800s, created and sold more than 27 000 pieces of manuscript that included letters by PontiusPilate, Mary Magdalene, the resurrected Lazarus, Ovid,Luther, Dante, Shakespeare, Galileo, Pascal, and Newton, allwritten on paper and in modern French. ‘Most provocativeamong these documents was the correspondence betweenPascal and the then eleven-year-old Newton (all in French, ofcourse, although even at the advanced age of thirty-oneNewton could struggle through French only with the aid of a

dictionary), for these letters made it plain that Pascal, notNewton, had, to the greater glory of France, first discoveredthe law of gravitation, a momentous correction of history,which for several years excited the interest of the Académiedes Sciences and usurped many pages of the Comptes Rendusuntil, in 1869, Vrain-Lucas was finally brought to book andsentenced to two years in prison.’

In the Mécanique Céleste (until then, outranked only byNewton’s Principia) ‘theorems and formulae are appropriatedwholesale without acknowledgement’ by Laplace (Merton,1957, p. 652).

Piltdown hoaxThe Piltdown Man was an infamous paleoanthropologicalhoax, perpetrated in 1912, in which bone fragments (parts ofa skull and jawbone) were presented as the fossilizedremains of a previously unknown early human. Thesefragments were said to have been collected in 1912 from agravel pit at Piltdown, East Sussex, in England by CharlesDawson. The significance of the specimen remainedcontroversial until it was exposed in 1953 as a forgery; itconsisted of the lower jawbone of an orang-utan deliberatelycombined with the cranium of a fully developed modernhuman. After forty years of uneasy acceptance, the PiltdownMan was shown to be a carefully contrived hoax (Straus,1954).

PlagiarismAn article from 2014 entitled ‘Development of a guideline toapproach plagiarism in Indian scenario’ was retracted by theeditors of the Indian Journal of Dermatology (2015), as largeportions of the manuscript were copied from a first-roundquestionnaire of a dissertation entitled ‘Developing acomprehensive guideline for overcoming and preventingplagiarism at the international level based on expert opinionwith the Delphi method’ by another author. This rather ironicoccurrence was reported by Retraction Watch (2015).

Peer reviewAlthough outright fraud is uncommon, it is necessary to havechecks and balances in place to ensure the integrity ofpublished scientific data.

The system of peer review is used to maintain standardsand to improve the quality of papers. This vital system is,however, significantly flawed. There is little incentive forreviewers to invest sufficient time in picking up all errors inpublications, and any ineptitude on their part is usuallyprotected by anonymity. It has reached the point where somereviewers have mistakenly permitted the publication of hoaxpapers deliberately presented with a complicated scientificfacade. In light of such astounding inadequacies, perhaps amore open review process would be an improvement.

Peer reviewers are not paid, nor adequately rewarded inany other way for what is very hard work. Nor are they heldaccountable by having to sign their names to their reviews.

The process of peer review is costly and time-consuming.The annual cost of peer review was estimated for 2008 asbeing about US $2.8 billion (Brembs et al., 2013).

Peer review is resistant to new or controversial ideas. Theagreement between referees is often little higher than bychance. Review is also vulnerable to misconduct, plagiarism,



Figure 9—Robert K. Merton (1910–2003)


and breaches in confidentiality. For example, there was acase reported by Retraction Watch (2012) where an authorfaked e-mail addresses of suggested reviewers so that hecould review his own work.

Wasserman (2012) has criticised the current system ofpeer review as outdated and rather arbitrary. He has seen toomany examples where one referee rejects a paper, andanother equally qualified referee accepts it. He questionswhether it is fair for a scientist to ‘work hard on somethingfor two years only to have it casually dismissed by a coupleof people who might happen to be in a bad mood or who feelthey have to be critical for the sake of being critical’.

The current system of peer review is a fairly recentinnovation, not widespread until the middle of the twentiethcentury (New Atlantis, 2006). In the nineteenth century,many science journals were commandingly led by what OhioState University science historian John C. Burnham dubbed‘crusading and colorful editors’, who made their publications‘personal mouthpieces’ for their individual views. In time, thespecialization of science precluded editors from beingqualified to evaluate all the submissions they received. Abouta century ago, Burnham notes, science journals began todirect papers to distinguished experts who would serve onaffiliated editorial boards. Eventually – especially followingthe post-World War II research boom – the deluge ofmanuscripts and their increasing specialization made itdifficult for even an editorial board of a dozen or so expertsto handle the load. Journal editors began to seek out expertscapable of commenting on manuscripts – not only researchersin the same general field, but researchers familiar with thespecific techniques and even laboratory materials describedin the papers under consideration. The transition from theeditorial-board model to the peer-review model was eased bytechnological advances, such as the Xerox copier in 1959,that reduced the difficulties of sending manuscripts toexperts scattered around the globe (New Atlantis, 2006).

Drubin (2011) has provided an excellent set of guidelinesfor peer reviewers. A rigorous review process should ensurethat published papers are reliable and credible. The reviewprocess itself should be constructive, fair, and civil. Drubinpasses on the suggestion by David Botstein that reviewersshould focus principally on the questions ‘Is it new and is ittrue?’ and leave it to future generations to judge apublication’s impact.

A recent proposal (Schuman, 2014) suggested thatauthors should be required to volunteer first to reviewsomeone else’s article for the same journal in which theywould like to publish their own work. The review should betimely (say within three months) and constructive.

Peer review: open/closed and identified/anonymousMany traditional journals use closed anonymous reviews, inthat the reviews are not available to readers, and the authorsdo not know who the reviewers are. The British MedicalJournal (BMJ) has its reviewers sign their comments, butdoes not publish the reviews.

If peer reviews were made public, this would increase thetransparency of the publishing process, and would encouragereviewers to write more objective and reasoned reviews. Itwould keep reviewers focused and fair if they knew that theywere accountable for their reviews. Journals, however, might

be reluctant to change, for, if reviews were visible (and/ornot anonymous) it might be even harder than it already is tofind willing reviewers.

Drawbacks of anonymity� Reviewers do not get credit for their reviewing work.

They cannot, for example, reference particular reviewsin their CVs as they can with publications. Perhapspromotion committees at universities should considergiving credit to faculty members for writing reviews

� It is relatively easy for a reviewer to provideunnecessarily blunt or harsh critique

� It is difficult to guess if the reviewer has any conflict ofinterest with the authors by being, for example, acompeting researcher interested in stalling the paper’spublication.

Advantages of anonymity� Reviewers do not have to fear ‘payback’ for an

unfavourable review that is perceived as unfair by theauthors of the work

� Some reviewers (perhaps especially high-profile seniorscientists) might find it difficult to find time to provideas thorough a review as they would ideally like toprovide, yet would still like to contribute and canperhaps provide valuable experienced insight. They cando so without putting their reputations on the line.

Failure of anonymous peer reviewThe two main goals of a review system are to minimize boththe number of bad studies that are accepted for publicationand the number of good studies that are rejected forpublication. (This ignores the other intended benefit, whichis to improve the quality of a paper.) The cost of wronglyrejecting good papers is invisible (as they do not getpublished) but potentially very high, as good work may notget the exposure it deserves, a consequence that coulddiscourage promising young scientists. Cases have beendocumented where a number of very talented and promisingyoung scientists sent work to a journal, fully expecting to bescrutinized, but received reviews that were so personal, rude,scathing, and above all, unfair, that they decided to look foranother profession and never returned to science. Theinherent conservatism in anonymous peer review means thatpeople with new, original approaches to old problems run therisk of being shut out.

The most fundamental problem with anonymous peerreview is the lack of accountability. Reviewers can basicallysay whatever they want to say, because they are protected byanonymity. An additional problem arises from reviewershaving too little time (note that they are not paid for theirwork), which leads to sloppy and superficial reviews. Thereis also the temptation to misuse the power available toreviewers: if we look at peer review as a strategic game,rejecting everything is a strong strategy, as this will alwaysreduce the influence of the reviewer’s competition.

It has been proposed that reviewers should sign theirreviews, and should be able to stand by what they say andnot be able to hide behind anonymity in a cowardly fashion.Provision can be made for anonymity on those occasionswhere a junior person is asked to review the work of an

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established senior researcher, and fears for possiblerepercussions. Reviews could be stored and made accessibleon a website. Reviewers who reject good papers, andreviewers who accept bad papers, for whatever reason, canbe held accountable for what they write. Also, on a moreencouraging note, reviewers would get more credit for theirreviews. Under the current system, the difference betweenbeing a constructive reviewer and a careless one is invisibleto all except journal editors (De Ruiter, 2014).

A study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry(Walsh et al., 2000) used a randomized controlled trial toevaluate the feasibility of an open peer-review system.Reviewers were asked whether they would agree to havingtheir names revealed to the authors whose papers theyreview. A significant 76 per cent agreed to signing theirnames, 11 per cent refused, and 13 per cent failed torespond. Signed reviews were of a higher quality, were morecourteous, but took longer to complete than unsignedreviews. Reviewers who signed their names were more likelyto recommend publication. The study supported thefeasibility of an open peer-review system.

Some journals have started printing the names ofreviewers. The British Medical Journal (BMJ), for instance,decided to discontinue anonymous peer reviews in 1999(New Atlantis, 2006). Open peer review allows for greatertransparency and accountability.

The current usual model is pre-publication peer review. Itis also possible to take the somewhat bolder step ofpublishing papers immediately and then conducting thereview in the open afterwards (post-publication peer review).Some online journals have taken to using ‘transparent’ peerreview where the reviewing process is visible as it takes placeonline. A more dynamic approach allows for reviews andcomments to be posted at any time.

A further question arises as to whether the identity of theauthor should be disclosed to the reviewers. A double-blindreview lies at the other end of the spectrum from open peerreview. While there might be some hypothetical advantagesin masking the identity of the author, reviewers familiar withtheir fields will usually be able to know immediately who haswritten the paper under consideration.

Bad peer reviewDavid Shatz has pointed out that ‘many heavily cited papers,including some describing work which won a Nobel Prize,were originally rejected by peer review’ (Shatz, 2004). Shatz,a Yeshiva University philosophy professor, outlines some ofthe charges made against the referee process in his 2004book Peer Review: A Critical Inquiry. He maintains thatreviewers are often not really ‘conversant with the publishedliterature’; they are ‘biased toward papers that affirm theirprior convictions’; and they ‘are biased against innovationand/or are poor judges of quality’. Reviewers also seembiased in favour of authors from prestigious institutions.Shatz describes a study in which ‘papers that had beenpublished in journals by authors from prestigious institutionswere retyped and resubmitted with a non-prestigiousaffiliation indicated for the author. Not only did refereesmostly fail to recognize these previously published papers intheir field, they recommended rejection.’

Campanario (1995) describes examples of influentialand/or highly cited papers that were initially rejected by oneor more scientific journals. The work reported in eight of thepapers eventually earned Nobel Prizes for their authors; sixpapers later became the most cited of the journals in whichthey were published. Also described are influential andhighly cited scientific books whose authors encounteredproblems in publishing them. These case studies suggestthat, although rejection may subsequently result in animproved manuscript, on other occasions referees maysimply have failed to appreciate a paper's importance. Manyof these rejected papers also reported unexpected findings ordiscoveries that challenged conventional models orinterpretations.

Some of the most cited papers of all times were rejectedby referees, or returned by editors. Of course, these are theones we know about – the ones where authors have persisteduntil their papers eventually get published. Shatz (2004, p.90) mentions numerous innovative papers that were initiallyrejected in the process of peer review. These include paperspresenting the discovery of blood typing, Jenner’s 1796 paperdescribing vaccinations against smallpox, Murray Gell-Man’swork on quarks, and Krebs’s paper describing the citric acidcycle. Nature declined to accept Krebs’s paper on the ‘Krebscycle’ in 1937, saying:

‘The Editor of Nature presents his compliments to Mr.H.A. Krebs and regrets that as he has already sufficientletters to fill the correspondence columns of Nature forseven or eight weeks, it is undesirable to accept furtherletters at the present time on account of the delay whichmust occur in their publication. If Mr. Krebs does notmind such delay, the Editor is prepared to keep the letteruntil the congestion is relieved in the hope of making useof it. He returns it now, however, in case Mr. Krebsprefers to submit it for early publication to anotherperiodical.’In 1988, seven years after Krebs’s death, an anonymous

editor published a letter in Nature calling the rejection thejournal’s most ‘egregious error’ (Borrell, 2010). The work byKrebs later won a Nobel Prize.

At least 35 articles that would eventually earn the NobelPrize and fame for their authors were rejected outright duringthe initial inspection by reviewers (Campanario, 1995). Asone example, in the case of quasicrystals, there was a paperrejected by the Journal of Applied Physics in 1984, butthrough persistence it was later published in MetallurgicalTransactions A and Physical Review Letters. One of thereviewers, Linus Pauling, said: ‘There is no such thing asquasicrystals, only quasi-scientists’ (Slavov, 2015).Nevertheless, Dan Schechtman won the Nobel Prize forChemistry in 2011.

Some further examples have been listed by Slavov(2014) of very significant foundational scientific results thatwere rejected by major journals and magazines but havenonetheless stood the test of time and proven to be ofexceptional importance to science.

More damaging reviewsMerton (1957) highlights a few cases where poor reviewshave had extremely damaging consequences:




The nineteenth-century physicist Waterston, his classicpaper on molecular velocity having been rejected by theRoyal Society as ‘nothing but nonsense’, became hopelesslydiscouraged and left science altogether.

Deeply disappointed by the lack of response to hishistoric papers on heredity, Mendel refused to publish thenow permanently lost results of his further research and,after becoming abbot of his monastery, gave up his researchon heredity.

Robert Mayer, tormented by refusals to grant him priorityfor the principle of conservation of energy, tried a suicideleap from a third-story window and succeeded only inbreaking his legs and being straitjacketed, for a time, in anasylum.

In 1842, Mayer came up with the theory of conservationof energy, and wrote an article explaining his idea that‘energy is neither created nor destroyed’. It was rejected bythe leading physics journal of the time, ended up in anobscure chemistry journal, and was mostly ignored byphysicists. When the physicists of the time rallied aroundJoule, who described conservation of energy later in the1840s, Mayer suffered a mental breakdown. Towards the endof his life, he was finally given credit as a father ofthermodynamics.

Clearly, the consequences of poor peer review can beextremely serious.

Some recent examples of errors not detected byreviewersOne of the fundamental equations used in the modelling ofthe electrical characteristics of DC arc furnaces is one by BenBowman that describes the shape of the arc. This veryimportant equation for modelling plasma arcs appears twicein the literature – wrongly! The first (correct) equation shownin Figure 10 describes the shape of the conducting volume ofthe arc as a function of the distance from the cathodeattachment spot. The assumptions include an axi-symmetricarc and no interaction effects at the anode. This equation isincorrectly printed in Bowman (1994), and again but with adifferent error in Bowman and Krüger (2009), but has beencorrected here by examining the form of the equation thatproperly fits the figure in the original reference.

One can only speculate as to the cause of these errors.Either the reviewers have hastily skipped over the equations,assuming them to be correct, or typesetters (notunderstanding the meaning of the equations) haveintroduced errors that were not checked before printing.

Another example, one that cannot be blamed ontypesetters, occurs in a paper that describes the calculatedactivity coefficient of liquid cobalt oxide (CoO) in slag as afunction of temperature and oxygen partial pressure. Thisrelationship was presented as the equation shown in Figure 11.

Fortunately, there was also a graphical depiction of thedata in the paper. For example, at a temperature of 1400ºC(1673 K), and with a value of B = 1.15, the graph shows avalue for CoO of around 10, which is quite reasonable.However, the equation produces a result for CoO of about 96 000 000, which is clearly spurious. My communicationwith the author led to the following admission: ‘You areright. This equation is not correct. I made a serious mistake.Please never use this equation.’

ErrataVery often, errata are published in journals a few monthsafter the initial publication of the paper, sometimes in smallprint, or somewhere out of the way. In these cases, there isno obvious way of linking the correction to the originalpublication. Electronic publishing allows this link to be madein a much more robust manner, by allowing errata to belinked to the original papers. A very simple solution is topublish the erratum as an additional page together with theoriginal paper on the journal’s website. This simple practicalstep can be expected to improve the current situation whereerrors tend to be propagated from one paper to the next,sometimes with additional mutations.

Rekdal (2014) tells a fascinating tale about a storyentitled ‘Spinach, iron and Popeye: Ironic lessons frombiochemistry and history on the importance of healthyeating, healthy scepticism and adequate citation’. The mythabout the iron content of spinach was embellished throughquotation of secondary sources that were anything butauthoritative. It would have been very helpful to have beenable to append corrections to the various articles that formedpart of the chain of this tangled but very readable story.

Tests of the peer-review processThere have been numerous experiments that put the peerreview process to the test. Some of these tests involvedhoaxes that have become well known in their own right.

In a noteworthy 1998 study, Fiona Godlee, editor of theprestigious British Medical Journal, sent an article containingeight deliberate mistakes in study design, analysis, andinterpretation to more than 200 of the BMJ’s regularreviewers. Not one picked out all the mistakes. On average,they reported fewer than two; some did not spot any.(Economist, 2013)

Sokal HoaxIn 1996, Alan Sokal (Professor of Physics at New YorkUniversity) published a hoax article in Social Text, a leadingNorth American journal of postmodern cultural studies. It

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Figure 10—Bowman's equation for arc shape (correct version; 1994version; 2009 version) Figure 11—Incorrect equation for activity coefficient of CoO

was entitled ‘Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards aTransformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity’ (Sokal,1996a). He wanted to test the journal’s intellectual rigourand to see if it would publish an article that was liberallysalted with nonsense, but sounded good, and flattered theeditors’ ideological preconceptions. The paper proposed ideassuch as ‘quantum gravity is a social and linguistic construct’.The hoax sparked a debate about the scholarly merit ofhumanistic commentary about the physical sciences; theinfluence of postmodern philosophy on social disciplines ingeneral; academic ethics, including whether Sokal was wrongto deceive the editors and readers of Social Text; and whetherSocial Text had exercised appropriate intellectual rigour. Thisis not primarily what Sokal was trying to achieve; he wastrying to make the point that postmodern relativism is aninadequate response to science. Sokal maintains that it isalmost impossible to function in the world without somefunctional sense of truth.

On the day of the publication of the article in Social Textin May 1996, Sokal revealed in Lingua Franca (Sokal,1996b) that the article was a hoax, identifying it as ’apastiche of left-wing cant, fawning references, grandiosequotations, and outright nonsense ... structured around thesilliest quotations [by postmodernist academics] [he] couldfind about mathematics and physics.’

A later book called Intellectual Impostures (Sokal andBricmont, 1998) provided further details of nonsensicalwriting invoking science by postmodern philosophers andother literary figures.

The editors of Social Text thought the manuscript arguedthat quantum physics, properly understood, dovetails withpostmodern philosophy. In fact, Sokal booby-trapped thepiece with deliberate mistakes, as he later revealed; hesought to publish it to expose the various intellectual andpolitical weaknesses in Social Text and those it represents.

Sokal’s work is somewhat reminiscent of the ‘twocultures’ outlined by C.P. Snow, who proprosed knowing thesecond law of thermodynamics as a test of scientific literacyfor the humanist, adding that it was ‘about the scientificequivalent of: Have you read a work of Shakespeare’s?’(Snow, 1964). It is necessary to have knowledge of both thesciences and humanities if one is truly to try to understandthe world.

BohannonAn extensive hoax to test the peer review process was carriedout by John Bohannon, a biologist at Harvard, who alsoworks as a journalist for Science. Between January andAugust 2013, Bohannon submitted, to 304 supposedly peer-reviewed journals, numerous almost-identical pseudonymousfake papers (obviously and seriously flawed) on the effectsof a chemical derived from lichen on cancer cells. The paper’stemplate was ‘Molecule X from lichen species Y inhibits thegrowth of cancer cell Z’. The listed authors and theiraffiliations were unique and fake. It was quite disappointingto find that 157 journals accepted, and 98 rejected the paper.Some accepting journals were managed by major publishers(Elsevier, for example), but predatory paid open-accessjournals fared the worst. An article (Bohannon, 2013)entitled ‘Who’s afraid of peer review?’ was published inScience on 4 October 2013. Bohannon’s study was seriouslyflawed, especially with regard to how journals were chosen,but made quite an impact.

Measurements of scientific output by citationindexingIn order to improve the quality of published science, it isnecessary to have some systems of measurement of the reachof publications.

This gives rise to the question of what constitutes a goodpaper. Essentially, the subject matter should be of interest orimportance to at least some readers; the content should becommunicated clearly and logically; and some papers shouldcommunicate new knowledge that is worth being referencedby other authors. The ‘value’ of a paper is a difficult thing todefine, let alone to measure, but that has not stopped peoplefrom trying.

The simplest measure of the worth of a paper is thenumber of citations it receives. There are numerouspublishing organizations that keep track of the referencespublished in a wide range of journals. Probably the bestknown are the Thomson Reuters Journal Citation Reports andScopus.

Much of the pioneering work done in 1955 by EugeneGarfield set the scene for citation indexing. Computers hadbecome available, and it became practicable to get lists ofpublications, and lists of all of the citations (references at theend of each article), and to link them together, and derivesome interesting statistics from the links.

Of course, there are many ways of ranking the scientificoutput of a researcher. Probably the crudest one, used inyears gone by, was simply the number of publications.Unfortunately, this incentivizes people to break down theirpapers into ‘least publishable units’ instead of more sensiblegroupings of material. The ‘journal impact factor’ wassomething else that Garfield worked on, and this too has itsflaws. A more sophisticated approach is to let the worth of apaper be indicated by the number of citations it receives fromthe author’s peers. By this measure, the number of citationsindicates the worth of a researcher. Again, this is too crude ameasure. If, for example, someone is a co-author on a veryhighly cited paper, this can skew the impression of worth. So,the number of publications on its own is clearly not enough.Even the average number of citations per paper does not



Figure 12—Alan Sokal


remove the possibility of distortion by one very importantpaper. Possibly the most widely used measure attempts tocombine the number of publications and the number ofcitations in a single number, a measure that will be discussedin a subsequent section.

When Eugene Garfield introduced the concept of a citationindex for the sciences in 1955, he emphasized its severaladvantages over traditional subject indexing. As a citationindex records the references in each article indexed, a searchcan proceed from a known work of interest to more recentlypublished items that cited that work. Moreover, a search in acitation index, either forward in time or backward throughcited references, is both highly efficient and productivebecause it relies upon the informed judgments of researchersthemselves, reflected in the references appended to theirpapers, rather than the choices of indexing terms bycataloguers who are less familiar with the content of eachpublication than are the authors. Although it took manyyears before the Science Citation Index (now the Web ofScience) was fully accepted by librarians and the researchcommunity, the power of the idea and the utility of itsimplementation could not be denied (King and Pendlebury,2013).

Thomson Scientific’s Institute for Scientific Information(ISI) has three citation databases: the Science Citation Index,the Social Science Citation Index, and the Arts andHumanities Citation Index. By 2015, there were 45 milliondocuments indexed in the Web of Science.

Journal impact factorThe significance of a journal is widely measured by its‘impact factor’. This represents the average number of timesthat each article is cited in a year (averaged over two years).

Eugene Garfield first introduced the concept of a ‘journalimpact factor’ in 1955, when he was director of the Institutefor Scientific Information (ISI) – now part of ThomsonReuters, an information-services company based in NewYork. It can be inferred from estimates of the number ofjournal papers published (Björk et al., 2009) that about 70per cent of refereed scientific journal papers are indexed, eventhough less than 39 per cent of refereed journals are indexed(which means that more than 15 000 refereed journals arenot indexed). The journal impact factor is defined as the ratioof the number of citations in the current year to the itemspublished in the previous two years] to [the total number ofarticles published in the same two years]. For example, JIF(2014) = [number of citations in 2014 to articles published in

2012 and 2013] / [total number of articles published in 2012and 2013]. This number is meant to give a sense of howmany citations are received, on average, by the typical paperpublished in that particular journal.

The journal impact factor cannot be used meaningfully tocompare journals in different fields. For example, biologicaljournals receive orders of magnitude more citations thanthose in engineering. The journal impact factor is widelycriticised for use as a lazy proxy for the quality of a particularpaper. If you want to know what the quality of a particularpaper is, then read it and judge it on its own merits. Theintrinsic merit of a paper is much more important than whereit is published. The relevance and quality of a paper are muchmore important than the impact factor of the journal in whichit is published.

Because authors are driven to chase the recognition thatsupposedly comes from publishing in highly ranked journals,this can lead to some serious problems. Publications in high-ranking journals are not only more likely to be fraudulentthan articles in lower ranking journals, but also more likely topresent discoveries which are less reliable (i.e., are inflated,or cannot subsequently be replicated). Some of thesociological mechanisms behind these correlations have beenwell documented, such as pressure to publish (preferablypositive results in high-ranking journals), which leads to thepotential for decreased ethical standards. (Brembs et al.,2013).

Critics of the status quo object to evaluating research onthe basis of where it is published. The shorthand way to dothis is by the journal impact factor — an index now kept byThomson Reuters. In December 2012, hundreds of scientificleaders, funding bodies, journals (including Science, but notNature) and other organizations gathered in San Francisco tosign the Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), whichcriticizes reliance on the impact factor and commitssignatories to evaluate research on the basis of its scientificmerit. It is important to stimulate a scientific culture andimplement policy measures that shift the competition fromquantity to quality - that is, to stimulate individualresearchers to reduce the quantity and increase the quality oftheir output so that a larger fraction of the publishedliterature is worth reading.

In South Africa, a large source of university incomeaccrues from a government subsidy received from theDepartment of Higher Education and Training for academicpublications in what it calls accredited journals. In 2011, forinstance, the government allocated R2.2 billion to universitiesfor their research outputs. For each article that appears in oneof these journals the department remits about R120 000 tothe university at which the academic author is employed(Thomas, 2015). This means that academics are pressurisedto publish prolifically and to increase their subsidy income.The unintended consequence of this subsidy system is that itencourages an unnecessary proliferation of papers.

The h-indexThe prominence of a particular author can be gauged to someextent by the number of his or her publications that are citedmany times. One of the most widely used measures ofscientific influence today is the so-called ‘h-index’, whichreduces this influence to a single number. The index was

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Figure 13—Eugene Garfield

proposed in 2005 by Jorge E. Hirsch, a physics professor atthe University of California, San Diego (Hirsch, 2005). Theh-index takes into account both the number of citations andthe number of papers that an author has to his/her name.The measure of impact and the quantity of scientific outputare expressed as a single number, h, that stands for Hirsch orhighly cited. Hirsch defines the h-index as the maximumnumber of an author's papers that have been cited at least htimes. For example, having an h-index of 13 means that theauthor has 13 papers that have each been referenced 13 ormore times. This avoids difficulties where the total number ofpapers does not indicate the quality of scientific publications,whereas citation counts can be disproportionately affected bya single publication of major influence. The index is a usefulcomparison between authors within a specific subject area.Care should be taken not to compare a young scientist withsomeone at the end of a long career, as the h-index increasesover time. People with a high h-index tend to be older andwell established in their fields. However, on a like-for-likebasis, it is a good measure of productivity.

In order to determine an author's h-index, a curve can beplotted of the number of citations versus paper number, withpapers numbered in order of decreasing citations (Hirsch,2005). The intersection of the 45° line with the curveindicates the h value, as shown in Figure 15.

Google Scholar is able to generate h-index values for anypublished scientist. For example, Albert Einstein was listedas having an h-index of 105 (Google Scholar, 2015). Thismeans that he has 105 publications that have been cited 105times or more.

Google and PageRankThe Google search engine ranks the importance of adocument in a search according to the networked importanceof the pages that link to it. If a paper is referred (linked) toby an ‘important’ paper (or page on a website), then some ofthat importance is conferred on the paper to which it islinked. This iterative networked calculation forms the heartof the extremely effective search engine that millions ofpeople around the world rely on. The PageRank algorithm(Page et al., 1998; Brin and Page, 1998) was developed byLarry Page and Sergey Brin, the founders of Google.PageRank (named after Page) was influenced by EugeneGarfield’s work on citation analysis at the University ofPennsylvania from the 1950s. In their original paper (Page etal., 1998), Garfield is referenced. Page’s and Brin’sbreakthrough was to create an algorithm that manages totake into account both the number of links into a particularsite and the number of links into each of the linking sites.This mirrored the rough approach of academic citation-counting, and worked exceptionally well.

Benford’s LawBenford’s Law is an interesting and useful mathematicaltechnique that can be used in the detection of fraudulent datain scientific publications (as well as for investigations ofaccounting fraud). It provides a fascinating insight into thepatterns around the first (leftmost) digit of a series ofnumbers.

Simon Newcomb, a Canadian mathematician, noticedthat, when using his book of log tables, the earlier pages(which contained numbers that start with 1) were much moreworn than the other pages. He documented some of theimplications of this discovery in 1881 in a paper entitled‘Note on the Frequency of Use of the Different Digits inNatural Numbers’ (Newcomb, 1881). The physicist FrankBenford rediscovered this observation in 1938 and publishedan article called ‘The Law of Anomalous Numbers’ (Benford,1938). As yet another example of Stigler’s Law, this curiouspattern is named Benford’s Law.

Benford’s Law is perhaps best illustrated by means of anexample. Imagine having a list of randomly occurringmeasurements, for example, the altitude (in metres) of the122 000 most highly populated towns in the world. It is easyto imagine that the leftmost digit of each number would beevenly distributed between the numerals 1–9, which results



Figure 14—Jorge Hirsch

Figure 15—Calculation of the h-index Figure 16—Frank Benford


in an even frequency distribution of about 11 per cent each.This is not the case in reality, however. Even more intriguingis the fact that the distribution remains approximately thesame even if the units are changed from metres, to feet, or tocubits (where 1 cubit = 523 mm), as shown in Figure 17(DataGenetics, 2013). The numeral 1 is much more prevalentas the first digit of many lists of numbers, and there is adecreasing frequency of the remaining digits 2–9.

It has been found that this same pattern applies to a widevariety of data sets, including stock market volume, distancesto stars, electricity bills, street addresses, stock prices,population numbers, death rates, lengths of rivers, physicaland mathematical constants, and Fibonacci numbers. They allfollow this pattern of having the first digit being governed bya logarithmic distribution. Benford’s Law applies to processesdescribed by power laws (which are very common in nature).It is likely to be best satisfied to a high level of accuracywhen values span several orders of magnitude ratheruniformly (for example, populations of villages / towns /cities, or stock-market prices). On the other hand, adistribution that is mostly or entirely within one order ofmagnitude (for example, heights of human adults, or IQscores) is unlikely to satisfy Benford’s Law very accurately,or at all. Where the distribution of first digits of a data set isscale-invariant (or independent of the units that the data areexpressed in), the distribution of first digits is always givenby Benford’s Law.

Benford’s Law is very useful in the detection offraudulent data, because most perpetrators of fraud are notaware of this peculiar pattern so they typically create an evendistribution of first digits in their concocted data.

The underlying premise of Benford's Law is that thesubject population of quantities, expressed in the base 10and more or less arbitrary units, is fairly evenly distributedon a logarithmic scale. Benford’s formula states that theprobability of the leading digit (d) being of a certain valuecan be described by the following function:

This simplifies to:

A good visual explanation for the derivation of theseequations can be found elsewhere (DataGenetics, 2013). Onehelpful picture is to imagine a plant growing where it doublesin size every week. To go from length 1.0 to 2.0 it wouldhave to increase by 100% (and would have a value thatbegins with 1 for a whole week), but to go from 2.0 to 3.0 itwould need to grow only 50% (and so would have a valuethat starts with 2 for much less time), and so on. This followsa logarithmic scale.

Series of data that are made up by multiplication(multiplicative fluctuations) tend to be well described byBenford’s Law. More technically, the central limit theoremsays that multiplying more and more random variables willcreate a lognormal distribution with larger and largervariance, so eventually it covers many orders of magnitudealmost uniformly. However, series of data that are generatedby addition (additive fluctuations) do not lead to Benford’sLaw – instead they lead to normal probability distributions(again by the central limit theorem), which do not satisfyBenford’s Law.

Some well-known infinite integer sequences provablysatisfy Benford’s Law exactly (in the asymptotic limit asmore and more terms of the sequence are included). Amongthese are the Fibonacci numbers.

This allows us to close the circle of the story by sayingthat the advent of computers and electronic publishing, andcomputers and mathematics, all come together to help us, wehope, to find better ways of getting closer and closer to thetruth.

ConclusionsScientific publishing remains alive and well, despite someproblems and challenges. The publication of about twomillion scientific papers per year is a very importantcomponent of the advancement of our understanding of thetruth about the world in which we live. Electroniccommunications technology provides some wonderfulopportunities to improve the way we communicate scientificresults more openly. The approaches outlined here shouldhelp us to get closer to the truth. We would do well toremember, in discussions about subjects such asanthropogenic climate change or the benefits of a low-carbohydrate diet, some of the principles espoused here.

