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COUNCIL AND STANDING COMMITTEES, 1974-1975 Office Bearers : Prof. R. P. Plewman (President), Dr R. E. Robinson and Dr M. D. G. Salamon (Vice Presidents), J. K. E. Douglas (Honorary Treasurer), and P. W. J. van Rensburg (Immediate Past President). Elected Members of Council: Dr M. G. Atmore, E. Collier, G. H. Grange, Dr P. R. Jochens, Dr D. I. Legge, D. G. Malan, C. T. Shaw, L. W. P. van den Bosch, D. A. Viljoen, H. M. Wells, P. A. von Wielligh. Branch Chairmen: B. T. Hosking (Witbank-Middelburg Branch), D. A. Smith (Orange Free State Branch). Past Presidents Serving on Council: R. J. Adamson, M. Barcza (until May 1975), H. Britten, H. E. Cross, Prof. J. de V. Lambrechts (until December 1974), R. C. J. Goode, Prof. D. D. Howat, Dr J. P. Hugo, D. M. Jamieson, D. G. Maxwell, Dr J. T. McIntyre, V. C. Robinson. Ten Council meetings were held during the year, with an average attendance of 19, and the standing and sub-committees held 74 meetings. COMMITTEE CHAIRMEN Membership, Dr M. D. G. Salamon; Technical Programme-Metallurgy, D. A. Viljoen; Technical Programme-Mining, G. H. Grange ; Vacation School-Metallurgy, Dr P. R. Jochens; Vacation School-Mining, Dr M. D. G. Salamon; Awards, Prof. R. P. Plewman; Excursions, Dr D. I. Legge; Constitution, Rules and Policy, P. W. J. van Rensburg and Prof. R. P. Plewman; Mines and Works, P. A. von Wielligh; Education, P. W. J. van Rensburg. REPRESENTATIVES ON OTHER BODIES Associated Scientific and Technical Societies Members: V. C. Robinson and Prof. R. P. Plewman. Alternates : Dr R. E. Robinson and Dr M. D. G. Salamon. Federation of Societies of Professional Engineers Members : J. K. E. Douglas and P. W. J. van Rensburg. Alternates : Prof. R. P. Plewman and G. H. Grange. South African Council for Professional Engineers Member : R. C. J. Goode. Alternate : G. H. Grange. Engineers' Liaison Committee (Pretoria) Member: Dr J. P. Hugo. Alternate: P. W. J. van Rensburg. MEMBERSHIP Thirteen Fellows, seventeen Members, eleven Graduates, three Associate Members, eighteen Associ¬ates, twenty-six Students, and one Company Affiliate were elected during the year. Nine Fellows, four Members, and three Associates were admitted to retired membership. Eight Fellows were elected to Honorary Life Membership. Three Members and one Graduate were transferred to Fellows, nine Graduates and two Students to Members, six Students to Graduates, one Student to Associate, and one Associate to Associate Member. Six Fellows, ten Members, three Associates, and one Student resigned. A statement of membership as at June 30th 1975 and the end of the previous year is shown in the following tabulation: 30th - 30th June, - June, 1974 - 1975 Honorary Life Fellows - 9 - 15 Honorary Fellows 8 - 8 Life Fellows 170 - 170 Fellows 544 - 536 Members 512 - 523 Associate Members 10 -15 Graduates 130 - 133 Associates 194 - 210 Students 173 -175 Company Affiliates 70 - 71 1 820 - 1 851 [ ] OBITUARIES Your Council records with deep regret the death during the year of the following members: M. Barcza, Honorary Life Fellow and Past President of the Institute; J. A. Boyd, F. E. Keep and J. H. Taylor, Life Fellows; I. D. B. Corner, C. O'G. Deane, R. E. Gilmour, A. C. Hofmeyr, M. W. Howell, T. J. Robin and F. C. Steinhobel, Fellows; J. J. Frankel, Member; T. J. Higgs, Associate. FINANCE The annual accounts, which follow this report, indicate that income again exceeded expenditure by a margin of R21 410 (last year R28 524). This year's income of R71 184 showed a further increase compared with last year's figure of R55 025. Costs, however, also in¬creased, and it is calculated that, excluding non-recurrent costs, the cost of running the Institute in¬creased by R6 654 from R25 501 to R33 155 for the current year. The main increases were involved in secretarial fees, stationery and print¬ing, and in publication of the Journal. All indications are that costs will continue to rise, and we have been advised that the A.S. & T.S. will be increasing their secretarial fees by 25 per cent in the year ahead to meet their rising costs. This year's surplus was derived entirely from the revenue from sales of publications (R13 644) and a surplus from the 1974 Winter School (RIO 654). There can be no certainty that revenue from these sources can be repeated each year. Our funds are in a satisfactory position because of these worth¬while activities, but the administrat¬ion of the Institute should not de¬pend on them. Council will accord¬ingly have to give consideration in the year ahead to an upward adjust¬ment of subscriptions to meet rising costs.

