BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//jEvents 2.0 for Joomla//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH BEGIN:VEVENT UID:ed6f15dc6a32f393059223200ad3aa25 CATEGORIES:Workshops and Course dates CREATED:20260121T110303 SUMMARY:SANIRE Coal Mine Pillar Design Workshop LOCATION:Birchwood Conference Centre DESCRIPTION:

 SANIRE Coal Mine Pillar Design Workshop Ba nner V2 20260128

 

REGISTER HERE

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 SPEAKER
 
Professor Nielen van der Merwe
< br />Professor Nielen van der Merwe has been in the mining industr y for 50 years, with 27 years directly in practice and 23 years in a combin ation of research and practice as a consultant. He is the author of two boo ks and 90 other publications. He has been awarded the SAIMM Gold Medal for 4 papers and Silver Medal once and the Salamon Award twice. He was Head of the Mining Engineering Department of the University of Pretoria and incumbe nt of the Centennial Chair for Rock Engineering at the University of the Wi twatersrand.

His leadership qualities are demonstrated by the fact t hat he was the last President of the South African National Group on Rock M echanics (SANGORM) and following reconstruction, the first of the South Afr ican National Institute of Rock Engineering (SANIRE). In this capacity, he served as the Vice President for Africa of the International Society of Roc k Mechanics (ISRM).

He continued promoting South Africa on the intern ational rock stability landscape by becoming President of the ISRM (the fir st from Africa), and then President of the Federation of International Geo- Engineering Societies FeDIGS). He has been awarded Fellowship of the ISRM a nd is Fellow of the South African Academy of Engineering.

He was Head of Mining Engineering at the University of Pretoria and until recently he was a Visiting Professor at the School of Mining Engineering at the Univers ity of the Witwatersrand. To him, the most interesting part of rock enginee ring is to move beyond the simple concept of a safety factor, and rather ba se designs around the concept of time related failure probability. He curre ntly operates in consultancy on a limited scale.

On a personal note, it is almost as if Prof Nielen was destined for a career in rock Engineerin g, with minimum input from himself. He was born in the mining village of th e Durnacol mine (Dannhauser). Then his paternal grandfather was killed in a FOR (Fall Of Rock) accident followed by serious injury in another FOR to h is new grandfather. One of his friends was killed in a FOR on a gold mine a nd another suffered life-changing injury. He enrolled as a mining student b ecause they offered the best bursaries and decided to concentrate on rock e ngineering because it fascinated him. It was only after his decision to stu dy rock engineering that he became aware of this mining background driven b y fate.

 BACKGROUND
 
Following the tragic collapse of the Co albrook Colliery in 1960, Salamon and Munro published their well-known equa tion for pillar strength in 1967. This equation became the statutory basis for coal pillar design and was later adapted for use in hard-rock mines.
 
In the years that followed, further collapses occurr ed, fortunately without loss of life and the statistical database of collap sed pillars used by Salamon and Munro continued to grow. There are now 85 d ocumented collapse cases, compared to the 27 available in the 1960s. It als o became apparent that not all coal has the same strength. The Vaal Basin, for instance, is notorious for its weak coal.  Additional methods of s tatistical analysis were subsequently developed. The probability of failure was introduced as an indicator of stability, and it became possible to tra ck the decay of pillar strength over time.
 
These c oncepts, both new developments and refinements of earlier ones, were docume nted in several publications. However, until now, there has been no course or workshop that systematically traces the evolution of these equations and culminates in the 2019 concept that pillar stability can only be realistic ally evaluated by tracking the decay of survival probability over time.
The SANIRE Coal Mine Pillar Design Wo rkshop aims to fill this gap. Much of the latest work was conducted by Prof Nielen van der Merwe, who has since retired but has agreed to present this Workshop, an opportunity that is unlikely to be repeated. 

WHO SHOULD ATTEND

 
→ Rock Engineers
→ Academics
→< /span> Consultants
→ DMPR Inspectors
Sponsorship oppor tunities are available for this event, offering your organisation the chanc e to gain visibility, connect with industry leaders, and demonstrate suppor t for advancements in coal mine safety.