AcknowledgementsThis paper is published with the permission of Mintek.Helpful discussions with Paul den Hoed and some early ideasfrom Sarah Jones are gratefully acknowledged.

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REKDAL, O.B. 2014. Academic urban legends. Social Studies of Science, vol. 44,no. 4. pp. 638–654.http://sss.sagepub.com/content/44/4/638.full.pdf+html

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RETRACTION WATCH. 2015. You can’t make this stuff up: Plagiarism guidelinepaper retracted for…plagiarism. 1 April 2015.http://retractionwatch.com/2015/04/01/you-cant-make-this-stuff-up-plagiarism-guideline-paper-retracted-for-plagiarism/

ROYAL SOCIETY. 2011. Royal Society journal archive made permanently free toaccess, 26 October 2011. http://royalsociety.org/news/Royal-Society-journal-archive-made-permanently-free-to-access/

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SCHUMAN, R. 2014. Revise and Resubmit! Peer review is slow. It’s unhelpful.It’s generally awful. Here’s how to fix it. Slate, 15 July 2014.http://www.slate.com/articles/life/education/2014/07/the_easy_way_to_fix_peer_review_require_submitters_to_review_first.html

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SLOOF, P., VAN DEN BURG, J., VOOGD, A., and BENNE, R. 1987. The nucleotidesequence of a 3.2 kb segment of mitochondrial maxicircle DNA fromCrithidia fasciculata containing the gene for cytochrome oxidase subunitIII, the N-terminal part of the apocytochrome b gene and a possibleframeshift gene; further evidence for the use of unusual initiator tripletsin trypanosome mitochondria. Nucleic Acids Research, vol. 15, no. 1. pp. 51–65. http://nar.oxfordjournals.org/content/15/1/51

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The 118th Annual General Meeting of The Southern AfricanInstitute of Mining and Metallurgy was held at The CountryClub, Johannesburg, Napier Road, Auckland Park onThursday, 13 August 2015.

WelcomeThe President, Jim Porter, extended a special welcome to theguests and representatives of our sister institutes and otherassociations, and also to recipients of awards, seniormembers of industry, Honorary Life Fellows, past-Presidents, our members, and other guests, among them thefollowing:

Geological Society of South Africa, Jeanette McGill,PresidentMine Ventilation Society of South Africa, Len deVilliers, PresidentSouth African Institution of Chemical Engineers,Dawie van Vuuren, PresidentSouth African Institute of Electrical Engineers, AndreHoffman, PresidentSouth African Women in Mining, Melody Kweba,President

Past-Presidents attendingJohn Austin Rod PickeringRichard Beck Don Ross-WattJohn Cruise Gordon SmithRoger Dixon Dick StaceyHenry James Oskar SteffenGys Landman Willem van NiekerkJoshua Ngoma

MinutesThe minutes of the previous Annual General Meeting, whichwere published in the September 2014 issue of the Journal,and sent to all members, were confirmed.

ObituariesThe President announced the deaths, during the year, of thefollowing members:

Honorary Life FellowsSandor Budavari, Joseph Lurie

FellowsRichard Graham, Michael Kilroe Charles Roberts, AndrewSimon Wood

Retired FellowsBrian Moore

MembersJames Dudley Bethel

Retired MembersWilhelm Bouver Howe

In memory of the deceased and in sympathy with thebereaved, all rose and observed a moment of silence.

Honorary FellowshipAlastair Macfarlane: Honorary Life Fellowship is awarded bythe Council to Corporate members of the Institute who haverendered outstanding service to the Institute over manyyears. It is my pleasure to announce that the Council hasdecided to award Honorary Fellowship to:

� Oskar Steffen, for his outstanding leadership of theSAIMM over many years. Oskar is also a recipient ofthe Brigadier Stokes Memorial Award

� Matthew Handley, for his outstanding contributionand continued support on the Publications Committeewithin the SAIMM.

Brigadier Stokes Memorial AwardJim Porter: The Brigadier Stokes Memorial Award wasinstituted in 1980 to commemorate the outstandingcontribution to the South African mining industry made byBrigadier R.S.G. Stokes, an Honorary Life Fellow and past-President of this Institute. This is the premier award of theSouthern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and ismade to an individual for the very highest achievement inthe South African mining and metallurgical industry. It givesme great pleasure to announce that the award for 2015 is tobe made to Sipho Abednego Nkosi.

Jim Porter called upon Mzila Mthenjane, to read the citation: Sipho Nkosi has made an exceptional contribution to theSouth African mining industry, covering a broad spectrum ofarenas that continue to benefit the growth, development, andtransformation of the country.

Sipho was born in northern KwaZulu-Natal in 1954 andhis tertiary studies took place during the tumultuous socio-political landscape governing the country in the 1970s and1980s. He overcame challenges to nevertheless complete hisstudies and begin a career that enabled him to gain a depthof experience in the energy and coal sectors both locally andinternationally.

He harnessed this experience to make a significantcontribution to transformation in the mining industry, whichbegan with the formation of Eyesizwe Coal in 1998.

Proceedings, 118th Annual General Meeting, 2015

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Eyesizwe was the forerunner to the creation of ExxaroResources in 2006, which is now widely regarded as a modelof black economic empowerment (BEE) and transformationacross all sectors in the country and a ‘champion oftransformation’ in the mining industry.

The formation of Exxaro involved one of South Africa’slargest BEE transactions, when Kumba Resources wasunbundled and its non-iron ore assets merged with those ofEyesizwe. Kumba was then re-listed on the JSE as ExxaroResources Limited.

‘When we formed Exxaro, our vision was to create atruly South African, truly empowered company that couldempower others in a way that set new standards fortransformation in the country,’ Sipho has previously beenquoted as saying.

The company is today a major South African-baseddiversified resources company and the second largest coalproducer in the country. Just over 52% of Exxaro is ownedby formerly disadvantaged and broad-based South Africansin the form of BEE Holdco, 10% is held by Anglo Americanplc, while the remainder is held by minorities, includingemployees through the MPower scheme, which is in itssecond phase. What distinguishes Exxaro from many otherempowerment companies is that its BEE shareholders arealso involved in the management of the company atexecutive and board level.

‘Exxaro enables historically disadvantaged people to bepart of the mainstream economy.’

In his role as the leader of Exxaro, serving as chiefexecutive officer since 2007, Sipho has overseen ameaningful distribution of wealth to a range of previouslydisadvantaged South Africans. Since Exxaro’s formation in2006 more than R6.6 billion has been paid in dividends toshareholders and nearly R1 billion has been returned to over9 000 participants in the company employee share scheme.In 2014 alone, the company invested more than R230 millionin community development, social and labour plans, anddiscretionary donations. In the same year, R7.7 billion wasspent with HDSA-owned suppliers.

Sipho is a strong supporter of the government’s NationalDevelopment Plan and through his company, contributionsare made to the development of infrastructure in areassurrounding operations, most significantly in Lephalale,Limpopo province, where major water, housing, and roaddevelopments have taken place.

Job creation is also provided through Exxaro’semployment of some 7 500 people and the same number ofcontractors. Sipho is a proponent of skills development: ‘Webelieve that empowering our people will help grow thecompany and the nation. I am proud that we are one of theindustry’s leading trainers. Annually we invest more than5% of our payroll on training and people development.’ Anactive bursary and learnership programme is run with morethan 3 000 young people having enrolled in Exxarolearnerships and the company accounting for a sizeableportion of all engineering learnerships registered with theMining Qualifications Authority.

Sipho has contributed broadly to the mining industry byserving as president of the Chamber of Mines of South Africain 2008-2010 and on the Executive Council of the Chamber

since November 2006. Previously he served as Chairman ofthe Chamber’s Collieries Committee.

His leadership style—embracing an inclusive,consultative, and unassuming approach—has stood him ingood stead both within his company and beyond. This,together with the well-known charisma and humour, haveenabled him to build an extensive network of relationshipsthroughout business, political, and community circles.

Sipho plays an instrumental role as a thought leader inthe industry where he offers counsel and advice to peers andothers. He is oft-quoted in the media on industry issues andregularly presents at local and international industry andinvestment conferences. Sipho is passionate about youthdevelopment, and on a personal level, is a role model toyounger people—providing guidance and mentorship.

He is widely acknowledged for his entrepreneurial skillsand business leadership. In 2012 he was the South Africanwinner in the Master Entrepreneur Category of the Ernst &Young World Entrepreneur Awards, which was followed byhim representing South Africa at the global awards held inMonte Carlo the following year. In 2013 he received theTienie Louw Award for business leadership at the AfrikaanseHandelsinstituut’s National Congress.

Sipho holds the following degrees: BComm (University ofZululand), BComm (Hons)(Econ) (Unisa), MBA (Universityof Massachusetts, Boston), Diploma in MarketingManagement (Unisa), Advanced Management Programme(University of Oxford).

In March 2015 it was announced that Sipho will retire asCEO of Exxaro on 31 March 2016. He is married to Nondiliand has three children.

Alastair Macfarlane called upon Sipho Nkosi to come forwardto collect his award from Jim Porter. He then gave a shortacceptance speech.

Presentation of awards, medals, and certificatesAlastair Macfarlane: announced the following awards,medals, and certificates, which were presented by Jim Porter.

50-year Membership Awards(with effect from 1 July 1964 to 30 June 1965)

� John Douglas Austin� Anthony Simon Malone� Kalman Imre Oravecz� Anthony William John Hancock.

The Danie Krige Memorial Award

The Danie Krige Memorial Award was instituted in 2013 tohonour the memory of Professor Danie Krige, who was oneof South Africa’s most influential mining engineers and ageo-statistician of international repute.

The Danie Krige Memorial Award is considered for thebest geostatistical paper published in the SAIMM Journalbetween January and December 2014.

M.Z. Abzalov for his paper published in the March 2014issue of the Journal entitled ‘Localized uniform conditioning(LUC): Method and application case studies’.

Gold and Silver MedalsPapers published in the Journal from March 2014 to

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February 2015 by members of the Institute were consideredfor medals.

Gold MedalsGold medals are awarded for papers that are of a world-classstandard, and judged to be publications that will become keyreferences in their mining or metallurgy field in the future.No gold medals were awarded this year.

Silver MedalsSilver medals are awarded for papers that make a majorcontribution to the professions of mining and metallurgy andto the prestige of the Institute.

Silver Medals were awarded to:

J. Wesseloo, for his paper published in the October 2014issue of the Journal entitled ‘Evaluation of the spatialvariation of b-value’.

G.F. Esterhuizen, for his paper published in the October2014 issue of the Journal entitled ‘Extending empiricalevidence through numerical modelling in rock engineeringdesign’.

V. Yahorava, for his paper published in the May 2014issue of the Journal entitled ‘Evaluation of differentadsorbents for copper removal from cobalt electrolyte’.

M. Kotze, and D. Auerswald, co-authors and non-membersof the Institute, received certificates.

Presentation of Student PrizesAlastair Macfarlane announced the student winners of theSAIMM Prestige Prize and Jim Porter presented the awards tothe students adjudged by their departments to be the bestfinal-year students in 2014.

University of the WitwatersrandMining Prianka PadayacheeMetallurgy Marinki Maria Malatse

University of PretoriaMining Kara Lombard

University of JohannesburgMining Omphemetse Princess KhunouMetallurgy Cedric Maleka

The following SAIMM student prizes were presented at theWestern Cape Branch AGM on 6 August 2015.

University of Cape TownBest final-year studentMineral Processing Darryl Brown

University of StellenboschBest final-year studentMineral Processing Adriaan Henning

Cape Peninsula University of TechnologyBest final-year studentMineral Processing James Brassell

In addition, the Western Cape Branch also awarded two

Outotec Postgraduate Scholarships for students conductingresearch in the area of sustainable mineral processing. Thescholarships were awarded to:

Alex Opitz (University of Cape Town): Thedevelopment of an integrated approach forARD prediction from waste rock.

Pierre Albertyn (University of Stellenbosch): The recoveryof precious metals from waste PCBs withammonium thiosulphate—effect of copperfeed impurities.

Annual ReportJim Porter presented the Annual Report with highlights of hisyear as President.

AccountsThe Honorary Treasurer, Cuthbert Musingwini, presented thefinancial statements, which are reproduced in the AnnualReport in this edition of the Journal.

Office bearers and Members of Council for2015/2016Jim Porter announced the office bearers for the ensuing year,elected by the retiring Council in accordance with Clauses3.5, 5.1, and 5.2 of the Constitution:

President Rodney JonesPresident-elect Cuthbert MusingwiniSenior vice-President Selo NdlovuJunior vice-President Alastair MacfarlaneImmediate past-President Jim PorterHonorary Treasurer Cuthbert Musingwini

In terms of the election of ordinary members of Council(Clause 3.2.7 of the Constitution and By-law B2.1), therewere fourteen vacancies and the following members are nowdeclared elected (in alphabetical order):

Zelmia Botha Godknows NjowaVaughn Duke Andrew SmithIsabel Geldenhuys Michael SolomonMatthew Handley Joalet SteenkampWilliam Joughin Mpho TlalaMolefi Motuku David TudorDonovan Munro Dirk van Niekerk

In terms of By-law F1.7 of the Constitution, thechairpersons of the branches are as follows:

Botswana Len DimbunguDRC Susa MalebaJohannesburg Ian AshmoleNamibia Nikowa NamateNorthern Cape Cedrick van WykPretoria Pierre BredellWestern Cape Aubrey MainzaZambia Darius MumaZimbabwe Stephen NdiyambaZululand Christo Mienie

These chairpersons will be ex-officio members of Council.

During the last year, your Council approved the establishment


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of a Young Professionals Council (YPC) to serve the needs ofour members who are 35 years and younger to make theSAIMM more relevant and to ensure that we are in touch withthe changing needs of our younger members.

In terms of By-law I, Clause 4.4.6 the YPC must consist ofa minimum of 13 and a maximum of 18 members who are 35years of age and younger. We received the required number ofnominations and did not have to conduct a formal votingprocess.

The office bearers of the YPC are:Chairman Tshepo MmolaVice Chairman Nirvashnie BagirathiTreasurer Sihe NhlekoSecretary Vulani Maseko

The following past-Presidents have signified their willing nessto serve on Council for the ensuing year:

Nic Barcza Gys LandmanRichard Beck Joshua NgomaJohn Cruise Rams RamokgopaRoger Dixon Mike RogersMarek Dworzanowski Gordon SmithFrank Egerton Willem van NiekerkHenry James

Jim Porter thanked those past-Presidents who indicated thatthey cannot serve on Council for the next year for all theirtime, effort, and dedication in the past.

He also thanked past-Presidents for their continuedsupport. He congratulated all those elected, and thankedthose who agreed to serve another term of office.

Election of auditors and honorary legal advisers for2015/2016

Jim Porter proposed, and it was agreed, that R.H. Kitching bereappointed as Auditor for the coming year and that VanHulsteyn, Attorneys, be reappointed as honorary legaladvisers.

GENERALSAIMM 5 Star Incentive Programme

The SAIMM is introducing an incentive programme forFellows, Members, and Associates. Cuthbert Musingwini,who has been driving this initiative, was called upon to tellus more.

Cuthbert mentions the benefits:

The Top 5 proposers, the Top 5 referees, and the authorwho has submitted the most number of papers forpublication in the Journal will receive a free ticket to theSAIMM Annual Banquet as well as mention at the AGM.Members will also receive access to discounts offered by anumber of service providers. Two of them are present thisevening, and you are invited to meet them after theproceeding to find out more about the exciting offers theyhave available. Another benefit will be for members whoattend three conferences within a 2-year period, who will beentitled to attend their fourth conference at no cost.

The top 5 proposers:

Elias MatindeWence KutekwatekwaShepherd GaihaiRodney JonesDarius Muma and Joalet Steenkamp (share fifth place).

The Top 5 referees:

Matthew HandleyThomas StaceyMarek DworzanowskiRichard MinnittJohan de Korte

The author who has published the most papers in theJournal:

Guven Akdogan

Thank you to these members for their continued supportof the SAIMM.

Induction of President

Jim Porter introduced the new President, Rodney Jones, andthen called upon Alastair Macfarlane to read his curriculumvitae.

Presidential AddressRodney Jones then presented his Presidential Addressentitled: Truth and Error in Scientific Publishing, which isreproduced elsewhere in this edition of the Journal.

Vote of thanks

Cuthbert Musingwini, gave the vote of thanks.

Closure

The meeting closed at 19:22. �

�

822

John Austin, receiving his 50-year Membership lapel badge

Oskar Steffen, receiving his Honorary LifeFellowship award from Jim Porter

Alastair Macfarlaneannouncing the awardwinners Matthew Handley, receiving his Honorary Life

Fellowship award from Jim Porter

Sipho Nkosi, recipient of the BrigadierStokes Award, receiving his Platinum Medalfrom Jim Porter

Dick Minnitt accepting the Danie KrigeMemorial Award on behalf of M.Z. Abzalov

Gerhard Keyter accepting the Silver MedalAward, for J. Wesseloo whose paper waspublished in the Journal

Volha Yahorava receiving her Silver Medal Award, Marthie Kotze, and Derrin Auerswaldreceived certificates for their paper that was published in the Journal

Silver Medal Award winners

Honorary Life Fellowship Awards

50-year MembershipAward

Danie Krige MemorialAward

Brigadier Stokes Award


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Alastair Macfarlane presenting Jim Porterwith his Presidential plaque

Carl Bergmann accepting his gift from Cuthbert for thecompetition held promoting the SAIMM 5 Star IncentiveProgramme

Cuthbert Musingwini mentionsthe benefits of the SAIMM 5 StarIncentive Programme

Student Prizes


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Prianka Padayachee receiving herStudent prize

Marinki Malatse receiving her Studentprize Kara Lombard receiving her Student

prize

Omphemetse Khunou receiving her Student prize Cedric Maleka receiving his Student prize

Office Bearers for 2015/2016—Front row (from left to right): Selo Ndlovu, Cuthbert Musingwini, Rodney Jones, Mzila Mthenjane and Sam Moolla (Manager)Back row (from left to right): Alastair Macfarlane and Jim Porter

OOffice Bearers for 2015/2016

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Past Presidents of the SAIMM

Past Presidents serving on council—Front row (from left to right): Gys Landman (2010–2011), Jim Porter (2014–2015), Henry James (1985–1986), John Austin (1984–1985), Richard Beck (1991–1992), John Cruise (1994–1995), Gordon Smith (2012–2013), Back row (from left to right): Don Ross-Watt (1995–1996), Oskar Steffen (1989–1990), Rod Pickering (2007–2008), Dick Stacey (2003–2004), Joshua Ngoma (2009–2010)

Front row (from left to right): Joalet Steenkamp, Selo Ndlovu, Cuthbert Musingwini, Rodney Jones, Mzila Mthenjane, Joshua Ngoma, Gordon SmithBack row (from left to right): Darius Muma, Vaughn Duke, Godknows Njowa, Dirk van Niekerk, Alastair Macfarlane, Jim Porter, Matthew Handley, John Cruise,Richard Beck, Henry James, Mpho Tlala

Council members and Past Presidents of the SAIMM

MMembers and their guests at the cocktail party

Daniel Limpitlaw, Joshua Ngoma, Simon Grimbeeck, and Mzila Mthenjane

Matthew Handley, Phil Piper, and Gerhard Keyter

Dick Stacey and John Austin

Huw Phillips and Mike Woodhall

Mike McWha and Alan McKenzie

Nkhume Tshiongo-Magwe and Mark Cresswell

Danie Jensen and Tshepo MmolaLloyd Nelson and Ian Ralston

Markus Erwee, Quinn Reynolds, Pierre Bredell, and Paul den Hoed


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SStudents

Council for 2014/2015

PresidentJ.L. Porter

President-electR.T. Jones

Vice-Presidents

Senior JuniorC. Musingwini S. Ndlovu

Immediate Past-President Honorary TreasurerM. Dworzanowski C. Musingwini

Members of Council

N.A. Barcza G. Njowa R.D. Beck T. Pegram F.T. Cawooda S.J. Ramokgopa J.A. Cruise M.H. Rogers J.R. Dixon S. RupprechtV.G. Duke N. Searle F.M.G. Egerton A.G. Smith M.F. Handley G.L. SmithG.V.R. Landman M.H. SolomonA.S. Macfarlane H.J. Tluczekb

R.P. Mohring D. TudorM. Motuku J.N. van der MerweM. Mthenjane D.J. van NiekerkD.D. Munro W.H. van NiekerkJ.C. NgomaaObserver SSCbObserver SANCOT

Branch Chairmen

Botswana L.E. DimbunguDRC Branch S. MalebaJohannesburg Branch I. AshmoleNamibian Branch N.M. NamateNorthern Cape C.A. van WykPretoria Branch N. NaudeWestern Cape Branch C. DorflingZambian Branch D. MumaZimbabwean Branch S. NdiyambaZululand Branch C.W. Mienie

Past-Presidents serving on Council

N.A. Barcza J.C. NgomaR.D. Beck S.J. RamokgopaJ.A. Cruise M.H. RogersJ.R. Dixon G.L. SmithF.M.G. Egerton J.N. van der MerweG.V.R. Landman W.H. van NiekerkR.P. Mohring

Key objectives of the InstituteTo initiate and give effect to the means whereby the require -ment for technology and scientific knowledge of the mineralsand metals section of the southern African economy issatisfied; and to represent and promote the interests of itsmembers.

Arrangement of this ReportIn accordance with the current management policy, this reporton the activities of the Institute is presented under eight mainheadings:

1. Interests of Individual Members2. Technical Meetings3. Publications4. Regional Development5. Engineering Science and Technology in South Africa6. State Liaison7. International Liaison8. Management and Administration.

1. Interests of Individual MembersPortfolio Holder: J.L. Porter

From the perspective of growth in membership, the Institutehad one of the more successful years in its 121-year history.As at the end of the 2015 year, total membership across allcategories stood at 4793, representing a growth of some 12.3per cent year-on-year. Of this number, 3 886 are based inSouth Africa. We continue to see strong growth in our moreestablished country branches in Zimbabwe and Zambia, with asteady increase in membership in the newer branches inNamibia, the DRC, and Botswana that now have a combinednon-South African membership of 536. It is with great delightthat we are able to report that, through the efforts of our newlyappointed Regional Development Manager, studentmembership is now just under 25 per cent of total membership(Table I). This is enormously significant for the longer termsustainability of the Institute.

We are, at last, in sight of our strategic target of 5 000members across all categories.

Among the highlights of the year was the formalestablishment of the Botswana Branch and the election of aBranch Committee. From meetings with local governmentofficials in Botswana as well as a number of other countrybranches, it is clear that these SAIMM initiatives are closelywatched. For this reason, the path that the SAIMM hasembarked upon for regional growth is now cast in stone. If wedeviate from this course and fail to follow through withcreating sustainable country branches, the Institute will suffersignificant reputational damage. For this reason, the SAIMMCouncil continues to support the investment in the RegionalDevelopment Manager role. This is seen as fundamental tosupport, coaching, and transfer of the Institute’s knowledge toour country branches. In particular, our newly established

Annual reportFOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2015

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Annual report

Northern Cape Branch has been adversely affected by thedownturn in the mining industry and will need support overthe next year or two.

The successful growth in membership runs counter to theoverall sentiment in the mining industry, where discretionaryspending on conference attendance and professionalmembership has been dramatically reduced. This has had asignificant impact on our members, more of whom are nowhaving to find the funds themselves to maintain theirmembership, as opposed to their employers subsidizing them.How the SAIMM responds to this change in the next year willbe essential to the success of this portfolio.

It is now appropriate for the SAIMM to curtail its short-termplan of establishing new branches. For economic and tacticalreasons, we now have to focus on bedding down the successesof the last two to three years in the region and make sure thateach of our country branches is able to plan and host at leastone successful international conference per annum. However,we continue to monitor developments in other countries of theSADC region where we have members: fifteen in Tanzania, fourin Lesotho, four in Mozambique, and two in Swaziland. WestAfrica has a membership of four, with two members in Nigeriaand two in Mali.

Table II and Figure 1 indicate the growth trends inmembership. We currently have the highest number of paying

members that have ever been registered with the SAIMM.However, the prevailing high levels of employment uncertaintyin the professional disciplines continue to impact on our abilityto collect all of our membership fees. This has twoconsequences. The first is that we continue to maintain aprogramme to support those members who have fallen on hardeconomic times but who wish to participate in and contribute tothe SAIMM. The second is that there are many members whoare simply are lost to the southern African industry throughmovement to other employment sectors or emigration.Unfortunately, many of these people lose contact with theSAIMM and so have to be struck off our membership list. Wecall on all of our current members to assist the Secretariat inmaintaining contact with this latter category of people.

In addition to the above, the Membership Committee hascompleted the following tasks in the year under review:

� Re-designing the application form to make it easier toapply for membership

� Making membership application forms available online� Re-defining membership benefits in conjunction with our

sister institutes around the world to ensure thatreciprocity is more visible and effective

� Implementing the revised by-laws relating tomembership

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Table II

Total southern African membership analysis for thepast 7 years

Membership grade Jul Jul Jul Jul Jul Jul Jul09 10 11 12 13 14 15

Honorary Life Fellow 37 37 34 36 54 53 53Honorary Fellow 4 4 3 3 2 2 1Life Fellow 10 9 9 7 7 7 7Fellow 426 423 420 421 429 434 412Retired Fellow 137 134 137 130 125 123 140Life Member 1 1 1 1 1 1 1Member 901 946 1075 1169 1334 1584 1702Retired Member 99 98 97 99 92 94 96Associate 821 977 1148 1146 1132 1173 1176Retired Associate 12 13 13 13 13 12 12Student 1033 972 380 549 672 754 1069Company Affiliate 143 128 132 126 123 128 124Total 3624 3742 3449 3700 3984 4365 4793

Figure 1—Membership growth over the past 7 years

Table I

South African membership analysis and annualgrowth

Grade Number of Number of % growthMembers 2015 Member 2014

Fellows 297 315 -6%Life Fellows 3 4 -25%Honorary Fellows 1 1 0%Honorary Life Fellows 32 32 0%Retired Fellows 117 105 11%Members 1309 1154 13%Life Member 1 1 0%Retired Member 87 82 6%Associates 924 990 -7%Retired Associates 8 9 -11%Company Affiliates 121 126 -4%Students 986 638 55%

Totals 3 886 3 457 12.4%

� Actively focusing on upgrading members to higher gradesof membership

� Encouraging members to join ECSA and benefit from thereduction in fees.

The Membership Committee is also working on newinitiatives for the year ahead:

� Reviewing again the definitions of our membershipcategories to ensure that we are accurately reflecting thechanges taking place in industry

� Re-design of the SAIMM website to further improveapplication and payment efficiency

� Rolling out the brand new 5 Star Incentive Programme formembers

� Recognizing our new Fellows at the annual banquet� Ongoing encouragement of members to join ECSA and

benefit from the reduction in fees� Creating an electronic membership archive to ensure

easier access and prevent loss of documentation� Linking our Young Professionals Council with the student

member database so that we can maintain continuity ofthis important class of member as they progress throughtheir early careers.

There is no doubt that the twin objectives of membershipgrowth and improved fee collection are going to be realchallenges for the 2016 year. Membership and conference feesare maintained well within inflation parameters to ensure thatour members continue to get value for their hard-earned cash.

The 5 Star Incentive Programme represents a new initiativeto recognize those members that actively support their Institute

Members will receive the following benefits:

� Top 5 Proposers for the current financial year are to begiven a free ticket to the SAIMM Annual Banquet withmention at the Annual General Meeting

� Top 5 Referees for the financial year are to be given a freeticket to the SAIMM Annual Banquet with mention at theAnnual General Meeting

� Access to discounts offered by Service providers thathave negotiated discounted rates and special offers foryou our valued member.

� Conference attendance within a 2 year period and appliesto events that are paid for. If you attend 3 events you getthe next conference that you register for at no cost.

� The author with the most number of papers published inthe SAIMM Journal in the previous financial year wouldbe recognised at the Annual General Meeting and willreceive a free ticket to the SAIMM Annual Banquet

I would also like to congratulate the Membership Team inthe SAIMM office for dealing with the heavy workload duringthe year and their incredibly proactive efforts to resolvemembership fee collections, as well as keeping track of a verymobile membership. I look forward to working with this teamand addressing the challenges in the year ahead.

1.1 Membership CommitteeJ.L. Porter, Chairperson

N.A. Barcza M.H. RogersR.D. Beck D.A.J. Ross-WattJ.A. Cruise G.L. SmithJ.R. Dixon T.R. Stacey

G.V.R. Landman O.K.H. SteffenR.P. Mohring J.N. van der MerweJ.C. Ngoma D.J. van NiekerkR.G.B. Pickering M. WoodhallS.J. Ramokgopa

MembershipThe SAIMM membership comprises engineers, metallurgists,chemists, physicists, geologists, certificated managers, andtechnikon diplomates, and other disciplines, all of whom havean interest in the fields of mining, extractive metallurgy, metalstechnology, and other related areas.

Requirements for Corporate membershipHONORARY LIFE FELLOW: An Honorary Life Fellow shall be aperson whom the Institute specifically desires to honour inconsideration of services rendered to the Institute, to science, orto industry. Honorary Life Fellows shall have all the privilegesof Corporate Members.

� The election of an Honorary Life Fellow shall take placeat a Council meeting, due notice having been given at thepreceding Council meeting of Council’s intention tonominate a person as an Honorary Life Fellow. Theelection shall require the majority vote of CorporateMembers of Council present at a Council meeting

� The election of an Honorary Life Fellow shall beannounced at the following Annual General Meeting ofthe Institute

� An Honorary Life Fellow will have all membership feesand subscriptions waived.

FELLOW: A candidate for admission to or transfer into thecategory of Fellow shall:

� Be at least 35 (thirty-five) years of age� Have, for a period of at least 5 (five) years, been

practising in a senior technical position in mining ormetallurgical undertakings, or in governmental,educational, or research organizations concerned withthose industries, or

� Have, for a period of at least 5 (five) years, beenpractising as a consultant in the skills of mining andmetallurgy, and

� Be practising his/her profession at the time of application,satisfy Council that he/she is a fit and proper person tobecome a Fellow, and Council shall be satisfied thathis/her qualifications, training, and technical experiencejustify such professional status, and

� Have been a Member of good standing for 5 (five) yearsand have promoted the interests of the SAIMM through:

– Serving on committee structures, and/or – Publishing in the SAIMM Journal or conference

proceedings, and/or – By other means acceptable to Council.

MEMBER: A candidate for admission to or transfer into thecategory of Member shall:

� Be at least 25 (twenty-five) years of age� Have, for a period of at least 2 (two) years, been

practising in a responsible or senior technical position inminerals and metals industry undertakings or ingovernmental, service, educational, or researchorganizations concerned with those industries, or

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� Have, for a period of at least 2 (two) years, beenpractising as a consultant in the minerals and metalsindustries, and

� Be practising his/her profession at the time of his/herapplication, satisfy Council that he/she is a fit and properperson to become a Member, and Council shall besatisfied that his/her qualification, training, and technicalexperience justifies such professional status.

Requirements for Non-corporate membershipCOMPANY AFFILIATE: Companies involved in or associated withthe mining and metallurgical industries are eligible foradmission to the category of Company Affiliate.

HONORARY FELLOW: Honorary Fellows shall be persons ofdistinction in public service, science, or the arts and shall beelected or re-elected by Council for the current year. They shallenjoy all the privileges and rights of members, except those ofholding office and voting.

ASSOCIATE: A candidate for admission into the category ofAssociate shall:

� Be at least 18 (eighteen) years of age, and� Be involved in minerals and metals industry

undertakings or in governmental, service, educational, orresearch organizations concerned with those industries, but not meet requirements to be registered as a CorporateMember

� Satisfy Council that he/she is a fit and proper person tobecome an Associate Member.

STUDENT: A candidate for admission into the category of Studentshall:� Be a person, in the third or further year of being

educated or trained in a manner approved by Council to

occupy a technical position or associated with theminerals or metals industries

� Satisfy Council that he/she is a fit and proper person tobecome a Student Member

� Remain a Student Member only while he/she is beingeducated in a manner approved by Council

� Confirm their membership at the beginning of eachacademic year by submitting proof of registration at theirapplicable tertiary institution. Failure to submit proof ofregistration will result in termination of membership

� Not remain a Student Member after the end of theInstitute’s financial year in which he/she attains the ageof 28 (twenty-eight) years. Council may relax theprovisions of this clause in such cases as it considersappropriate.

Membership rollMembers of the Institute are divided into Corporate and Non-Corporate Members, all of whom are entitled to attend andspeak at meetings. Only Corporate Members are entitled tovote. All applications for membership or transfer require oneproposer and one seconder.

RESIGNATION: A Member may resign from the Institute bysending his or her written resignation to the Secretary togetherwith payment of any monies due.

RETIRED MEMBERSHIP: A Fellow or Member who has bona fideretired from active business may retain membership at a reducedsubscription providing he or she has been a member for 20years. Members can contact the Secretary to establish thenumber of years of service prior to submitting a written requestfor Retired Membership to the Institute.

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Table I

Summary of new applications and membership movements for 2014/2015 and comparison of

membership grades and total membership 2014/2015

Members New Transfers Transfers Reinstate- Resig- Deceased Struck off Net gain/ MembersMembership grade July 2014 members in out ments nations (loss) June 2015

Honorary Life Fellow 53 0 3 0 0 0 -3 0 0 53

Honorary Fellow 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2

Life Fellow 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7

Fellow 434 0 9 -18 0 -4 -3 -6 -22 412

Retired Fellow 123 0 17 -1 1 0 -1 0 16 139

Life Member 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1

Member 1 584 117 30 -11 31 -17 0 -32 118 1 702

Retired Member 94 0 3 0 0 0 -1 0 2 96

Associate 1 173 114 21 -31 2 -14 0 -89 3 1 176

Retired Associate 12 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12

Student 754 706 1 -21 1 0 0 -372 315 1069

Company Affiliate 128 3 0 0 0 -1 0 -6 -4 124

Total 4365 940 84 -82 35 -36 -8 -505 428 4 793

STUDENTS: A candidate may remain a Student Member onlywhile he or she is being educated or trained in a mannerapproved by the Council.

When he or she no longer qualifies as a Student Member, heor she shall automatically be transferred to the category ofAsso ciate. Stu dents are reminded to forward a copy of theirdegree certificates to the Institute on graduation.

A candidate may not remain a Student Member after theend of the Institute’s financial year in which he or she attainsthe age of twenty-eight years, unless the Institute receiveswritten confirmation from the university or technikon that theStudent Member is still a full-time student.

CHANGE OF DETAILS: It is essential that members contact theInstitute without delay about change in designation, change inemployer, payment address, or change in postal address.Without this the communication link to members is broken.Also, members must ensure that, where subscriptions are paidby a company, the Institute has on record the correct paymentaddress.

Benefits of membershipIndividuals derive various benefits from membership of theInstitute:

� Contact with fellow members� Special reduced fees when attending congresses,

symposia, colloquia, conferences, schools, discussiongroups, etc.

� Notices of events promoting technology transfer, whichalso satisfy the need for continuing education

� A monthly Journal with a balanced content and of hightechnical standard, which serves as a communicationmedium to keep members informed on matters relating totheir professional interests

� Participation in technical excursions, banquets, and othersocial events, which create further opportunities forprofessional association and fellowship

� Tax deduction of membership fees in most cases� Reduced registration fees for professional registration

through the Engineering Council of South Africa.

Companies that become Members of the Institute

� Benefit from the opportunities to exchange knowledge,particularly about new developments and research

� Receive the Institute’s publications of internationalconferences held in South Africa, as well as monographs ona variety of subjects and regular copies of the monthlyJournal

� Are entitled to send two non-member employees tomining and metallurgical schools, colloquia, congresses,visits, and excursions at Member rates

� Receive newsletters and notices about all Instituteactivities

� Benefit from the fact that Company Affiliateship is taxdeductible

� Have ample opportunity to send delegates to attendtechnical meetings to obtain information and to benefitfrom the experience of others.

1.2 Young Professionals’ Council (incorporating theCareer Guidance and Education Committee)

T. Mmola, Chairperson

N.G.C. Blackham* M. MafiriR. Blunden V.G. MasekoA.W. Dougall* K. MmolokeV.G. Duke* T.D. MokoenaD.M. Gama T.T. MorabaJ. Janse van Vuuren M.S. MotlhabaneM. Khorombi, S. Ndlovu*D.E.P. Klenam L. Nene**P.J. Knottenbelt* A.S. NhlekoG.V.R. Landman* K. RamasiaE.S. Links S.M. Rupprecht*J.A. Luckmann* C. SetukeP.J.K. Leeuw* A.G. Smith*G. Mahlong I.R. Wermuth*T.K. Makomane L. Zombene

*Career Guidance and Education Committee members** SANCOT Observer

On 12 September 2014, the Career Guidance and Education(CGE) Committee held a workshop with the primary objective ofconvening an interim council of young professionals to:

� Establish and entrench a Youth Council to represent theinterests of SAIMM members 35 years of age andyounger

� Set up the rules for the functioning of the Youth Council(similar to the SAIMM Council, but subordinate)

� Draft suitable terms of reference for the Youth Council forapproval

� Prepare an election process for members to serve on theYouth Council.

In this regard, the interim council and the CGE committeehave been exceedingly successful. The establishment of theSouthern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy YoungProfessionals’ Council (SAIMM-YPC) and the rules for thefunctioning of the SAIMM-YPC (By-law I – YoungProfessionals’ Council) have been approved by Council (16 January 2015). The election process for the 2015/2016 YPCcommenced in March 2015 and will conclude in July 2015.

The SAIMM-YPC has been involved in activities that werepreviously organized by the CGE Committee. The SAIMM-YPCpresented at the Engineering Focus Week that took place on 4–8 May 2015 at the Sci-Bono Discovery Centre. A CareerDevelopment in the Minerals Industry event is being organizedfor 31 of July 2015 as a follow-up to the 2013 career guidanceevent. The SAIMM-YPC has also joined the organizingcommittee of the Young Professionals’ Conference to be heldfrom 21–22 October 2015. Participation in these activities hasbeen an important process in the transfer of know-how fromthe CGE Committee to the SAIMM-YPC.

Several programmes to address the various challengesfaced by young professionals in mining and metallurgy are stillin the early stages of development. The YPC has decided torevisit the Mentorship Programme, as mentorship remains animportant part of the development of young professionals. TheYPC has also involved itself in the fundraising and marketingefforts of the Scholarship Trust Fund. Going forward, theSAIMM–YPC focus will engage with the mining industry to

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support young professionals in mining and metallurgy. In thisregard, the SAIMM-YPC has identified three focus areas –Education, Career Guidance, and Enterprise.

Overcoming challenges such as getting time off work andtravelling long distances to attend meetings, the members ofthe interim council have shown remarkable commitment,energy, and eagerness to provide active leadership and bringabout positive influence in the mining industry. Their effortsand that of the CGE Committee in ensuring the sustained long-term success of the younger members of the Institute, andensuring that the SAIMM–YPC becomes an integral part of theInstitute, is acknowledged.

1.3 Promotion of the SAIMM

Portfolio holder: J.L. PorterThe year has been characterized by the usual highs and lows interms of our efforts to grow the reach of the Institutegeographically as well as building greater relevance to industryand offering value to our members. The latter aspect is critical.After 121 years of successful existence, our institutionalenvironment is changing faster than ever before. My messagehere is that we have to be more proactive. The status quo is nolonger acceptable if we are to maintain our relevance andcontinue to offer value to our membership.

As a result of deep structural changes in the SouthernAfrica mining industry in recent years, the SAIMM has beenreviewing how it operates as an Institute and addressed thefollowing question: ‘What do we need to do to adapt tochanging circumstances?’ For example, several of the largermining groups have reduced the numbers of staff employed intheir corporate offices, with some capacity moving to othersectors and geographies. This has resulted in lower attendanceat conferences. Swings in commodity prices and ageing miningassets have curtailed operating budgets and capitalexpenditure, resulting in individuals, rather than theiremployers, paying their own membership fees. At the sametime, many new junior and mid-tier mining companies haveentered our region, and our membership demographics havewe also changed significantly. Employment opportunities forour young professionals are under extreme pressure.

Key actions undertaken by the SAIMM to respond to theabove in recent years include:

� The change from ‘South’ to ‘Southern’ in our name� Re-writing our by-laws to bring them in line and to

create organizational flexibility� Implementation of the two-tiered Complaints and Ethics

Committees� The establishment of new branches throughout the

region� The creation of the Young Professionals Council (YPC)� The appointment of a Regional Development role within

the SAIMM office� Support of the Mining Dialogue 360 initiative.

The last five points are highlights of the year under review,but could not have been actioned without the first two beingalready in place. Furthermore, the SAIMM is financially securefor the present; we now have ten formally establishedbranches; we are running in excess of 25 per cent of ourmembership in the Student category; our YPC is already addingvalue in terms of its guidance to Office Bearers and Council.These are all by design, are highlights, and represent some of

the achievements in this and recent years. They are, however,not sufficient when viewed against the backdrop of a depressedglobal mining industry and some significant regionalchallenges that impact on the operation of the Institute.

The promotion of the SAIMM going forward will requireCouncil to consider additional tactics by which the Institute canengage with new role-players in the industry, leverage ourgrowing regional footprint, and continue to support the careerdevelopment of our young professionals.

Professional AssociationsDuring the past year the SAIMM has maintained dialogue andcollaboration with associated organisations, specifically the:

� Association of Mine Managers of South Africa (AMMSA)� South African Colliery Managers Association (SACMA)� Southern African Coal Processing Society (SACPS)� Mine Metallurgical Managers Association (MMMA)� Institute of Mine Surveyors of South Africa (IMSSA)� Mine Ventilation Society of South Africa (MVSSA;� Fossil Fuel Foundation (FFF)� Geological Society of South Africa (GSSA).

The Global Minerals Professionals Alliance (GMPA)between the SAIMM, the Australasian Institute of Mining andMetallurgy (AusIMM), the Canadian Institute of Mining,Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM), and the Society for Mining,Metallurgy and Exploration (SME) continues to explore ways toimprove collaboration, and the SAIMM participates fully inregional meetings. One of the initiatives is the Global MiningStandards and Guidelines Group (GMSG). As this is a structurethat requires some technical delivery capability, the SAIMM hasestablished a relationship with the Centre for MechanisedMining Systems at the University of the Witwatersrand, whichwill manage future projects in the GMSG on behalf of theSAIMM.

Management and Office AdministratioonIn recent years the SAIMM had moved away from monthlyCouncil meetings to a one meeting per quarter schedule, whichalso included all of the Branch Chairmen (four Councilmeetings plus the AGM). This was one of the responses to thechanging circumstances/pressures on corporate members, whogive their time on a voluntary basis. However, during the pastyear the pace of change and the number of initiatives beingactioned by the Institute resulted in slow delivery and gaps incommunication and follow-up, as there was insufficient timedevoted to discussion by Council. This was resolved byintroducing two additional Council meetings to discuss alimited agenda. This situation will be monitored in the yearahead.

Attendance at all Council meetings has been excellent withall-round participation in the deliberations. The variouscommittees of the SAIMM have performed well during the year,as is reflected elsewhere in this report. Of the active Councilmembers, Office Bearers, management, and staff, the SAIMMnow has approximately a 45% representation from thosemembers of our population that were previously excluded fromsuch participation. The collective effort of the 17 dedicated staffmembers is acknowledged, with each person contributing intheir own way to the overall success of the SAIMM. Wespecifically acknowledge staff members who have received longservice awards during the year:

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� Anna Panana (25 years)� Dawn van der Walt (17 years)� Apathia Sello (15 years)� Zuliakha Malgas.

We give them our heartfelt thanks for their loyal andvaluable service.

Finance and AccountsThis topic is covered fully in the Treasurer’s Report. However,it is important to note that at the beginning of the year, Councilmade a clear decision to maintain expenditure and momentumon all projects and events. It was fully recognized that revenueswould be under pressure due to the downturn in commodityprices, but the accumulated invested funds of approximatelyR30 million were in place for just such a situation. It wasnecessary to draw down funds from both the AFC (investment)account as well as the short-term call account to manage cashflows during the year and fund the operating loss of R1.4million. Notwithstanding this operating loss, our fair valueinvestments gained a further R2.2 million and we managed avery small surplus for the year of R13 000.

At the last Council meeting the budget for the 2015/16financial year was approved but with clear guidelines fromCouncil that should revenues continue to be under pressurethere would have to be a review. This will be monitored byCouncil on a quarterly basis.

A key initiative that moved forward during the year wasthe implementation of the Pastel accounting package in theWestern Cape Branch. The Western Cape Branch is the pilot forhow we would want all of the SAIMM branches to be structuredand managed financially in the long term. Financialsustainability through membership numbers and core regionalconferences are the indicators that trigger when and how wecontinue to implement the financial management, accounting,and treasury systems.

The Investment sub-committee was tasked by Council to:

1. Independently assess the quality of the currentinvestment and effectiveness of the managedinvestment account

2. Independently determine if there are other investmentinstruments that could be employed by the SAIMM

3. Make recommendations on the way forward.

We are able to report that an independent investmentadvisor confirmed that:

� AFC is a well-managed investment account with higherthan average returns. However, the risk profile of theinvestments was not optimized and Council mandatedthe President to adjust the investment mandate to AFCaccordingly

� It was determined that fixed property is an additional andviable investment instrument that warranted furtherinvestigation

� Council has re-appointed a new Investment Committeewith a mandate to investigate the viability of the SAIMMinvesting in fixed property.

Technical Programme: ConferencingThe conferencing department hosted some 16 events during theperiod August 2014 to July 2015. SAIMM events were hostedthroughout the southern African sub-region with delegatesfrom across the globe. However, attendances have been

increasingly erratic, resulting in five planned conferences beingcancelled with losses in excess of R50 000. With someinternational conferencing requiring over R1 million in upfrontfunding, it is clear that the short-term financial risks arebecoming unacceptable. For this reason, Council has mandatedthat insurance be taken out to cover losses in the event ofconference cancellation. In addition, the President called for ajoint workshop between the two Technical ProgrammeCommittees (TPCs) and Council members. The objective was toreview performance and consider ways of changing thefunction of the TPCs to better reflect the economic andoperational circumstances in the southern African miningindustry. A follow-up session has been scheduled forSeptember 2015.

Despite the economic circumstances, the SAIMM continuedto receive invaluable support from industry partners in terms ofconference sponsorship and participation, and we would like toplace on record our gratitude to them.

PublicationsThe Journal continued to be published monthly, although therewere delays again in deliveries due to ongoing postal strikes.The Journal includes the President’s Corner by the Institute’scurrent President, Jim Porter, and the Journal Comment, towhich there have been various contributions over the past 12months. The quality of published papers continues to be of ahigh standard, and contributions from SAIMM conference andauthors world-wide continue in significant numbers. There wasno gold medal award for the best published paper this year.

The open access system for electronic communication andthe retrieval of information is functioning well and the SAIMMis served by the OneMine system (www.onemine.org), theAfrican Journal Archive (www.ajarchive.org), and SciELO SA(www.scielo.org.za).

The SAIMM began publishing a newsletter during the year.The objective is to create a medium through which moreinformal information about people and events can becommunicated to membership. This is also available on thewebsite and through other electronic media.

MembershipThe SAIMM began the financial year with 4 365 members andended with 4 793, a gain of 428. There has been a 7 per centgrowth in full members, and a remarkable growth of 42 percent in student memberships. This is a direct result of theactivities of the Regional Development Manager and asuccessful conclusion to the first year of activities in this task.

The Membership Committee continues to function well withmany initiatives in hand. One of the key strategies in thisregard is the link between the Committee and the work of theYoung Professionals Council. In the year ahead, the tools forkeeping contact with young professionals as they embark ontheir first five years in industry are to be developed.Furthermore, an overhaul of our Company Affiliate databaseand the SAIMM offering to industry is required.

At this AGM we will be launching the SAIMM 5 StarIncentive Programme. This has been in gestation for at leastthree years. It is aimed at recognizing the contributions ofFellows and Members to the technical and professionalactivities of the Institute. Each member of the SAIMM whowished to participate in this initiative will be issued with anIncentive membership card.

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StrategyThe future of the Southern African Institute of Mining andMetallurgy has been dependent on meaningful regionalexpansion for several years. It is now time for consolidationand a focus on creating sustainability in the branches as wellas on marketing to industry so that they, as well as our newmembers, are aware of what the SAIMM has to offer.Developing and maintaining this plan will be the basis of theRegional Development Manager’s activities for the next year.

The 2015 strategy review was held on 28 July. This is acritically important session that facilitates the hand-over fromthe outgoing to the incoming President and Council. It has nowbecome a fixture in the SAIMM calendar.

ConclusionIn my first contribution to the President’s Corner in the Journallast year, I closed the article with the following shortparagraph:

‘As I have pointed out in my Presidential address, thechallenges are severe and the need for action acute. Now is notthe time for insular thinking, it is time for greater levels ofcollaborative thinking and investment than at any time in ourmining history. The speed with which we are able to find thecollaborative structures and make changes to the miningprocess in hard rock mines will be the measure of success.’

As members of the SAIMM it is no longer good enough forus to sit on the sidelines and lament over the currentdifficulties. I invite our members to submit constructivesuggestions to the SAIMM on what YOU believe we should bedoing to contribute as a role-player in the mining industry.What can we do to move the issues forward and contribute toactivities such as the Mining Laboratory? Is it through theMining Dialogues 360 initiative or other vehicles still to bedefined?

We have many highly knowledgeable and experiencedmembers in our ranks who would like to find a way to beengaged. Let us hear your thoughts, ideas and suggestions.

1.4 Awards and Adjudication Committees Awards and Adjudication Committee—MiningM.H. Rogers, Chairman

J.R. Dixon G.L. SmithF.M.G. Egerton T.R. StaceyM.F. Handley D. TudorR.G.B. Pickering

Awards and Adjudication Committee—MetallurgyD. Tudor, Chairman

R.D. Beck R.T. JonesA.M. Garbers-Craig R.L. Paul

Honorary Life FellowsHonorary Life Fellowship is awarded by Council to CorporateMembers of the Institute who have rendered outstandingservice to the industry or to the Institute over a considerableperiod. Council has conferred Honorary Life Fellowship on thefollowing persons:

Pre–1923 A. Aiken S.H. Pearce

A.F. Crosse J.P. WilliamsJ. Littleton

1923 J. Moir1930 H.A. White1931 P. Cazalet J.A. Wilkenson

A. Whitby1932 J.R. Thurlow1934 Wm. Cullen A. McArthur Johnston

W.R. Feldtmann G.H. StanleyE.H. Johnson

1938 G. Melvill F.W. WatsonS. Newton

1941 J. Henderson1943 Sir R.N. Kotzé1946 J. van N. Door T.K. Prentice

C.J. Gray R.S.G. StokesJas Gray S.J. TruscottJ.V. Muller G.A. WatermeyerJohn Orr J.A. Woodburn

1951 W.W. Mein1953 P.E. Hall B. St. J. van der Riet1954 C. Biccard Jeppe1955 P.N. Lategan1958 R.A.H. Flugge-de-Smidt1960 G. Hildick-Smith A.J. Walton

A.J. Orenstein F. WartenweilerH.J. van Eck

1961 C.S. McLean1966 F.G. Hill F. Meyer1970 H.E. Cross D.M. Jamieson

R.C.J. Goode1974 R.J. Adamson C.J. Irving

W. Bleloch J.F. ReidH. Britten

1975 M. Barcza J.T. McIntyreJ. de V. Lambrechts

1976 D.G. Maxwell A.R.O. Williams1978 J.K.E. Douglas V.C. Robinson

D.D. Howat1979 J.P. Hugo P.W.J. van Rensburg1980 Hon. S.P. Botha R.P. Plewman

Hon. P.G.J. Koornhof R.E. RobinsonA. Louw

1982 M.G. Atmore1983 C.S. MacPhail1985 P.R. Jochens M.D.G. Salamon

D.G. Malan1986 D.G. Krige G.Y. Nisbet1987 A.N. Brown1988 J.D. Austin D.A. Viljoen

R.P. King1989 P.A. von Wielligh1990 S. Budavari G.T. van Rooyen

L.W.P. van den Bosch1991 H. Wagner1992 J. Lurie1993 No award1994 B.C. Alberts1995 R.D. Beck H.E. James

P.R. Janisch1996 R.J. Dippenaar H.G. Mosenthal

J.S. Freer

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1997 J.A. Cruise1998 D.A.J. Ross-Watt1999 No award2000 N.A. Barcza J.R. Dixon

R.P. Mohring2001 M.H. Rogers D.J. van Niekerk2002 L.A. Cramer R.F. Sandenbergh

C.T. O’Connor J.H. Selby2003 A.A.B. Douglas P.J. Knottenbelt2004 No award2005 F.A. Camisani-Calzolari2006 T.R. Stacey2007 No award2008 E.U.H. Sachse2009 I. Walton2010 R.T. Jones2011 No award2012 No award2013 No award2014 G.V.R. Landman R.G.B. Pickering

A.S. Macfarlane2015 O.K.H. Steffen M.F. Handley

Brigadier Stokes Memorial AwardThe Brigadier Stokes Memorial Award, which takes the form ofa platinum medal, is awarded to an individual for the veryhighest achievement in the South African mining and metallur -gical industry, and is not necessarily based on technicalexpertise.

The Award was established in 1980, and the previousrecipients were as follows:

1980 H.F. Oppenheimer1981 W. Bleloch1982 F.G. Hill1983 A.W. Whillier (posthumously)1984 D.G. Krige1985 R.E. Robinson1986 M.D.G. Salamon1987 T.F. Muller1988 W.J. (Wim) de Villiers1989 R.A. Plumbridge1990 W.G. Boustred1991 P. du P. Kruger1992 E. Pavitt1993 D.A. Pretorius1994 H. Wagner1995 O.K.H. Steffen1996 B.E. Hersov1997 D.W. Horsfall (posthumously)1998 B.P. Gilbertson1999 L. Boyd2000 A.H. Mokken2001 T.L. Gibbs2002 J. Ogilvie Thompson2003 P.V. Cox2004 H.J. Smith2005 P. Motsepe2006 G.T. van Rooyen2007 D.H. Laubscher2008 T.R. Stacey2009 C.J. Fauconnier

2010 C. O’Connor2011 B.C. Alberts2012 R.P. Mohring2013 H.R. Phillips2014 R.M. Godsell

This year the award is made to S.A. Nkosi for hisoutstanding contribution to the industry over many years.

SAIMM 50 Year Club The Institute established the 50 Year Club in 1989 to recognizethe faithful and loyal support of its senior members with 50years’ unbroken membership. They become members of theclub on the 50th anniversary of their joining the Institute. Theirnames are published each year in the Annual Report and theyare presented with a gold lapel badge on a suitable occasion.There are no fees, and the only obligation of members is towear their lapel badges with pride and affection at all meetingsof the Institute. The present mem bers of the club are as follows:

Year to

June Member

1924 E.C. Polkinghorne*1926 R.M. Martin*1927 W. Allen*1930 E.T. Dunstan* (posthumously)

P.L. Ward*1931 F. Bowdler*1932 J.E. Laschinger*1933 F.D. Cartwright* E.R.C. O’Connor*

C.H. Coxon* B.M. Roberts*J. Levin* A.A. von Maltitz*D.D. McWilliam* T. Waterman*

1934 A.C.M. Cornish-Bowden* J.W.V. Mortleman*H.E. Cross* K. Rood*E.F. Laschinger* A. Siff*E. Margo O. Weiss*

1935 O.B. Swallow*1936 O. Deane* A.H. Mokken*

T.L. Gibbs* H.L. Munro*R.C.J. Goode* R.M.F. Seawright*F.G. Hill* A.C. Pigott*D.M. Jamieson* J.S. van Zijl*D.J. Rogers* L. Walter*

1937 W. Bleloch* J.J. Klein*L.A. Bushell* C.D. StorrarK.W. Findlay*

1938 V.C. Barnes* C.A. McKechnie*E.T.S. Brown* J.A. Nixon R.S. Cooke* E. Popplewell*J.K.E. Douglas C.G. Sowry*A.L.A. Forder* E.W. Thiel*

1939 G. Armstrong-Smith* R.S. Pearson*D.E.R. Ayres* D.C.J. Squirrell*E.H.D. Carman R.F.J. Teichmann*W.G.H. Jackson* I.S. van Eyssen*T.A. Newman S.J. Venning*

1940 L.D.C. Bok* G.D. Gettliffe*A.W.L. Brereton* G.G. Stanley*

1941 A.H.H. Davison* D. de V. Oxford*D.J. Forder E. PavittA.R.C. Fowler* A.C. Petersen*

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H.F.W. Ketelbey* E.R. Rudolph*J.D. McNamara* P.W.J. van Rensburg*T.F. Muller*

1942 R.E. Burnton* O.L. Papendorf*R.C. Espley-Jones* V.O. Steed N.M. Hayne* J.E. van Leeuwen*R.T. Naudé* W.C. Walmsley*

1943 D.J. Molony* R.P. Plewman*J.D. McMorran*

1944 A.F. Dick V.M. Reinecke*R.B. MacGillivray* A.S. SwartzL.J. Prince* A.H. Taute*J.F. Reid* P.B. Weehuizen*

1945 J.L. Curtis* K.E. Steele*E.T. Pinkney*

1946 W.I. Spence1947 G.H. Grange J.D. Pollard

W.B. Howe V.C. Robinson*J. Marr-Levin A.N. Shand*C.J. Parr* G.R. Still

1948 D.F. Foster J. Pope*M.H. Grusd* N.A. StaceyP.A. Laxen* J.A. TyserG.Y. Nisbet

1949 G.P. Bennett* J.P. HugoJ.F. Curtis* D.A. ImmelmanO. Davel

1950 D.F. Grieve R.P. Plasket*B.E. Hersov V.C. WardD.G. Maxwell

1951 D.G. Krige* N.C. PopeB.H.L. Leach W.T. RuhmerM.J. Martinson T. Zadkin*W.D. Ortlepp*

1952 A.N. Brown E.P. MortimerM.J. Deats D.J. MurphyW. Lurie* H.J. Stucke*N. Martincevic R.G. Williams

1953 B.G. Fordyce G.D. TaintonG. Langton* J. Uys*A.A. Sealey N. Zolezzi

1954 R.C. Bertram R.B.W. Wiggill1955 R.A.O. Chelius* G.R. Parker

S.P. Ellis W.B. ParkerC.T. Fenton

1956 G.A. Brown M.A. Madeyski*D.R. Chelius D. RankinM.F. Dawson G.C. ThompsonL.M. Falcon

1957 K. Babich A.M. EdwardsJ.J. Blom R.C. More O’FerrallR. Campbell N.C. Officer

1958 J.F. Dear* B.S. TattersonR.H. Swan P.J. van der Walt

1959 H.E.K Allen H.A.G. SlaterD.C. Brink G.T. Van RooyenG.D. Louw

1960 R. Hemp C.T. ShawG. Joynt L.W.P. van den Bosch*B. Moore H. von RahdenR.E. Robinson M. WishartC. Roper

1961 W.B. Evans G.S. LeeR.A. Featherstone B.J. LoveI.R.H. Forrest P.J. MullerJ.S. Freer G.J.C. YoungB.W. Holtshousen W.J.G. Young

1962 S.I. Du Preez E. SchmidP.J. Heystek

1963 L. Anderson J.N. GallieH.K.R. Cahnbley J.J. GeldenhuysG.C. Clatworthy T.J. KotzeR.E.F. Cowley A.H. MunroJ.A.J. De Cuyper A.G. Netto

1964 J. Douglas A.W. JohnK. Imre A. Simon

* Deceased since becoming members of the Club

The Danie Krige Memorial AwardFollowing discussions at Office Bearers and Council during2013 it was agreed to honour the memory and contribution tothe minerals industry made by the late Prof. Danie Krige.

It was agreed, amongst other activities, to make an annualaward of a Danie Krige medal for a qualifying geostatisticspaper published in the SAIMM Journal of the previous year.

The recipient of the award for 2015 is Dr M.Z. Abzalov.

Gold and Silver MedalsPapers published in the Journal from March 2014 to February2015 by members of the Institute were considered for medals.

Gold Medals

Gold medals are awarded for papers that are of a world-classstandard, and judged to be publications that will become keyreferences in their mining or metallurgical field in the future.

No medals were awarded.

Silver Medals

Silver medals are awarded for papers that make a majorcontribution to the professions of mining and metallurgy and tothe prestige of the Institute.

Silver Medal were awarded to:

J. Wesseloo for his paper published in the October 2014issue of the Journal entitled ‘Evaluation of the spatial variationof b-value’.

G.F. Esterhuizen for his paper published in the October2014 issue of the Journal entitled ‘Extending empiricalevidence through numerical modelling in rock engineeringdesign’.

V. Yahorava, for his paper published in the May 2014 issueof the Journal entitled ‘Evaluation of different adsorbents forcopper removal from cobalt eletrolyte’.

Student PrizesPrizes were awarded to the following students and werepresented at faculty prizegiving ceremonies held at therespective universities.

The prize winners were as follows:

University of the Witwatersrand

Mining Engineering P. PadayacheeMetallurgical Engineering M.M. Maltse

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University of PretoriaMining Engineering K. Lombard

University of Johannesburg

Mining Engineering O.P. KhunouMetallurgical Engineering C.M. Maleka

University of Cape TownMineral Processing D. Brown

University of StellenboschMineral Processing A. Henning

Cape Peninsula University of TechnologyMineral Processing J. Brassell

The prizes for the universities of Cape Town andStellenbosch and the Cape Peninsula University of Technologywere awarded at the Western Cape Branch Annual GeneralMeeting on 5 August 2015.

In addition, the Western Cape Branch also award twoOutotec Postgraduate Scholarships for students conductingresearch in the area of sustainable mineral processing. Thesescholarships were awarded to:

� Alex Opitz (University of Cape Town)The Development ofan Integrated Approach for ARD prediction from wasterock

� Pierre Albertyn (University of Stellenbosch) TheRecovery of Precious Metals from Waste PCBs withAmmonium Thiosulphate – Effect of Copper FeedImpurities.

1.5 SAIMM Scholarship Trust FundJ.R. Dixon, ChairmanR.P. Mohring, Vice-Chairman

F.M.G. Egerton T. Mmola (co-opted from YPC)M.H. Rogers W.H. van Niekerk

Contributions to the Trust Fund by individual members andcompany affiliates totalled R42 712, which is disappointing butprobably reflects the current economic environment. TheSAIMM continued its support of the Trust Fund with acontribution of R220 000. Awards of R262 000 (R305 000 lastyear) were made to the Universities supported by the TrustFund. The money was allocated based on the number ofstudents, in all four years of study, at a particular institution asa percentage of the total of 2627 students, which is aremarkable number in itself.

The role of the Scholarship Trust Fund has become evenmore important as student numbers continue to grow at analarming rate. The Trust Fund is struggling to meet its mandatein supporting those needy students who do not have bursariesand depend on family, friends, and part-time work for funding.

The Trustees have recognized that the current marketing ofthe Trust and the user-friendliness of the payment system needa re-think. To this end we have engaged with the YoungProfessionals Forum (YPF), and jointly we will be discussingour strategy with a professional marketing company.

The mining and metallurgical industry currently benefitsfrom the quality and numbers of graduates who have in thepast received support from the Trust Fund. Students whoreceive support are the future innovators, engineers, and

managers who will contribute to maintaining and growing theindustry so that it continues to be a productive part of SouthAfrica’s economy.

Members are reminded that contributions to the Trust Fundare tax-deductible and can be made online to the Trust Fund’sbank account, (SAIMM Trust Fund, FNB, branch code 251705,account number 62227511286).

We look forward to your continued support.

1.6 Banquet CommitteeM. Dworzanowski S. NdlovuR.T. Jones J.L. PorteC. Musingwini

The 2015 banquet was held in the Ballroom at the SandtonConvention Centre, and this will probably be the venue for thebanquet in the future as the Sandton Sun does not have aballroom any longer.

The guest speaker was Mr Jason Drew, who describedhimself as a ‘serial entrepreneur, passionate environmentalist,and visionary’, who argued that the industrial revolution isover and the sustainability revolution has begun.

There were two VIP tables and 26 Sponsors and Memberstables, with 414 guests in total. The evening was a greatsuccess, with many friends and acquaintances catching up witheach other and the news in the industry.

2. Technical MeetingsPortfolio Holders: R.T. Jones and C. Musingwini

The SAIMM conference department organised a total of 13events for the period July 2014 to June 2015 with anattendance of 2077 delegates. A total of 62 conferencedelegated signed up at conferences to become members of theSAIMM.

Geographically, SAIMM events were held all over theSouthern African region with delegates from Australia,Austria, Belgium, Botswana, Canada, China, Denmark, DRC,France, Germany, Lesotho, Madagascar, Namibia, Nigeria,Philippines, Portugal, Qatar, South Africa, Sweden,Switzerland, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, USA, Zambiaand Zimbabwe.