Jan 10, 1975

By G. M. Evans, S. Mitra, G. J. Jameson, M. M. Hoque, E. Doroodchi, R. Moreno-Atanasio

In this study, the detachment behaviour of 314 μm diameter silica particles from a single 3 mm diameter bubble rotating in a confined cavity connected to a cross-flowing water channel was investigated. The liquid cross-flow generated a rotating flow inside the confined cavity, which was quantified using 2D particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements. The fluctuating (x-y) velocity components inside the cavity for each cross-flow velocity, U, were then used to estimate the corresponding time/volume average turbulence intensity values, Ti. Turbulence intensity ranged from 9.3-16.2%. In the absence of a bubble, the rotating vortex within the cavity created a pressure field which decreased towards the centre of the vortex; wherein the lowest pressure zone was located at the centre of the cavity. The vorticity into the cavity was found to increase with increasing the turbulence intensity. A bubble, both without and with particles attached, was introduced into the cavity under different flow conditions and its motion was tracked using the shadowgraphy technique. Experimentally, it was found that the bubble-particle aggregate was trapped at the centre of the cavity (low-pressure region) following a spiral trajectory. An interface resolved 3D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model was developed to predict the particle detachment conditions within the confined cavity. CFDpredicted vorticity in the absence of a bubble agreed well with experimental observation. The CFD analysis indicated that the vorticity inside the cavity was not significantly changed when a single bubble was introduced. On this basis, the computed vorticity was utilised in describing the force balance applied to the attached particle. Computationally, it was found that the critical turbulence intensity, beyond which the particle was detached from the bubble, was 14%. This value was consistent with the experimental observation of detachment at Ti at 15.7%, and above, but not at lower values. Keywords: Bubble, particle, turbulence intensity, vorticity, particle detachment, CFD, PIV

Jan 1, 2020

Hydrometallurgical processing of complex ores and concentrates is becoming increasingly important as the mining and metallurgical industry seeks to exploit mineral deposits that are difficult to treat using conventional mineral processing and pyrometallurgical technologies. Mineral processing is often challenged by the difficulty or inability to separate valuable minerals into marketable concentrates. Hydrometallurgical processing, using selective leaching technology, can often ?chemically beneficiate? such difficult deposits. Pyrometallurgical treatment of base metal concentrates is capital intensive and subject to ever more stringent environmental control. Hydrometallurgical processing is generally lower in capital cost for an equivalent metal production rate and avoids the gas and dust issues associated with pyrometallurgical processing. The possibility of by-product recovery may also increase with hydrometallurgical treatment. Two examples of new technology or flowsheet development for treatment of complex ores and concentrates are used as illustration. These include the El Boleo process of Baja Mining for recovery of copper, cobalt, zinc and manganese from a complex clayey ore and the PLATSOL? process for recovery of copper, nickel, cobalt, platinum, palladium and gold from a bulk sulphide concentrate.

Jan 1, 2009

By T. van Heerden

A range of supported gold catalysts was prepared by ion exchange, varying many of the preparation variables, including concentration in the precursor solution, washing procedure, as well as drying and calcination procedures. These catalysts have been characterized extensively. TEM images show essentially the same crystallite size distributions, between 2?5 nm, for almost all catalysts, the only exception being catalysts not washed in ammonia, which did not show any small crystallites. Additional characterization with SEM yielded an interesting discovery. Catalysts that appear identical on the TEM also contain some large crystallites in the range of 50?500 nm. Differences in dispersion due to the drying procedure not seen on the TEM can now be observed. Oxygen chemisorption is being investigated as an additional method to characterize gold based catalysts to complement the typically used electron microscope techniques.

Jan 1, 2012

By V. C. Robinson

INTRODUCTION Most presidential addresses are in the nature of a review of some specific topic and this will be no different. In thinking about the subjects which might be suitable for this address I decided that as next month will see my retirement from the gold mining industry I might review the four decades since I started in the industry in 1929. These four decades have been more than usually in',~resting and exciting. They have covered a period when the price of gold increased from the old figure of 84/- an ounce to the price of $35 an ounce today, taking in on the way at least two periods of premium sales from which the producer benefitted. The industry in these four decades has survived the most totally destructive war in history and has seen fundamental changes in the political, economic and governmental life of South Africa. There have been great technological changes and improvements, some of which I shall refer to later, and in addition there have been profound changes in the relations between employer and employee in the industry which have affected not only the economy of the industry but the traditional thinking of both management and labour. I believe that the address presented to this Institute on the occasion of its 75th Anniversary by Mr Goode covered more than adequately the history of the Institute and the part it has played in the mining industry of South Africa. It would be merely repetitive, therefore, to discuss the affairs of the Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Having said this, however, it is also necessary to point out that the history of the Institute is, and always will be, an important record of the history of mining in South Africa. There are many facets, however, on which we ought to look back and to re-examine. One of the most rewarding, but at the same time one of the dullest, places to look for historical facts is in the annual reports of the Chamber of Mines. I suppose that some of the dullest of these have been the reports for which paragraphs have been prepared by me personally. The notes which follow do not claim to be anything like a full record of this exciting period. RISE AND FALL OF THE GOLD MINING INDUSTRY In talking about the mining industry of South Africa it is inevitable that one talks, particularly in the historical sense, about the gold mining industry - an industry of fundamental importance which has made South Africa what it is and which has been dying since the early part of this century. In Table I is shown the progress of the gold mining industry measured by its output of ounces of fine gold from the beginning of operations until the end of 1969, and if you are interested in the productivity of the men who work this industry the table, composed entirely from figures set out in the Chamber's annual reports, also shows the production of gold expressed as fine ounces per European and fine ounces per Bantu worker over a long period. If you are still minded to think of this industry as dying then the last column in the table shows how uranium has played such a vital part in the prosperity of the country.

By C. Klutke

This paper outlines a simple methodology for mineral characterization, developed as part of the Australian Mineral Industry Research Association (AMIRA) managed research project P777 ?The Development of Heavy Suspension Techniques for High Density Separations (Replacement of Clerici?s Solution)?. The project was sponsored by De Beers, Rio Tinto and Iluka Resources. Heavy mineral characterization of samples arising from exploration, mining or metallurgical processes is frequently conducted using laboratory heavy liquid analysis. Unfortunately, there are only a limited number of high density (?heavy?) liquids and these tend to be more toxic as their density increases. Low-toxicity inorganic solutions, based on tungsten compounds, have been developed that can be utilized at relative densities (RD) up to 3.0. Beyond this value organic liquids can be used; however, this presents significant health and safety hazards. Diiodomethane (methylene iodide) having a relative density of 3.31 is commonly used. Mixtures of thallium formate and thallium malonate were found in the early 1900s by Clerici to provide liquids having specific gravities between 4.0 and 5.0. For the characterization of the heavy components of mineral sand deposits (e.g. anatase RD 3.9, rutile RD 4.2, ilmenite RD 4.4?4.7 and zircon RD4.6?4.8) there is currently no heavy liquid alternative to Clerici?s solution. Clerici?s solution is highly toxic and testing is now conducted by few laboratories worldwide, with costs reflecting the chemical costs, infrastructure costs and health and safety regimes (e.g. blood testing of exposed staff). A simple laboratory technique of density fractionation has been developed, employing suspensions of fine tungsten carbide particles in lithium heteropolytungstates solutions, that can replace Clerici?s solution in the evaluation of fine mineral sands samples (e.g. -250 +150microns). The developing methodology that can achieve low-cost, low-toxic separations at relative densities above 4.0 is outlined and the comparison of results with Clerici?s solution presented. In addition, preliminary work on density fractionation of zircon samples is presented. Zircon fractionation relates to their inclusion, radionuclide content and metamictization.

Jan 1, 2007

By P. Muthaphuli

Kumba Iron Ore?s Zandrivierspoort (ZRP) magnetite-haematite project aims to mine and beneficiate a magnetite resource with low contaminant levels to produce from 1 Mt/a to 2.5 Mt/a product, which will be either a concentrate, micro-pellets for direct reduction, or blast furnace pellets. Anglo American Technical Solutions Research conducted a number of piloting campaigns to validate the process design flow sheet, demonstrate process performance, and to generate data for use as a design basis. Secondary to this, the pilot plant was to produce approximately 7 t of magnetite-haematite concentrate with low enough SiO2 to be used as feedstock for pelletizing studies. The pilot plant achieved 34.2% mass yield, at 69.0% Fe, 2.2% SiO2, from an IsaMill grind of 80% -45 µm. This product quality will compare favourably to other leading direct reduction (DR) pelletizing concentrates. However, two-stage comminution to 80% -75 µm and beneficiation of ZRP ore will produce a blast furnace (BF) quality pelletizing concentrate, indicative quality being 67.6% Fe and 4% SiO2, at higher mass yields. An economic evaluation between producing a DR and a BF pelletizing concentrate will have to be conducted prior to finalizing the concentrate production flow sheet..

