JOSEPH GITHIRIA The Taita Taveta University lecturer has a PhD in mine planning focused on developing a stochastic approach to cutoff grade optimisation
Kenya’s first PhD graduate in mining, Dr Joseph Githiria, graduated at the end of last year from the University of the Witwatersrand’s School of Mining Engineering (Wits School of Mining).
Githiria has since returned to his post as a lecturer at Kenya’s Taita Taveta University, where he will assist in building the country’s nascent mining sector.
His PhD in mine planning focused on developing a stochastic approach to cutoff-grade optimisation – aimed at maximising net present value by concurrently varying metal price and grade-tonnage distribution in an algorithm.
Wits School of Mining head Professor Cuthbert Musingwini, who supervised Githiria’s doctoral thesis, comments that Githiria’s graduation is a highlight in the school’s history of engagement with students across Africa.
Githiria’s graduation comes only six years after Kenya formally established a standalone Ministry of Mining. He was a student at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology and was a ‘pioneer’ in the Mining and Mineral Processing Engineering course in 2006. However, when he completed the five-year course in 2010, mining activity within Kenya was sparse.
After a short spell in the quarrying works of a cement producer in Kenya, he enrolled at Curtin University, in Western Australia, for an 18‑month Master of Engineering Science (Mining) degree. Specialising in mine planning, he graduated in 2013.
“Some significant oil discoveries in the north of Kenya around 2012 changed the government’s attitude towards mining,” Githiria explains. “Suddenly everyone started talking about the extractive industries.” He emphasises that Kenya needs to learn from countries like South Africa and Australia as it develops its mining sector.