The SAIMM, partnered with other kindred organisationssuch as the Association of Mine Manager of South Africa,South African Coal Managers Association and MineMetallurgical managers Association of South Africa during thisperiod. Events in partnership included the MineSAFE 2014conference with a record attendance of over 976 delegates.

The agreement negotiated with the Advance MetalsInitiative (AMI) in 2010, as endorsed by the Department ofScience and Technology were concluded is scheduled tocontinue until 2020 and will hosts a special edition of theJournal.

The SAIMM received tremendous support from our industrypartners in terms of conference sponsorship and participation;we would like to thank them for their invaluable support.

The conference department looks forward to anothersuccessful financial period and to providing our members andpotential members with a conference service that will beeducational, informative and provide excellent networkingopportunities, at the high level that has become synonymouswith the SAIMM.

Annual report

2.1 Technical Programme Committee—MiningD.D. Munro, ChairmanR.T. Jones, Metallurgy Representative

A.W. Dougall S.P.F. NongV.G. Duke J.L. PorterA. du Plessis B. RippC.R. Frederick y S.M. RupprechtG. Guler N.W. SearleM.F. Handle R. SivalingumW. Joughin A.G. SmithG.V.R. Landman C.B. SmithD. Limpitlaw G.L. SmithJ.A. Luckmann M.H. SolomonA.S. Macfarlane T.R. StaceyN.J. McGeorge J. TheronR.C.A. Minnitt T. van den BergI.M. Mthenjane R.C.W. Webber-YoungmanC. Musingwini I.R. WermuthJ. Ngoma M. WoodhallG. Njowa

The Mining Technical Programme Committee is mandated toprovide a selection of events through the year that address theneeds of the members of the Institute. These events aregenerally technical in nature and comprise schools, colloquia,and conferences.

During the past year seven such mining and three jointmining-metallurgy events were held, attracting over 1700attendees. During a strategy session later in the year, most ofthe Committee members were surprised by the fact that theattendees were predominately non-members of the Institute.This is seen as a sign of the value that the SAIMM is delivering

to the broader industry. However, it has also prompted theCommittee to investigate the actual needs of our members overthe next financial year.

The first event in the year was the very popular MinePlanning School. This event attracted 68 delegates to the newMine Design Laboratory at the University of the Witwatersrand,Johannesburg. Presentations discussed techniques in theestimation of mineral reserves and new technology in the formof case studies, which proved to be a functional concept, andwhich received positive feedback with healthy sponsorshipfrom industry.

One area of collaboration between the SAIMM and otherbodies is through the Global Mining Standards and GuidelinesGroup, which aims at facilitating the adoption of globalstandards across all spheres of mining. The first meeting inSouth Africa was held at Emperors Palace, Kempton Park inAugust 2014 and attracted 15 international delegates. This isto be an ongoing initiative, and future meetings will be held atin different locations around the globe.

The annual MineSafe Conference continues to be one of thelargest on the SAIMM calendar, with the 2014 event attracting976 attendees from industry over the three days (two technicaland an awards day). Emperors Palace, Kempton Park, was afitting venue for this conference due to its location andfacilities, and our sponsors generously added to the success ofthe event. Planning is already under way for the next event,running as a partnership to ensure that the SAIMM and itspartners remain in tune with industry.

The third Mine Project Valuation School was presented inSeptember, again utilizing the Mine Design Laboratory facilitiesat the University of the Witwatersrand. There were 58 peoplewho attended this school, which focused on the careerdevelopment of our members.

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Schedule of Mining/Metallurgy Technical Conferences, 2014/2015

Type of Event Date Title Convenor Attendance

School 15–16 July 2014 Mine Planning School C. Musingwini 68

Conference 4–5 August 2014 Pyrometallurgical Modelling Conference K. Vreugdenburg 66

Workshop 20 August 2014 Global Mining Standards and Guidelines Group Workshop J. Porter 15

Conference 20–22 August 2014 MineSAFE 2014 Conference T. van den Berg 976

School 9–11 September 2014 3rd Mineral Project Valuation School M. Woodhall 58

Conference 16–17 September 2014 Surface Mining 2014 Conference C. Frededicks 126

Conference 20–22 October 2014 6th International Platinum Conference G. Smith 297

Colloquium 12 November 2014 12th Student Colloquium 2014 Z. Botha 142

Conference 11–12 March 2015 Mining Business Optimisation Conference 2015 M. Woodhall 14

Conference 8–10 April 2015 5th Sulphur and Sulphuric Acid 2015 Conference T. Claassens 93

Conference 23–25 April 2015 SANCOT - Mechanised underground Excavation in R. Tluczek 50

Mining and Civil Engineering

Conference 12–13 May 2015 Mining Environment and Society 2015 Conference I. Watson 45

Conference 25–26 June 2015 International Metal recovery and Accounting S. Ndiyamba 127

Conference 2015 - Zimbabwe

Nasrec was the venue for the bi-annual Electra Miningshow in late September, providing an ideal opportunity for boththe SAIMM and Electra Mining to attract the key role-players inthe surface mining industry. The SAIMM presented the 2014Surface Mining Conference over two days, attracting 120delegates. This was also a testing ground for accepting walk-invisitors for this event, and appeared to work well.

Platinum 2014, was held at Sun City in October, attracting297 attendees. This was the sixth such event and its popularityhas not dwindled. This event received the most sponsorships,which is testament to the diligence of the organizing committeeas well as the value that our generous sponsors see in ourevents.

The jointly chaired Student Colloquium brings the best ofsouthern African students to a single venue to present theirresearch projects. As always, tensions ran high and the judgeswere impressed by the breadth of the presentations at theMintek venue. The 142 attendees all registered on the day ofthe event. We all look forward to next year’s event, which willprecede the Young Professionals Conference.

The Mining Business Optimization Conference that washeld at Mintek in March attracted 14 attendees.

Our annual SANCOT-SAIMM event was postponed to April2015 and moved to the Elangeni Maharani Hotel in Durban.The focus was on mechanized underground tunnelling in bothmining and civil applications, which attracted an audience of 50people. Thank you again to our generous sponsors.

The final event for 2015 was the Mining Environment andSociety Conference, held at Mintek. This event attracted 45attendees from across industry and government andhighlighted some of the latest thinking in the South Africanmarket.

The 2016 calendar plans have already begun, with theconferences expected to be larger and to have an internationalappeal. In addition, we will be piloting a few new programmesof shorter duration, aimed at local attendees who cannot affordthe time out of the office that is associated with multi-dayevents. We encourage your support and any ideas that you mayhave for enhancing the programme in future.

2.2 Technical Programme Committee—Metallurgy R.T. Jones, ChairmanZ. Botha, Vice-chairperson

T. Claassens N. NaudeP. den Hoed S. NdlovuE. Dhlamini H.A. SimonsenM. Dworzanowski K.C. SoleK.J. Hay J. SteenkampA.S. la Grange M. Valenta J. Mishra P.J. van Staden M. Motuku K. VreugdenburgA.F. Mulaba-Bafubiandi

The Metallurgy Technical Programme Committee has supporteda good selection of topical technical conferences for thecontinuing education of metallurgical professionals throughoutthe year. The choice of subject matter for these conferences isvolunteer-driven, and the work of the conference convenors ishighly appreciated. These events provide an important forumfor the efficient dissemination of information about new

processes and techniques for improvements in the industry, aswell as promoting networking between industry professionalsworking in the metallurgical field. Some events were organizedin conjunction with the Mining Technical ProgrammeCommittee. SAIMM conferences generally receive accreditationfrom the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) for therequirements of continuing professional development (CPD).The proceedings of these conferences provide valuablereference material.

Formal proceedings of high-quality peer-reviewed paperswere published for some of the larger conferences. This year,conference delegates were provided with an electronic copy ofthe proceedings, and were given the choice of purchasing aprinted copy as an optional extra. Conference proceedings arealso fully published on the SAIMM website, in order to makethe information searchable and available to as wide anaudience as possible. The SAIMM continues to make theirwebsite publications available free of charge (via open access)to the general public, in recognition of the time and effort freelycontributed by authors and the organizations to which theybelong.

Attendance figures for this year’s metallurgical technicalconferences varied from 66 to 297. Sponsorship from industryhas continued at a very significant level, despite the rather poorstate of the economy. The support of our sponsors is highlyappreciated.

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Conference by Event Type

Mining 7

Metallurgy 3

Mining & Metallurgy 3

13

Attendee Breakdown

Members 578

Non-Members 1499

2077

The 2014/2015 year has included a variety of events, andsome highlights are mentioned below.

A conference on Pyrometallurgical Modelling was held inAugust 2014, and was attended by 66 delegates.Pyrometallurgy superficially appears primitive and littlechanged from hundreds of years ago, but is one of the mostchallenging areas to understand and model. The simultaneouseffects of very high temperatures, energy transfer, fluiddynamics, electromagnetics, phase changes, multiphase flow,free surface flow, particulate materials, and thermochemistrycontinue to provide much to interest pyrometallurgicalmodellers. The dramatic increases in computing power in recentyears make it possible to carry out different modellingapproaches that earlier generations could only have dreamedabout.

The Western Cape Branch of the SAIMM held the 32ndevent in their annual Mineral Processing Conference series,now expanded to the ‘Southern African Mineral Beneficiationand Metallurgy Conference’, at the Vineyard Hotel in CapeTown in August 2014. This well-established event featuresclose interaction between the local universities and industry.

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Attendance by Continent

South Africa 1850

Africa 149

Europe 55

Americas 18

Asia 4

United Emirates 1

2077

Countries in attendance at conference

Australia 4

Austria 6

Belgium 1

Botswana 11

Canada 5

China 3

Denmark 3

DRC 8

France 1

Germany 15

Lesotho 2

Madagascar 1

Namibia 3

Nigeria 3

Philippines 1

Portugal 1

Qatar 1

Sweden 5

Switzerland 1

The Netherlands 5

United Kingdom 13

USA 13

Zambia 3

Zimbabwe 118

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Conference Days - Per Event

Programme Days

Mine Planning School 2

Pyrometallurgical Modelling 2Conference

Global Mining Standards and 1Guidelines Group Workshop

MineSAFE 2014 Conference 3

3rd Mineral Project Valuation School 2

Surface Mining 2014 Conference 2

6th International Platinum Conference 3

12th Student Colloquium 2014 1

Mining Business Optimisation 2Conference 2015

5th Sulphur and Sulphuric 3Acid 2015 Conference

SANCOT - Mechanised 2undergroundExcavation in Mining and Civil Engineering

Mining Environment and Society 22015 Conference

International Metal recovery and 2Accounting Conference 2015 -Zimbabwe

Total Number of Conference Days 27

Conference Sponsorship - Per Event

Programme Days

Mine Planning School 90 000,00

Pyrometallurgical Modelling 20 000,00Conference

Global Mining Standards and 0,00Guidelines Group Workshop

MineSAFE 2014 Conference 532 500,00

3rd Mineral Project Valuation 37 500,00School

Surface Mining 2014 Conference 65 000,00

6th International Platinum 935 000,00Conference

12th Student Colloquium 2014 30 000,00

Mining Business Optimisation 10 000,00Conference 2015

5th Sulphur and Sulphuric 535 000,00Acid 2015 Conference

SANCOT - Mechanised 89 000,00underground Excavation inMining and Civil Engineering

Mining Environment and 17 000,00Society 2015 Conference

International Metal recovery and 368 357,00Accounting Conference 2015 - Zimbabwe

Total Sponsorship 2 729 357,00

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The MineSafe conference, held in August 2014, includedmetallurgical plant operations for the first time. Thisprestigious event recognizes safety accomplishments in themining industry.

The 6th International Platinum Conference was held at SunCity in October 2014. There were 297 attendees, somewhatfewer than for previous events but a quite reasonable numbergiven the difficult conditions prevailing in the platinumindustry. This conference remains a very important gatheringof industry professionals, and encompasses geology, mining,metallurgical processing, market applications, and economics.The importance of the event is underlined by the verysignificant support from a number of industrial sponsors andexhibitors.

The annual Student Colloquium was held during November2014 at Mintek in Randburg, and included parallel sessionsencompassing mining and metallurgy. This event is subsidizedby the SAIMM from the surplus funds from other events, insupport of the various tertiary educational institutions insouthern Africa. This event has, since 2002, continued toprovide a showcase for students to present their final-yearprojects, and the 2014 colloquium was attended by 142 people.The student presentations were generally of high quality, andsome were subsequently published in the Journal of theSAIMM.

Another long-running conference series published bySAIMM is Industrial Fluidization South Africa (IFSA). The IFSAconferences are held every three years, and the November 2014event held at the Cradle of Humankind was the fifth in theseries. This conference focuses on fluidized-bed reactortechnology, with a particular emphasis on coal combustion.

The 5th Sulphur and Sulphuric Acid Conference was held inDurban in April 2015. This new venue made it possible toaccommodate new and interesting technical visits. Theconference was attended by 93 people, and was very wellsupported by sponsors.

The Fourteenth International Ferro-Alloys Congress(Infacon XIV), which is covered in more detail elsewhere in thisAnnual Report, was held in June 2015, in Kyiv, Ukraine. Thetechnical proceedings are in English, but simultaneoustranslation between Russian and English was provided for thepresentations. The next Infacon event will be held in SouthAfrica in 2018.

The Zimbabwe Branch of the SAIMM hosted a major two-day conference in Harare in June 2015, and managed to attract127 delegates to the International Metal Recovery andAccounting Conference. The event was well supported bygovernment, industry, and university representatives.

There has continued to be excellent cooperation betweenthe various international mining and metallurgical societies,including those based in the USA (SME, TMS, and AIST),Australia (AusIMM), Canada (CIM), and Europe (GDMB). Thishas led to SAIMM participation on the organizing committeesof a number of overseas international events, as well as co-sponsorship of events (which also entails publicizing theevents to SAIMM members).

The Metallurgy Technical Programme Committee continuedto be supported by a group of highly capable members, andmany enjoyable meetings were held during the year. SAIMM’sconferencing team is to be commended for their highly

professional approach in handling conference arrangements,resulting in many favourable comments from attendees. Thecombined effort of all these people has resulted in a number ofworthwhile technical events being provided for the benefit ofthe metallurgical community of southern Africa.

2.3 South African National Committee on Tunnelling(SANCOT)

H.J. (Ron) Tluczek, ChairmanC. Viljoen, SANCOT Vice ChairmanL. Nene, SANCOT Young Members Group Chairman

G.A. Davis T.R. Stacey P.H. Ferreira F.B. StevensM. Lebitsa J. van der WesthuizenJ.L. Porter J.W. WallsD. Roos M. Walnstein

The International Tunnelling and Underground SpaceAssociation (ITA) held its 41st annual meeting in Dubrovnik,Croatia from 22 to 28 May 2015, in conjunction with the WorldTunnel Congress 2015 ’Promoting Tunnelling in South EastEuropean Region’ organized by the ITA and the CroatianAssociation for Tunnelling and Underground Space. More than1550 persons participated in the conference. The Associationregistered two new Member Nations, Guatemala and Qatar, and21 new Affiliate Members in the preceding year, which resultedin a total of 73 Member Nations and 282 Affiliate members(taking into account some resignations). Fifty-seven of the 73Member Nations were represented in the General Assembly.Ron Tluczek, Chairman of SANCOT, represented South Africaat the General Assembly on behalf of the SANCOT Committee.

The Open Session, which took place on 26 May, wasdedicated to ’Underground Space and Natural Resources’ with aspecial focus on hydro. A panel of seven experts madepresentations and a floor discussion was held on three mainthemes – sustainability, constructability, and finance andinsurance. At the end of the session it was very clear thathydro power tunnels have proven to be a very sustainablesolution, especially when due attention is given toconstructability by utilizing advanced technology andcontractual practices. Financial models should be based onlong-term revenues. With the current market development inrenewable energy, hydro tunnels and related structures haveproven to provide the most reliable and economical long-termsolutions for the supply of energy for our planet. Undergroundspace can make hydro power schemes more sustainable withrespect to environmental, social, and economic aspects, whenused in suitable settings and with a clear understanding of allrisk, particularly geotechnical risk. Other risks to be aware ofinclude financial challenges, construction risk, hydrologicalrisk, offtaker risk, regulatory risk, life-cycle risk, and changesin climate and technology.

The ITA has produced a video of the Open Session whichcan be viewed on the ITA Youtube Channel(https://youtu.be/47fcycz9pyg).

Although formed only a year ago, the ITA Young MembersGroup has been very active, strengthening the internationalnetwork between young members and participating in twomajor events in Greece and UAE. The ITA YM group has alsocreated a new magazine, ‘Breakthrough’.

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South African representatives participated in four WorkingGroups. Ron Tluczek participated in WG 2 (Research), TonyBoniface in WG 5 (Health and Safety in Works), Chris Viljoenin WG 12 (Sprayed Concrete Use), and Monica Walnstein in WG 21 (Life Cycle Asset Management). Chris Viljoen made apresentation to W G 12 on the status of a guideline for sprayedconcrete.

Eight reports were published in the previous year, threefrom ITA Working Groups, four from ITAtech Activity Groups,and one from the ITA COSUF Committee.:

� Strategy for Site Investigation on Tunneling Projects � Guidelines for Good Working Practice in High Pressure

Compressed Air (HPCA)� An Owners Guide to Immersed Tunnels� Rebuilt Equipment – Guidelines on Rebuilds of

Machinery for Mechanised Tunnel Excavation� Guideline for Good Practice of Fibre Reinforced Concrete

Precast Segments� Guidelines on Measurement Frequencies� Remote Measurement� Survey of existing regulations and recognised

recommendations (on operation and safety of roadtunnels).

All these documents are available free of charge on the ITAwebsite and are available for comments.

The next annual meetings of the ITA General Assembly willbe held at the following venues:

San Francisco, USA, from 22–28 April 2016, during theITA-AITES WTC 2016 ‘Uniting our Industry’.

Bergen, Norway, from 9–16 June 2017, during the ITA-AITES WTC 2017 ’Surface Problems – Underground Solutions’.

Dubai, UAE, from 20–26 April 2018, during the ITA-AITESWTC 2018 ’Smart Cities: Managing the Use of UndergroundSpace to Enhance Quality of Life’.

SANCOT NewsAt a meeting held on 14 January 2015, the South AfricanNational Committee on Tunnelling approved the formation of aYoung Members Group (SANCOT–YMG). Mr. Lucky Nene wasnominated and accepted as the Chairman of the YMG.

SANCOT–YMG has adopted its mandate from its motherbodies SANCOT and SAIMM and is working closely with theyouth body of ITA, which is ITA–YM. The mandate as adoptedfrom the ITA–YM is structured as follows:

(a) To provide a technical networking platform within theITA, SANCOT, and SAIMM for young professionals andstudents

(b) To bridge the gap between generations and to networkacross all experience levels in the industry

(c) To create awareness of the tunnelling and undergroundspace industry among new generations

(d) To provide young professionals and students with avoice in the ITA, SANCOT, and SAIMM, including theWorking Groups.

(e) To look after the next generation of tunnellingprofessionals and to pass on the aims and ideals of theITA, SANCOT, and SAIMM.

Through general interactions with other professionalplatforms, young professionals have shown interest in thisyouth structure and a desire to take part. It is therefore

envisaged that all interested companies would encourage theiryoung professionals, both within mining and civil engineering,to nominate representatives within SANCOT–YMG. Thisparticipation and involvement is encouraged to extend beyondthe workplace and will include those young professionals thatare at academic institutions.

SANCOT held a Conference in Durban from 23–25 April2015. The theme of the conference was ’MechanizedUnderground Excavation in Mining and Civil Engineering’. Theconference was intended to promote interaction and closercommunication between personnel and companies in themining and civil industries, and to create a platform whereexpertise and experience gained in mechanized undergroundexcavation could be shared.

In the civil engineering sector, due to the global increase inurbanization, pressure is being placed on governments and thepublic sector to provide expanded services such as safe andreliable public transport, electricity, gas, water, and sewagefacilities. This results in further development of road, rail, andmetro infrastructure. However, the availability of space for thisnecessary infrastructure in the urban environment is becominga major challenge. In order to keep up with this increasingdemand, civil designers and contractors are having to resort totunnelling more than ever before and, in order to deliver theseservices timeously, mechanized underground excavation andsupport installation is proving to be cost-effective.

In the mining sector, the fast, efficient, and safe abstractionof raw mineral reserves is of strategic importance. However,rising labour costs, coupled with labour unrest, impact heavilyon the ability of companies to achieve these goals. The SouthAfrican mining sector needs to mechanize at a faster pace inorder to remain globally competitive. This is especially truewhen developing stopes and vertical shafts, since a typicaldeep-level mine has a life of 30 to 40 years, meaning thatshafts are not sunk regularly and the specialized expertise maynot be readily available.

With the prospect of several major tunnelling projects onthe horizon, the active SANCOT membership is increasing. As aresult, a number of Working Groups have either beenresurrected or created within SANCOT, namely:

WG 3: Contract Practices/SANCOT ConstitutionWG 12: Sprayed Concrete UseWG 14: Vertical TunnellingWG 21: Life Cycle Asset Management.There is also a Working Group that will be looking at

hosting the ITA World Tunnel Congress in South Africa in2020. This is as a result of numerous enquiries that RonTluczek has received at recent ITA World TunnellingCongresses, and there would appear to be a lot of internationalsupport for holding a WTC in Africa, and specifically in SouthAfrica.

3. PublicationsPortfolio Holder: S. NdlovuD. Tudor, Chairman

R.D. Beck W.C. JoughinJ. Beukes J.A. LuckmannP. den Hoed C. MusingwiniM. Dworzanowski R.E. RobinsonM.F. Handley T.R. StaceyR.T. Jones R.J. Stewart

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Annual report

3.1 Journal

The breakdown of papers published during the year is asfollows:

Year Mining Metallurgy Other Total

2014 43 41 13 97

2015 75 49 4 128

Of the 128 papers published in 2015, 54 were from outsideSouth Africa. The rejection rate of papers received was 24 per cent

The average monthly print run during the year was 3675copies.

Advertising revenue for the year totaled R1 684 082 whichwas some 4 per cent (R65 918) below forecast. It becameapparent during the course of the year that a number of ourtraditional and long-supporting advertisers were cutting backon their advertising spend to the extent that some withdrewaltogether.

Additions to, and refinement of, the referee databasesystem continued during the year.

The Journal is now available online athttp://issuu.com/saimm and has been allocated the on-lineISSN 2411-9717.

As part of its services to South African scholarlypublications, the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf)has been assisting us with the introduction of a digital objectidentifier (DOI) which is assigned to each and every article thatis digitally available thought the world wide web. DOI is aunique alphanumeric string assigned to each separate digitalitem (article) published as part of our Journal. Each DOI isassociated with a set of basic metadata and a URL pointer tothe full text.

ASSAf has registered with CrossRef, and has been assigneda DOI prefix (http://dx.doi.org/10.17159) which can be used byall SciELO journals. Each SciELO journal will use a uniquestring which the SAIMM will introduce to the Journal duringthe course of the coming year.

We are indebted to our members who undertake theonerous task of refereeing papers. The Publications Committeehas introduced a process of ‘prescreening’ to alleviate the needto referee papers that may not meet the basic publishing criteriawhen the submitted abstract is reviewed.

The publications team of Dawn van der Walt, ZuliakhaMalgas, and Kelly Matthee has continued its good work inproducing the Journal.

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�847

Abbasy, FarzaanAbdellatif, MasoudAbzalov, MaratAkdogan, GuvenAldrich, ChrisAngus, AuchterlonieArmstrong, RobertAshmole, IanAuret, LidiaBada, SamsonBakker, DirkBanks, KevinBarker, IanBartlett, HughBeck, RichardBekker, AnnieBenade, JacoBertoli, OlivierBeukes, JohanBeukes, PaulBirch, ClintonBisaka, KabwikaBlackham, NormanBluhm, StevenBock, ImmoBohringer, WalterBotha, DoretBourgault, GillesBrink, van, ZylBryson, LeslieBryson, MikeButtemer, KeithCampbell, QuentinCanulat, IsmetCarsky, MilanCawood, FredChamberlain, VaughnChatterjee, SnehamoyChileshe, PeterChown, LesleyCichowicz, ArturClark, IsobelClay, AndyCoetzee, HenkCook, AlanCorin, KirstenCornish, LesleyCraig, kenCroll, RobertCunningham, ClaudeDavis, BurtonDe Korte, JohanDe Vaux, DeryckDemyanov, VasilyDen Hoed, PaulDeng, ZhiyongDeutsch, ClaytonDigby, CarolineDixon, RogerDohm, ChristinaDougall, AndreDougherty, HeatherDu Plessis, JJLDu Preez, NickDurrheim, RayDuthe, DianeDworzanowski, MarekEngelbrecht, AndreErasmus, Lourens

Eric, RaufErwee, MarkusEverson, RayFalcon, RosemaryFatti, PaulFelipe, JoaoFoster, StephenFreulon, XavierGenc, BekirGerhard, StenzelGhosh, TathagataGiblett, AidanGibson, JonGlacken, IanGoodfellow, RyanGroot, DickGuibal, DanielHadjigeorgiou, JohnHancox, JohnHand, PeterHandley, MatthewHangone, GregoryHarley, MichaelHarris, RichardHay, KevinHebblewhite, BruceHermanus, MayHeydenrych, MikeHobbs, PhillipHolm, KevinHumby, TraceyHundermark, RodneyJames, JohnJansen, JoelJoughin, WilliamKapageridis, IoannisKarimi, MohsenKecojevic, VladislavKis, EkinKnobbs, CliveKotze, MarthieKrause, PaulKruger, BuksKruger, CoertKyriakidis, PhaedonLabram, SteveLabuschagne, InusLagendijk, HermanLake, JamesLandman, GysLane, GaryLeach, TonyLimpitlaw, DanielLloyd, PhillipLodewijks, HenkLomberg, KenLoveday, BrianLuckmann, JohnLuckos, AdamLyman, GeoffLynch, RichardMachaka, RonaldMainza, AubreyMalan, FrancoisMalovichko, DmitryMalysiak, VratislavMarcotte, DenisMaritz, JannieMarriott, John

Matinde, EliasMbaya, RichardMcDonald, AndyMcGeorge, NormanMcKechnie, BillMcMillan, KevinMendecki, AleksanderMills, KenMinasny, BudimanMinney, DaveMinnitt, RichardMontiel, LuisMorgan, CraigMorrison, NigelMostert, RoelfMuller, JacquesMusingwini, CuthbertMustapha, HusseinNaicker, OomeshnieNaik, SandipNaismith, AlanNapier, JohnNasiri, MehdiNeomagus, HeinNewcombe, BiancaNheta, WillieNjowa, GodknowsNolet, IsobelNoppe, MarkNtuli, FreemanNyembwe, DidierO’Connor, DonaldOboirien, BilainuOlea, RicardoOlivier, GeorgeOrtiz, JulianOrton, ThomasOrzol, CarstenOyekola, SeanParker, HarryPelton, ArthurPetersen, JochenPetersen, KurtPetho, SandorPetrik, LesleyPettit, WaynePhillips, HuwPickering, RodPieterse, JasonPistorius, ChrisPistorius, PieterPotgieter, HermanPriest, GrahamPrins, ChrisPrinsloo, HermanProut, BarryPurcell, WalterQiu, BiaoRadcliffe, PeterRandolph, NevilleRender, ChristineReynolds, QuinnRivoirard, JacquesRoodt, AndreasRorke, TonyRose, DavidRupprecht, StevenSaka, AbdurakeeSandenbergh, Roelf

Saydam, SerkanSchutte, SchuSchwartz, IanSchweitzer, JochenSeebregts, AndrewShackleton, NatalieSingh, NavinSingh, NirdeshSiyasiya, CharlesSlabbert, DeonSmith, CraigSmith, GordonSole, KathySolomon, MikeSpearing, SamSpears, DavidSpottiswoode, SteveSrivastava, R. MohanStacey, ThomasSteenekamp, NicoSteenkamp, JoaletSteinhouse, RoelfStewart, RonStumpf, WaldoTheron, KobusThomson, AndrewThursten, MalcolmTopal, ErkanTopic, MiraUludag, ErhanValenta, MikeVan Alphen, ChrisVan der Merwe, JosiasVan der Merwe, NielenVan der Riet, MarkVan Deventer, PietVan Heerden, DaanVan Hille, RobVan Meirvenne, MarcVan Niekerk, DirkVan Olst, RexVan Schalkwyk, RudiVan Schoor, MichaelVan Zyl, P.G.Vegter, NanneVietti, AndrewVirnig, MikeVisser, JurgensVogt, DeclanVon Glehn, FrankVosloo, ManieVreugdenburg, KobusWaanders, FransWakefield, TimWalters, DerekWeerasekara, NirmalWermuth, IvanWesseloo, JohanWhyte, RodWijns, ChrisWilke, AndriesWood, AndrewWoodhall, MikeWortley, MikeYe, ScottYilmaz, HalilYoung, DavidZietsman, Johan

4. Regional Development

Key Performance Areas

To promote the interests of members based in different regions,the SAIMM:

� Supports the establishment and maintenance of branchesto satisfy the local needs of its members for professionalassociation and the exchange of technical information

� Co-operates with other member societies of AS&TS andwith associations and interest groups that have close tieswith operating mines and metallurgical plants by holdingjoint technical meetings and collaborating in the field ofpublication.

4.1 SAIMM Branches

4.1.1 BotswanaS. Maleba, Chairman

No report.

4.1.2 DRC BranchS. Maleba, Chairman

K. Banika D. SambwaF. Lubala D. Tshibanda

The DRC Branch currently has about 50 members, and thenumber is increasing.

Events for 2015The Branch planned for two technical events for 2015:

� Technical event at Tenke Fungurume Mining (TFM).Preparation is under way and we are hoping to hold theevent in September 2015

� Visit to Kamoa (Ivanoe Mines), October 2015� iPad DRC/2015 : SAIMM Support October 2015

A visit to mine in the Lubumbashi area is still inpreparation, and the Committee is looking to MMGKinsevere to host the event around the first week ofNovember 2015.

The AGM will be organized in November.New Year event. Studen’s prizes: grants to students in the

Polytechnic Faculties of the universities of Lubumbashi andKolwezi. This event will be scheduled according to theuniversities’ programmes.

Workshops:

� Workshop on reporting standards (SRK and SAIMM),20–21 August 2015

� Geotechnical and hydrogeology: impact of water onmines’ stability, October 2015.

Committee Meeting 27 July 2015A Committee meeting was held to discuss the second bi-annual2015.

4.1.3 Johannesburg BranchI. Ashmole, ChairmanJ. Luckmann, Vice-Chairman

B. Abilliera J. LuckmannJ. Clarke M. Mostert

G. Dellas M. Mthenjane V.G. Duke D. PorterC. Heili G. RalphR. Heins G. StrippH. Jantzen M.R. TlalaD. Jensen I. Wermuth

Introduction

The Johannesburg Branch’s main activity is to organizetechnical presentations on a monthly basis between Februaryand November each year. These are generally held on the thirdThursday of each month, and since June 2014 have been heldat the premises of Worley Parsons at Melrose Arch. During theyear under review, we have been very successful in securing alarge number of high-quality presentations.

The increased student attendance at these events reportedover previous years has been maintained, and we have alsoover the past year managed to obtain significant participationfrom the metallurgy students at the University of theWitwatersrand (Wits), to add to the numbers from the miningdepartments at Wits and the University of Johannesburg. Thisstudent involvement is considered important, as through theJohannesburg Branch events many of these students are signedup as student members of the Institute, with a good conversionration to Associate Membership after graduation.

Increased attendance has continued to put pressure on thecosts associated with the presentations and associated cocktailparties, while the poor economic situation has put pressure onthe sponsorship received. The Committee has thus endeavouredto continue to control the costs, with the most significantmeasure being the change in venue from the South AfricanMuseum of Military History to the Worley Parsons premises inMelrose Arch – we are most grateful to Worley Parsons forproviding us with a high-quality venue at no charge.

We kicked off the year in July 2014 with a presentationentitled ‘Is Africa still the Wild West of the mining industry?’from Gavin Andrews of The Minerals Corporation – aninteresting and thought-provoking discussion of doingbusiness in the minerals industry in Africa. This was followedin August by our annual student debate, entitled ‘Socio-economic Issues around Mining – how do we turn around thenegative image and attract investment back?’ This proved alively and interesting debate – the students were well prepared,and the question time ran well over the allotted time.

In September, Allan Widlake of Murray and Roberts gavean interesting talk on the ‘Next-generation shaft boringmachine for shaft enlargement’ – a talk which offeredinteresting possibilities for the future of shaft-sinking onbrownfield project extensions. October saw a return tometallurgical subjects, with Arnold Swarts of SMP delivering avery interesting talk on a new modular leach technology whichcan be installed and commissioned in a fraction of the timerequired for conventional processes and allows for fast-trackingof projects for early production.