Jan 1, 2014

By A. Koning

Pressure hydrometallurgy operations require vessels to be lined with an impermeable membrane for corrosion protection and one or more courses of refractory or ceramic brick. Examples of unit operations that utilize composite lining systems include pressure oxidation autoclaves, sulphide precipitation autoclaves, chloride leach reactors, flash vessels, cyclone separators, and direct contact condensers (heater vessels and quench vessels). The refractory lining must satisfy multiple requirements: it must thermally insulate the membrane from process fluid, be structurally stable, provide erosion resistance, be chemically compatible with process fluid, and provide an economic service life. New hydrometallurgical processes are pushing the pressure, and temperature with each new generation of plants. A fundamental understanding of all factors affecting the mechanical stability of the lining system is essential as lining designs move further away from the industry?s experience base. The method of designing a refractory lined vessel is examined taking into account the impact of irreversible chemical swell, operating factors, design factors, and installation factors. The effect of geometry and incorporating additional degrees of freedom to the analysis is explored using two-dimensional and three-dimensional finite element analysis (FEA). The effect of these additional degrees of freedom on the results of the one-dimensional model are discussed. Keywords refractory lining design,autoclave, finite element analysis.

Aug 1, 2013

The March General Meeting of the Institute was held in Kelvin House, Johannesburg on 18th March, 1970, at 4.30 p.m. Mr J. K. E. Douglas (President) was in the Chair. There were also present fifteen Fellows, Messrs H. Britten, R. C. J. Goode, Prof D. D. Howat, Mr T. C. A. Meyer, Dr R. E. Robinson, Messrs V. C. Robinson and P. W. J. van Rensburg (Council Members), S. K. de Kok, Dr N. P. Finkelstein, Messrs K. W. Findlay, H. N. Hepker, J. Levin, Dr K. A. Murray and Mr A. H. Mokken. Four Members including Mr D. Ayres, Dr M. I. Britten and Dr A. Granville. One Associate: Mr G. S. Stander. One Student, Mr R. N. Guest. Four Visitors, Messrs S. A. Allison, C. N. Leibb, C. J. Kooij and A. Mavrogordato. Secretary: Mr D. C. Visser. Total present: Twenty-seven. OBITUARY The President: "It is my sad duty to announce the death of Henrik Johannes Van Eck, Honorary Life Member, who joined the Institute in 1929 and passed away on 18th February, 1970. Dr van Eck started life as a chemist and chemical engineer and, as we all know, he rose to become one of our most distinguished leaders of industry in the country. On many important occasions we, in this Institute, have been privileged to have him address us on subjects which were always of great importance and relevance to the developments in this country. He was a man of great vision and imagination and could put across his ideas in a most eloquent and convincing manner. In his important position as chairman of the Industrial Development Corporation and of Iscor, whatever he said carried great weight. Busy as he was he always found time to participate not only in the affairs of this Institute but in many other technical and public bodies. His passing is a great loss to South Africa and we in this Institute wish to associate ourselves with the many other tributes which have been paid to this great man. We extend our sympathy to his wife and family and as a mark of respect I would ask you to rise and observe a few moments silence." MEMBERSHIP The President: "I have much pleasure in announcing that the names of the undermentioned candidates, having been published in accordance with By-Law 5.2.2, Council has elected them to membership of the Institute in the following grades: Fellow: Ian Douglas Bruce Corner, Joachim Bernhard Rolfes. Member: Michael Vernon Nolan. Associate: Karl Franz Wilhelm Eick. MEMBERS TRANSFERRED TO A HIGHER GRADE From Member to Fellow: Nilo Zolezzi. From Graduate to Member: Roger Billingham. I welcome the newly elected members to the Institute and congratulate the members who have been transferred to a higher grade." PAPERS FOR PRESENTATION The President: (i) "Mr Lee, may I call on you to deliver your paper entitled 'A new bubble pick-up technique as a rapid flotation test method'." After the presentation of the paper the President said: "The paper which Mr Lee introduced this afternoon was a short one but was nonetheless important in that it described a new tool for use in flotation test work. Those of us who have experienced the frustration of trying to solve flotation problems by trial and error methods know what this means. I well remember 25 years ago at T.G.M.E. trying to improve the recovery from the flotation plant there by trying various combinations of reagents and then having to wait a couple of days for the assay office to give results. Even then, on the small scale laboratory tests which had to precede full scale tests one could never be sure that the results obtained were reproducible on the full scale. Here it seems we have a relatively simple apparatus which can measure instantly the effectiveness of various reagents under different concentrations and pH values, etc. It is most important, I believe, that developments of this kind be reported in our journal for the benefit of all involved in such work, not only so that we know about it but also in order to provoke constructive discussion which might lead to further developments. I would like to invite members, therefore, to submit papers or notes on important

