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...
Rock 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 ...
Roger 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...
Comprehensive 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...
The 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...
The 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. ...
Communication initiatives fared well in 2010. Read more in Geoffrey Potgieter’s report.
In January of this year I stated that my goals for 2010 and 2011 were to revive the newsletter and make it a regular publication that is both anticipated and widely read. I also stated that I would like to create a strong visual identity for Sanire that could be used consistently throughout all communications. However, my main goal was to create a vibrant online community of rock engineers. By and large, I feel that these goals have been achieved.
The newsletter appears regularly and I hope it is as widely anticipated as it is read (we have a mailing list of 800).
The new logos are being used and are starting to help define a brand for Sanire.
Best of all, we, as a community, have made progress. The website is being widely used and the forum, an open platform to discuss rock engineering issues, is starting to be used. Seventy-seven topics have been posted, to which there have been 168 replies. We still have some way to go – these involve just a fraction of our 834 registered users. However, some topics have been viewed more than 2 500 times!
The average number of visits to the site has increased from approximately 1 500 in January to 3 500 in October, with a peak of 6 000 in July, when people were logging on to check their results.
What I find is very encouraging is the demographics of our user base. As the graphs show, there is a good spread across all levels and ages.
We have big plans for next year, when we expect to make more learning material available online. We are looking into steaming technologies that would enable us to stream lectures and presentations to a wider audience. We would also like to make a selection of books available for free download. The introduction of an sms reminder service is also on the cards.
Finally, we will be setting up an exams hotline. On the day of the exams, you will be able to contact the Sanire council in the event of an emergency, so that we can respond quickly and assist Unisa with sorting out any administrative errors.
My request to you is: Please visit the site, comment on articles and help us grow Sanire to be the preferred voice of rock engineering practitioners in Southern Africa.


You are reading the fourth issue of RockTalk, delivered straight to your inbox from the Sanire web server. I would like thank the people who made this possible.