Modern Quarrying Q2 2018

AROUND THE INDUSTRY

Wits Mining School 15 in world ranking The School of Mining Engineering at the University of the Witwatersrand has shot up the world league tables to take 15 th place on the 2018 QS World University Rankings. Up from its position as No 22 in last year’s rankings, it is the only mining engineering school in Africa to feature in the top 50 ranking of mining engineering schools worldwide. This accolade also makes it the highest ranked school at Wits University. “It is extremely encouraging to earn this recognition in the light of our ongoing efforts to keep our school at the leading edge of learning and research,” says Head of School, professor Cuthbert Musingwini. With about 800 undergraduate and postgraduate students – about 15% of them from countries outside South Africa – the school is the largest mining engineering programme in the English-speaking world. The QSWorld University Rankings name the world’s top universities in 46 different sub- ject areas and five composite faculty areas. It is the only international ranking recognised by the International Ranking Expert Group. www.wits.ac.za/miningeng

Professor Cuthbert Musingwini, Head of the School of Mining Engineering at Wits University.

New chairman for SRK SA William Joughin has been appointed chairman of SRK Consulting (South Africa) from 1 January 2018, taking over from Graham Howell. With 27 years of experience in the field of rock engineering, Joughin worked for Anglo American’s gold division and Gold Fields before joining SRK in 1998 as a senior mining engineer (geotechnical). His specialisation is in underground rock engineering investigation and risk-based design, and he has worked around the world in various areas including geotechnical investigations, mining method selection, design of mining layouts, shaft stability and support. He is a leading expert in his field, having published almost 50 refereed papers on various aspects of rock engineering. He served as president of the South African National Institute of Rock Engineers from 2013 to 2015 and is currently the International Society for Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering (ISRM) vice-presi- dent for Africa. He has been a partner at SRK since 2009. “My focus as chairman

Basil Read on turnaround path

With R300-million in new cash in its cof- fers, construction and mining firm Basil Read is on track to effect a solid turn- around, according to CEO Khathutshelo Mapasa. The company successfully con- cluded a rights offer on Friday 23 February this year. The full R300-million required for repayment of the bridge loan and working capital was raised. The sale had opened on 12 February. Mapasa is confident the steps planned to effect a turnaround – for which the rights offer was key – will work. “The shares, offered at a dis- counted price of 22 cents/share, was supported by the company’s major shareholders.” Shareholders led by Allan Gray, PSG Asset Management, Prudential Investment Managers, Sishen Iron Ore Community (SIOC) Trust and the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) undertook to follow their rights. Mapasa acknowledges that the path to a turnaround is not a short or easy journey. “With this new cash injection, Basil Read is on a firm path towards recovery. We are cognisant of, and grateful for, the shareholders’ faith in us. There’s hard work ahead, but we’re ready.” www.basilread.co.za

will be on leveraging SRK’s distinctive combination of experience and innovative capability, where our exper- tise gathered over decades is captured and applied in new technologies that generate more value for our clients,” Joughin says. www.srk.co.za

SRK (SA) chairman, William Joughin.

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MODERN QUARRYING

Quarter 2 / 2018