By X. Ndlovu

Underground observations in a coal mine have indicated failure oft he immediate roof above the bords. Careful observations and photographic recording of occurrences of these roof failures, termed ?roof guttering?, have been made. The occurrence of guttering results directly in roof instability, and indirectly, due to the interaction of the guttering with natural planes of weaknesses in the immediate roof rock. In this paper, relevant observations of roof guttering, possible mechanisms of formation of roof gutters, laboratory testing for determination of material strength and deformation properties, and numerical analyses to explain underground observations are described. Mapping of roof failures showed that these took place mainly towards the centre of the roadways. Roof guttering was observed often to occur violently and with little warning. Occurrence of roof guttering has a negative impact on production?some panels are abandoned, production times are increased and safety of workers is compromised. The numerical stress analyses showed that, although none of the constitutive behaviour criteria used predicted the observed underground failures correctly, the extension strain criterion gave the best agreement.

Jan 1, 2007

By M. Verri

The paper describes the design options available for the simultaneous production of liquid sulphur dioxide, via cryogenic condensation, and sulphuric acid in a sulphur-burning sulphuric acid plant. The impact of the operating conditions of the cryogenic condensation on plant capital and operating costs are discussed, with the main focus on the optimization of the most important economic and operative drivers of the non-ferrous mining industry, such as energy efficiency, reliability, and availability. A case history relevant to an integrated sulphurburning plant producing liquid sulphur dioxide and sulphuric acid, recently started up in the Democratic Republic of Congo, is described. Keywords sulphur burning, sulphuric acid, liquid SO2, cryogenic SO2 condensation, liquid sulphur dioxide, sulphur dioxide.

Aug 1, 2013

By L. Bam, R. Machaka, S. Chikosha, N. S. Muchavi

"Parts manufactured through power metallurgy (PM) typically contain pores that can be detrimental to the final mechanical properties. This paper explores the merits of 3D X-ray computed tomography over traditional microscopy for the characterization of the evolution of porosity in metal injection moulding (MIM) and direct powder rolling (DPR) products. 17-4 PH stainless steel (as-moulded, as-debound and sintered) dog-bone samples produced via MIM and Ti-HDH strips (as-rolled and sintered) produced via DPR and were analysed for porosity. 3D microfocus X-ray tomography (XCT) analysis on specimens from both processes revealed spatial variations in densities and the existence of characteristic moulding and roll compaction defects in agreement with traditional microscopic microstructural analysis. It was concluded that micro-focus XCT scanning can be used to study MIM and DPR parts for the characterization of the amount, position and distribution of porosity and other defects. However, the majority of the sub-micron sized pores could not be clearly resolved even at the highest possible instrument resolution. Higher-resolution scans such as nano-focus XCT could be utilized in order to fully study the porosity in MIM and DPR parts. IntroductionMetal injection moulding (MIM) is a novel process, which combines the advantages of powder metallurgy (PM) and plastic injection moulding. MIM has found widespread applications in the cost-effective production of high-sintered density small parts with complicated shapes and mechanical properties equivalent to those of wrought materials (German and Bose, 1977; Machaka and Chikwanda, 2015; German, 2013). There are four basic processing steps involved in MIM, namely; feedstock preparation, injection moulding, debinding and sintering. These steps are discussed in greater detail elsewhere (Machaka, Seerane and Chikwanda, 2014; German and Bose, 1977; Machaka and Chikwanda, 2015; German, 2013).Feedstock preparation involves mixing metal powder with a carefully selected composition of polymeric binder materials at a specific temperature. The feedstock is then granulated and injected into a predefined mould die with the desired shape. The part produced during the moulding step is referred to as a ‘green’ component. The green component typically contains no porosity since the spaces between adjacent powder particles are readily filled with the binder materials (German and Bose, 1977; Li, Li and Khalil, 2007). Debinding is the systemic removal of the binder components by chemical, catalytic, or/and thermal means while maintaining the shape of the component. The part produced after the debinding step is referred to as a ‘brown’ component. Debinding is known to be the source of porosity in brown components (Ji et al., 2001; Tsai and Cen, 1995). Finally, the brown debound part is sintered to full or nearfull density (Sotomayor, Varez and Levenfeld, 2010). The sintering step and associated densification closes up the majority of the pores. Sintered MIM parts are typically sintered to high density (95–99%) and retain an irreducible amount of residual porosity (Barriere, Liu and Gelin, 2003; German, 1990)."

Jan 1, 2016

Statistics is essentially a study of variability, the use of some suitable mathematical model representative of such variability, and the application of this inferred pattern of behaviour to practical problems. Probability theory is the mathematical structure devised for providing models for chance happenings. Perhaps the simplest example of a chance happening is the result obtained in tossing a coin. Although the result of a single toss can never be predicted with certainty, there is no reason why in repeated tosses the expectancy of heads and tails should not be equal. In such a case the outcomes of the experiment are said to be equally likely, so that the probability of obtaining heads (or tails) is 1 in 2, that is, 0,5. This simple probability .model refers to a 'mathematical' or 'unbiased' coin. Whether such probabilities are meaningful for actual coins tossed in any particular way is a matter for experience to determine. Probability models have also provided the basis for representing observed variability in cases where the actual under- lying probabilities are only partly known or defy analysis. A typical example of the latter case is the variability observed in the values obtained from gold or other ore samples. The interacting natural forces which gave rise to this variability are obviously very complex and are unlikely ever to be unravelled completely. In spite of this, probability theory and the more recent geostatistical theories have provided us with models which can represent this variability on a reasonable basis. Applied statistics and geostatistics must therefore never be accepted as exact mathematical sciences. Furthermore, a basic and essential concept is that in the type of applications covered in these notes, no model must ever be accepted as necessarily the final and exact answer to the problem; thus, any model must prove and continue to prove its appropriateness in practice, preferably by follow-up comparisons.

Jan 1, 1981

A Colloquium and General Meeting were held on 17th March 1971, the theme being 'Future trends in steel production'. Mr V. C. Robinson (President) was in the Chair. The Colloquium was attended by 121 delegates and was opened by the President at 10 a.m. OBITUARIES THE PRESIDENT: 'It is my sad duty to announce the death of the following: F. O. Read, Fellow, who joined the Institute in 1957 and passed away on 13th January, 1971. P. G. M. May, Member, who joined the Institute in 1969 and passed away on 10th August, 1970. R. J. J. Rademeyer, Life Fellow, who joined the Institute in 1942 and passed away on 23rd September, 1970. As a mark of respect to the memory of the deceased and in sympathy with the bereaved I would ask you all to rise and observe a few moments silence. CONFIRMATION OF MINUTES THE PRESIDENT: 'May we confirm the minutes of the monthly general meeting held on 21st October and 18th November, 1970, as published in the Journal'. Agreed. MEMBERSHIP THE PRESIDENT: 'I have much pleasure in announcing that the names of the undermentioned candidates, having been published in accordance with ByLaw 5.2.2, Council has elected them to membership of the Institute in the following grades: FELLOWS: Romain August Lathioor, Paolo Piga, Renato Ribacchi, Willem Frederick Jacobus Smith, Matthew Churchill, Thomas Anthony James Braithwaite, Hugh Patrick Hart, Eleanor Innocentius Muller, David Alton Smith. MEMBERS: Douglas Adendorff, Petrus Jacob du Plooy, James Valentine Grant Middleton, Karl Anders Ullerstam, Josephus Theodorus Johannes van Wyk, Frank Douglas Abbott. GRADUATES: David Mervyn Gilbart-Smith, John Philip Wilcocks Bennie, Hendrik Theunis Burger, Johann Wilhelm Coetzee, Johannes Stephanus StOols, Leon van Tonder, Brian George Harvey, John Kennedy McLean. ASSOCIATES Richard Cyril Lee Stoyell, Terrence Brian Gouws, Alister Rodney Frederick MacDonald. STUDENTS: Andries Groenewald, Christiaan Johannes Hattingh, William Hendrik Hofmeyr, Stanley Thomas Vincent. I welcome the new members to the Institute and congratulate them on their election. COLLOQUIUM The President welcomed everyone present and mentioned that this was the first of the Colloquia which are to replace the Institute's monthly meetings. He stressed that discussion at Colloquia would be completely informal and would not be recorded unless the contributor requested publication. In conclusion, he thanked the organising committee, the authors and the contributors, and introduced the author of the first paper. The following papers were presented:- 'The future development of the Iron and Steel Industry' by J. P. Coetzee (Published in the Journal March 1971). Among those who contributed to the paper were Dr Bleloch, Dr K. Gebhard, Dr Way and Professor Müller. The main point made by Dr Bleloch related to the reserves of coking coal and of coal for power generation this in country and he deduced that in South Africa we are critically short of coking coal. On the basis that 4 million tons per year of coking coal are consumed for our present steel production, over 16 million tons would be required to meet the anticipated expansion in steel output by A.D. 2000. This must be set against the grim forecast made by the Coal Advisory Board in 1967 that our national reserves of coking coal will be exhausted before A.D. 2000. This gives tremendous significance to the development work presently being carried out by Iscor on alternative methods for coke production. On the other hand the blast furnace may have to be replaced by an alternative process for the reduction of iron ores, e.g., the use of rotary kilns followed by electric arc smelting. Dr Bleloch also expressed grave forebodings about the reserves of bituminous coal, pointing out that with present methods of mining the recoverable coal in any given reserve is in general only 50 per cent of that reserve. He stated that in the past seventy years great quantities of coal have been forever placed beyond the reach of mining by being undermined by extraction of lower seams or lost by being burned. A final point made by Dr Bleloch was the fast rise in the capital investment in a fully integrated steel plant, the figure having risen in the past decade from just over R200 to R350 per ton of finished steel per annum. Dr Gebhard spoke of the direct reduction processes for iron making pointing out the difficulties of securing a high percentage of reduction and the relatively high cost of smelting in electric arc furnaces. As an alternative he suggested briquetting the high carbon sponge iron

