The 2020 Coalperson of the Year is Peter Hand

Peter obtained his A-Levels at Cardinal Vaughan Grammar School in London and a B.Sc. (Hons) Mineral Processing from the University College in Cardiff, Wales. Further to this he completed a Senior Management Programme at Stellenbosch Business School in 1991 followed by a Management Development Programme at the University of South Africa in 1995. He is a fellow of the South African Coal Processing Society as well as the South African Institute of Mining & Metallurgy.

Peter is a minerals processing engineer, who has worked in the South African coal industry for 38 years. His first 15 years were spent with Anglo Coal and Ingwe (Randcoal), firstly as a metallurgical trainee and then through successively senior mine production levels, including Plant Superintendent of Rietspruit. In 1988, he was moved to Head Office as a consultant where he was involved with operations, as well as numerous projects.

As part of his duties with Ingwe, he was extensively involved with the technical marketing of coal as well as liaison with Eskom. One of his specialisations is the link between the mine, beneficiation plant and the customer; another is the beneficiation (including dewatering) of fine and ultrafine coal and the use of novel technologies to enable projects to succeed, where conventional techniques may not be appropriate. He was a member of the Operations and Technical Committees for Richards Bay Coal Terminal and a director of the TCOA. Since 1997, he has been an independent consultant, working for most of the major South African coal companies as well many international projects e.g. London, India, Russia, Ukraine, Australia, Mozambique, Mongolia.

He generally works in dense medium processes, particularly coal, iron ore & diamonds, but has been extensively involved in related technologies including crushing, sorting within those areas. He has also worked in other minerals such as copper, cobalt, nickel.

The simulation and optimisation of mineral processing operations, particularly dense medium plants, using the Limn Flowsheet Processor is a particular specialisation.

Peter has written 44 papers on various aspects of plant simulation, dense medium processes and coal processing.

Peter will formally be awarded the Coal Person of the Year at the next Annual Awards Dinner.

30 January 2020

January’s meeting consisted of presentations given by Jaco Scholtz, CEO of the Pentalin Group of Companies and Kobus Du Plessis, Sales Director of Malvern Engineering.

Jaco’s presentation entitled “Dense Medium Beneficiation of Fine Coal – the South African Experience” discussed the fact that spirals are used in most mines on fine coal which restricts in achieving low cut points; efficient separation in high-gravity environments and cut point control.

Challenges experienced are overloading of discard magnetic separator under low yield conditions and dense medium cyclones separated by size and not density at 24D and there is a reduced speed of cyclone feed pumps to operate at 9D.

Kobus du Plessis from Malvern Engineering presented on “Reduction on OPEX by Optimising Separator Circuits in Coal Preparation Plants”. His presentation covered the classification of magnetic susceptibility as well as the basics of magnetic forces in a magnetic separator.

He elaborated that the process of magnetic separation is complex due to various factors which included magnetic susceptibility, magnetic and non-magnetic loadings as well as particle size distribution.

Snacks and refreshments were sponsored by Malvern Engineering.

22 November 2018 – Elmarie Pieters presented her final project presentation as a bursary student at the technical meeting.  Her presentation titled “Coal Benefication” covered the dry beneficiation of -13.2mm +0.5mm South African coal using an air dense medium fluidization bed.

The main aim of her study was to investigate the influence of operating parameters (PSD, coal to medium ratio and vibration) on the performance of an ADMFB coal separator when feeding -13.2mm South African ROM coals.  Her full presentation can be obtained from Johan de Korte on johan.dekorte@sacoalprep.co.za

20 September 2018 – Kevin Roelofse from Weir presented a paper on “The Application of Centrifugal Slurry Pump Sealing” which discussed that  specific attention is drawn to the various sealing options in centrifugal slurry pumps i.e. pumps that transfer slurries which in this case will be pumps installed in the various DMS (Dense Media Separation) plants and thickener underflow applications.  He also stressed the importance of using the most suitable sealing mechanism in a centrifugal slurry pump which is of paramount importance..

26 July 2018 – The July 2018 technical meeting of the Southern African Coal Processing Society was held at the Colliery Training College (CTC) in Emalahleni on Thursday 26 July 2018 at 14h00.  The presentations that were given on the following topics were:
‘High Efficiency Slurry Pumping System’ presented by Cobus Raubenheimer (EPF Systems) – a video snippet of his presentation is given below.  His presentation covered a slurry pumping system, he discussed the Triplex slurry pump which is capable of delivery 600 cubic metres of slurry an hour.  There are two systems – a clean water system and the slurry pumping system which is energy efficient.

