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Critically minded geologists needed to improve yield of Wits basin

4th May 2012

By: Sashnee Moodley

Senior Deputy Editor Polity and Multimedia

  

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There is an urgent need to develop criti- cally minded geologists that are pre- pared to question the current exploration models to improve the chances of gold discovery in South Africa, notes owner of Australian geology consulting practice Phillipsgold Neil Phillips, who developed Stellenbosch University’s Department of Earth Sciences’ Geology of Gold module.

Department of Earth Sciences executive head Professor John Clemens says the course was developed as a result of the perceived lack of exploration success in the South African gold mining industry.

Phillips points out that gold production in South Africa declined from 30-million ounces in 1970 to under seven-million ounces, resulting in fewer employment opportunities and a reduced economic contribution by the sector.

“The discovery of new large high-grade gold mines could change the current situation, but this will require new exploration models and more critical thinking by geological teams.”

To generate good exploration models, Phillips says, the gold sector needs to promote an environment that challenges dogma and encourages brainstorming, practical exercises and management techniques that fully back new ideas.

The fourth Geology of Gold module, for which Phillips leads the lectures and practical exercises, was presented to applied geology honours students at Stellenbosch this year.

Phillips, who is an honorary professor in the Department of Earth Sciences, at Stellenbosch, developed the original course for the gold-mining industry over many years. An adaption of this course is taught at the university and is the only such gold course in South Africa.

The course highlights the need to create new ways of thinking about how gold deposits are formed and its material is designed to help students think clearly and creatively, as well as communicate effec- tively in writing.

“Professor Clemens realised the need to introduce this type of course to the Stellenbosch University curriculum and initiated the series with an invitation to me in 2008. I then adapted earlier courses to include the level, background and specific gold types most important to South African students,” reveals Phillips.

The course combines a range of deposit descriptions, discusses earth processes that form goldfields and the life skills required for a successful career in the minerals industry.

Geology of Gold teaches general principles that apply to most gold deposit types, allowing students to work on projects involving various gold deposit types in Southern Africa.

“Interspersed throughout the course are exercises in lateral thinking, numeric calculations and approximations – as used in industry – commercial overlay based on junior gold explorers, effective writing and reading skills, critical thinking and differentiating between progressive research and degenerating research that calls for re-evalua- tion,” Phillips explains.

Students are encouraged to participate in debates on local gold geology, such as that of the Witwatersrand basin, in Gauteng.

Phillips and Clemens reveal that the feedback from students on the course has been positive, with students highlighting their improved ability to reason and conduct research after completing the course.

The practical aspect of the course is based on geochemistry and challenges students to determine rock types and geological history after studying difficult metamorphic situations.

The practical exercise, which uses data from several consulting assignments undertaken in Australia, Brazil and South Africa, is designed to complement the strong geo- chemistry training in the university’s undergraduate course. Phillips believes that, as South African mine exploration is becoming critical, owing to dwindling gold resources, the new group of exploration geologists will be responsible for new discoveries that could help replace some of the country’s well-known operational gold mines.

“Through the course, students are taught to appreciate that the South African gold industry is still significant and that the Witwatersrand basin remains one of the world’s main areas of gold mining. It is in serious decline but this does not mean it is about to end, nor does it mean that the decline cannot be reversed,” he says.

Phillips notes that the mining houses in the region have failed to replicate the exploration successes of the 1930s and 1940s, which Clemens attributes to possibly flawed exploration models that did not lead to the discovery of new ore.

Edited by Tracy Hancock
Creamer Media Contributing Editor

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