• Mission
    SANIRE promotes advancement of the discipline of rock engineering through the following objectives: Mission
  • Mission (a)
    Encouraging interest and the advancement of education in rock engineering; Mission (a)
  • Mission (b)
    Maintaining professional practice and high standard of ethics; Mission (b)
  • Mission (c)
    Encouraging networking, collaboration and information exchange; Mission (c)
  • Mission (d)
    Identifying, promoting and facilitating rock engineering related research; Mission (d)
  • Mission (e)
    Providing access to the global rock engineering fraternity through the ISRM. Mission (e)
  • Vision
    To promote the interests of a vibrant Southern African rock engineering fraternity Vision

News and updates

RMC Paper 1 Download - Important Information

Friday, 30 March 2012

 Dear SANIRE Member, we are apologizing for any problems being experienced during the download process, but we are experiencing very large download volumes. Be patient and try again. When successful downloading please check the following:

Install Paper 1 Material

o   Download the Installer file from the website
o   Double click of the Installer and allow it to install the information on your computer
o   When done, the Installer will create an Icon on your desktop that reads 'Rock Mechanics Theory', use this icon to open the document. You do not need to open any other files, but work through th...

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MOSHing towards zero harm

Monday, 19 March 2012

moshRock related safety is a major issue. The Chamber of Mines' Mine Occupational Safety and Health (MOSH) initiative is helping to address it. Find out more by reading on.

In 2003, representatives of the South African Mining industry - employers, labour unions and government - set historic and significant milestones for health and safety, to be reached by 2013, en route to zero harm for all employees.

The Chamber of Mines realised that the milestones, let alone the targets, would not easily be met without significant effort on the part of mines. Therefore the Chamber of Mines Learning Hub was ...

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From maths and computers to rock engineering

Monday, 19 March 2012

rogerjohnsonRoger Johnson's enjoyment of his job is based on the people he works with; the diversity in terms of commodity, geographic location and mining method; and the challenges and opportunities to introduce new technology, better practice and improved solutions. Here, he shares some of his ideas and experiences with Rock Talk.

Roger Johnson (56) had more of an interest in sport, the outdoors, music and social activities than in academics in his time as a scholar as La Salle College on the West Rand, but that was no predictor of his future.

Today, he has a slew of degrees and other qualifications t...

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March will bring your first free downloadable paper

Monday, 19 March 2012

exampaperComprehensive rock engineering learning material for the South African mining industry is almost complete – and you can download it for free. Read more about it.

The writing of comprehensive rock engineering material for the South African mining industry started in the first half of 2011. It should be completed by end of March this year. At the time of writing this article, Paper 1 was complete. It should be available for download, free of charge, on the Sanire website by the time you read this article. The other papers will be available for download as and when they are completed.

Why is t...

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Design of Merensky Reef crush pillars

Monday, 19 March 2012

saimmlogo2The Bushveld platinum group metal deposits are two distinct, shallow-dipping stratiform tabular ore bodies which strike for many hundreds of kilometres. Mining is extensive, with depths ranging from close-to-surface to 2300 m. The mining method is a variation of planar open stoping. Pillars are widely employed to support the open stopes. In the deeper levels, in-stope pillars are required to fail in a stable manner soon after being cut, and the residual pillar strength is used to stabilize the hangingwall. These pillars are commonly known as crush pillars. Little work has been done in the p...

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How Tuks makes positive change a constant

Monday, 19 March 2012

janniemaritzThe University of Pretoria's Jannie Maritz asks: Are teaching and learning really making an impact? At Tuks, he thinks they are. Read on to find out why.

The University of Pretoria's department of Mining Engineering celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2011. The first mining engineering student enrolled for the degree in 1961 and subsequently graduated in 1964.

A lot has changed on and around the campus, yet one thing has stayed the same: The quality of mining engineer graduating has improved. Every year, Tuks Mining is delivering around 30 newly developed mining engineers into the industry. ...

Nov 09 2009 anatoleFrench novelist Anatole France said, “An education isn't how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It's being able to differentiate between what you know and what you don't.” More about education…

Many members are waiting for the results of the Chamber of Mines (COM) exams that were written from 26 to 30 October.

“We will make every effort to make results available before the Christmas end-of-year break,” says Riaan Carstens, the Sanire board member responsible for education. “Please do not contact any of the Unisa staff. They are not allowed to communicate results to individual candidates.

“We will send you your results by e-mail and will also inform everyone if there are any problems that will affect the deadline.”

May exams

The May COM exams went very well, despite problems at the Pretoria Showground. This venue was removed from the list, which caused some confusion.

“We distributed the results to candidates before the 21 July deadline,” says Riaan.

The results were:

Description

SCC Met

SCC Coal

P1

P2

P3.1

P3.2

Practical

Total

Attempts

96

5

64

57

34

9

6

271

Passed

20

1

2

19

2

1

5

50

%

21

20

3

33

6

11

83

18

 

Exam rules

Sanire attended a meeting with Unisa and the chairs of the exam committees to standardise examination rules. Candidates can now request a remark at the same cost as the exam, currently R500, but will not be allowed to view their papers after an examination.

Adds Riaan, “Registration for October exams went well, but we still get candidates who wait until the last minute to register. We will post the registration forms for May 2010 exams on the website early in January. Pease make sure that you register in time.

“May you and your loved ones have a happy festive season and a prosperous 2010. If you are travelling during the holidays, please be careful on the roads and return safely.”

Watch the next issue of ROCKtalk for a report on the progress of a proposal for the development of course material for the COM certificates and the future of COM certificates.

Upcoming Events

Mon May 28
EUROCK 2012 - ISRM International Symposium
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Sun Jun 24
46th US Rock Mechanics / Geomechanics Symposium
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Tue Aug 07
ISRM Regional Symposium - II South American Symposium on Rock Excavations
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Mon Oct 15
ARMS 2012 - 7th Asian Rock Mechanics Symposium
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Thu Oct 25
2012 SANIRE Symposium - “Mechanica Saxorum”
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