By A. Karadogan

Decision making can be defined as the selection process of the best routes from the alternatives in order to achieve a goal, and mostly involves uncertainty. Additionally, mostly qualitative variables (weak rock, massive ore deposit, etc.) are in question. Mine planning engineers often use their intuition and experience indecision making. As fuzzy set theory has been used since 1970, these uncertainties are easily evaluated in the decision-making process. Real world study is decision making under vague constraints of different importance, involving uncertain data (qualitative variables), where compromises between antagonistic criteria are allowed. This paper presents a new approach in the selection of an underground mining method based on fuzzy set theory for the Ciftalan Lignite Site located close to Istanbul in Turkey. The physical parameters such as geology and the geotechnical properties of ore, hanging and foot wall, economic effects, environmental effects, are established with field and laboratory tests together with the determination of other qualitative variables. Meanwhile, some qualitative variables dealing with the matter was described according to the view of a number of experts. Then fuzzy set theory is applied to these parameters, considering the available underground methods in order to choose the proper method. At the end of the evaluations, the room and pillar method with filling was determined as the most suitable method for the test site. Keywords: Decision making, fuzzy set theory, underground, mining, method selection

Jan 1, 2008

By V. Oberholzer

The presence of fines (particles smaller than 6 mm in diameter) causes hydrodynamic problems in gasifiers and therefore it is of great importance to minimize the amount of fine coal in the feed. This serves as motivation for understanding coal?s breakage mechanisms, which could lead to the ability to predict the generation of fines. The aim of this project was to simulate the pulsating effect of the conveyor belt in order to investigate factors influencing the breakage. Results indicated that an increased initial particle size had an increasing effect in the amount of fines generated. Weathering had an insignificant effect on the breakage of coal. To conclude, a breakage model was developed to describe the rate of breakage out of the top size when a combination of two breakage modes is present.

Jan 1, 2009

By P. van der Westhuyzen

Gone are the days of stock-standard diamond beneficiation and final recovery circuits that could, with minor modifications, be adapted to treat any diamond-bearing ore source. A new era has dawned, offering the opportunity to streamline existing diamond processing operations or develop simpler, more efficient, and economical diamond processing plants, with the focus on more efficient comminution, beneficiation, and final recovery. This change in scene has been brought about by: ? The introduction, rapid development, and maturation of multiple comminution, sorting, and recovery technologies ? The need to adapt to a new standard of project approach post the commodity super-cycle phase, where optimizing existing operations and developing scalable, ?fit for purpose? new mines are fast becoming the norm in diamond processing plants in both primary and alluvial operations ? The quest for energy efficiency and lower labour costs ? More remote and inaccessible reserves (under lakes, tops of mountains etc.). This paper serves to identify some technology advances and demonstrates how these could be considered as replacements for or in combination with conventional technologies to arrive at an optimum techno-economic solution. To name a few applications/technologies: ? Comminution: conventional cone crusher, modified/specialized cone crusher, and the high-pressure grinding roll (HPGR). Although significant advances have been made in recent years, this paper only briefly covers comminution within the beneficiation circuit design ? Waste sorting: NIR (near-infrared) sorting, optical (colour) sorting, XRF (X-ray fluorescence) ? Primary concentration by combining dense media separation (DMS) with either XRT (X-ray transmissive), pulsed X-ray, jigs, or pan plants depending on the application, scale, and economics ? Final recovery of diamonds with either conventional X-ray technology, pulsed X-ray technology, or XRT. From recent studies, it can be concluded that there is no longer a standard solution, but rather the ?right? or appropriate solution. Through combining a sound knowledge of the ore source (ore dressing studies or onmine data gathering) and leveraging off the advances in technologies, one is able, through trade-off studies, to arrive at the ultimate techno-economic configuration, the ?right? solution. Emphasis is placed on maximizing diamond recoveries through appropriate technology selection and minimizing the associated costs in an effort to de-bottleneck or improve efficiencies of existing diamond processing plants, or to arrive at the ideal new diamond process plant design..

Jan 1, 2014

By E. Dadzie

This paper will review some methods used to manage geotechnical risk at Damang Pit Cutback. The pit depth is designed up to 250m with push back on the eastern and western walls of the existed and depleted Railway Cutback (RCB) pit. The geotechnical design was presented by SRK Perth, focussing on the optimisation of the bench face angle which finally evolved with ?steep slope strategy?; 24m at 800 and 24m at 750 on the eastern and western walls respectively. The east wall was designed strategically to optimise the proximity of the tailings dam to the final pit crest of the push back. The pit has experienced failure in the weathered profile transgressing through the transitional material into the fresh rock at different location of the east wall since development in July 2005. To ensure stability and to minimise ore loss, the east wall has been redesigned using 700 batter angles and reduced berm width of 4m compared to 800 and 8.5 berm width of 24m bench height. The paper will also discuss how slope failures to the east wall had been sustained, managed and monitored to enhance production. Emphasis is placed on slope management at Damang which includes the principles of wall control blast, visual inspection, slope depressurisation and the state-of-the art of slope monitoring using Autoslope automated prism monitoring. Future slope monitoring is considering the use of 3D Laser and Radar to provide early warning so that evacuation could be effected. The intension is to provide mine personnel the means to identify risk areas during mining activities.

Jan 1, 2008

By T. Orupold

This paper covers the commercial development of gravity separation of fine particles using a Lamella High Shear Rate REFLUX? Classifier (REFLUX? Classifier), focusing primarily on coal applications. The REFLUX? Classifier is a fluidized bed device that incorporates a system of closely spaced parallel inclined channels located above the fluidized bed. These channels make it possible to achieve a significant suppression of the effects of particle size, resulting in a highly effective separation on the basis of density. The improved gravity separation performance is shown to be remarkably high, with a significant reduction in the variation of separation density with particle size, and a significant reduction in the change in Ecart probable error (Ep) with size. The first full commercial-sized units of the REFLUX? Classifier were field-tested in late 2009 in coal applications. More recently, the technology has been applied in fine particle separation in minerals applications and there are a number of full-sized units operating in chrome applications in South Africa. Initially, pilot-scaled units (typically the RC?300) were trialled in iron ore, mineral sands, and manganese plants amongst other minerals, typically after other technologies failed to achieve the desired results. Currently a number of laboratories globally are carrying out more testing in minerals applications. More than 50 RC? units are now operating in coal and minerals applications. This paper introduces the REFLUX? Classifier technology, identifies commercial applications, and gives some commercial results.

Jan 1, 2014

By G. Chunnett

Platinum metal prices have risen significantly during the past 18 months, and have remained at elevated levels. Driving these bullish prices are sustained jewellery demand, mainly from the Far Eastern markets, and ongoing autocatalyst usage in response to ever more demanding global environmental legislative requirements. Within South Africa, the areas north and south of the Steelpoort River in the Eastern Bushveldare well known for their significant resources of platinum. The bulk of the resources have lain dormant in anticipation of the very situation that is currently occurring in the marketplace. Anglo Platinum is the largest primary platinum producer in the country, and is uniquely positioned to take advantage of the current elevated metal prices and shortfall in supply of platiniferous metals. In addition to its production capabilities, Anglo Platinum holds an extensive portfolio of mineral reserves and resources which underpin its ability to implement expansion projects to continue growth in platinum group metal production. It also has access to, and is actively expediting, the exploration of a range of properties where the company can further expand current production capacity or supplemented depleted production levels.

Jan 1, 2006