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Welcome to 2016.
Despite the downturn in the global economy, the southern African minerals industry
is renowned for resilience in the face of adversity, and we have every faith
that this will be the case during this period. |
|  Professor R.E. "Robbie" Robinson
(1929-2016)
We are sad to announce that Professor Robbie Robinson passed away on the 21st of January 2016, after a battle with cancer.
Robbie Robinson had a distinguished involvement with minerals beneficiation in South Africa for about 65 years. He was an innovative chemical engineer and a visionary leader and research commentator.
Robbie was a previous Chief Executive Officer of what is now Mintek, serving as Director of the Government Metallurgical Laboratory from 1961-1966, and Director General of the National Institute for Metallurgy from 1966-1976. It was under his direction in 1966 that the current Mintek logo was designed, and he also oversaw the move of NIM from Yale Road, Milner Park to the current Mintek campus in Randburg in 1976. He was appointed as an Honorary Professor of Chemical Metallurgy at the University of the Witwatersrand in 1969.
In 1974, Robbie was the Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the First International Congress on Ferro-alloys (INFACON), and also established what is now the International Committee on Ferro-Alloys (ICFA) in partnership between Mintek, SAIMM, and FAPA (Ferro-Alloy Producers' Association). The Infacon series of conferences continues to thrive, and fourteen congresses have been held in twelve different countries. The next event, Infacon XV, is due to be held in South Africa (for the fourth time) in 2018.
Robbie joined the SAIMM in 1960, becoming a member of the 50-year club in 2010. He was President of SAIMM in 1975-1976, and was awarded an Honorary Life Fellowship in 1980, and the Brigadier Stokes Memorial Award (SAIMM's highest award) in 1985. He served as Editorial Consultant to the Journal of the SAIMM from 1997-2000, and continued to provide insightful "Journal Comments" for many years after that.
Robbie's enthusiasm, dedication, and insight have been an inspiration to many, and he will be sorely missed.
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| Institute Matters |
|  We have revised our website, and moved to a web-based membership database. We look forward to hearing members' comments and feedback on these changes. It is still very much a work in progress and we appeal to you to be patient if there are still sections that are not working properly. Please go to www.saimm.co.za to view our website and your member information.
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| 2015 list of the 100 Global Inspirational Women in Mining |
| The 2015 list of the 100 Global Inspirational Women in Mining was recently released and included several South Africans and a Botswanan on the list. We are very proud that three of these South Africans are members of the SAIMM. Our congratulations to them on this accomplishment.
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| SAIMM Publications |
| Electronic copies of the SAIMM Journal
It has taken a while, but it is now possible to access clean electronic copies of all our journals from
January 2014 up to October2015. Full PDF copies of the entire journals can be downloaded from the link below, in case these are of interest to you.
See JournalPapers here...
Of greater relevance to most people will be the ISSUU version of the journal for reading online.
http://issuu.com/saimm
Happy reading.. SAIMM Agreement with the Technical Library
The SAIMM have entered into a one-year agreement with the Technical Library for members to utilize the services provided by the Technical Library. Any members wanting to use the services will be requested to complete a Client Service Agreement which is available from the Technical Library.
More information will follow soon.
Please contact Debbie Lievaart at debbie@techlibrary.co.za.
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| Events |
Joint GMSG-SAIMM Forum
15 – 16 February 2016 |
| We are hosting a forum as part of our on-going collaboration with the Global Mining Standards and Guidelines Group (GMSG) which we featured in the October newsletter. What to expect at the GMSG-SAIMM joint forum
Spaces are still open to attend Global Mining Standards and Guidelines Group's (GMSG) two-day Johannesburg forum, held in conjunction with SAIMM, at Emperor's Palace Convention Centre on February 15-16. As we anticipate our final list of speakers, some key topics include: - Collision Avoidance Presentation: A major focus area for the forum, this presentation will provide understanding of current leading efforts to advance and implement technology led by EMESRT (Earth Moving Equipment Safety Round Table), followed by a discussion on further requirements. Speaker: Thys Greyvenstein, Anglo American.
- Underground Communications Infrastructure Presentation: The GMSG Working Group is currently in the thick of creating their guideline for Underground Mining Communications Infrastructure, from all aspects of a mine's lifecycle. Speakers: Neil Other, Newtrax; Kevin Cormier, Ramjack.
- Vision for Future Mining Panel: Our lively and engaging panel of industry leaders share their vision of the future of mining, from automation to integrated operations. Moderated by: Declan Vogt, University of Witwatersrand.
For more information on the forum, please contact Heather Ednie at hednie@globalminingstandards.org.
For more, click here... |
| Conferences and Branch Events |
| These are the forthcoming conferences. For more information, please go to the SAIMM website |
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DIAMONDS 2016 CONFERENCE
15 - 16 MARCH 2016,
Gabarone, Botswana
MORE INFO... | SAMREC/SAMVAL COMPANION VOLUME CONFERENCE 2016
17 to18 MAY 2016
Johannesburg
MORE INFO... | New technology and innovation in the Minerals Industry Colloquium
9 to10 JUNE 2016
Mintek, Randburg
MORE INFO... | |
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