The second presentation concerned the ‘Rhovol Particle Density Unit’ and was presented by Mohamed Fofana and Tinus Steyn of the De Beers Group and covered the Rhovol machine which is used to measure the density of ore samples and can be used for coal, De Beers has two machines available, one called the Fine machine and the other is the coarse machine which can take large particles to measure and these machines can be used as analytical tools.  De Beers can be contacted with regards the cost of the service.

The third presentation titled ‘X-ray Transmission Investigation on Coal Samples’ which was presented by Nico van Zyl of the De Beers Group and covered coefficients of correlation and calorific value of coal samples..

15 March 2018 – At the recent technical meeting on 15 March 2018, Jayson Jacobs gave feedback to the audience on the past year. He detailed the benefits of being a member of SACPS which include discount on registration fees, ECSA registration and points. SACPS’s emphasis is on education and he detailed what the society had accomplished by supporting various students, etc.

He also highlighted the need to leave a legacy for the future and it was good to note that we had 52 new members and it was encouraging that young members were interested in coal processing and he stressed the importance of attending the technical meetings every two months where presentations were given which were educational and informative.

The first presentation given was on the topic “Filtering and dewatering” by Gavin Maré of Enprotec which discussed various alternatives to slurry dams through using dewatering and filtering technologies.

The second presentation given by Syd Parkhouse of Aury Africa (Pty) Ltd covered screening/centrifuging of coal using vibrating/processing equipment Syd stated that it is important to collaborate with industry so that they are aware of what problems are being encountered and where they can help.

Kindly contact Johan de Korte for more information on presenting papers at future technical meetings or to obtain information on papers already presented. Please contact him via email on johan.dekorte@sacoalprep.co.za.

25 January 2018 – The first Technical Meeting of 2018 of the Southern African Coal Processing Society was held at the Colliery Training College (CTC) in Emalahleni on Thursday 25 January 2018

Presentations included ‘Toughened alumina ceramic wear linings and the utilization of Composites in processing plants’ presented by Cobus Kotze and Leon Harmsen (Groupline Projects) and ‘Developments in the Reflux Classifier™ Technology’ presented by Nicolas Boonzaier (FL Smidth)

Refreshments were sponsored by Groupline Projects

23 November 2017 – Only one student (Elmarie Peters of North West University) presented on her project ‘The dry beneficiation of South African small coal in a dense medium fluidized bed’.  The second speaker was Frikkie Enslin of Multotec who gave a very good presentation entitled ‘Optimization of a de-sliming cyclone in the Witbank coalfields – a case study’.  Welcome to our new committee members, Refiloe Maila representing Hatch and Chris Swanepoel representing Anglo American and our display cabinet that SACPS sponsored at the Geological Museum, Walter Sisulu National Botanical Gardens can be viewed below.  Multotec sponsored the refreshments.

21 September 2017 – The Society’s committee meeting took place in the morning followed by the mini technical seminar. Technical presentations given included “The use of ‘CurvePRO RFID Tracers’ to measure plant efficiency”, presented by Chris Wood (Partition Enterprises), Johan de Korte from the CSIR gave a presentation on “Minimizing magnetite consumption”.  Refreshments were sponsored by Partition Enterprises.

27 July 2017 – The Society’s committee meeting took place in the morning followed by the mini technical seminar. Technical presentations given included “Application of GE3000 on-line analyzers in SA”, presented by Vladimir Jenista and Viktor Valenta from Enelex, Johan de Korte from the CSIR gave a presentation on “Larcodems” as well as one on “The influence of near-dense material on plant efficiency”.  Refreshments were sponsored by Larcodems and Enelex.

28 July 2016 – Keith Buttemer of Scanmin Africa gave two presentations entitled “Understanding DUET, Natural gamma, PGNAA, PFTNA XRF and Nita” (methods employed for on-line coal analysis) followed by “Case study of mechanical samples collected compared to the analyser and dealing with the analyser and inter laboratory statistical analysis”. This was followed by Pieter Erasmus who gave a presentation on “Selective laboratory sampling data and the use of it in the calibration and verification of on line analyser dynamic performance”. Scanmin Africa sponsored the refreshments enjoyed afterwards.

