Modern Mining September 2018

MINING News

Emeritus status for high-flyingWits mining professor

successfully supervised 13 doctoral students to graduation – two of whom have become Heads of theWits School of Mining Engineering. He has also supervised 23 MSc students. In the field of research and pub- lishing, Professor Minnitt has been both prolific and well-respected; he holds the revered status of C-rated researcher with the National Research Foundation (NRF) and has published 73 peer-reviewed papers. His experi- ence has also allowed him to assist the NRF in evaluating the quality of research outputs for entities at other universities. Three of his papers have been awarded silver medals by the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (SAIMM). Themost recent of these was awarded in 2017 for a paper on Pierre M Gy’s equation for gold- bearing ores, published in the February 2017 issue of the SAIMM Journal. Another accolade bestowed on him recently was at the Eighth World Conference on Sampling and Blending 2017 in Perth, Australia – when he received the Pierre M Gy Sampling Gold Medal, sponsored by Australia’s government research agency CSIRO and the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM). His research interests are wide, includ- ing the sampling of particulate and in-situ materials, cut-off grades and their effects on mineral resources and mineral reserves estimation, and the application of geosta- tistics in mineral evaluation – as well as mineral economics and marketing of min- eral products. 

Emeritus Professor Dick Minnitt of the Wits University School of Mining Engineering (centre) with Professor Ian Jandrell, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment (left), and Head of School Professor Cuthbert Musingwini (right). Professor Minnitt was also awarded a coveted statuette of the ‘Unknown Miner’ by the School in recognition of this achievement; the full-size original statue by sculptor Herman Wald stands at the entrance to the School on Wits University’s West Campus.

Wits University ’s School of Mining Engineering recently celebrated the award of an Emeritus Professorship to its long- serving and distinguished JCI Professor of Mineral Resources and Reserves, Richard (Dick) Minnitt. Speaking at the event at Wits University in July, Head of School Professor Cuthbert Musingwini praised Professor Minnitt’s scholarly contribution over many years. Having taught at the School since 1995

when he was appointed Senior Lecturer, Professor Minnitt has become well known as a leading expert in mineral resources and reserve estimations. Before his teach- ing years, he was a research officer at Wits University’s Economic Geology Research Unit, going on to work as a mine geologist for Anglo American Corporation and as a consulting geologist. Becoming an associate professor in 2000 and a full professor in 2001, he has

14  MODERN MINING  September 2018