In November, Jeremy Clarke of Paradigm ProjectManagement delivered a talk entitled ‘Mineral projects – a newparadigm’ – certainly an interesting and thought-provokingapproach to delivering projects more efficiently.

2015 kicked off with a thoroughly interesting presentationon ‘Doing business with China’ by Dr Shengfei Gan inFebruary, while in March Luis Fernando Contreras of SRK

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presented a paper entitled ‘An economic risk evaluationapproach for pit slope optimization’. There was no presentationin April, as we were unable to confirm either a speaker orsponsorship.

May saw a presentation from Kevin Botha of De Beers on‘The Venetia underground project’. While this presentationattracted a record attendance of nearly 280 people, sponsorshiparrangements that had seemed secure fell through days beforethe event, leaving the Committee with a difficult decision as towhether to cancel the event or proceed without sponsorship. Itwas decided in view of the confirmed attendance that weshould proceed, but this obviously resulted in a huge financialshortfall.

A presentation on the updates to the SAMREC andSAMVAL codes, which had been scheduled for June, waspostponed to July due to very poor confirmed attendancenumbers.

Going forward, we once again appear to have a fullprogramme ahead of us, although in some cases it appears thatwe may struggle to secure full sponsorship of thepresentations.

In terms of the Committee, I would like to thank inparticular Russell Heins, Jeremy Clarke, Dave Porter, HeinJantzen, and George Dellas for their contributions in securingpresentations and sponsorships, and Jacqui E’Silva for thesecretarial and organizational duties.

AGM

The Branch AGM was held on 18 June 2015.

Committee

We welcome the following new members who were elected atthe AGM to the Committee: Ronald Tlala, Danie Jensen, andBruno Abilleira.

We would like to thank outgoing members Andre Dougalland Vaughn Duke for their contributions over the years.

4.1.4 Namibian BranchG.B. Ockhuizen, Chairman

H.N. Abraham A.M. MutileniD. Chimanikire N.M. NamateS.S. MassipaT.G. Murasiki

Our membership drive is continuing. A focused effort is beingmade to convert the student members who entered theworkforce to Associate Members, as well as trying to get theexisting members who have discontinued their subscriptions toreactivate them. We have created a Namibian Branch Facebookgroup in an effort to encourage more membership and todiscuss issues faced in the mining industry. Increased effortsare being made to recruit new members from the miningcompanies that are currently developing new projects (SwakopUranium and B2 Gold).

Owing to the depressed commodity prices, especiallyuranium, some members are being affected by retrenchments,which could have an effect on our membership numbers.

The Drill and Blast school that was scheduled to take placein May 2014 has been postponed to September 2014, due tolimited registrations and the depressed market. Efforts are stillbeing made to host more events.

4.1.5 Northern CapeC. van Wyk, ChairmanT. du Toit, Vice Chairman

A. April J. LeaderB. Basson I. Lute C. Kearns B. Theron

A Branch committee was elected at a meeting at the NamakwariLodge at Kathu, which was attended by more than 20members. Six professionals were accepted as members and anumber are awaiting approval of their applications.

Johannesburg Branch of the SAIMM: technical presentations 2014/2015

Date Title Presenter Sponsor Responsibility Venue

17 July 2014 Is Africa still the Wild West of the mining industry? G. Andrews The Mineral Corporation R. Heins Worley Parsons

21 August 2014 Socio-economic issues around mining/how to turn Student Debate I. Ashmole, Worley Parsonsaround negative image and attract investment V. Duke, and

R. Heins

18 September 2014 Murray and Roberts New Mining Equipment A. Widlake Murray and Roberts I. Ashmole Worley Parsons

16 October 2015 Scorpion Mineral Processing - A. Swarts Scorpion Mineral R. Heins Worley Parsonsnew leach technology Processing

19 February 2015 How to do business with China Dr Gan Sound Mining I. Ashmole Worley Parsons,Melrose Arch

19 March 2015 Slope stability risk assessment L.F. Contraros SRK M. Mostert Worley Parsons,Melrose Arch

16 April 2015 Waterberg coal mineralogy / automated Dr C. van Alphen Eskom? G. Stripp Worley Parsons, mineralogical analysis of coal and related products Melrose Arch

21 May 2015 Venetia underground project K. Botha DBCM G. Dellas Worley Parsons, Melrose Arch

16 July 2015 SAMREC/SAMVAL K. Lomberg and S. Rupprecht Worley Parsons, S. Rupprecht Melrose Arch

Since the election, Brenda Theron has had to withdraw dueto personal commitments. The committee was led by theSAIMM Constitution (By-law F) in the nomination andappointment of a new committee member, Mr. Marius Lutherfrom Petra Diamonds.

Activities

The promotion and recruitment strategy was reviewed at theBranch committee meeting on 19 June 2015. Members agreedthat attendance at technical events will be adversely influencedby the current economic climate. It was decided to arrangetechnical information sessions between Khumani and KumbaIron Ore’s Sishen Mine, and an event is planned for the nexttwo months. We also plan to host a promotional stall at theKathu Exhibition event, which will take place in Hotazel.

Membership

Members were recruited mainly from the Kathu area,specifically from the Khumani and Sishen mines. A fewmembers from the Kolomela Mine in Postmasburg also joinedthe Institute.

Challenges

The development of a strategy for the Northern Cape Branchwas discussed at the first Branch meeting on 14 January 2015.This included events planned for 2015. The committee alsoreviewed the strategy for 2015 in view of the current economicclimate. Prices for bulk commodities decreased significantly in2014/2015 to their lowest levels in recent times. The NorthernCape mining companies that are affected the most are currentlyfocused on mitigating the influence of this on their operations.

A decision was taken at the 19 June Branch meeting tofocus on growing and maintaining interest among coremembers. A technical session is to be held between Khumaniand Sishen mines, and an event facilitated with vendors can becombined with the Branch Annual General Meeting in 2015. Nodate for the Annual General Meeting has been determined yet.

Integrated professional strategies

Discussions were held regarding strategic collaboration withthe Northern Cape Mine Managers Association, which isalready established in the Northern Cape, as well as onmaintaining the SAIMM brand and identity. Members agreedthat collaboration could enhance the sharing of technicalknowledge in the area. This will also present more potentialmembers to the Institute and ensure buy-in from seniormanagement. A strategy had been drafted and is currently incirculation for review.

4.1.6 Pretoria BranchN. Naudé, ChairmanG. Ngema, Secretary

K. de Wet R. MabapaW.W. de Graaf C. SiyasiyaD. Powell

The activities of the Branch continued with the format ofprevious years. A number of seminars were organized inconjunction with the Department of Mining Engineering andthe Department of Material Science and MetallurgicalEngineering at the University of Pretoria’s main campus. Thefirst event, ‘Shovel to Shelf Conference’ scheduled for 26

November 2014, did not materialize due to the lack of interest.This might be attributed to the overloading of diaries of peoplein industry.

One of the core functions of the Pretoria Branch is to growSAIMM member numbers through student membership. This isachieved through hosting events on relevant topics, and it alsogives the students an opportunity to mingle with industryprofessionals on an informal basis. The second eventcomprised a mini-colloquium on campus, at which ProfessorCourtney Young, Department Head and Prater DistinguishedProfessor of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering atMontana Tech, University of Montana, gave two presentations:

� Enargite spectroectrochemistry in acid or basicenvironments

� Flow sheet development for lunar soil simulantproduction.

The session was well attended by metallurgical engineeringstudents, university personnel, and industry professionals, andwas followed by a cocktail function. A special word of thanksgoes to the sponsor (the Department of Materials Science andMetallurgical Engineering) for providing snacks andrefreshments.

Finally, thanks to the Committee, the SAIMM Secretariat,and lastly a special word of thanks to Daleen Gudmanz andGabi Ngema for playing a key role in making sure that all theevents ran smoothly.

4.1.7 Western Cape BranchC. Dorfling, Chairman

L. Auret A. Nesbitt L. Bbosa T. OjumuR.D. Beck J. PetersenJ.A. Cruise C. SweetD. Deglon J. SweetA. Mainza

Academic personnel and students from the three main tertiaryeducational institutions in the Western Cape (the CapePeninsula University of Technology, Stellenbosch University,and University of Cape Town) represent the majority of themembers of the Western Cape Branch. Branch events aretherefore aimed mainly at providing students with informationabout mineral processing career options and at creating aplatform for students and academics to discuss their research.

The annual Southern African Mineral Beneficiation andMetallurgy Conference (Minproc) was held at the Lord CharlesHotel in Somerset West on 7–8 August 2014. Titus Mathe fromEskom delivered the first plenary presentation focusing on theregulation of the engineering practice in South Africa, theaccountability and liability of Engineering Practitioners, andthe potential impact on the mining industry. A total of 32 fulloral presentations, 29 short poster presentations, and 20posters without presentations were delivered over the course oftwo days. Research in bio- and hydrometallurgy (18 oral andshort poster presentations), comminution (9 presentations),flotation (11 presentations), and sustainability in mining andminerals processing (9 presentations) featured strongly in theproceedings. The conference was concluded by a plenarypresentation by J-P Franzidis, providing delegates with aninteresting overview of his experiences in the mineralprocessing industry over the past 40 years.

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Several student prizes were awarded at the conferencedinner, including the conference poster prize which was wonby Yusuf Bello from Stellenbosch University. The OutotecSustainability poster prize was won by Jana van Rensburg fromNorth West University for her project entitled ‘Drying of finecoal using warm air in a fluidised dense medium bed’. ThePresident-elect of the SAIMM, Jim Porter, presented SAIMMprizes to the best final-year student in Mineral Processing atthe three main Western Cape tertiary education institutions in2014. The recipients of these awards were Sipiwe Shoko fromCape Peninsula University of Technology, Mieke Lareman fromStellenbosch University, and Bianca Jansen from the Universityof Cape Town.

The conference dinner was preceded by the Branch AGM, atwhich the outgoing chairperson, Tunde Ojumu, presented hisreport and the new Committee was elected. Christie Dorflingwas elected as chairperson, Aubrey Mainza as vice-chairperson, and Craig Sweet as treasurer.

The conference was preceded by a one-day workshopentitled ‘Opportunities to improve energy efficiency inprocesses’. Jim Petrie (Department of Economic Development,Western Cape Government), Markus Reuter (Outotec), TitusMathe (Eskom), Kiangi Kiangi (Metso), Tony Anyimadu(AngloGold Ashanti), and Jacques Eksteen (Western AustralianSchool of Mines, Curtin University) presented material tofacilitate lively discussions regarding this very important topic.

The Western Cape Branch held its annual students’ eveningat the University of Cape Town on 15 April 2015. The eventaims to be a platform where final-year chemical engineeringstudents are informed about the role and activities of theSAIMM as well as careers in the mining and metallurgyindustries. Approximately 70 students from the three maintertiary education institutions attended the event, and foundthe presentation by Malcolm Walker (SAIMM RegionalDevelopment Manager) very interesting and informative.

Given the Western Cape Branch’s commitment tosupporting student activities and through generoussponsorship from Outotec, the Outotec Travel Grants wereagain awarded in the past year. Lucy van de Ruit and DereckNdoro received Outotec travel grants to attend the XXVIIInternational Mineral Processing Conference 2014 in Santiagoand the International Symposium on Industrial Crystallization2014 in Toulouse, respectively.

The Branch finances are in good order. A total of 81abstracts have been received for Minproc 2015, which takesplace at The Vineyard hotel in Cape Town on 6–7 August 2015.

4.1.8 Zambian BranchD. Muma, ChairmanC. Mwale, Vice ChairmanA. Mhone, SecretaryC. Ngulube, Treasurer

W. Munalula H. ZimbaS. Sondashi

The Branch held a successful student colloquium at theCopperbelt University in Kitwe on 11 June 2015. A total of 141delegates attended the event, the majority of whom applied tobecome members of the Institute. The event consisted of projectpresentations from the final-year students, a technicalpresentation from the representative of the Chamber of Mines

of Zambia (CMZ), and the membership presentation from theSAIMM secretariat. The technical event that was scheduled inChingola in June did not take place as planned due to someexternal disruptions in the preceding events.

Membership recruitment drive

The Zambian Branch has mounted a vigorous membershiprecruitment campaign at both the corporate and the individuallevels. During the period May 2014 to June 2015, membershipincreased by 41%, ands is likely to increase further above 50%with special focus on corporate and company membership.

Branch Annual General Meeting

This is scheduled for end of August 2015.

Other activities

The Branch has taken serious interest in the hosting of theCopper-Cobalt Africa Conference, in association with the 8thSouthern African Base Metals Conference to be held from 6–8July in Livingstone, Zambia. This conference is hosted by theMining and Metallurgy Technical Committees of the SouthernAfrican Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (SAIMM). TheZambian Branch has offered to render support where possibleand also strengthen the links between government agencies,the mining industries, and the SAIMM.

4.1.9 Zimbabwean BranchN. Stephen, ChairmanE. Hove, Secretary

S. Clara Z. OthnielM. Georgina G. ShepherdD. Godfrey M. StanleyM. Godfrey C. WenvceslausG. Mufulatelwa

Membership

The Zimbabwe Branch membership continues to grow throughnetworking and awareness events targeted at engagingpotential members, particularly students at tertiary institutions.The Regional Development Manager has been instrumental inassisting in this endeavour with presentations at variousforums.

Networking events

The Branch successfully organized networking and technicalevents, including one international conference, during thecourse of the year.

An event was held on 22 July 2014 at the Zimbabwe Schoolof Mines in Bulawayo, with the theme: ‘Supply ChainChallenges in the Zimbabwean Mining Industry – EnhancingLocal Procurement in Line with ZIMASSET EconomicBlueprint’. The conference provided an opportunity to debatethe local procurement and supply chain challenges inZimbabwe, and explore the way forward in building capacityfor local procurement. The conference drew participants fromvarious mining companies in Zimbabwe and the region.

On 24 July the Branch visited Nimr and Chapman inBulawayo, one of the biggest foundries in Zimbabwe.

In March 2015, the Branch organized a very successfulevent the University of Zimbabwe, the main focus of whichwas to create awareness of the SAIMM’s activities among staff

and students in all relevant departments. The departments ofMining Engineering, Metallurgical Engineering, Geology,Chemistry, and the Institute of Mining Research also gavepresentations. The Regional Development Manager, MrMalcolm Walker, presented an overview of the SAIMM. It isplanned to hold similar events at the other tertiary institutionsin the near future as part of the awareness and membershipdrive.

In June 2015 the Branch, with the assistance of the SAIMMadministration, organized a two-day inaugural InternationalConference on Metals Recovery and Accounting. The highlysuccessful conference was well attended and well sponsored,and featured presentations from various speakers on thesubject across the value chain. A review of the conference iscurrently being conducted, while the papers are being peer-reviewed so as to prepare a proceedings booklet.

Branch elections

The Branch Chairman, Dr Elias Matinde, resigned in Decemberfollowing his relocation to South Africa. The Branch Secretaryalso resigned for personal reasons. Stephen Ndiyamba andStanley Matutu took over as interim Chairman and Secretaryrespectively.

Elections for the 2015/2016 committee will be held in July2015, as the Committee was focusing on the organizing therecently held international conference.

Calendar of events

� July 2015: Membership drive desk at the Minentra� October 2016: Branch event and mine visit – details to be

provided� March 2016: Branch event and mine visit – details to be

provided� June 2016: International conference – details to be

advised.

4.1.10 Zululand BranchC. Mienie, Chairman

K. Adams W. JordaanE. Clare R. KutamaB. Cox B. Maramba

Kirri Adams resigned from the Committee as she has accepted aposition at a mining company in Kenya. We are looking into anew member from BHPB to fill her shoes.

Blessing Maramba resigned from Tata Steel and moved outof the area, and has also left the metallurgical field.

Conferences

There were no major conferences in the area planned for thisyear. The industry is under pressure from low commodityprices and sluggish sales. Most of the mines are operatingbelow budget and are busy with cost-cutting initiatives.

The Zululand Branch is working closely with SAIMMcentral office with regard to organizing the Heavy MineralsConference (HMC). Due to the low level of interest at this time,the conference has been postponed by a year to August 2016.

Branch activities

Branch committee meetings were held on 20 January, 18 February, and 25 March 2015.

Technical meetings

Branch meetings to date were sponsored by equipmentsuppliers.

� 25 March 2015—polyurethane wear lining and otherproducts, Uretech (Pty) Ltd, 22 people attending.

� 27 May 2015—Safeway Furnace Monitoring Systems(Pty) Ltd, 12 people attending. Sam Moolla and JacquiE’Silva from SAIMM head office also attended thismeeting.

The year ahead

The following activities are planned for the forthcoming year.

� Technical presentation—vibrating screens and feeders � Plant visit—Tronox Mine rehabilitation� Plant visit—BHP Billiton Hillside (aluminium smelter)� Other—financial/investments � Social—birdwatching event with family braai� Social—end–of-year wine or whiskey tasting.

5. Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA)

Professional Advisory Committees

PAC MiningM.H. Rogers, ChairmanR.P. Mohring, Vice-Chairman

M.J. Motomogolo V.P. TobiasC. Musingwini D.J. van NiekerkJ.C. Ngoma S. UludagR.C.D. Phillis R.C.W. Webber-YoungmanV.O. Seboni L. ZindiG.L. Smith S. Zitha

PAC MetallurgyM. Dworzanowski, ChairmanK.C. Mistry, Vice-Chairman

R.H. Eric K. PoonanI.J. Geldenhuys R.F. SandenberghR.T. Jones M.D. SekeS.M. Naik M. VermaakJ. Phiri

PAC MiningThe SAIMM has been associated with ECSA and its forerunner,the South African Council for Professional Engineers (SACPE),as a founding Voluntary Association since their inception. TheSAIMM provides input into the ECSA committees bynominating SAIMM members to stand on those committees ona voluntary basis. The Institute also propose nominations forpersons representing mining and metallurgy to stand on theECSA Council

The Committee continued to review and recommendapplicants for registration as Professional Engineer. TheSAIMM continued to arrange peer reviews of candidateprofessional mining engineers, which assistance is appreciated.

The impasse between ECSA and the Council for the BuiltEnvironment in respect of the ‘Identification of EngineeringWork’ continues, with little progress having been made. Noinput was required from the Committee.

Work on ‘Discipline Specific Training Guides’ for candidateengineers progressed during the year, with the Committeefocusing on the mining engineering discipline.

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ECSA is in the process of implementing the ‘NewRegistration System’ whereby future candidates for registrationwill be able to register on-line.

The transformation of this Committee has beenimplemented as planned, except that we have not been able tolocate an Asian for appointment to the Committee. Six membersof the current Committee with greater than twelve years’ servicewill no longer be eligible to serve after July 2016 and will resign.Although it will be reasonably easy to appoint a more raciallybalanced Committee, this is not the case for women. Theincoming Chairman and Committee will have to fill thevacancies with assistance from the SAIMM. It is noted that 57per cent of the Committee are black or coloured, and 14 per centare women. The emphasis for the incoming Committee will begender equality.

PAC MetallurgyThe mission of ECSA is to ensure, through a co-operativeprocess of quality assurance, that persons entering theprofession are educated and trained according to widelyaccepted standards, so as to be able to render a professionalservice for the benefit of the public and the country as a whole.The Professional Advisory Committees (PACs) of ECSAcontribute to this mission by considering matters specific to thediscipline, and also contribute to wider policy matters asrequired.

During 2014/2015 the PAC Metallurgical Engineering againconsidered applicants for registration as Professional Engineerby means of paper evaluations and interviews, in whichvolunteers from the SAIMM participated. The requirement forContinuing Professional Development (CPD) of ProfessionalEngineers for all registered persons opens up opportunities forthe SAIMM to support the profession by offering seminars andconferences. This contributes to the CPD category 1,developmental activities. The SAIMM also supports the CPDprocess in category 3, individual activities, in whichmembership of the SAIMM, presenting papers at SAIMMconferences, and participating in SAIMM committees allcontribute to CPD credits. The Committee records its thanks tothe organizing committees and the secretariat of the SAIMM forthe issuing of CPD certificates.

During 2014/2015 three new members of the Committeewere nominated by the SAIMM and their nominations wereapproved by the ECSA Council. The new members are Mr S.M.Naik, Mr K. Poonan, and Mr M.D. Seke.

6. State LiaisonPortfolio Holder: J.L. Porter

6.1 Outcomes-based Education and Training (OBET)Portfolio Holder: D.J. van Niekerk

Compulsory registration with ECSA� The registration of persons currently performing

Identified Engineering Work (IEW) is voluntary� The promulgation and implementation of the proposed

Identification of Engineering Work (IDoEW) Regulationswill make registration with the Engineering Council of SA(ECSA) compulsory for engineering practitioners whoperform IEW and take responsibility for such work

� The proposed IDoEW Regulations, which have beenapproved by the Council for the Built Environment (CBE),are is being considered by the Competition Commissionof South Africa (CC) for the purpose of determiningwhether ECSA will qualify for exemption from the anti-competitive legislation

� ECSA has provided the CC with appropriate informationto enable the Council of the CC to make its decision inrespect of the CBE/ECSA’s said exemption application.The CC’s decision is imminent

� The CC, with the support of ECSA, has consulted all theinterested and affected parties who submitted commentsand who have raised concerns regarding the proposedIDoEW Regulations (CBE Board Notice).

Engineering candidature� ECSA is busy investigating an appropriate

approach/model that will enable employers who traincandidate engineering practitioners under ECSA’sCommitment and Undertaking (C&U) to claim some ofthe education and training expenditure from the relevantEducation and Training Quality Assurer (ETQA)

� ECSA has established task teams to investigate andadvise in respect of the preferred model for the fundingof the Stage 2 training and experience of candidateengineering practitioners.

New Registration System (NRS) � The NRS departs from the legacy registration system in

that ECSA has decided to adopt an OBET-compliantcompetency standards and assessment model that isinternationally benchmarked and recognized

� ECSA undertook a most successful NRS publicconsultation process during March 2015 in the maincentres across South Africa

� Applicants will continue to submit their applications toregister with ECSA in a paper-based format until theonline registration system becomes operational. Anappropriate phasing-in period of 12 months will beobserved for paper-based applications.

IEW in the SA Mining and Minerals Sector (SAM&MS)� Engineering practitioners in the SAM&MS who perform

IEW and take responsibility for such work will need tobecome registered in the appropriate category with ECSA

� The engineering practitioners in the SAM&MS who willbe most affected by the proposed IDoEW regulationsinclude Engineers, Engineering Technologists,Certificated Engineers, and Engineering Technicians

� The level descriptors in the proposed IDoEW Regulationsmake an unambiguous distinction between the levels ofengineering practice vis-a-vis ‘complex’ (PrEng),‘broadly-defined’ (PrEng Tech and Pr Cert Eng), and‘well-defined’ (PrEng Techn)

� Numerous discussions held between the Mine Health andSafety Council (MHSC), the Mining Regulations AdvisoryCommittee (MRAC)’s Task Team dealing with mandatorylicensing in the SAM&MS, and ECSA, have led to a jointagreement to investigate the possibility of institutingsome form of exemption for competent persons whoperform and take responsibility for IEW

� ECSA has also consulted PLATO, SACNASP/GSSA, andthe SAIMM and its associated Recognized VoluntaryAssociations in respect of overlaps between the IdentifiedWork for the different professions/occupations in theSAM&MS. The agreed way forward in regard to the saidoverlaps that will be proposed to the CC is theincorporation of an appropriate exemption clause to theproposed IDoEW Regulations, as well as theestablishment of joint IDoEW committees that will dealwith specific overlaps.

Cheadle, Thompson, and Haysom (CTH) report� The Cheadle, Thompson, and Haysom (CTH) report

dealing with competency certificates in the SAM&MS wasapproved by a Stakeholder Consultative Workshoparranged by the Mining Qualifications Authority (MQA)held on 20 July 2012

� The work relating to the implementation of therecommendations of the said report was subsequentlytemporarily suspended until the completion of theClassification of Mines Project

� The CTH report was referred for implementation to theDMR MRAC.

Statutory Licensing in the SAM&MS� The DMR undertook to expedite the implementation of

the report ‘Reverting back to the Blasting Certificate’� The Inspectorate: Mineral Resources holds the position

that Certificates of Competency (CoCs) issued by the DMRare not qualifications and may therefore be withdrawn orsuspended. Legal counsel considers the use of CoCs as alicence-to-practice as unconstitutional

� The DMR undertook to publish a draft list of occupationsin the SAM&MS that would be subject to statutorylicensing, e.g. ‘the Big Five appointments’.

Poor examination results: GCCs� The draft final report ‘Poor Examination results of

Government Certificates of Competency (GCCs)’, compiledby a University of Johannesburg (UJ) team, wasapproved at an industry workshop held on 22 August2014

� The MQA Board approved the report and forwarded it forconsideration and implementation to the MHSC.

The ‘New Model for CEs’� An ECSA Standards Generation Group (SGG) developed a

‘New Model for Certificated Engineers (CEs)’ whichproposes that the GCCs (seven in total) for Managers andEngineers in the RSA be replaced by registration withECSA in the appropriate category of Pr Cert Eng

� ECSA is busy establishing a high-level Joint Steercomcomposed of representatives from the DMR, Departmentof Labour, Department of Transport, Department ofPublic Works, and ECSA to address the inappropriateduplication of requirements for CEs found in the differentsets of legislation.

Implementation of an OBET-compliant dispensation in theSAM&MS� The draft Stage 2, Level 7 QCTO-compliant qualification

for CEs awaits submission to the Quality Council for

Trades and Occupations (QCTO) for consideration andapproval

� The draft stage 2, Level 5 QCTO-compliant qualificationfor Mine Overseers awaits submission to the QCTO

� The Level 4, QCTO-compliant qualification for MinePlanning Officers has been submitted forconsideration/approval to the QCTO

� The Level 4, QCTO-compliant qualification forOccupational Environmental (Ventilation) Officers hasbeen submitted for consideration/approval to the QCTO

� Numerous CocCs have been issued by the DMR as well asthe Chamber of Mines of SA at levels 5 to 8 on the 10-level National Qualifications Framework (NQF).

7. International liaisonPortfolio Holder: R.T. Jones

Key Performance Areas

To achieve its objectives, the SAIMM

� Participates in and represents South Africa on bodiessuch as the Mining, Metals & Minerals Society (TMS),and together with Mintek on INFACON

� Appoints corresponding members in areas such asAustralasia, Botswana, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Europe,the Far East, Ghana, New Zealand, the United Kingdom,and the United States of America, and interacts withsister institutions in other countries to promoteinternational exchange of scientific and technicalinformation.

7.1 APCOMProf. C. Dohm, South African Representative

APCOM symposiaAPCOM was founded in 1961 by professors and students fromthe Earth sciences and mining departments at the universitiesof Arizona, Stanford, Pennsylvania, and the Colorado School ofMines. The Society of Mining Engineers (SME) alsoparticipated in the meeting. The focus was on exchangingknowledge and experience in operations research and computermethodologies and technologies available at that time, and thedevelopment of new techniques applicable to the miningindustry. In 1969 the Operational Research Society of SouthAfrica (ORSSA) played a significant role in formalizing andrecording the proceedings of the meetings. Annual or bi-annualinternational APCOM Symposia have become important events,where practitioners and researchers use the opportunity toshowcase innovative applications of computer technology.These forums stimulate debate, and promote and facilitate theadvancement of operations research methodologies andcomputer technologies for the mining industry. They constitutea meeting place for industry leaders who have accepted thechallenges of the mining environment, and are adapting old ordeveloping new technology to solve age-old problems underdifferent conditions. The aim is to develop, operate, and closemines in a manner that provides long-term value. That is, toimprove the economic viability of mining within the ever-demanding mining climate and the evolved broad view oflong-term value.

The 2015 International APCOM Council consists of thefollowing members:

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Dr Ernest Baafi representing the AustralasianInstitute of Mining andMetallurgy (AusIMM)

Dr Sukumar Bandopadhyay representing the Society forMining, Metallurgy andExploration (SME)

Dr João Felipe Costa representing the FederalUniversity of Rio Grande De Sul,Brazil

Dr Kadri Dagdelen representing Colorado School ofMines, USA

Dr Sean Dessureault representing the University ofArizona, USA

Dr Christina Dohm representing the South AfricanInstitute of Mining andMetallurgy (SAIMM)

Dr Robert Hall representing the CanadianInstitute of Mining, Metallurgyand Petroleum

Dr Evengy Kuzmin representing Moscow MiningInstitute, Russia

Dr Eduardo Magri representing the University ofSantiago, Chile

Dr Antonio Nieto representing Pennsylvania StateUniversity, USA

Dr Harry Parker representing the Society forMining, Metallurgy andExploration (SME)

Dr Axel Preusse representing Aachen University,Germany

Dr Andrej Subelj representing the Institute ofMining, Geotechnology andEnvironment, Slovenia

Dr Wang Yuehan representing China University ofMining and Technology.

37th APCOM Symposium 2015The 37th APCOM Symposium was held at the Westmark Hoteland Convention Centre in Fairbanks, Alaska, during 24–27May 2015, with 120 delegates, including 30 graduate students,attending.

The Chairman of the Conference was Dr SukumarBandopadhyay of the University of Fairbanks. Mayor LukeHopkins of Fairbanks North Borough and Steven Gardiner,2015 SME President, delivered the welcoming addresses. TheConference kicked off with three keynote deliveries. Dr RajArmani entertained the audience with the 50-year story ofAPCOM. This was followed by a presentation on ‘TechnologicalPerspective on Risk Management and the New Paradigm forSmarter Mining and Complex Mineral Value Chains’ by DrDimitrakopoulos. Finally, Dr Deutsch presented the‘geostatistical myths’ that are much talked about but rarelyseen – referring to, for example, theoretical models usinggridded blocks, which exist only in models and not in mines.

The programme included a variety of topics, with 120presentations delivered in 19 sessions over three days andcovering Mine Automation (4), Geostatistics (14), MineExploration (6), Production Scheduling (8), Project Evaluation(4), Mine Planning (14), Mine Design Simulation (5), MineralProcessing (6), Mine Ventilation (10), Discrete-SystemSimulation in Mining (6), Geotech-Rock Mechanics (5),

Decision Making Computer Applications (4), ComputerModelling in Unconventional Resource Development (4),Optimization in Mining (4), Drilling and Blasting (6),Underground Mining(6), Off-shore Placer Resource Estimation(5), as well as a few in the Miscellaneous category (6).

The Symposium Proceedings, containing 146 publications,are available to member on Onemine at www.onemine.org.

The main sponsors of the 37th APCOM were Maptek, PogoMine, Kinross Fort Knox, ProCogs, and Cradle. Other sponsorswere the University Alaska Fairbanks, the AustralasianInstitute of Mining and Metallurgy, the SME, Usibelli CoalMine, and the Association of Engineering and EnvironmentalGeologists (AEG.)

38th APCOM Symposium The 38th International Symposium on the Application ofComputers and Operations Research in the Mineral Industry(APCOM 2016) will be held in Denver, Colorado, during August2016 at the Colorado School of Mines. The conference is co-sponsored by the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, andExploration (SME).

The technical programme of this Symposium will be abalance of traditional areas of exploration, includinggeostatistics, mine design, production planning, investmentanalysis, artificial intelligence simulation, mine automation,rock mechanics, mineral processing, and data managementsystems.

Important dates and conference details will be provided asand when received.

The Chairman of the 37th Symposium and contact person is:Dr Kadri DagdelenDepartment of Mining EngineeringColorado School of Mines,Denver, USA

7.2 INFACONN.A. Barcza, ChairmanR.T. Jones, Secretary General

The INFACON Congress was founded in South Africa in 1974by the SAIMM, Mintek, and the Ferro Alloys Producers'Association (FAPA) when the first INFACON was held inJohannesburg. INFACON has already been held three times inSouth Africa, the most recent event being in Cape Town in2004. The fourteenth Congress, INFACON XIV, was held inKyiv in Ukraine in June 2015 (http://infacon14.com.ua).

The International Committee on Ferro-Alloys (ICFA) wasformed by the SAIMM, FAPA, and Mintek. Mintek providesthe secretariat for ICFA.

The primary objectives of ICFA are to promote the holdingof the International Ferro-Alloys Congress (INFACON) everytwo to three years in appropriate locations, to ensure that thehigh technical standard of papers and presentations ismaintained, and to increase and promote participation. ICFAalso provides high-level assistance in the important process oftransferring the hosting of INFACON from one country to thenext, with the valued involvement of recent INFACON hosts.

ICFA arranges the meeting of representatives from ferro-alloy producing and consuming countries during eachINFACON, to discuss the relevant technical content for

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INFACON and decide on the country that will host thesubsequent INFACON Congress. Prospective host countries areinvited to make submissions in advance to ICFA accordingly.Criteria for selection include the appropriate professionalstanding of the organizing entity, the suitability of the location,and the necessary level of local and regional support fromstakeholders such as industry, government, and relevanttechnical institutions.