25 May 2017 – The Society’s committee meeting took place in the morning and was followed by the technical seminar. Technical presentations which were given at the recent mini seminar on 25 May 2017 included “Dry processing coal using FGX technology” presented by Pascal Hlongwane from Genet Mineral Processing; “X-Ray sorting of coal” presented by Jacques Reinecke from Tomra Sorting Soutions; “Upgrading raw coal with the Allair dry jig” presented by Richard Ferreira from IMS Engineering,

16 March 2017 – The Society’s AGM took place in the morning and the Chairman, Jaco Scholtz, gave an overview of the activities of the Society over the past year before the Treasurer, Gerrit Lok, presented a review of the Society finances. This was followed by feedback to the members who attended the technical presentations and the chair was then handed over to Jayson Jacobs.  Thereafter Alan Johns from ALS Group gave a presentation entitled “Practical considerations for bias testing for coal sampling plants”. This was followed by Craig Bamber from Malvern Engineering who gave a presentation on “Cross Belt Sampler Technology”. The refreshments after the presentations were sponsored by Malvern Engineering.

28 January 2016 – The first meeting of 2016 was started off with a presentation by InnoVenton’s Professor Ben Zeelie who spoke on the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University’s Coalgae project. Barney Bai (Favorsea) thereafter gave a presentation of the Dry Dense Medium Plant in operation at Shenhua in China. Johan de Korte then presented on new developments in coal preparation.

SACPS newsletter no 2 of 2020 is available for downloading here

SACPS newsletter no 4 of 2019 is available for downloading here

SACPS newsletter no 3 of 2019 is available for downloading here

SACPS newsletter no 2 of 2019 is available for downloading here

SACPS newsletter no 3 of 2018 is available for downloading here

SACPS newsletter no 2 of 2018 is available for downloading here

The inaugural SACPS newsletter is available for downloading here

SACPS newsletter no 2 is available for downloading here

SACPS newsletter no 3 is available for downloading here

26 November 2015 – Two presentations were on the menu for the afternoon – “Tweefontein performance run” presented by Herman Oosthuizen of DRA and “Coal preparation training at CTC” presented by Len Bowker of the Colliery Training College. DRA kindly sponsored the refreshments.

17 September 2015 – The Meeting was again held at Mama Lisa with three presentations for the afternoon. They were “Drying of fine coal using warm air in a fluidised bed” presented by Elmarie Peters (North West University), “Water movement and retention in coal stockpiles” presented by Chané Espag (North West University) and “The new Tweefontein coal processing plant” presented by Johann Niebuhr (DRA).

25 – 27 August 2015 – The bi-annual SACPS conference “Coal processing: Unlocking Southern Africa’s coal potential” was held in Secunda. Attendance was above expectations (more than 200 delegates) and the presentations were of a high standard. The conference was, as in the past, accompanied by an excellent exhibit of coal mining and processing equipment. The SACPS wishes to thank all the speakers, delegates, exhibitors and sponsors for their valued support.

23 July 2015 – The meeting was again held in Emalahleni (Witbank) at Mama Lisa and three topics were presented. The first presentation was entitled “Coal processing in China” and was presented by Barney Bai of Favorsea. This was followed by Stefan Pretorius of Favorsea who gave a presentation on China’s Low Calorific Value Coal Power Generation Technology. The third presentation of the afternoon was entitled “The intricacies of washability data” and was presented by Herman and Maria Dorland of The Workshop et al.

1 May 2015 – Etienne Swanepoel of Osborn introduced two presentations entitled “Pros and cons of Mineral sizers” presented by Morgan Darcy and “Rotary Coal breaker for de-stoning” which was presented by Robin Melville. This was followed by “Coal research at North-West University – highlights and challenges”
presented by Quentin Campbell and Marco le Roux.

15 May 2015 – The annual SACPS dinner was held at Emperors Palace on Friday the 15th May. As always, it was enjoyed by all 650 people who attended. The Coal Person of the year went to DRA’s Mark Cresswell who has been involved in some of the largest coal plants built by his company in the past 10 years. He has been a member of the Society for 30 years, joining in 1985 and was the Chairman in 2011 and 2012.

The Society’s University Nomination for Student of the year was Tsholanang Molati from the University of Johannesburg – he completed Coal Processing and Usage Modules A and B for practical and theory and was the top achiever with an academic average of 79% in both coal modules achieving a pass rate over 80%.