Companies interested in sponsoring this event are kindly requested to contact us for more infor mation.
FOR FURT HER INFORMATION, CONTACT:

Prudence Ntumelang: Administrator
Email: prudence@sanire.co. za
Tel: (011) 538 0241
Website: www.sanire.co.za
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:

 SANIRE Coal Mine Pillar Design Workshop Banner V2 20260128

 

REGISTER HERE< span>

< a href="https://www.rocscience.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
sebotka logo blue MJ Square logo in frame and line - Bluesasol
rocloc2Carb on Techsrk logo Rocklab< img src="https://www.sanire.co.za/images/logos/240606_CHRYSO_LOGO_RGB_Green _002.png" alt="CHRYSO LOGO RGB Green 002" width="323" height="141" data-alt ="Videx Logo" />
Rock crete Logo 2025 Alternativests 3d logo   

 SPEAKER
 
Professor Ni elen van der Merwe

Professor Nielen van der Merwe has b een in the mining industry for 50 years, with 27 years directly in practice and 23 years in a combination of research and practice as a consultant. He is the author of two books and 90 other publications. He has been awarded the SAIMM Gold Medal for 4 papers and Silver Medal once and the Salamon Awa rd twice. He was Head of the Mining Engineering Department of the Universit y of Pretoria and incumbent of the Centennial Chair for Rock Engineering at the University of the Witwatersrand.

His leadership qualities are d emonstrated by the fact that he was the last President of the South African National Group on Rock Mechanics (SANGORM) and following reconstruction, t he first of the South African National Institute of Rock Engineering (SANIR E). In this capacity, he served as the Vice President for Africa of the Int ernational Society of Rock Mechanics (ISRM).

He continued promoting S outh Africa on the international rock stability landscape by becoming Presi dent of the ISRM (the first from Africa), and then President of the Federat ion of International Geo-Engineering Societies FeDIGS). He has been awarded Fellowship of the ISRM and is Fellow of the South African Academy of Engin eering.

He was Head of Mining Engineering at the University of Pretor ia and until recently he was a Visiting Professor at the School of Mining E ngineering at the University of the Witwatersrand. To him, the most interes ting part of rock engineering is to move beyond the simple concept of a saf ety factor, and rather base designs around the concept of time related fail ure probability. He currently operates in consultancy on a limited scale.

On a personal note, it is almost as if Prof Nielen was destined for a career in rock Engineering, with minimum input from himself. He was born in the mining village of the Durnacol mine (Dannhauser). Then his paternal gr andfather was killed in a FOR (Fall Of Rock) accident followed by serious i njury in another FOR to his new grandfather. One of his friends was killed in a FOR on a gold mine and another suffered life-changing injury. He enrol led as a mining student because they offered the best bursaries and decided to concentrate on rock engineering because it fascinated him. It was only after his decision to study rock engineering that he became aware of this m ining background driven by fate.

 BACKGROUND
 
Following the tragic collapse of the Coalbrook Colliery in 1960, Salamon and Munro publis hed their well-known equation for pillar strength in 1967. This equation be came the statutory basis for coal pillar design and was later adapted for u se in hard-rock mines.
 
In the years that followed, further collapses occurred, fortunately without loss of life and the stati stical database of collapsed pillars used by Salamon and Munro continued to grow. There are now 85 documented collapse cases, compared to the 27 avail able in the 1960s. It also became apparent that not all coal has the same s trength. The Vaal Basin, for instance, is notorious for its weak coal. &nbs p;Additional methods of statistical analysis were subsequently developed. T he probability of failure was introduced as an indicator of stability, and it became possible to track the decay of pillar strength over time.< /div>
 
These concepts, both new developments and refinements of earlier ones, were documented in several publications. However, until now, there has been no course or workshop that systematically traces the evoluti on of these equations and culminates in the 2019 concept that pillar stabil ity can only be realistically evaluated by tracking the decay of survival p robability over time.
The SANIRE C oal Mine Pillar Design Workshop aims to fill this gap. Much of the latest w ork was conducted by Prof Nielen van der Merwe, who has since retired but h as agreed to present this Workshop, an opportunity that is unlikely to be r epeated. 

W HO SHOULD ATTEND

 
→ Rock Engineers
→ Academics
→ Consultants
→ DMPR Inspectors< /span>
Sponsorship opportunities are available for this event, offering yo ur organisation the chance to gain visibility, connect with industry leader s, and demonstrate support for advancements in coal mine safety.

Companies interested in sponsoring this event are kindly requested to contact us for more information.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT:

Prudence Ntu melang: Administrator
Email: prudence@sanire.co.za
Tel: (0 11) 538 0241
Website: www.sanire.co.za
DTSTAMP:20260727T130726 DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260325 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260327 SEQUENCE:0 TRANSP:OPAQUE END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR