Background

I graduated as a Mining Engineer at the end of 1973 and having worked for a year in Australia, emigrated to South Africa where I am still at work today. Along the way I qualified with Metalliferous Mining Certificates of Competency and completed two Master’s degrees.
Whist I have exposure to production in base metals and coal, the bulk of my production and projects career has been in precious metals. I am currently in 3D mining software where I spend much of my time helping colleagues and clients to understand mining business as a process.
I have also been on the organising committees for many mining technical schools, colloquia and conferences and the South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy recently accorded me Honorary Life Fellow status

I enrolled at university as an Engineering student on a Government bursary, intending to do Civil Engineering (Roads and Bridges). In year two I read about Mining Engineering in the University career newspaper. A fellow student was studying mining, it seemed like an adventurous thing to do and I arranged to work in a mine for the long vacation. I thoroughly enjoyed it, changed course of study and the rest is history.

Mining is highly cyclical and will remain so. This is due to the strictly sequential relationship between various stages of the value chain and the inherent ability to only respond slowly to changing circumstances. Production cannot be simply turned on and off like oil and gas, nor change its pattern at the whims of fashion.
Population growth and constantly evolving technological advancements will continue to be reflected in the demand for mining commodities. That demand feeds directly into manufacturing industries of many kinds.