The Colliery Training College Top Student was Shanduka Coal’s, Hendrik Du Toit who completed his Advanced Coal Preparation Diploma in 2014 with a distinction as well as achieving a distinction for basic coal preparation.

26 March 2015 – The AGM and Technical Meeting was held at a new venue – “Mama Lisa”. Following the AGM, the new Chairman of the SACPS, Jaco Scholtz, introduced the speakers. The first presentation was entitled “Design, Construction and Commissioning of a Brownfield CHPP Expansion at Ravensworth North Operations” and was presented by Christopher Thornton (Mineral Technologies). Christopher was followed by Vumeka Buthelezi (WorleyParsons) who gave a presentation entitled “Quantifying Sustainability in Coal Processing Utilising the EcoNomics DELTA tool”

22 January 2015 – David Hume of Coal2Char gave a presentation entitled “Agglomerating fine coal – Highlighting the options”. This was followed by Dale McClean of River Energy who talked about “Fine coal beneficiation and binderless briquetting”.

27 November 2014 – Three presentations were delivered on this afternoon. The first was entitled “Application of Hyperbaric filters at Grootegeluk” by Dr. Rainer Raberger from ANDRITZ Separation, Graz Austria. This was followed by “Control of thickeners treating fine clay containing slurries” presented by Andrew Vietti from Paterson & Cooke and the third presentation was “Truck Sampler / Stockpile Determinator” presented by Justin Chen of CKIC on behalf of Wirsam Scientific. Refreshments, sponsored by ANDRITZ Delkor (Pty) Ltd was available after the meeting

18 September 2014 – Richard Aston of Fraser Alexander gave a presentation entitled “Design, Construction & Operations of Discard Dumps and Tailings Dams”. This was followed by Barney Bai of Favoursea who shared some experience on the handling of discard and slurry in China. Fraser Alexander sponsored the refreshments.

24 July 2014 – Rein Buisman (Particle Separation Systems) gave a presentation entitled “Fine coal drying and agglomeration using PARSEP and BALF technologies + converting fine coal to Coal Water Fuel”. This was followed by a talk entitled “Design trends for large coal processing plants in Southern Africa” presented by Mark Cresswell (DRA). DRA and PSS jointly sponsored the refreshments.

22 May 2014 – The Technical Meeting was held at the Portuguese Hall for the first time on this afternoon. The first presentation was entitled “Dry coal beneficiation using X-Ray sorting and Air-jigs” and was presented by
Lütke von Ketelhodt of IMS. This was followed by “Fine coal drying and beneficiation with an ultrasonic mill” which was presented by Colin Rawson of Universal Vortex. Malvern Engineering kindly sponsored the refreshments.

27 March 2014 – The Annual General Meeting was held on this afternoon and Kobus du Plessis (Chairman of the SACPS) gave feedback on the society activities over the past year. Mark Craddock (Treasurer) reviewed the state of the society finances. The AGM was followed by two technical presentations. Mark Craddock gave a presentation on the CMI centrifuges installed at Phola whereafter Peter Hand gave an account on the difficulties associated with building a new coal prep plant in Mongolia. The refreshments were kindly sponsored by Aury Africa.

23 January 2014 – Kobus Boshoff of Filtaquip gave a presentation entitled “Fine coal dewatering with Filtaquip Filter Press Technology” in which he explained the operation of the Matec filter press. This was followed by Kobus du Plessis of Malvern who gave an overview of the design and operational aspects of dense medium drums. Filtaquip and Malvern jointly sponsored the refreshments.

29 November 2012 – The first presentation on this afternoon was on the Reflux Classifier and was presented by Leon Toerien of FLSmidth. This was followed by two presentations by Hatch entitled “Coal Triangle – Ore, Processing and Market” and “An Integrated Approach to the Life Extension of Coal Handling Process Plants” The presenters were Ian du Plessis and Christopher Anderson (Hatch). Refreshments, kindly sponsored by FLSmidth, was available after the meeting.

27 September 2012 – The topic for discussion on this afternoon was the Chinese Three Product Cyclone. Rob Bennett of ProMet Dadi Africa gave an overview of the unit in a talk entitled “The Chinese 3-Product cyclone in perspective”. Marius Potgieter of Anglo Thermal Coal shared the practical experience gained at Umlalazi Colliery in his talk entitled “Operation of a 3-Product Cyclone at Umlalazi Colliery”. Some lively discussions followed. ProMet Dadi Africa kindly sponsored the refreshments enjoyed afterwards.