The current members of ICFA include: ABRAFE (Brazil),CSM (Chinese Society for Metals and the Chinese FerroalloyAssociation, China), Euroalliages (Europe), IFAPA (India), JFA(Japan), CMI (Chemical-Metallurgical Institute, Kazakhstan),AIST (North America), FFF (Norway), Russia, FAPA (SouthAfrica), UkrFA (Ukrainian Ferroalloys and otherElektrometallurgy Products Manufactures Association,Ukraine), and invited attendee Turkey, who participated in theICFA meetings in Almaty and Kyiv.

INFACON has been held in the following countries andlocations:

� Brazil (1) in 1986, in Rio de Janeiro (ABRAFE)� Canada (1) in 2001, in Québec City (TFA)� China (1) in 1998, in Beijing (CSM)� Finland (1) in 2010, in Helsinki (Outotec) � India (1) in 2007, in New Delhi (IFAPA)� Japan (1) in 1983, in Tokyo (JFA)� Kazakhstan (1) in 2013, in Almaty (CMI and National

Center on Processing of Complex Materials)� Norway (1) in 1995, in Trondheim (SINTEF)� South Africa (3) in 1974, 1992, and 2004 in

Johannesburg (1) and Cape Town (2) (FAPA, Mintek,and the SAIMM)

� Switzerland (1) in 1980, in Lausanne (IFPEO, nowEuroalliages)

� Ukraine (1) in 2015, in Kyiv (UkrFA)� USA (1) New Orleans, in 1989 (TFA).

INFACON contributes to the exchange of research anddevelopment information by publishing refereed paperscovering the major and minor ferro-alloys. Participants includeuniversities, research and development organizations, suppliersof services, engineering, and equipment, and in particular theferro-alloy industry. The constitution for INFACON has beenupdated and is hosted on the Infacon website.

The host organization for INFACON XIV was UkrFA, theUkrainian Ferroalloys and the Elektrometallurgy ProductsManufactures Association. The Organizing Committee forINFACON XIV was as follows:

� Honorary Chairman – Professor Boris Paton,Academician and President of the National Academy ofSciences of Ukraine

� Chairman of the Extended Programme Committee andProgramme Committee – Professor Sergey Grishchenko

� Chairman of the Organizing Committee – PavelKravchenko, Director General of PJSC ZaporozhyeFerroalloy Plant

� Co-chairman of the Extended Programme Committee andProgramme Committee – Dr Vladimir Kutsin, DirectorGeneral of PJSC Nikopol Ferroalloy Plant

� Chief Executive Officer of UkrFA and Deputy Director ofthe Public Association INFACON XIV – SergeyKudryavtsev

� Director of the Public Association INFACON XIV – NataliaLegkaya.

The theme of INFACON XIV was ‘Energy efficiency andenvironmental friendliness are the future of the ferro-alloyindustry’. INFACON XIV was a very successful event, withclose to 250 delegates and exhibitors representing almost 30countries. The leading participants in terms of delegates wereUkraine (64), South Africa (36), Norway (19), Kazakhstan (7),and Finland (7). There are 103 papers published in the twovolumes of the INFACON XIV Proceedings. Professor SergeyGrishchenko and the INFACON XIV team can be justly proud ofthe excellent Congress held in Kyiv and for providing thedelegates and their partners with a most enjoyable time in theirwonderful city. Congratulations are due to all those involvedwith the success.

The technical programme contained many interesting andtopical presentations covering the major and minor ferro-alloys.The social activities were outstanding including an entertainingand spectacular evening boat cruise on the Dnieper River. Thecultural highlight of the social programme was held in the StateHall with an evening of traditional Ukrainian cuisine, music,acrobatics, and dancing that reflected the proud traditions ofthis very historical city and the whole country.

The post-Congress technical visits to the Nikopolferromanganese and Pobuzhie ferronickel plants provideddelegates with a great opportunity to see some of the veryinnovate pyrometallurgical processes in operation there.

The meeting of ICFA was held during INFACON XIV on 2 June 2015 and was attended by representatives from most ofthe main ferro-alloy producing regions who are members ofICFA. The two most important decisions discussed at themeeting were the appointments of the new Chairman andSecretary General of ICFA and the award of the hosting ofINFACON XV.

The meeting supported the appointment of Rodney Jones tosucceed Dr Nic Barcza, who has served ICFA for over twentyyears. Isabel Geldenhuys, Manager of Mintek’s PyrometallurgyDivision, will succeed Rodney as Secretary General of ICFA.Both appointments became effective from the date of the ICFAmeeting in Kyiv. The ICFA Committee offered theircongratulations to the new appointees and thanked theoutgoing Chairman.

The award of the 15th International Ferro-Alloys Congress,INFACON XV, to South Africa was announced at the closingceremony, and the event is planned for early 2018.

INFACON XV will be held under the auspices of SAIMM,FAPA, and Mintek. The website for INFACON XV ishttp://www.infacon15.com

The SAIMM has extensive experience in organizing thethree previous successful ferro-alloy congresses in SouthAfrica. This track record should encourage good support fromprospective delegates from around the world. Special attentionwill be given to some regions that have not attended recentINFACONs to the extent that they did in the past.

The SAIMM is the custodian of the INFACON Bursary Fund,which supports research and development in the field of ferro-alloys. The fund was established from the surplus generatedfrom the earlier INFACON X Congress in South Africa. Furtherdetails can be obtained from the SAIMM.

INFACON XIV was well supported by sponsors who wereacknowledged in the usual way. INFACON XV will, as in thepast, provide opportunities for sponsorship in the usual

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categories, namely: Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze. Detailswill be made available on the INFACON XV website and fromthe contacts below.

ICFA contacts:Chairman: Rodney Jones, [email protected] General: Isabel Geldenhuys, [email protected] website: http://www.pyrometallurgy.co.za/Infacon/

7.3 SAMREC/SAMVAL

F.T. Cawood, Chairman

A. Bals K. LombergR. Becker C.D.A. LoxtonM. Booysens A. MacfarlaneA. Clay K. RedmanK. Davies G.L. SmithA. de Bruyn E. SwindellJ.R. Dixon D. van NiekerkS. Foya J. VisserD. Kruger

The SAMREC/SAMVAL Committee (SSC) operates under theauspices of the Southern African Institute of Mining andMetallurgy (SAIMM) and the Geological Society of South Africa(GSSA). It oversees and administers the SAMCODES, which isa collective acronym for the following documents:

� The SAMREC Code, dealing with the reporting of mineralresources and reserves

� The SAMVAL Code, dealing the reporting of mineralasset valuations

� The SAMOG Code, dealing with the reporting of upstreampetroleum resources, reserves, and asset valuations.

During 2014 the SSC established a new Working Group(SAMESG) to consider the need for drafting a guidelinedocument on how environmental, social, and governanceissues impact on the reporting of resources, reserves, and assetvaluations.

The SSC meets quarterly, while its Working Groups (oneach of the documents under administration) meet monthly.Ad hoc meetings and complaints are also dealt with in-betweenmeetings. Key issues and events that influenced the businessof the SSC during the past year are summarized below and arediscussed in more detail later in this report:

1. The SAMREC Working Group revised its Code and is ontarget for implementation in May 2016

2. The SAMVAL Working Group made good progress onthe updating of the SAMVAL Code

3. The SAMOG Code was implemented in early 20154. The SAMESG Working Group amended Table 1 of the

SAMREC Code5. The TOR of the SSC was revised 6. The ECSA Board notice on Identification of Engineering

Work matter is potentially resolved7. Three complaints were handled by the SSC during the

period under review.

SAMREC Working Group (K. Lomberg, Chairperson)The SAMREC Working Group meets on a monthly basis. Thegroup consults stakeholders regularly in-between meetings, inaddition to making formal presentations and publications inthe SAIMM and GSSA bulletins. The Working Group alsodeveloped SAMREC learning materials for presentations atschools and public consultations. The Exposure Draft was

released to members of the GSSA and SAIMM at branchmeetings, and consultation included roadshows at Witbank,Cape Town, Rustenburg, Kimberley, and Johannesburg. Thetarget date for launching the new updated SAMREC Code isMay 2016. The next part of the approval process will be toconsult with the JSE and the Financial Services Board (FSB).Thereafter, the Code will need to be published in theGovernment Gazette.

A companion volume to provide industry guidelines iscurrently being compiled for release at a conference in May2016 under the joint auspices of the GSSA and SAIMM.Competent Person training was undertaken through the GSSAand participation at the 35th International Geological Congressin August/September 2016 is planned by the South AfricanCRIRSCO representatives.

The SAMREC Code is regarded as the basis from which theother SAMCODES have developed, and the SAMREC WorkingGroup therefore has to liaise with the other Working Groups ona regular basis. For example, the SAMESG Working Groupadded environmental, social, and governance content to Table1 of the SAMREC Code, which required a close relationshipbetween the two groups.

SAMVAL Working Group (A. Macfarlane and K. Redman,Chairpersons)

The SAMVAL Working Group has been busy with a review andupdate of the SAMVAL Code. The final draft was circulated forinternal comment and released for wider comment in May 2015to the members of the Working Group, the SAIMM, and GSSA.Through a public participation process, key issues for reviewwere identified and discussed during the roadshows mentionedunder the SAMREC section.

Revision issues include value definition, CompetentValuator statutory registration, and alignment (although thisissue is substantively complex and to date has not beenresolved) with international practise. The target date forlaunching the new updated Code is also May 2016 at the SSCconference on the updated Codes. Mrs Redman developed SSCmaterials for public consultation and presented these to theCompetition Commission and MIASA. The focus of the periodJune 2014 to June 2015 was to finalize a draft that could bereleased for comment on the following basis:

� The final exposure draft was sent to members of theGSSA and SAIMM for further comment and consultation,which included roadshows

� The next part of the approval process will be to consultwith the JSE and the FSB. This step includes a publicparticipation process for further comment. Once any FSBissues have been resolved, the SAMVAL Code will bepublished in the Government Gazette

� Once the SAMVAL process is complete, overlaps with theSouth African Property Valuers Profession Act of 2000(SAPVPA) must be resolved. Currently, valuations forcompanies that list on the JSE are performed under eitherthe SAMVAL or SAMOG codes, while valuations of assetsthat are not held by a JSE-listed company overlap withSAPVPA

� A companion volume to provide industry guidelines iscurrently being compiled. This is in preparation for theconference to be held in May 2016 under the jointauspices of the GSSA and SAIMM

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� Mrs Redman presented an overview of the SAMCODES toMIASA (Mining Industry Association of Southern Africa)on 13 February 2015, in addition to giving apresentation in Kimberley at a diamond conference onbehalf of the SSC.

Mr McFarlane chaired the IMVAL Committee andsuccessfully initiated discussions with internationalcounterparts in setting up a global Mining Asset ValuationGroup, with the intention of establishing a global counterpartto CRIRSCO. He was instrumental in getting the IMVALtemplate to finalization and the final draft has been circulatedto member organizations, including the SAMVAL WorkingGroup, for comment before finalization. Discussions with theInternational Valuations Standards Council with regard to theIMVAL template and the association of Mineral Asset Valuatorswith the IVSC are ongoing. Mr Clay and Mrs Redman areadditional representatives on IMVAL. The current Chairpersonof IMVAL is Mr Roscoe.

During the review period, Mr McFarlane was succeeded byMrs Redman as Chairperson of the SAMVAL Working Group.Mr McFarlane made a tremendous contribution during his time,and his hard work is recognized and appreciated by the SSC.

Oil and Gas Working Group (A. Clay, Chairperson)In late 2012, the Oil and Gas Committee was provided with anew mandate from the SSC to reactivate its work and create anOil and Gas Reporting Standard for Public Reporting in SouthAfrica. The SAMOG Code is the output document and theSAMOG Committee included experts (international and local),together with interested and affected parties. The Committeeestablished a relationship with the Alberta SecuritiesCommission as the custodians of the National Instrument 51-101 reporting code, and Part 5 of that Code has been adoptedwith minor modifications to create the draft SAMOG Code. ThePetroleum Resources Management System (PRMS) is theinternationally accepted classification system for the petroleumindustry and is the anchor of the new SAMOG Code forreporting resources and reserves as well as global definitions.

Section 12 of JSE Act was redrafted to include oil and gas,which changes were approved by the JSE EXCO. The SAMOGCode was ratified by the SSC in 2014, and implemented early in2015 after the JSE Act had been amended to accommodate thisCode. The SSC managed the process of establishing the Oil andGas JSE Readers Panel, which process required approval of aTOR, nominations, and JSE appointment. The Readers Panel isnow waiting for the first submission under this Code. The JSEhas managed to secure a memorandum of understanding withthe Alberta Securities Commission for future maintenance ofthe Code. A revised version of the NI 51-101 is currently inpreparation.

Reporting on environmental, social, and governance parameters(S. Dyke, Chairperson)The SSC gave its provisional blessing to an exploration of thepossibility of developing a guideline document for the reportingof environmental, social, and governance issues. The firstmeeting was in July 2014 and since then the Committee hasmet monthly. The Working Group has been productive, andtheir outputs to date are:

� An initial consultation paper� The case for developing a scoping exercise

� Amendment of Table 1 of the SAMREC Code. TheWorking Group has also initiated a public consultationprocess in this regard. The SAMREC Working Group, asthe custodian of the SAMREC Code and Table 1, providedcomment and additional input

� The first working draft of the SAMESG guideline wassubmitted to the SSC for consideration on 28 May 2015.During that SSC meeting, the Committee indicated thatthe guideline would be published on the SSC website andreferenced as the official document for reportingpurposes. The SAMESG guideline is aligned with bothnational and international principles.

Both SAMREC and SAMVAL chairpersons have invited theSAMESG Working Group to submit a proposed edit for theSAMREC/SAMVAL codes as to how the SAMESG should beconsidered when reporting under the auspices of the respectiveCodes. The next part of the approval process will be to obtainapproval from the SSC, and publication on the SSC website,following conversion of the SAMESG to an appropriate format.Its implementation might require amendment of the JSE Actand affect the composition of the JSE Readers Panels.

Revision of SSC terms of referenceThe current TOR document is dated June 2009 and permissionfor revision was approved by SAIMM office-bearers on 11 April2014 after consultations with the GSSA. The new TORdocument is likely to be implemented before the end of 2015.The main issues are:� The SSC Chair’s role needs to be properly defined at the

time of appointment� All SSC revenue received will be ring-fenced within the

SAIMM accounting system in order to provide foroperational (including legal) expenses

� The work of the SSC needs to be frequentlycommunicated to members. Since the meeting, thePresident decided that the SSC Chair be invited onCouncil to communicate SSC business on a regular basis

� An Oversight Committee consisting of GSSA and SAIMMoffice-bearers was established to discuss additionalmatters related to the TOR, budgetary requirements, andmanagement of possible risks to the parent bodies.

The TOR of the SSC provides for a system of rotating chairsbetween the GSSA and SAIMM. My two-year term as SSC Chairends at the end of 2015 and the GSSA will nominate the Chairfor the period 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2017. In termsof the TOR, the SAIMM has to nominate a Deputy Chair for thisperiod. This SSC leadership matter must be an agenda point fordecision at the final Oversight Committee Meeting for 2015.

IDoEW Board Notice – CBE Notice on the imminentregulation of the Engineering Profession Members of the SAMVAL Working Group were involved inproviding written and verbal comments to the CompetitionCommission on the Engineering Council of South AfricaIdentification of Work proposals (IDoW) published as part ofthe requirements in fulfilment of the Council for the BuiltEnvironment Act. In addition, the SSC had fruitful meetingswith ECSA, SAIMM, and the CC. The current state of affairs is:

� ECSA acknowledged the overlaps and assuming that theCC is satisfied that the Notice is not uncompetitive, ECSAwill address the exemptions issue in the Regulations toits Act

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� ECSA further acknowledged that mutual exemptions maynot work and it will be more appropriate for the wordingin the different Acts/Regulations to ‘speak’ to each other

� A joint working committee to address overlaps anddevelop appropriate legal text, consisting of membersfrom ECSA, SACNASP, and PLATO, will be created. ItsTOR will be established with SSC input.

Complaints handled by the SSCThree complaints regarding Competent Person/Valuator reportsaffecting the following companies were handled by the SSCduring the period under review:

In conclusion, as the outgoing Chairperson of the SSC, Iwould like to thank the SAIMM, GSSA, and SSC members fortheir hard work and support. This group of professionals ishard-working, and passionate about the work of the SSC andthe future of the Committee and its working groups. I also wantto thank the JSE, Working Group Chairs and all committees,who are all contributing enormously in developing andmaintaining codes, guidelines, and regulations involving thebusiness of the SSC.

8. Management and AdministrationPortfolio Holder: M. Dworzanowski

The Secretariat consists of:Miss Sam Moolla (Manager)

Mr Alf Bettoni (Accountant)

Miss Jacqui E'Silva (Head of Membership and Branch administrator)

Mrs Camielah Jardine (Conference Co-ordinator)

Miss Portia Malatji (Accounts Assistant)

Mrs Zuliakha Malgas (DTP Operator)

Miss Nazli Mamdoo (Conference Publications Co-ordinator)

Miss Kelly Matthee (Journal and Subscriptions Co-ordinator)

Miss Prudence Ntumeleng (Switchboard/Recept. & Asst. to Manager)

Mrs Anna Panana (Conference Assistant)

Miss Yolanda Ramokgadi (Conference Co-ordinator)

Mrs Apathia Sello (Administration Clerk)

Miss Keabetswe Shumba (Membership Application Processor)

Mr Raymond van der Berg (Head of Conferencing)

Mrs Dawn van der Walt (Head of Publications)

Miss Naomi Wernecke (Membership Application Processor)

The SAIMM, Office Bearers, and Council record theirappreciation to the above for their service.

8.1 FinanceJ.L. Porter, C. Musingwini

It has been expected for several years that the SAIMM wouldexperience challenges to its income and expenditure, broughtabout by influences in the industry, labour volatility, andeconomic sluggishness.

Well, it has happened this financial year. The cancellationof five technical programmes has strained our cash flow; wehave had to draw down R1 million from our investments inorder to fund daily operations and to continue to providing thequality service our members expect.

Fortunately, over the years of abundance, our investmentportfolio has performed better than expected and thus was ableto sustain us during this past year; and perhaps will have to doso into the next. The uncertainty in the industry is not beingcalmed by rumours vis-à-vis job cuts.

The key highlights for 2015 are (in million rands)

2015 2014 Diff.Assets 37.5 38.9 -1.4Reserves 37.0 36.8 +0.2Liabilities 0.5 2.1 -1.6Revenue 17.2 17.1 +0.1Cost of sales 13.2 12.7 +0.5Operating expenses 7.0 6.7 +0.3Operating surplus -01.39 0.2 -1.5Total surplus +0.013 5.5 -5.49

The value of our assets, apart from this year’s dip, stillremains healthy and has increased by R17.2 million over thepast five years while our total liabilities at year’s end remainlow at R0.5 million

Special projects

The increase in the cost of sales over the previous financialyear can be attributed primarily to special projects, which werenot imprudent spending, but were authorized by Office Bearersand approved by Council.

These include:

� R 136 000 for computer software for technicalprogrammes

� R 104 000 for Danie Krige Awards� R 220 000 donation to the Scholarship Trust Fund� R 51 000 for Global Mining Standards Group� R 27 000 for INFACON� R 105 000 as bridging finance for Mining Dialogue � R 305 000 membership write-off� R330 000 for Regional Development/expenses

AFC Investment Portfolio

This portfolio continues to perform and has maintained valueunder the expert guidance of Dee Campouroglou at AFCInvestment Management.

The portfolio opened on 1 July 2014 at R33.7 million andclosed on 30 June 2015 at R34.4 million, an overall gain ofR0.7 million after the R1 million we drew down to support cashflow. These figures include the Western Cape Branch’s share.

Western Cape Branch

The Branch has successfully migrated to Pastel Accounting andhas ended the year with its own set of accounts, which isincluded in the Annual Report. Special thanks to Meg Winter,Clare Pomario, and Treasure Craig Sweet for their patience andperseverance.

And, speaking of thanks, as Treasurer I would like toextend my appreciation to Sam Moolla, Alf Bettoni, and the restof the team, as well as to our auditor Bobby Kitching for yetanother successful audit.

New MembersMembers

C.E. Addinall, I.O. Asante, L. Auret, M.A. Austin, D. Avutia, L. Banda, V.N. Banda, E. Banga, S.W. Bhero, J. Botha, M.I. Botha, M.M. Brown, R.E.D. Bush, V.N. Buthelezi, H.M. Chauke, I. Chifamba, G. Chipepera, M. Chizura, L.P. Crabbe, J. Dadswell, M.T. Daling, D.D. Dames, I.E. Davidson, R. de Franca Rosendo, J.T. De Souza, C. de Wet,

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M.S. Dekeda, G.M. Denton, N. Deonarain, C.M. Digby, G. Dombo, J.J. Dreyer, H.G. du Bois, J.H. Engelbrecht, A.G. Erasmus, Z. Fakhraei, A.O. Fapohunda, B. Farshadi, I. Ganje, T.J. Goosen, D. Gordine, X.C. Goso, G.L. Govender, C. Grobler, B.A.G. Grymonprez, D. Gwatinetsa, C.G. Higgins, D. Hlahane, M.A. Jethro, A.J. Joubert, F. Kabamba, E.F. Kankeu, J. Kasumba, A. Khot, G.S.R. Koll, P.M. Krishna, S. Krishnan, S.J. Louw, F. Madyirapanze, S. Mafu, G. Mafunda,T.E. Mapanzure, O.C. Mashabila, D. Mathuba, G. Mawere, P.M. May, B. McGeorge, D.S. Mdhlalose, J.P. Mirirai Bishi, A. Mlambo, K. Moswela, P.M. Motswagole, T. Moyo, T.B. Mubvirwi, L.C. Mudzingwa, C. Mukonoweshuro,L.B. Mukumbi, M.G. Mulaudzi, P.P. Mulder, M. Mungoni,K. Mushinka, K. Musiwa, A. Mutiti, C. Muzoriwa, M. Nasiri, L. Ncube, M.B. Ndasi, M. Nekongo, J.N. Nel, AM. Ntinginya,L.M. Ntsipe, W. Nyamapfeni, D. Oosthuizen, C.A. Opperman,M.A. Pereira, O. Pillay, K. Ponnan, L. Ramanala, C.P. Sadomba,G. Sakuhuni, B.M. Schlenter, M.S. Sekano, V.P. Sharma, H. Sikana, R. Sililo, A. Simutowe, N. Singh, B. Stofberg, R. Sukdhoe, N. Tatalias, F. Tembo, J.J. Thompson, I. Tichivangana, M. Tozvireva, A. Tsapayi, Y.M. van der Grijp,S.F.C van der Wath, B. Zimba, M.B. Zvigumbu.

Associates

W.K. Banda, N.P. Boonzaier, G.G. Booth, T.P. Boshego, M.B. Bululu, P.K. Buthelezi, M.F. Cedron, B.T. Charandura, J. Chetty, S. Chibwe, M. Chikwekwe, C. de Jager, F.H. Enslin,G.T. Farirepi, J.H. Ferreira, E.L. Forner, T.N. Francis, M.C. Gaula, T. Gcwabaza, H.H. Gouws, S. Gunpath, K.B. Hervé,C. Hofisi, R.G. Hove, C. Ilbury, C.S.A. Joseph, M. Kapembwa,N.M. Kazembe, M.J. Khumalo, P.F. Knights, J. P Labuschagne,L. Lehasa, M.M .A. Lelope, A.M. Lesufi, M. Letsoalo, X. Liu, S.C. Louw, A.F. Lubbe, R. Mahove, A.K. Majachani, A.T. Majachani, T.S. Makacha, N.M. Makgoto, N. Makheda, R. Makwela, M.T. Mamina, M.S. Manono, M.P. Maphutha, H.L. Maringa, S.X. Mashaba, K.M. Matare, S. Mazonde, P.S. Mbedzi, A.A. Mhlongo, R. Mitra, J.S.T. Moabi, N.N. Moeketsi, N.J. Mohlomi, L.A. Mokgokong, L.A. Mokgokong, G. Mokoisa, T.I. Molaoa, M.C. Moyo, A.E. Mudau, C. Mulenga, K. Mumatsi, T. Munjeri, H.C. Mushure, T.P. Mvubu, G.L. Mwenzi, N.G.N.G. Matthews,W. Naude, M. Ndlovu, T.F. Ndlovu, M. Nekongo, T.P. Ngobeni,P. Ntikang, N. Ntini, S.T. Nyamwawza, O.C. Nyaqela, S.T. Phalane, T.A. Rampai, C. Reddy, E. Rex, E. Rodrigues,M.M. Salamba, E.M.B. Santiago, F. Sasman, J. Scheepers, A. Seconds, N.O. Segapela, P. Segopolo, N. Sekgobela, S. Seporo, R.F. Serefentse, K. Setlhako, P. Seyanumd, N.A. Sithole, P.A. Sithole, I.H. Smuts, P.C. Snyders, A.J. Swart,P. Thuleleni Mathumbu, J.R. Town, S.P. Tsebe, K.D. Tshivhase,I.N. Tunnicliffe, K. Uazeua, L. van Heerden, N. van Noordwyk,R.H. van Zyl, P.J. Wessels.

Associate from Conferences

G.G. Booth, T.P. Boshego, P.K. Buthelezi, M.F. Cedron, J.H. Ferreira, T.N. Francis, M.C. Gaula, T. Gcwabaza, H.H. Gouws, S. Gunpath, C. Ilbury, P.F. Knights, J.P. Labuschagne, S.C. Louw, T.S. Makacha, R. Makwela, M.S. Manono, H.L. Maringa, N.G. Matthews, P.S. Mbedzi,

R. Mitra, L.A. Mokgokong, L.A. Mokgokong, G.E. Mokoisa,K.S. Mumatsi, T. Munjeri, S.T. Nyamwawza, C. Reddy, E. Rex,E. Rodrigues, M.M. Salamba, A. Seconds, P.R. Segopolo, N.G. Sekgobela, P. Seyanumd, P.C. Snyders, A.J. Swart, I.N. Tunnicliffe, L. van Heerden.

Students

P.P. Aderam, J. Ahlers, A. Akinola, B. Amitu, N.N. Amwelo,O.A. April, A. Arumero, C.J. Badenhorst, N.J. Baloyi, V.D. Baloyi, S.T. Baloyi, M.S. Banyini, P.P.A. Beetge, K.A. Bele,L.M. Bester, P.W. Bester, N. Bhuda, S. Bilitane, Z.S.S. Binta,A.D. Biya, O.A. Boikanyo, S.C. Booi, M.T. Bopape, S. Buthelezi,Y. Chambati, T. Chauke, C. Chauke, A.N. Chauke, N.P. Chepape,C.K. Chigudu, C. Chigwede, T. Chikomo, K.D. Chima, V. Chipakwe, R.K. Chipara, I. Chiramba, T. Chitima, R.K. Chitsiku, K. Chivasa, J.M. Chiwara, M. Chiwawa, M.F. Chokoe, A. Damone, C. Dau, J. De Goede, D.M.D.N. DePonte, J. De Villiers Thirion, E.R. De Wet, R. Demana, O.F. Dibwe, V.L. Diergaardt, N.P. Digomo, R.E. Dinkelmann,K.T. Dirwai, M. Dlamini, O.J. Dlamini, O. Dombo, J.A. du Plessis, S. Du Plessis, J.P. du Plessis, A.G.N. Du Toit, J. Du Toit, V. Dube, B.W. Dunhira, L.J. Ebrahim, A.J. Els, S.N. Epiga, O.A. Filani, C.L. Fourie, E.P. Furamera, T.Z. Galetuki, R.M. Ganga-Limando, L. Gcwabe, W. Goboza,I.T. Godra, G.L. Gomes-Sebastiao, A.A. Gqada, M. Grewar, L. Grobbelaar, M. Grobler, J. Groenewald, M.M. Guidao-Oab,T.W. Gwishiri, N.I. Hainana, A.W. Hall, R. Hambeka, J.K. Hamunyela, S.I. Hango, T.P.M. Hawadi, H.H. Heinrichs,K.C. Hendricks, M.D. Hendrique, J.C. Hlako, T.S.C. Hlatshwayo,B. Hlatshwayo, T. Hlengiwe, N.C. Hlongo, M.M. Hopane, P. Hove, M. Hurter, A. Hwacha, Y.L. Ikaneng, I. Itiola, T.M.Jack, I.M. James, N.E. Jeli, N. Jinyane, S.G. Jobson, A.B. John, N. Jokazi, B. Jordaan, T. Julius, B. Kabuya, M. Kadengwa, L. Kahenge, A. Kaka, F.N. Kalamba, I. Kalande, J. Kalenga, T.C.Karino, G.W. Kasonga, J.P. Kayumba-Saleh, A.M. Kekana, G.T.Kgaladi, D.J. Kgoete, M.G. Khalane, M.F. Khashole, H.H. Khoali, T.L. Khorommbi, B. Khosa ,N. Khosa, L.T. Khoza,C.K.A. Khumalo, L.T. Khumalo, L Kloppers, P.M. Komana,L.M. Korope, C.H. Kubayi, I.P. Kube, M.I. Kulula, S.J. Kunene,C.T. Kurira, V.B. Kuys, L.E. Labase, L.N. Langa, T.S. Lebona,K.T. Lebopo, M.B. Ledwaba, P. Lefifi, P. Lehgwati, K.M. Lekganyane, M.A. Lekoloane, D. J. Lekomanyane, T. Lekone, S. Leng, M.A. Lenonyana, K.F. Leshaba, T.C. Lesupi, K Letsoalo, W.M. Little, L.J. Little, P.T. Livhusha,L. Lizwane, K. Lombard, R. Lombard, T. Luvhengo, T.K. Maaba, T. Maake, J. Mabaso, S.B. Mabaso, A. Mabilu, R.S. Maboya, K.A. Mabule, S.W. Mabuza, N.R. Mabwe, K. Macheru, L.G. Machete, C.R. Machumi, S.A. Madanda, L. Madidimalo, A. Madolo, M. Maduna, K. Madzhasi ,A. Madzvimbo, K. Mafema, T. Mafohla, M.G. Mafokeng, M. Mafunisa, P.P. Magagane, P.M. Magagane, S.B. Magagula,R.R. Magakane, H.S. Magampa, N.D. Magidela, H.T. Magidi, T. Magora, M.M. Magoro, G. Magosvongwe, S.J. Magwala, L.S. Magwaza, M.M. Magwede, K. Mahapa, P. Mahlabela, N.M. Mahlalela, V. Mahlangu, G.N. Mahlangu, C.R. Mahlaule, J. Mahomed, R.B. Mahundla, L. Maimela, D.E. Majika, L. Majola, J.S. Makaai, S.E. Makgata, M.T. Makgene, D.M. Makgoale, M. Makgolane, K.D. Makhafola, Z.M.M. Makhanda, L.M. Makhari, A.S. Makhubu, M.B. Makola,

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860 VOLUME 115

M.E. Makongoza, M.S. Makubasena, R. Makuku, N.P. Makwarimba, P.R. Malatji, O. Malatji, C.M. Malatji, C.M. Maleka, M.J. Maloka, S.M. Maluleka, W. Mambana, T.D. Mametja, M.J. Mampshika, G. Mampuru, F. Manan,R.L. Mandiwana, K. Mandiwana, I.P. Manenzhe, M.T. Manganyi, N.W. Mangezi, M.C. Mankuru, H.S. Mans, R. Manyadze, M.Z. Manyathela, M. Manyoba, T.H. Mapholo,T.J. Maphosa, M.G. Maphunye, K. Mapotsane, T.L. Mapoulo, A. Mapuranga, H. Maree, W.B. Maree, M. Mariba, R. Marubini,N.G. Maruping, T.L. Masehla, H. Maseru, C. Mashamba, P. Mashavhathanga, T.P. Mashiane, T. Mashike, K.M. Mashile,P.R. Mashitisho, K. Mashoene, V.L. Masiane, M.T.C. Masilo,S.O. Maskua, T. Masunda, M.S. Mathabatha, K.T. Mathabathe,I.N. Mathe, M. Matheba, K. Mathebula, T.F. Mathebula, G. Mathebula, F. Mathedimosa, M.J. Mathekga, T.C. Mathonsi,T. Matidza, A. Matita, T. Matjila, P.P. Matlala, R.P. Matlala,E.M. Matloa, T. Matlokotsi, B. Matlola, N.G. Matsanga, A.N. Matsemela, M. Matshinyatsimbi, M.E. Mavhungu, T.T. Mayisa, N.S. Mazibuko, S.G. Mazule, K.K. Mbhele, I.H. Mbodi, F.N. Mboumba, M. Mbulayeni, L. Mbuqa, H.K. Mdluli, S.M.G. Mdumela, G. Mentor, L Meyiwa, N.M. Mgiba, P. Mgwebeni, J. Mhani, N.M. Mhinou, Z.S. Mhlanga, K. Mhlanga, B.S. Mhlongo, T.G. Mhlophe, N. Mhlungu, J.S. Minnar, M.E. Mitshiabo, T.L. Mkhize, S.C. Mkhonto, I.K. Mkhwanazi, N.S. Mlotshwa, T.E. Mmethi, R. Mmola, K.J. Mmonwa, K.P. Mmotlana, M.E. Mncube, S.Z. Mntonga, O. Moagi, T.K. Moagi, A.O. Moakofi, R.J. Moeketsi, M.M. Moela, E. Moemedi, K.L. Moepi, D.Mofokeng, L. Mofokeng, T.A. Mogajane, K. Mogale, M.A.Moganedi, M.R. Mogano, T.J. Mogashane, K.L. Mogodiri, F. Mohale, M. Mohapi , M.A. Mohlala, L.D. Mohloua, T.M. Mojela, M. Mokhele, A.Z. Mokoena, P.B. Mokoena, A.T. Mokoena, B.C. Mokomele, L.K. Mokonyane, T.E. Mokoqama, O.N. Molefe, S. Molekwa, N.R. Molele, M. Molobeng, T.C. Moloi, T. Monaheng, T. Monchu, M.D. Montse, K.T. Moreme, D. Morena, T. Moretsele, F.D. Morkel, K.D. Morokong, A.P. Mosadi, K. Mosebedi, V.S. Mosebele, R. Moses, M.C. Moswatse, T.E. Moswete, P.N. Motete, P.N. Motha, W.B. Motholo, M. Mothulwe, L.D. Mothwa, T.K. Motjopi, B.Z. Motlhaping, L.M. Motlhoki,F.K. Motlogoneng, G. Motloung, I.M. Motloung, B. Motsaathebe, N. Moyo, M.H. Mpe, Y.K. Mphahlele, P.R. Mphahlele, N.B. Mphakoba, A. Mphaphuli, C.M. Mphela,M.R. Mphule, S. Mpila, B. Mpina, S.S. Mpofu, K.E. Mrwata, P.P. Mthimunye, B.P. Mthombeni, P.T. Mubaiwa, C.M. Mudau,J.N. Mudau, D. Mudau, T, Mudau, D.F. Muendane, A.T. Mugadzi, A.V. Mugari, F.K. Mukazi, M. Mukheli, N.N.B. Mukonoweshuro, P. Mukwevho, M. Mulaudzi, R. Mulovhedzi, M. Munkombwe, E. Munyikwa, E. Munzhedzi,U.Y. Murangi, L.T. Mureverwi, Z. Muruge, B. Murwira, M.L. Musariri, P.C. Musehane, F.S. Musekwa, P. Muserere, L.L. Mushavhanamadi, J.T. Mushore, M. Mushwana, N. Mutanga, K.T. Mutanga, S. Muthala, K. Muthuhadini, P. Mutimutema, N. Mutshinya, E. Muvuti, D.Q.A. Mvelase, R.I. Mwalange, A. Mwiya, D.P. Myburgh, M.N. Mzenzi, N. Naidoo, S. Nala, H.I.N. Namupolo, J.E. Naudé, T.N. Nbmakundani, R.F.Nchabeleng, M.V.Nchabeleng, N. Ndangana, D.K. Ndebele, S.G. Ndhlazi, S. Ndinisa, N.N. Ndiweni, P.S. Ndlangamanala, M. Ndlovu, P.V. Ndou,

A.G. Ndou, M.G. Ndouvhada, N. Ndwendwa, Z.A. Nekhumbe,E.G. Nel, Y. Nel, L. Nemabaka, P. Nemaheni, A. Nemakonde, T. Nemasea, T.A. Nemavhola, R. Nepfumbada, E. Nephawe, F. Nesengani, L. Nethamba, M. Netshifhire, V.C. Netshilaphala,M. Netshilema, M.C. Netshiomvani, G.E. Netshipise, T.P. Netshisaulu, R. Netshithuthuni, T.M. Ngake, S.N. Ngcobo,Z. Ngculu, P. Nghonyama, J. Ngoato, N. Ngobeni, L. Ngobeni,K.R. Ngoma, C.M. Ngomane, T. Ngubane, V.N. Ngubane, K. Ngundu, L.V. Ngwenya, N.Q. Ngwenya, G.A. Nhenderere, S. Nkabinde, S.J. Nkosi, P.N. Nkosi, S. Nkosi, T.P. Nkosi, M.C. Nkwana, M.T. Nkwane, Y. Nleya, M.P. Nobela, W.H. Nobela, Z.Z. Nondudule, M.L. Ntangeni, M.E. Ntantiso,M.M. Ntsane, P.R. Ntuli, K. Ntwe, T.M.N. Nuukongo, T.T.T. Nyabote, C.T. Nyahwai, I. Nyamadzawo, K. Nyamuchiwa, R.N. Nyamugafata, H. Nyamwanza, N.B. Nyandeni, M. Nyanhongo, T. Nyasha, N. Nyathi, E. Nyikadzino, P. Olivier, T.L. Olyin, N. Othusitse, T. Otsengue,J.M. Page, T. Panganayi, T.M. Petje, T.C. Phago, B.I. Phakedi,H. Phaswana, K.G. Philo, T.L. Phophi, T.G. Phukubje, S. Phunguza, T. Poffu, S. Poswa, G.V. Potjieter, H.J. Prins, D.J. Prozesky, S.W. Qwabe, P.T. Raikane, J. Ramabu, N. Ramaremisa, D.R. Ramaridili, S. Ramaru, S.C. Ramashala,R. Ramathieledza, M. Ramavhoya, L. Ramawela, K. Ramonnye,A.A. Ramovha, T.D.O. Rampai, P. Ramudzult, M.T. Ramushu,P.M. Ramushu, K. Randau, B.D.P. Rapoo, P.E. Ratshiedana,Z.D. Ratshothe, R.S. Ravele, C. Reddy, N.B. Rekhotho, N. Rembuluwani, T. Ribeiro, K. Rikhotso, J.J. Roets, H. Rossouw, A.J. Rossouw, T. Rukono, C. Rumbidzai, K.T. Rusere, M.Y. Salojee, J. Sapsford, R. Schrywer, R.W. Sebapu, S. Seboko, M.E. Seete, J.L. Segoale, R.P. Segosapelo, M.B. Seima, T.G. Seimela, T.M. Sekoaila, P.J. Selepe, N.M. Seloadi, M.C. Sema, T. Semenya, T.S. Sepuru,B.T.V. Serutla, P.M. Seshoeni, M.G. Shabalala, M.T.V. Shabanga, M.C. Shabangu, T. Shandirwa, F.K. Shetu,A.N. Shiwalo, M. Shongwe, F.I. Shumba, M.S. Sibande, N.F. Sibisi, N.I. Sibisi, M.N. Sibiya, S.G. Sibiya, K.J. Sibiya, S.M. Sibuku, T. Silika, J.P. Silinda, W.G. Silva, C.T. Simelane,G.K. Sindumba, N.T. Singo, K. Sinthumule, M.G. Sitefane, K.C. Sithole, T.M. Sitimela, X.N. Siwela, J. Skoczynski, T.F. Skosana, G.P. Slabbert, M. Smith, M.E.G. Snyman, N. Snyman, A. Spratt, J.S. Steyn, Z. Stuurman, N. Sunduzwayo,J.C. Swanepoel, C.F.N. Tadonkeng, C. Tafadzwa, M. Takalo, A.S. Tambwe, C. Taute, R.T. Tavenga, S.S. Tema, E.N. Tembwa, M. Tharage, T. Thiba, J.L. Thobejane, M.S. Thokoane, D. Thomase, K.C. Thovhakale, T.J. Thulare, Z. Tjangura, M. Tjege, D. Tjiuongua, R.P.P. Tlhoaele, G. Tlhobolo, T. Tlhopile , S.T. Tlowana, S. Toperesu, R.L. Tseka, S.T. Tshabalala, S. Tshabalala, N.R. Tshibalo, T. Tshipani, R. Tshotheli, M. Tshukudu, M. Tshuma, M. Tsiane, C.K. Tsibuli, T. Tsiku, L.V. Tsikwe, V.T.M. Tsotsotso, M. Tuku, P.K. Twite, A.Q.Z. Tyira, A.T. Uchena, L. Valjee, C. van Aarde, M.C.J. van der Merwe,V.R. van der Merwe, S. van der Walt, R. van der Walt, J. van der Westhuizen, M. van der Westhuizen, S.M. vanWijngaarden, L. van Wyk, A. van Wyngaardt, W. van Zyl, L. Vece, H. Venter, P.M. Venter, E. Veterai, G.L. Visser, N. Vuma, A.J. Wessels, M. Wessels, T.C. Wheatley, S. Wicks, J. Witcho, K. Yabo, F. Zambezi, D.K. Zimucha, L.P. Zondo, S.L. Zulu, T.T. Zulu, F. Zvavamwe, K. Zwane.

Annual report

�861VOLUME 115

Annual report

Company Affiliates

DTP Bouygues Construction, MIP Process Technologies,Technology Innovation Agency.

Resignations

FellowsB.A .Montpellier, G. Ashworth, B, Broekman, I.D. Cockerill.

Retired Fellows

P.N. Vernon.

Members

F.H. Badenhorst, K.J. Botes, A.H. Campher, P.J. Chetty, J.B. de Jager, R. Hayes, B. Lalla, A. Lewis, C. Lucion, S.R. Machaea, W.J. Marais, D.E. Marsden, C.U. Montan, D. Nowak, D.C. Swarts, R.J. Verster, D.J. Williams.

Associates

M. Borrett, M.A. Bouchier, U.A. Curle, F. Daliri, M.T. Frans,J.L. Mokgawa, T.E. Muzinda, J. Nhiwatiwa, L. Njenge, M.N. Phasha, L. Rabé, A. Roodt, J.J. Talija, E.C. van Heerden,A.C. van Niekerk.

StudentsI. Huysamen, S.R. Nichol.

Company Affiliates

Paul Wurth International SA.

Members transferred to Higher Grade

Transfer from Fellow to Honorary Life Fellow

G.V.R. Landman, A.S. Macfarlane, R.G.B. Pickering.

Transfer from Member to Fellow

J.A. Buckley, C.J.N.Dempers, P. den Hoed, L.J. Gardner, C.A. Roode, J.J. van Wijk,C Williams.

Transfer from Associate to Member

R .M. Bailey, J.R. Ballot, C.C. Ballot, G.G. Booth, E.T. Boshoff, P.C. Botes, A.J. Carr, S.C. de Jager, N.N. Gerard, E. Katsande, R. Kutama, V. Maronga, D.S. Mathebula, K. Mukuku, J. Muller,D . Muma, S.K. Murphy, C.A. Ndunguru, M.J. Nethsipale, H. Ngarivume, J. Odendaal, S. Sandres, K.D. Scott, G. Strydom,F. Taljaard, M.R. Trivabaya, D. Van Deventer, J.J. van Vuuren, J.H. Visser, V.S. Zulu.

Transfer from Associate to Student

J.H. Ferreira.

Transfer from Student to Associate

M. Brendon, M. Chhiba, T.S. Kagogo, T. Kwenane, K. Lombard,R. Lombard, D.N. Makili, C. Masinamela, F.M. Mohale,K. Moothi, O. Mosikare, D.E. Möwes, D.T. Mudau,

H. Mukamba, K.B. Ngoma, B. Ngwenya, E.N. Ogunmuyiwa,L.B. Sekhokoane, T.M. Sinugo, A. Siwali, A.P. van Wyk,F.Y. Zitha.

Members who retired

Fellows

R.J . Daniel, E. Ford, D .A. Giese, T.G. Heslop, K .G. Kartun,P.J. Ledger, W. Marais, M.H. Moys, G.P. Murray, P.A. Noble,K.C. Owen, G.R. Parker, L.M.S. Pinel, J.M.M. Rendu,M.G. Saner, L.F. Scheepers, M.E. Smith, D .A. Spencer.

Members

A.C. Botha, K.G. Fisher, C.P.J.B. Jeppe.

Deceased

Honorary Life Fellows

L.W.P. van den Bosch, S. Budavari, J. Lurie.

FellowsR. Graham, R.M. Hlatshwayo, M.K.C. Roberts

Retired Fellows

I.R.M. Chaston.

Retired Members

W.B. Howe.

Members who were reinstated

Reinstated as a Member

I. EKitchin, L. Meyer, T. Sisya.

Reinstated as Associates

A.T. Manuwa

Members who were re-admitted

Re-Admitted as a Retired Member

I. Corrans.

Re-Admitted as a Member

M.D. Adams, N. Anthony, U. Bester, A.C. Botha, J.T.M. Chauke, . de Hill, K.C. Dirapelo, M. Duddy, S.J. Hattingh, D.F. Jensen, J.M. Kanda, W.M. Kuswani, L. Lijojo, S.I.S. Mahote, L. Makwamya, D. Mamphitha, L. Matthysen, E.M. Mochubele, M.H. Motloutsi, T.D. Mudimeli, K.M. Mushonga, T. Naidoo, J. Ncube, M.A. Ralephata, B. Swarts, P. Tyobeka, M.S. van Staden.

Re-Admitted as a Associate

T.D. Lekoko.

Re-Admitted as a Student

T.M. Chagwedera, M. Matsebula, F.T. Mdlongwa, L.G.I. Motsepe, T.N. Phuthi, M.N. Sinchembe. �

�

862 VOLUME 115

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Annual Financial Statements

�865VOLUME 115


Annual Financial Statementsfor the year ended 30 June 2015

Statement of Council members’ responsibilities and approval

The Council members are required to maintain adequate accounting records and are responsible for the content and integrity of theannual financial statements and related financial information included in this report. It is their responsiblity to ensure that theannual financial statements fairly present the state of affairs of the Institute as at the end of the financial year and the results of itsoperations and cash flows for the period then ended, in conformity with the accounting policies appropriate to the Institute. Theexternal auditor is engaged to express an independent opinion on the annual financial statements.

The annual financial statements are prepared in accordance with the accounting policies appropriate to the Institute and are basedupon appropriate accounting policies consistently applied and supported by reasonable and prudent judgements and estimates.

The Council members acknowledge that they are ultimately responsible for the system of internal financial control established bythe Institute and place considerable importance on maintaining a strong control environment. To enable the Council members tomeet these responsibilities, the Council set standards for internal control aimed at reducing the risk of error or loss in a cost-effective manner. The standards include the proper delegation of responsibilities within a clearly defined framework, effectiveaccounting procedures, and adequate segregation of duties to ensure an acceptable level of risk. These controls are monitoredthroughout the Institute and all employees are required to maintain the highest ethical standards in ensuring the Institute’sbusiness is conducted in a manner that in all reasonable circumstances is above reproach. The focus of risk management in theInstitute is on identifying, assessing, managing and monitoring all known forms of risk across the Institute. While operating riskcannot be fully eliminated, the Institute endeavours to minimize it by ensuring that appropriate infrastructure, controls, systems,and ethical behaviour are applied and managed within predetermined procedures and constraints.

The Council members are of the opinion, based on the information and explanations given by management, that the system ofinternal control provides reasonable assurance that the financial records may be relied on for the preparation of the annualfinancial statements. However, any system of internal financial control can provide only reasonable, and not absolute, assuranceagainst material misstatement or loss.

The external auditor is responsible for independently reviewing and reporting on the Institute’s annual financial statements. Theannual financial statements have been examined by the Institute’s external auditor and his report is presented on page 866.

The annual financial statements set out on pages 867 to 879, which have been prepared on the going concern basis, were approvedby the members and are signed on their behalf by:

President

Treasurer

Signed by: J.L. Porter

Signed by: C. Musingwini

4 August 2015

Date:

Date:

4 August 2015


�

866 VOLUME 115

Report of the independent auditor

To the members of The Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy

I have audited the annual financial statements of The Southern African Institute of Mining andMetallurgy, which comprise the statement of financial position as at 30 June 2015, the statement of comprehensive income, statement of changes in reserves, and statement of cash flow for the year then ended, and a summary of significant accounting policies and other explanatory notes, as set out on pages 867 to 877.

Council Members’ responsibilty for the Annual Financial Statements

The Institute’s Council members are responsible for the preparation and fair presentation of these annualfinancial statements in accordance with the accounting policies appropriate to the Institute and for suchinternal control as the Council members determine is necessary to enable the preparation of annualfinancial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

Auditor’s responsibility

My responsibility is to express an opinion on these annual financial statements based on my audit. Iconducted my audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing. These standards requirethat I comply with ethical requirements and plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurancewhether the annual financial statements are free from material misstatement.

An audit involves performing procedures to obtain audit evidence about the amounts and disclosures inthe annual financial statements. The procedures selected depend on the auditor’s judgement, includingthe assessment of the risk of material misstatement of the annual financial statements, whether due tofraud or error. In making those risk assessments, the auditor considers internal control relevant to theInstitute’s preparation and fair presentation of the annual financial statements in order to design auditprocedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion onthe effectiveness of the Institute’s internal control. An audit also includes evaluating the appropriatenessof accounting policies used and the reasonableness of accounting estimates made by management, aswell as evaluating the overall presentation of the annual financial statements.

I believe that the audit evidence obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for my auditopinion.

Opinion

In my opinion, the annual financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financialposition of The Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy as at 30 June 2015, and its financialperformance and its cash flows for the year then ended in accordance with the accounting policiesappropriate to the Institute.

Supplementary information

Without qualifying my opinion, I draw attention to the fact that supplementary information set out onpages 878 to 879 does not form part of the annual financial statements and is presented as additionalinformation. I have not audited this information and accordingly do not express an opinion thereon.

AUDITOR: R.H. KitchingChartered Accountant (S.A.)Registered Accountant and Auditor


�867VOLUME 115


Statement of Financial Position

for the year ended 30 June 2015

Note 2015 2014R R

Assets

Non-current assets

Property, plant and equipment 2 189 214 178 497Loan to associate entity 3 - 9 791Other financial assets 4 32 155 290 29 957 445

32 344 504 30 145 733

Current assetsInventories 5 210 487 203 391Trade and other receivables 6 1 532 391 1 459 503Cash and cash equivalents 7 3 699 125 7 136 413

5 442 003 8 799 307

Total assets 37 786 507 38 945 040

Reserves and liabilities

Reserves

Reserves 8 4 998 949 4 783 683Retained income 32 074 915 32 061 650

37 073 864 36 845 333

Liabilities

Non-Current liabilitiesLoan from associate entity 3 215 209 -

Current liabilitiesTrade and other payables 202 967 1 758 122Deferred income 51 365 82 180Provisions 243 102 259 405

497 434 2 099 707

Total liabilities 712 643 2 099 707

Total reserves and liabilities 37 786 507 38 945 040


�

868 VOLUME 115


Statement of Comprehensive Income


Note 2015 2014R R

Revenue 17 308 745 17 102 755Cost of sales (13 263 913) (12 736 233)

Gross profit 4 044 832 4 366 522Other income 1 592 400 2 534 748Operating expenses (7 035 335) (6 700 453)

Operating surplus 9 (1 398 103) 200 817Investment revenue 918 701 678 185Royalties OneMine 54 093 52 209Fair value adjustments 498 945 4 671 867Finance costs (60 371) (67 574)

Surplus for the year 13 265 5 535 504


�869VOLUME 115


Statement of Changes in Reserves


Funds Retained Totalincomes reserves

R R

Balance at 1 July 2013 4 577 687 26 526 146 31 103 833Changes in reservesSurplus for the year – 5 535 504 5 535 504Transfer of interest 205 996 - 205 996

Total changes 205 996 5 535 504 5 741 500

Balance at 1 July 2014 4 783 683 32 061 650 36 845 333Changes in reservesSurplus for the year – 13 265 13 265Transfer of interest 215 266 - 215 266

Total changes 215 266 13 265 228 531

Balance at 30 June 2015 4 998 949 32 074 915 37 073 864

Note(s) 8


�

870 VOLUME 115


Statement of Cash Flowsfor the year ended 30 June 2015

Note2015 2014

R R

Cash flows from operating activities

Cash generated from (used in) operations 11 (3 534 904) (1 577 383)Interest income 136 914 74 571Dividends received 781 787 603 614Finance costs (60 371) (67 574)

Net cash from operating activites (2 676 574) (966 772)

Cash flows from investing activities

Purchase of property, plant and equipment 2 (75 251) (26 288)Loans received/(advanced) to associate entity 225 000 (50 499)Purchase of investments (1 125 729) (163 048)

Net cash from investing activities (975 980) (239 835)

Cash flows from financing activities

Interest allocated to fund investments 215 266 205 996

Total cash movement for the year (3 437 288) (1 000 611)Cash at the beginning of the year 7 136 413 8 137 024

Total cash at end of the year 7 3 699 125 7 136 413


�871VOLUME 115


Notes to the annual financial statementsfor the year ended 30 June 2015

Accounting policies

1. Presentation of annual financial statements

The annual financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting policies appropriate to the Institute. Theannual financial statements have been prepared on the historical cost basis, except for the measurement of certain financialinstruments at fair value, and incorporate the principal accounting policies set out below. They are presented in South Africanrands.

These accounting policies are consistent with the previous year.

1.1 Significant judgements and sources of estimation uncertainty

In preparing the annual financal statements, management is required to make estimates and assumptions that affect theamounts represented in the annual financial statements and related disclosures. Use of available information and theapplication of judgement is inherent in the formation of estimates. Actual results in the future could differ from theseestimates which may be material to the annual financial statements. Significant judgements include:

Provisions

Provisions were raised and management determined an estimate based on the information available.

Inventories

The inventories of publications are held and sold by the Institute for its own account and on behalf of its publishing partnerswho have underwritten some of the publications. The inventories are reflected in the financial statements at nominal value.The inventories of authors’ gifts and stock held from conferences are carried at cost. Provision is made for impairment.

1.2 Property, plant and equipment

The cost of an item of property, plant and equipment is recognized as an asset when:• It is probable that future economic benefits associated with the item will flow to the Institute; and• The cost of the item can be measured reliably.

Maintenance and repairs which neither materially add to the value of assets nor appreciably prolong their useful lives arecharged against income.

Property, plant, and equipment are carried at cost less accumulated depreciation and any impairment losses.

Depreciation is provided using the straight-line method to write off the depreciable amount of items, other than land, overtheir estimated useful lives, using a method that reflects the pattern in which the assets’ future economic benefits areexpected to be consumed by the Institute. Depreciation is provided on leasehold improvements over the remaining period ofthe lease.

Gains and losses on disposals are determined by comparing the proceeds with the carrying amount and are recognized insurplus or deficit in the period.

The depreciation charge for each period is recognized in surplus or deficit. Medals, plaques, dies and banners are recorded atnominal values.


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872 VOLUME 115



Accounting policies

1.3 Impairment of assets

The Institute assesses at each reporting period date whether there is any indication that an asset may be impaired. If anysuch indication exists, the Institute estimates the recoverable amount of the asset.

If the recoverable amount of an asset is less than its carrying amount, the carrying amount of the asset is reduced to itsrecoverable amount. That reduction is an impairment loss.

An impairment loss of assets carried at cost less any accumulated depreciation or amortization is recognized immediately insurplus or deficit. Any impairment loss of a revalued asset is treated as a revaluation decrease.

1.4 Financial instruments

Initial recognition

The Institute classifies financial instruments, or their component parts, on initial recognition as a financial asset, a financialliability, or an equity instrument in accordance with the substance of the contractual arrangement.

Financial assets and financial liabilities are recognized on the Institute’s balance sheet when the Institute becomes party tothe contractual provisions of the instrument.

Financial assets and liabilities are recognized initially at cost; any transaction costs that are directly attributable to theacquisition or issue of the financial instrument are added to the cost.

Subsequent measurement

After initial measurement, financial assets are measured as follows:• Loans and receivables and held-to-maturity investments are measured at amortized cost less any impairment losses

recognized to reflect irrecoverable amounts.

Afters initial recognition, financial instruments at fair value through surplus or deficit are subsequently measured at fairvalue, with gains and losses arising from changes in fair value being included in surplus or deficit for the period.

After initial recognition, financial liabilities are measured as follows:• Financial liabilities at fair value through surplus or deficit, including derivatives that are liabilities, are measured at fair

value.• Other financial liabilities are measured at amortized cost using the effective interest method.

Gains and losses

A gain or loss arising from a change in a financial asset or financial liability is recognized as follows:• Where financial assets and financial liabilities are carried at amortized cost, a gain or loss is recognized in surplus or

deficit through the amortization process and when the financial asset or financial liability is derecognized or impaired.• A gain or loss on a financial asset or financial liability classified as fair value through surplus or deficit is recognized in

surplus or deficit.

1.5 Inventories

Inventories are measured at the lower of cost and net realizable value.

The cost of inventories comprises all costs of purchase, costs of conversion, and other costs incurred in bringing theinventories to their present location and condition.

Net realizable value is the estimated selling price in the ordinary course of business less the estimated costs of completionand the estimated costs necessary to make the sale.


�873VOLUME 115



Accounting policies

1.6 Provisions and contingencies

Provisions are recognized when:• The Institute has an obligation at the reporting period date as a result of a past event;• It is probable that the Institute will be required to transfer economic benefits in settlement; and• The amount of the obligation can be estimated reliably.

Provisions are not recognized for future operating losses. Provisions are measured at the present value of the amountexpected to be required to settle the obligation. The increase in the provision due to the passage of time is recognized asinterest expense.

1.7 Revenue

Revenue is recognized to the extent that it is probable that the economic benefits will flow to the Institute and the revenuecan be reliably measured.

Interest is recognized, in profit or loss, using the effective interest rate method.

Donations are recognized as and when received.

Dividends are recognized, in profit or loss, when the Institute’s right to receive payment is established.


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Notes to the annual financial statementsfor the year ended 30 June 2015 (Continued)

2. Property, plant and equipment

2015 2014

Cost/ Accumulated Carrying Cost/ Accumulated CarryingValuation depreciation value Valuation depreciation value

Furniture and fixtures 395 554 (351 693) 43 861 395 554 (342 056) 53 498Office equiment 31 955 (9 579) 22 376 19 529 (5 290) 14 239IT equipment 1 181 450 (1 058 473) 122 977 1 118 624 (1 007 864) 110 760

Total 1 608 959 (1 419 745) 189 214 1 533 707 (1 355 210) 178 497

Reconciliation of property, plant and equipment - 2015 Opening Additions Depreciation Totalbalance

Furniture and fixtures 53 498 - (9 637) 43 861Office equipment 14 239 12 426 (4 289) 22 376IT equipment 110 760 62 825 (50 608) 122 977

178 497 75 251 (64 534) 189 214

Reconciliation of property, plant and equipment - 2014 Opening Additions Depreciation Totalbalance

Furniture and fixtures 65 762 1 842 (14 106) 53 498Office equipment 6 205 10 449 (2 415) 14 239IT equipment 142 630 13 997 (45 867) 110 760

214 597 26 288 (62 388) 178 497

3. Loan to associate entity

Associate Entity

The SAIMM Scholarship Fund (215 209) 9 791The loan is unsecured, interest free with no fixed terms of repayment.

Non-current assets - 9 791Non-current liabilities (215 209) -

(215 209) 9 791


�875VOLUME 115


Notes to the annual financial statementsfor the year ended 30 June 2015 (Continued)

2015 2014R R

4. Other financial assets

At fair valueListed shares 29 830 527 29 957 445Bonds 2 324 763 -

32 155 290 29 957 445

Non-current assetsAt fair value 32 155 290 29 957 445

5. InventoriesFinished goods 210 487 203 391

6. Trade and other receiveables

Trade receiveables 1 479 448 1 457 086Franking machine 52 943 2 417

1 532 391 1 459 503

7. Cash and cash equivalents

Cash and cash equivalents consist of:

Cash on hand 26 752 30 838Bank balances 852 019 798 512Short-term deposits 2 816 154 6 302 463Investment settlement account 4 200 4 600

3 699 125 7 136 413


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Notes to the annual financial statementsfor the year ended 30 June 2015 (continued)

2015 2014R R

8. Funds

Balance at beginning of year 4 783 683 4 577687Interest received 215 266 205 996

Balance at end of year 4 998 949 4 783 683

Comprising:

Prof. R.E. Robinson Fund (Book Publications Fund)

Balance at beginning of year 773 924 740 597Interest received 34 827 33 327

808 751 773 924

Brigadier Stokes Memorial Fund

Balance at beginning of year 7 053 6 750Interest received 318 303

7 371 7 053

P.W.J. van Rensburg Memorial Fund (Education Fund)

Balance at beginning of year 1 174 158 1 123 596Interest received 52 837 50 562

1 226 995 1 174 158

MacArthur Forrest Memorial Fund (Awards Fund)


516 448 494 208

INFACON X Research Fund

Balance at beginning of year 2 122 472 2 031 074Interest received 95 511 91 398

2 217 983 2 122 472

SANCOT Fund


140 743 134 682


�877VOLUME 115



2015 2014R R

8. Funds (continued)

The Dave Ortlepp Fund


Balance at end of year 80 658 77 185

4 998 949 4 783 683

9. Operating surplus

Operating surplus for the year is stated after accounting for the following:

Operating lease chargesPremises– Contractual amounts 201 069 187 038

Profit (loss) on sale of other financial assets (571 287) (1 868 088)Royalties OneMine (54 093) (52 209)Profit on revaluation of non-current assets held for sale (498 945) (4 671 867)Depreciation on property, plant and equipment 64 534 62 388Employee costs 4 146 123 3 966 306

10. Taxation

No provision has been made for 2015 tax as the Institute is exempt from taxation in terms of Section10(1)(cB)(i)(ff) of the Income Tax Act.

11. Cash generated from (used in) operations

Surplus before taxation 13 265 5 535 504Adjustments for:Depreciation and amortization 64 534 62 388(Profit) loss on sale of assets (573 171) 1 868 088)Fair value adjustments (498 945) (4 671 867)Dividends received (781 787) (603 614)Interest received (136 914) (74 571)Finance costs 60 371 67 574Movements in provisions (16 303) 28 607Changes in working capital:Inventories (7 096) -Trade and other receivables (72 888) (968 461)Trade and other payables (1 555 155) 911 121Deferred income (30 815) 4 024

(3 534 904) (1 577 383)


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Detailed income statement

2015 2014

R R

RevenueRevenue 17 308 745 17 102 755

Cost of sales (13 263 913) (12 736 233)

Gross profit 4 044 832 4 366 522

Other incomeAdministration fees recovered 320 536 313 695Dividend revenue 781 787 603 614Fair value adjustments 498 945 4 671 867Gains on disposal of assets 571 287 1 868 088Insurance claim refund 11 160 -Interest received 136 914 74 571Miscellaneous sales 96 638 90 702Refunds received 509 721 92 998Royalties OneMine 54 093 52 209Royalties publications 11 267 67 749Samrec/Samval 71 791 101 516

3 064 139 7 937 009

Expenses (7 035 335) (6 700 453)

Operating profit 9 73 636 5 603 078Finance costs (60 371) (67 574)

Profit for the year 13 265 5 535 504


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Detailed income statement

2015 2014

R R

Operating expenses

AGM medals (21 025) (8 040)Auditor’s remuneration (60 500) (57 195)Bad debts (248 737) (34 602)Bank charges (62 086) (65 786)Branches (20 254) -Career guidance (3 000) (257 000)Cleaning (6 675) 9 625)Computer expenses (165 412) (143 124)Consulting fees (51 101) (13 290)Council dinner (77) (11 337)Delivery expenses (16 000) (12 650)Depreciation, amortization and impairments (64 534) (62 388)Discount allowed (183) -Employee costs (4 146 123) (3 966 306)Flowers, plants and decor (12 003) (36 996)General expenses (118 620) (18 353)Insurance (40 821) (36 104)Internet charges - (31 272)Lease rentals on operating lease (201 069) (187 038)Legal expenses (15 730) -Library services - (9 453)Loss on exchange differences (34 690) (3 889)Management fees - investments (248 570) (210 064)Membership internet connection (60 000) (53 015)Membership internet communication (40 964) (27 500)Minor assets written off (1 999) -Office bearers/councillors expenses (55 586) (142 723)Parking expenses (96 127) (113 711)Photocopier expenses (266 684) (214 902)President’s expenses (9 524) (4 246)Printing and stationary (90 511) (115 914)Refunds (61 486) (12 310)Repairs and maintenance (32 969) (52 735)Sancot expenses (41 452) -Scholarship trust fund expenses - (200 000)Secretarial fees (61 775) (62 400)Setcom/paygate charges (44 211) (3 322)Software expenses (136 642) (9 790)Staff expenses (59 287) (41 003)Staff welfare (35 613) (35 631Student prizes (16 000) (30 439)Subscriptions (302 909) (293 398)Training (49 395) (65 892)Website development/maintenance (34 991) (47 010)

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881


�VOLUME 115


The SAIMM Scholarship Fund (Registration number IT 6837/02)

Financial Statementsfor the year ended 30 June 2015

Trustees’ responsibilities and approval

The trustees are required to maintain adequate accounting records and are responsible for the content and integrity of the annualfinancial statements and related financial information included in this report. It is their responsiblity to ensure that the annualfinancial statements fairly present the state of affairs of the fund as at the end of the financial year and the results of its operationsand cash flows for the period then ended, in conformity with the accounting policies of the fund. The external auditor is engaged toexpress an independent opinion on the annual financial statements.