26 July 2012 – Mike Flanagan of Magquip (Pty) Ltd presented a talk on the development of new over-belt magnet technology. His talk was entitled “The Evolution of an Energy Efficient, Environmentally Friendly, Magnet for the Medupi Overland Conveyor”. This was followed by a presentation entitled “The Role of Magnetic Separators in the Recovery of Magnetite in Dense Medium Recovery Circuits” by Kobus du Plessis of Malvern Engineering. Magquip kindly sponsored the snacks.

24 May 2012 – The afternoon’s topic was fine coal processing and dewatering. The first presentation was entitled “Slurry handling – Kangra case study” by Jayson Jacobs and Morne Kruger of Enprotec. This was followed by “Fine coal filtration utilizing Vacuum Disc filter technology” presented by Hoosen Essack of Roymec Technologies. Lastly Nic Barkhuizen of Derrick Corporation presented “Fines recovery and de-sliming with Derrick Screens” Enprotec was the sponsor for the afternoon.

29 March 2012 – The AGM was held and it was decided and accepted that the name of the Society be changed to the “Southern African Coal Processing Society”. The revised logo was also accepted by the meeting. The AGM was followed by two interesting presentations – the first by Jeremy Bosman of Pesco who gave a recount of the history of the dense medium cyclone. The second presentation on Shumar crushers was given by Wolf H. Schütte.

26 January 2012 – The topic for discussion on this afternoon was dewatering of ultra-fine coal. Matt S. Fenzel of the Phoenix Process Equipment Company in Louisville, Kentucky, gave an update on the performance of the Phoenix filter at the Kiepersol plant. This was followed by Jacques Mik of Anglo Thermal Coal who presented an interesting comparison between the TH and Lasta filters at Phola Plant. Refreshments were sponsored by Malvern Engineering.

24 November 2011 – Two very interesting presentations on on-line analysis were presented. The first presentation was entitled “An Update of On-Line quality monitoring at Eskom” and was presented by Keith Buttemer (Scanmin) This was followed by “Evaluation of online XRF analyzer on Highveld coal” which was presented by Lesego Moitsheki (Sasol). The refreshments enjoyed afterwards were jointly sponsored by Scantech and Scanmin.

29 September 2011 – The presentations for the afternoon were “Yield Optimization at ATCOM Plant” presented by Vicky van Schalkwyk (Xstrata Coal). This was followed by “Briquetting Coal Fines and Slurry for Profit” which was presented by David Hume (Coal 2 Char cc). Noko Analytical Services proudly sponsored the refreshments which followed a lively discussion.

16, 17 and 19 August 2011 – SACPS International Coal Conference “Coal processing: The key to effective coal utilization” held in Secunda.

28 July 2011 – Two very interesting topics were presented: “The Phoenix Belt Filter” which was presented by Kobus du Plessis of Malvern Engineering and this was followed by “Stockpile Discharger (SPD) & Coal Valve or Feeder Combinations” presented by Shawn Faba of Ludowici. Malvern Engineering and Ludowici co-sponsored the snacks.

26 May 2011 – The topic for discussion was “Dry processing”. Fabian Riedel of CommodasUltrasort (Pty) Ltd. gave a presentation entitled “Dry Coal De-Stoning by X-Ray Transmission Sorting” and this was followed by an overview of the operation of the FGX Plant at Middelkraal Colliery entitled “Dry beneficiation of raw coal with the FGX 24A” presented by Rory Power of Xantium. Isambane Processing (Pty) Ltd. kindly sponsored the refreshments.

31 March 2011 – The AGM was held on this afternoon and our new chairman, Mark Cresswell, started his tenure. The AGM was followed by two presentations on the topic of large diameter dense medium cyclones. Ian du Plessis of Multotec gave a presentation entitled “Knowledge gems from Australia” and this was followed by a presentation by Jeremy Bosman with the title “Dense medium cyclone capacities”.

27 January 2011 – The topic for the afternoon was “Dry screening”. Johan de Korte explained why dry screening of damp coal was so difficult and Josef Martin of Dabmar Manufacturing gave an overview of the operation and technical aspects of the Bivitec screen. Dabmar kindly sponsored the refreshments.

26 November 2009 – Bongani Mzotho of New Vaal and Ferdie Breedt of Grootegeluk gave account of how they manage to process coal at high relative densities (1.85 at New Vaal and 2.0 at Grootegeluk). The SACPS sponsored the refreshments.