The annual financial statements are prepared in accordance with the accounting policies of the fund and are based uponappropriate accounting policies consistently applied and supported by reasonable and prudent judgements and estimates.

The trustees acknowledge that they are ultimately responsible for the system of internal financial control established by the fundand place considerable importance on maintaining a strong control environment. To enable the trustees to meet theseresponsibilities, the trustees set standards for internal control aimed at reducing the risk of error or loss in a cost-effective manner.The standards include the proper delegation of responsibilities within a clearly defined framework, effective accounting procedures,and adequate segregation of duties to ensure an acceptable level of risk. These controls are monitored throughout the fund and allemployees are required to maintain the highest ethical standards in ensuring the fund’s business is conducted in a manner that inall reasonable circumstances is above reproach. The focus of risk management in the fund is on identifying, assessing, managing,and monitoring all known forms of risk across the fund. While operating risk cannot be fully eliminated, the fund endeavours tominimize it by ensuring that appropriate infrastructure, controls, systems, and ethical behaviour are applied and managed withinpredetermined procedures and constraints.

The trustees are of the opinion that the system of internal control provides reasonable assurance that the financial records may berelied on for the preparation of the annual financial statements. However, any system of internal financial control can provide onlyreasonable, and not absolute, assurance against material misstatement or loss.

The external auditor is responsible for independently reviewing and reporting on the Institute’s annual financial statements. Theannual financial statements have been examined by the Institute’s external auditor and his report is presented on page 882.

The annual financial statements set out on pages 883 to 886, which have been prepared on the going concern basis, were approvedby the trustees on 4 August 2015 and were signed on their behalf by:

Chairman Vice-chairman

Signed by: J.R. Dixon Signed by: R.P. Mohring


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882 VOLUME 115

Audit Report

To the members of The SAIMM Scholarship FundI have audited the annual financial statements of The SAIMM Scholarship Fund, which comprise thestatement of financial position as at 30 June 2015, the statement of comprehensive income,statement of changes in reserves and statement of cash flows for the year then ended, and asummary of significant accounting policies and other explanatory notes, and the trustees’ report, asset out on pages 883 to 886.

Trustees’ responsibility for the annual financial statementsThe fund’s trustees are responsible for the preparation and fair presentation of these annualfinancial statements in accordance with the accounting policies of the fund, and for such internalcontrol as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of annual financialstatements that are free from material misstatements, whether due to fraud or error.

Auditor’s responsibilityMy responsibility is to express an opinion on these annual financial statements based on my audit.I conducted my audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing. Those standardsrequire that I comply with ethical requirements and plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonableassurance whether the annual financial statements are free of material misstatement.

An audit involves performing procedures to obtain audit evidence about the amounts anddisclosures in the annual financial statements. The procedures selected depend upon the auditor’sjudgement, including the assessment of the risk of material misstatement of the annual financialstatements, whether due to fraud or error. In making those risk assessments, the auditor considersinternal control relevant to the fund’s preparation and fair presentation of the annual financialstatements in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not forthe purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the fund’s internal control. An auditalso includes evaluating the appropriateness of accounting policies used and the reasonableness ofaccounting estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of theannual financial statements.

I believe that the audit evidence I have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis formy audit opinion.

OpinionIn my opinion, the annual financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financialposition of The SAIMM Scholarship Fund as at 30 June 2015 and its financial performance and itscash flows for the year then ended in accordance with the accounting policies of the fund.

Robert Henry KitchingRegistered Auditor


�883VOLUME 115



Annual Financial Statementsfor the year ended 30 June 2015

Trustees’ report

The trustees submit their report for the year ended 30 June 2015. This report forms part of the annual financial statements.

1. Registration

The fund was registered as a trust on 11 November 2002 with registration number IT 6837/02. The fund can sue and besued in its own name.

2. Review of activities

Main business and operations

• The principal objects of the fund are to:(1) Support and promote, foster and advance the interests of the minerals industry by providing the beneficiaries with funds

to be used to support the education of students in the minerals industry;(2) To collect monies and accept contributions in monies or otherwise by way of donations, bequests or otherwise and to

apply the same or the income therefrom for all or any of the objects set out in (1) above.

• The principal address of the fund is 5th Floor, Chamber of Mines Building, 5 Hollard Street, Johannesburg. The fund has nofull-time employees and is administered by The Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy.


Statement of Financial Positionat 30 June 2015

Note(s) 2015 2014R R

Assets

Current AssetsThe Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy 2 215 209 -

Total Assets 215 209 -

Reserves and Liabilities

ReservesFounding settlement 1 000 1 000Accumulated surplus 214 209 (10 791)

215 209 (9 791)

LiabilitiesCurrent LiabilitiesThe Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy 2 - 9 791

Total Equity and Liabilities 215 209 -

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884 VOLUME 115

Statement of Cash Flowsfor the year ended 30 June 2015

Note(s) 2015 2014R R


Cash generated from (used in) operations 225 000 (50 499)


Loans advance (225 000) -Proceeds from loans payable - 50 499

Net cash from investing activities (225 000) 50 499




Statement of Comprehensive Incomefor the year ended 30 June 2015

Note(s) 2015 2014R R

Donations received 225 000 321 500Donations and expenses - (371 999)

Operating (deficit) surplus 225 000 (50 499)

(Deficit) Surplus for the year 225 000 (50 499)Other comprehensive income - -Total comprehensive (loss) income for the year 225 000 (50 499)

Statement of Changes in Reservesfor the year ended 30 June 2015

Contribution Accumulated Total(deficit)/surplus reserves

R R

Balance at 1 July 2013 1 000 39 708 40 708

Changes in reservesTotal comprehensive income for the year - (50 499) (50 499)

Total changes - (50 499) (50 499)

Balance at 1 July 2014 1 000 (10 791) (9791)

Changes in reservesTotal comprehensive deficit for the year - 225 000 225 000

Total changes - 225 000 225 000

Balance at 30 June 2015 1 000 214 209 215 209


�885VOLUME 115




Accounting policies

1. Presentation of Annual Financial Statements

The annual financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting policies of the fund. The annual financialstatements have been prepared on the historical cost basis, and incorporate the principal accounting policies set out below.They are presented in South African rands.

These accounting policies are consistent with the previous period.

1.1 Significant judgements

In preparing the annual financial statements, the trustees are required to make estimates and assumptions that affect theamounts represented in the annual financial statements and related disclosures. Use of available information and theapplication of judgement is inherent in the formation of estimates. Actual results in the future could differ from theseestimates, which may be material to the annual financial statements.

1.2 Financial instruments

1.2.1 Initial recognition

The fund classifies financial instruments, or their component parts, on initial recognition as a financial asset, a financialliability or an equity instrument in accordance with the substance of the contractual arrangement.

Financial assets and financial liabilities are recognized on the fund’s balance sheet when the fund becomes a party to thecontractual provisions of the instrument.

Financial assets and liabilities are recognized initially at cost; transaction costs that are directly attributable to the acquisitionor issue of the financial instrument are added to the cost.

1.2.2 Subsequent measurement

After initial recognition, financial assets are measured as follows:

• Loans and receivables and held-to-maturity investments are measured at amortized cost using the effective interestmethod

• Investments in equity instruments that do not have a quoted market price in an active market and whose fair valuecannot be reliably measured, are measured at cost

• Other financial assets, including derivatives, at fair values, without any deduction for transaction costs, which may ariseon sale or other disposal.

After initial recognition, financial liabilities are measured as follows:

• Financial liabilities at fair value through profit or loss, including derivatives that are liabilities, are measured at fair value

• Other financial liabilities are measured at amortized cost using the effective interest method.

1.3 Loans receivable/payable

This includes a loan to The Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy; the loan earns no interest, nor does it haveany terms of repayment. This loan is carried at cost.

1.4 Revenue

Revenue comprises contributions received from donors and is recognized on receipt.


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886 VOLUME 115



Notes to the financial statementsfor the year ended 30 June 2015

2015 2014R R

2. Loans to (from) group companies

Loans payable

The Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy 215 209 (9 791)The loan is unsecured, interest free with no fixed terms of repayment.

Current assets 215 209 -Current liabilities - (9 791)

215 209 (9 791)

3. TaxationThe fund is exempt from tax in terms of Section 18A of the Income Tax Act.

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887


�VOLUME 115


The SAIMM Western Cape Branch (Registration number IT 6837/02)


Statement of council members’ responsibilities and approval

The council members are required to maintain adequate accounting records and are responsible for the content and integrity of theannual financial statements and related financial information included in this report. It is their responsiblity to ensure that theannual financial statements fairly present the state of affairs of the branch as at the end of the financial year and the results of itsoperations and cash flows for the period then ended in conformity with the accounting policies appropriate to the Institute. Theexternal auditor is engaged to express an independent opinion on the annual financial statements.

The annual financial statements are prepared in accordance with the accounting policies appropriate to the Institute and are basedupon appropriate accounting policies consistently applied and supported by reasonable and prudent judgements and estimates.

The council members acknowledge that they are ultimately responsible for the system of internal financial control established by thebranch and place considerable importance on maintaining a strong control environment. To enable the council members to meetthese responsibilities, the members set standards for internal control aimed at reducing the risk of error or loss in a cost-effectivemanner. The standards include the proper delegation of responsibilities within a clearly defined framework, effective accountingprocedures, and adequate segregation of duties to ensure an acceptable level of risk. These controls are monitored throughout thebranch and all employees are required to maintain the highest ethical standards in ensuring the Institute’s business is conducted ina manner that in all reasonable circumstances is above reproach. The focus of risk management in the branch is on identifying,assessing, managing, and monitoring all known forms of risk across the fund. While operating risk cannot be fully eliminated, thebranch endeavours to minimize it by ensuring that appropriate infrastructure, controls, systems, and ethical behaviour are appliedand managed within predetermined procedures and constraints.

The council members are of the opinion, based on the information and explanations given by management, that the system ofinternal control provides reasonable assurance that the financial records may be relied on for the preparation of the annual financialstatements. However, any system of internal financial control can provide only reasonable, and not absolute, assurance againstmaterial misstatement or loss.

The external auditor is responsible for independently reviewing and reporting on the branch’s annual financial statements. Theannual financial statements have been examined by the Institute’s external auditor and his report is presented on page 888.

The annual financial statements set out on pages 889 to 892, which have been prepared on the going concern basis, were approvedby the board and were signed on their behalf by:

President Treasurer

Signed by: J.L. Porter Signed by: C.G. Sweet


�

888 VOLUME 115

Audit Report

To the members of The SAIMM Western Cape BranchI have audited the annual financial statements of The SAIMM Western Cape Branch, which comprise thestatement of financial position as at 30 June 2015, the statement of comprehensive income, statement ofchanges in reserves and statement of cash flows for the year then ended, and a summary of significantaccounting policies and other explanatory notes, as set out on pages 889 to 892.

Council Members’ responsibility for the annual financial statementsThe Institute’s council members are responsible for the preparation and fair presentation of these annualfinancial statements in accordance with the accounting policies appropriate to the Institute, and for suchinternal control as the council members determine is necessary to enable the preparation of annualfinancial statements that are free from material misstatements, whether due to fraud or error.

Auditor’s responsibilityMy responsibility is to express an opinion on these annual financial statements based on my audit. Iconducted my audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing. Those standards requirethat I comply with ethical requirements and plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurancewhether the annual financial statements are free of material misstatement.

An audit involves performing procedures to obtain audit evidence about the amounts and disclosures inthe annual financial statements. The procedures selected depend upon the auditor’s judgement, includingthe assessment of the risk of material misstatement of the annual financial statements, whether due tofraud or error. In making those risk assessments, the auditor considers internal control relevant to theInstitute’s preparation and fair presentation of the annual financial statements in order to design auditprocedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion onthe effectiveness of the branches internal control. An audit also includes evaluating the appropriatenessof accounting policies used and the reasonableness of accounting estimates made by management, aswell as evaluating the overall presentation of the annual financial statements.

I believe that the audit evidence I have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for myaudit opinion.

OpinionIn my opinion, the annual financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financialposition of The SAIMM Western Cape Branch as at 30 June 2015 and its financial performance and itscash flows for the year then ended in accordance with the accounting policies appropriate to the Institute.

Supplementary information

Without qualifying my opinion, I draw attention to the fact that supplementary information set out onpage 892 does not form part of the annual financial statements and is presented as additionalinformation. I have not audited this information and accordingly do not express an opinion thereon.

Robert Henry KitchingRegistered Auditor


�889VOLUME 115


Statement of Financial Positionat 30 June 2015

Note(s) 2015R

Assets

Current assetsTrade and other receivables 2 65 887Cash and cash equivalents 3 738 037

803 924

Total assets 803 924

Reserves and liabilities

Reserves

Retained income 771 390

Liabilities

Current liabilitiesThe Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy 4 22 356Trade and other payables 10 178

32 534

Total Equity and liabilities 803 924


Statement of Comprehensive Incomeat 30 June 2015

Note(s) 2015R

Revenue 320 859Cost of sales (567 142)

Gross loss (246 283)Other income 1 703Operating expenses (30 755)

Operating surplus 5 (275 335)Investment revenue 28 582Royalties OneMine 298 696

Surplus for the year 51 943

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890 VOLUME 115



Statement of Changes in Reservesat 30 June 2015

Retained Total reservesincome

Balance at 01 July 2014 719 447 719 447

Changes in reservesSurplus for the year 51 943 51 943

Total changes 51 943 51 943

Balance at 30 June 2015 771 390 771 390


Statement of Changes in Reservesat 30 June 2015

Note(s) 2015


Cash used in oprations 7 (32 348)Interest income 28 582

Net cash from operating activities (3 766)


Loans advanced to associated entity 22 356

Net cash from investing activities 22 356

Total cash movement for the year 18 590Opening balance on cash and cash equivalents 719 447

Total cash at end of the year 3 738 037


�891VOLUME 115




Accounting policies

1. Presentation of Annual Financial Statements

The annual financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting policies of the fund. The annual financialstatements have been prepared on the historical cost basis. They are presented in South African rands.

These is the first year of operations.

1.1 Significant judgements and sources of estimation uncertainty

In preparing the annual financial statements, the trustees are required to make estimates and assumptions that affect theamounts represented in the annual financial statements and related disclosures. Use of available information and theapplication of judgement is inherent in the formation of estimates. Actual results in the future could differ from theseestimates, which may be material to the annual financial statements. Significant judgements include:

ProvisionsProvisions were raised and management determined an estimate based on the information available.

1.2 Impairment of assets

The Institute assesses at each reporting period date whether there is any indication that an asset may be impaired. If any suchindication exists, the Institute estimates the recoverable amount of the asset.

If the recoverable amount of an asset is less than its carrying amount, the carrying amount of the asset is reduced to itsrecoverable amount. That reduction is an impairment loss.

An impairment loss of assets carried at cost less any accumulated depreciation or amortisatioon is recognised immediately insurplus or deficit. Any impairment loss of a revalued asset is treated as a revaluation decrease.

1.3 Provisions and contingencies

Provisions are recognised when:

• The Institute has an obligation at the reporting period date as a result of a past event

• It is probable that the Institute will be required to transfer economic benefits in settlement and

• The amount of the obligation can be estimated reliable

Provisions are not recognised for future operating losses. Provisions are measured at the predent value of the amountexpected to be required to settle the obligation. The increaase in the provision due to the passage of time is recognised asinterest expense.

1.4 Revenue

Revenue is recognised to the exyenty that it is probable that the economic benefits will flow to the Institute and the revenuecan be reliable measured.

Interest is recognised, in profit or loss, using the effective interest rate method.

Donations are recognised as and when received.

Dividends are recognised, in profit or loss, when the Institute’s right to receive payment has been established.


�

892 VOLUME 115



Statement of Comprehensive Incomefor the year ended 30 June 2015

Note(s) 2015

Revenue 320 859Cost of sales (567 142)

Gross loss (246 283)Other income 1 703Operating expenses (30 755)

Operating surplus 5 (275 335)Investment revenue 28 582Royalties OneMine 298 6967

Surplus for the year 51 943



Statement of Changes in Reservesfor the year ended 30 June 2015

Retained Total reservesincome

Balance at 01 July 2014 719 447 719 447Changes in reservesSurplus for the year 51 943 51 943

Total changes 51 943 51 943

Balance at 30 June 2015 771 390 771 390

For further information contact:Yolanda Ramokgadi • Conferencing co-ordinator · SAIMM, P O Box

61127, Marshalltown 2107Tel: (011) 834-1273/7 • Fax: (011) 833-8156 or (011) 838-5923

E-mail: [email protected] • Website: http://www.saimm.co.za

The objective of the conference will be to provide aforum for the dissemination of information relatingto the latest mining methods and technologies

applicable to the diamond mining industry. This willconsider all stages of the value chain, from explorationthrough mine design, drilling and blasting production,and processing, to cutting, marketing and sales.

> Processing engineers> Mining engineers> Geotechnical engineers> Geologists> Consultants> Suppliers

> Cutting and polishing> Marketing and sales> Diamontiers> Mine managers> Mining companies> Students mining industry

> Geology and exploration> Mine expansion projects> Mining, metallurgical and beneficiation technology> Rough diamond sales and marketing> Cutting and polishing> Financial services and industry analysis> Industry governance and legislation update> Mine specific case studies

BACKGROUND

Being the s ix th conference in the ser ies, the Diamonds—st i l l Spark l ing Conferencetargets the fu l l spectrum of the diamond pipel ine f rom explorat ion through to salesand market ing. The last conference was held in 2013 at Misty Hi l ls , Muldersdr i f t : the

2016 conference is returning to Botswana which previously hosted in 2010.

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Sponsors:

Conference Supporter Media Partner

14–17 March 2016, Gaborone International Convention Centre

Workshop: 14 March 2016Conference: 15 –16 March 2016Technical Visit: 17 March 2016

Exploration TargetsReporting of Exploration ResultsExploration TargetsTarget generation

Mineral ResourcesGeological data collectionDrilling techniques and drilling densityBulk density Sampling theoryQA/QCSampling and analysis protocols Geological interpretation and geologicalmodellingMineral Resource estimationConditional simulationMineral Resource estimationClassification and reporting Audits and reviewsDeleterious elements/minerals

BACKGROUNDThe SAMREC and SAMVAL Codes have been updated and will be released in 2016. In the process of updating these Codes numerous aspects werediscussed that required more explanation and guidelines than could be included in the codes. In addition it was noted that the SAMCODES have norecognised guidelines or recognised standards, besides the coal commodity specific SANS 10320 National Standard

OBJECTIVESThe conference provides Competent Persons and Competent Valuators the opportunityto prepare and present details of recognised standards and industry benchmarks in allaspects of the SAMREC and SAMVAL Codes. These contributions will be collated into aCompanion Volume to provide a guideline and industry standard for the public reporting ofExploration Results, Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves and the Valuation of MineralProjects.

The conference will provide a wide range of information pertaining to industry bestpractice including aspects of a various geological deposit types, commodities, permittingand legal obligations, resource estimation, mining engineering methodologies,metallurgical and process arrangements, engineering/infrastructure design, social andenvironmental factors etc for SAMREC Code reporting. Other papers will cover theapplication of the various methods of valuation and where and when they should beapplied in accordance with the SAMVAL Code.

This is a valuable opportunity to be involved in the compilation of industry standardsand benchmarks to support in all fields related to the SAMREC and SAMVAL Codes.

WHO SHOULD ATTENDThe conference provides a platform for:

� Resource geologists� Resource investors� Project Finance Practitioners� Exploration geologists� Geoscientists� Mining engineers� Mineral Resource and Reserve managers � Mineral Resource and Reserve practitioners � Competent Valuators.

THE SAMREC/SAMVAL COMPANIONVOLUME CONFERENCE

THE SAMREC/SAMVAL COMPANIONVOLUME CONFERENCE

SAMVAL CODECost ApproachValuation of exploration properties using thecost approach

Market ApproachA review of market-based approaches Valuation of mineral properties without MineralResourcesValuation methods for exploration propertiesand undeveloped Mineral Resources

Cashflow ApproachA Review of cashflow approaches Discounted cash flow analysis inputparameters and sensitivity Discounted cash flow analysis methodologyand discount rates The valuation of advanced mining projects andoperating minesValuing mineral opportunities as options

Mineral ReservesThe modifying factorsSelecting a mining methodMetallurgy MarketsOptimal mine schedulingCut-off gradesFeasibility studiesRisk assessment in Resource and ReserveClassification and reportingGrade reconciliation

Other AspectsLegal aspectsEnvironmentalSustainability issuesSocial and labour planning

Diamond Resource and ReserveReportingCoal Resource and Reserve Reporting

SAMREC CODE

An Industry Standard for Mining Professionals in South Africa

17–18 May 2016, Johannesburg

For further information contact:Head of Conferencing, Raymond van der BergSAIMM, P O Box 61127, Marshalltown 2107

Tel: (011) 834-1273/7, Fax: (011) 833-8156 or (011) 838-5923E-mail: [email protected] · Website: http://www.saimm.co.za

Everything about the PowerROC T50 says performance and ease of ownership because of its straight forward design and Atlas Copco technology.

POWERROC T50 A TRUSTED PERFORMER

Atlas Copco South Africa

www.atlascopco.co.za

�xiv

201528 September-2 October 2015 — World Gold Conference2015Misty Hills Country Hotel and Conference Centre,Cradle of Humankind, Gauteng, South AfricaContact: Camielah JardineTel: +27 11 834-1273/7Fax: +27 11 838-5923/833-8156, E-mail: [email protected]: http://www.saimm.co.za

12–14 October 2015 — Slope Stability 2015:International Symposium on slope stability in open pitmining and civil engineeringIn association with the Surface Blasting School15–16 October 2015Cape Town Convention Centre, Cape TownContact: Raymond van der BergTel: +27 11 834-1273/7Fax: +27 11 838-5923/833-8156 E-mail: [email protected]: http://www.saimm.co.za

20 October 2015 — 13th Annual Southern African StudentColloquiumMintek, RandburgContact: Yolanda RamokgadiTel: +27 11 834-1273/7Fax: +27 11 838-5923/833-8156 E-mail: [email protected]: http://www.saimm.co.za

21–22 October 2015 — Young Professionals 2015ConferenceMaking your own way in the minerals industryMintek, RandburgContact: Camielah JardineTel: +27 11 834-1273/7Fax: +27 11 838-5923/833-8156 E-mail:[email protected]: http://www.saimm.co.za

28–30 October 2015 — AMI: Nuclear MaterialsDevelopment Network ConferenceNelson Mandela Metropolitan University, North CampusConference Centre, Port ElizabethContact: Raymond van der BergTel: +27 11 834-1273/7Fax: +27 11 838-5923/833-8156 E-mail: [email protected]: http://www.saimm.co.za

8–12 November 2015 — MPES 2015: Twenty ThirdInternational Symposium on Mine Planning & EquipmentSelection Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South AfricaContact: Raj SinghalE-mail: [email protected] or E-mail: [email protected]: http://www.saimm.co.za

201614–17 March 2016 — Diamonds still Sparkle 2016Conference Gaborone International Convention CentreContact: Yolanda RamokgadiTel: +27 11 834-1273/7Fax: +27 11 838-5923/833-8156 E-mail: [email protected]: http://www.saimm.co.za

17–18 May 2016 — The SAMREC/SAMVAL CompanionVolume ConferenceJohannesburgContact: Raymond van der BergTel: +27 11 834-1273/7Fax: +27 11 838-5923/833-8156E-mail: [email protected]: http://www.saimm.co.za

21–28 May 2016 — ALTA 2016Perth, Western AustraliaContact: Allison TaylorTel: +61 (0) 411 692 442E-mail: [email protected]: http://www.altamet.com.au

9–10 June 2016 — New technology and innovation in theMinerals Industry ColloquiumMintek, RandburgContact: Camielah JardineTel: +27 11 834-1273/7Fax: +27 11 838-5923/833-8156 E-mail:[email protected]: http://www.saimm.co.za

1–3 August 2016 — Hydrometallurgy Conference 2016‘Sustainability and the Environment’in collaboration with MinProc and the Western Cape BranchCape TownContact: Yolanda RamokgadiTel: +27 11 834-1273/7Fax: +27 11 838-5923/833-8156 E-mail: [email protected]: http://www.saimm.co.za

16–18 August 2016 — The Tenth InternationalHeavy Minerals Conference ‘Expanding the horizon’Sun City, South AfricaContact: Camielah JardineTel: +27 11 834-1273/7Fax: +27 11 838-5923/833-8156 E-mail: [email protected]: http://www.saimm.co.za

INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES

�

xiv

Company AffiliatesThe following organizations have been admitted to the Institute as Company Affiliates

AECOM SA (Pty) Ltd

AEL Mining Services Limited

Air Liquide (PTY) Ltd

AMEC Mining and Metals

AMIRA International Africa (Pty) Ltd

ANDRITZ Delkor(Pty) Ltd

Anglo Operations Ltd

Anglo Platinum Management Services (Pty) Ltd

Anglogold Ashanti Ltd

Atlas Copco Holdings South Africa (Pty) Limited

Aurecon South Africa (Pty) Ltd

Aveng Moolmans (Pty) Ltd

Axis House (Pty) Ltd

Bafokeng Rasimone Platinum Mine

Barloworld Equipment -Mining

BASF Holdings SA (Pty) Ltd

Bateman Minerals and Metals (Pty) Ltd

BCL Limited

Becker Mining (Pty) Ltd

BedRock Mining Support (Pty) Ltd

Bell Equipment Company (Pty) Ltd

Blue Cube Systems (Pty) Ltd

Bluhm Burton Engineering (Pty) Ltd

Blyvooruitzicht Gold Mining Company Ltd

BSC Resources

CAE Mining (Pty) Limited

Caledonia Mining Corporation

CDM Group

CGG Services SA

Chamber of Mines

Concor Mining

Concor Technicrete

Council for Geoscience Library

CSIR-Natural Resources and theEnvironment

Department of Water Affairs and Forestry

Deutsche Securities (Pty) Ltd

Digby Wells and Associates

Downer EDI Mining

DRA Mineral Projects (Pty) Ltd

DTP Mining

Duraset

Elbroc Mining Products (Pty) Ltd

Engineering and Project Company Ltd

eThekwini Municipality

Exxaro Coal (Pty) Ltd

Exxaro Resources Limited

Fasken Martineau

FLSmidth Minerals (Pty) Ltd

Fluor Daniel SA (Pty) Ltd

Franki Africa (Pty) Ltd Johannesburg

Fraser Alexander Group

Glencore

Goba (Pty) Ltd

Hall Core Drilling (Pty) Ltd

Hatch (Pty) Ltd

Herrenknecht AG

HPE Hydro Power Equipment (Pty) Ltd

Impala Platinum Limited

IMS Engineering (Pty) Ltd

JENNMAR South Africa

Joy Global Inc. (Africa)

Leco Africa (Pty) Limited

Longyear South Africa (Pty) Ltd

Lonmin Plc

Ludowici Africa

Lull Storm Trading (PTY)Ltd T/A WekabaEngineering

Magnetech (Pty) Ltd

Magotteaux(PTY) LTD

MBE Minerals SA Pty Ltd

MCC Contracts (Pty) Ltd

MDM Technical Africa (Pty) Ltd

Metalock Industrial Services Africa (Pty)Ltd

Metorex Limited

Metso Minerals (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd

Minerals Operations Executive (Pty) Ltd

MineRP Holding (Pty) Ltd

Mintek

MIP Process Technologies

Modular Mining Systems Africa (Pty) Ltd

MSA Group (Pty) Ltd

Multotec (Pty) Ltd

Murray and Roberts Cementation

Nalco Africa (Pty) Ltd

Namakwa Sands (Pty) Ltd

New Concept Mining (Pty) Limited

Northam Platinum Ltd - Zondereinde

Osborn Engineered Products SA (Pty) Ltd

Outotec (RSA) (Proprietary) Limited

PANalytical (Pty) Ltd

Paterson and Cooke Consulting Engineers (Pty) Ltd

Polysius A Division Of ThyssenkruppIndustrial Solutions (Pty) Ltd

Precious Metals Refiners

Rand Refinery Limited

Redpath Mining (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd

Rosond (Pty) Ltd

Royal Bafokeng Platinum

Roymec Tecvhnologies (Pty) Ltd

Runge Pincock Minarco Limited

Rustenburg Platinum Mines Limited

SAIEG

Salene Mining (Pty) Ltd

Sandvik Mining and Construction Delmas(Pty) Ltd

Sandvik Mining and Construction RSA(Pty) Ltd

SANIRE

Sasol Mining(Pty) Ltd

Scanmin Africa (Pty) Ltd

Sebilo Resources (Pty) Ltd

SENET

Senmin International (Pty) Ltd

Shaft Sinkers (Pty) Limited

Sibanye Gold (Pty) Ltd

Smec SA

SMS Siemag South Africa (Pty) Ltd

SNC Lavalin (Pty) Ltd

Sound Mining Solutions (Pty) Ltd

South 32

SRK Consulting SA (Pty) Ltd

Technology Innovation Agency

Time Mining and Processing (Pty) Ltd

Tomra Sorting Solutions Mining (Pty) Ltd

Ukwazi Mining Solutions (Pty) Ltd

Umgeni Water

VBKOM Consulting Engineers

Webber Wentzel

Weir Minerals Africa

WorleyParsons (Pty) Ltd

2015�� CONFERENCE

World Gold Conference 201528 September–2 October 2015, Misty Hills Country Hotel and Conference Centre, Cradle of Humankind, Muldersdrift

� SYMPOSIUMInternational Symposium on slope stability in open pit mining and civil engineering12–14– October 2015In association with the Surface Blasting School15–16 October 2015, Cape Town Convention Centre, Cape Town

� COLLOQUIUM13th Annual Southern African Student Colloquim 201520 October 2015, Mintek, Randburg

� CONFERENCEYoung Professionals 2015 Conference21–22 October 2015, Mintek, Randburg, Johannesburg

� CONFERENCEAMI: Nuclear Materials Development Network Conference28–30 October 2015, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, North Campus Conference Centre, Port Elizabeth

� SYMPOSIUMMPES 2015: Twenty Third International Symposium on MinePlanning & Equipment Selection8–12 November 2015, Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa

2016� CONFERENCE

Diamonds still Sparkle 2016 Conference 14–17 March 2016, Gaborone International Convention Centre

� CONFERENCEThe SAMREC/SAMVAL Companion Volume Conference17–18 May 2016, Johannesburg

� COLLOQUIUMNew technology and innovation in the Minerals Industry Colloquium9–10 June 2016, Mintek, Randburg

� CONFERENCEHydrometallurgy Conference 20161–3 August 2016, Cape Town

� CONFERENCEThe Tenth International Heavy Minerals Conference16–18 August 2016, Sun City, South Africa

SAIMM DIARY

For further information contact:Conferencing, SAIMM

P O Box 61127, Marshalltown 2107Tel: (011) 834-1273/7

Fax: (011) 833-8156 or (011) 838-5923E-mail: [email protected]

For the past 120 years, theSouthern African Institute ofMining and Metallurgy, has

promoted technical excellence inthe minerals industry. We striveto continuously stay at the cuttingedge of new developments in themining and metallurgy industry.The SAIMM acts as thecorporate voice for the miningand metallurgy industry in theSouth African economy. Weactively encourage contact andnetworking between membersand the strengthening of ties.The SAIMM offers a variety ofconferences that are designed tobring you technical knowledgeand information of interest for thegood of the industry. Here is aglimpse of the events we havelined up for 2015. Visit ourwebsite for more information.

Website: http://www.saimm.co.za

EXHIBITS/SPONSORSHIP

Companies wishing to sponsor

and/or exhibit at any of these

events should contact the

conference co-ordinator

as soon as possible

a member of the

20 Ton

40 Ton

55 Ton

Documents

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