8, 9 and 10 September 2009 – SACPS Conference “Coal – Powering the Future” held in Secunda.

30 July 2009 – The topic under discussion was “Spirals, TBS or both?” Dean Lincoln of Multotec presented the case for spirals, followed by Peter Hand of QVA stating the benefits of the TBS. Maynard Lombard of Anglo Coal presented an overview of the successful implementation at Navigation Colliery of a combined TBS/spiral circuit. QVS kindly sponsored the refreshments enjoyed afterwards.

28 May 2009 – Johan Engelbrecht from Multotec gave an informed overview of the parameters that influence the performance of dense-medium cyclones. This was followed by Neo Kgatuke of Exxaro who gave a recount of his trip to Australia to assess the performance and economics of large diameter cyclones. Multotec kindly sponsored the eats and drinks.

26 March 2009 – The Annual General Meeting of the Society was held and Gerrit Lok, as the new chairman, took over the reins from Mike Hayton. The AGM was followed by a presentation on pumps by Jim Jones from Metso U.K. and Europe Office. Metso kindly sponsored the refreshments.

15 January 2009 – An overview of Coal Preparation Research Work Conducted by Coaltech was presented by David Power of Anglo Coal (Chairman of Coaltech Coal Preparation Sub-Committee). This was followed by a presentation on dry beneficiation of coal Johan de Korte (CSIR).

30 October 2008 – David Peatfield of DMPConsulting gave a presentation entitled “Feedback Report from the Minerals Engineering Society 50th Anniversary”. This was followed by an overview of the new Mafube Coal Preparation Plant Presented by Gideon Mpunga (Plant Superintendent of Mafube).

28 August 2008 – Steve Evans of Prosep Chemicals gave an overview of the new ‘Baleen Filter’, used for micro screening. Bongani Mzotho of Anglo Coal thereafter presented the results obtained from testing the Baleen Filter at New Vaal Colliery. This was followed by a presentation by Mark Whitter of Exxaro on the performance of the bivi-TEC screen which has been in operation at New Clydesdale Colliery for almost a year now. Prosep Chemicals sponsored the refreshments enjoyed by all after the meeting.

26 June 2008 – Keith Buttemer of ScanMin Africa (Pty) Ltd. gave an excellent presentation on the NITA analyzer. Scanmin kindly sponsored the refreshments enjoyed afterwards.

30 May 2008 – 40th Anniversary Dinner/ Dance held at the Sandton Convention Centre.

22 May 2008 – A historic day for the Society as the first AGM of the new combined SACPS is held. The previous Central and Witbank branches are now amalgamated. Mike Hayton was elected as chairman for the next year and Gerrit Lok as vice-chairman. The AGM was followed by a presentation on plant efficiency testing by Johan de Korte.

24 April 2008 – Dirk de Klerk of Seprotech presented a talk on the Ishigaki Filter Press. This was followed by a talk entitled ‘ Filter press operation at Goedehoop Colliery’ presented by Hannes Esterhuizen of Anglo Coal.

21 February 2008 – Clive Hart (DRA/Minopex) spoke on “Capital and Operating Costs of Coal Preparation Plants”. This was followed by Lydia van der Merwe (Total Coal SA) who gave a very good user’s perspective entitled “Outsourcing the Operation of a Coal Processing Facility”. DRA/Minopex kindly sponsored the refreshments.

29 November 2006 – Dr. Quentin Campbell from North-West University presented a talk entitled “Fine coal dewatering: should we try something different?”. This was followed by Rein Buisman from Particle Separation Systems (PSS) who gave a talk entitled “Ultra Fine Coal from pulp to 10 % dry using Steel Belt Drying Technology. PSS kindly sponsored the refreshments enjoyed afterwards.

27 September 2006 – Mark Cresswell and Clive Hart of DRA presented the results of a study aimed at deciding whether to use drums or large cyclones for the processing of coarse coal. A lively debate followed the presentation. DRA sponsored the refreshments after the meeting.

26 July 2006 – Val Korzynski and Silviu Mihai of Linatex presented a thought-provoking overview on vibrating screens. Linatex kindly sponsored the refreshments enjoyed after the meeting.

24 May 2006 – Technical Colloquium in Vryheid, KwaZulu-Natal. Several very good presentations were given on this day.

2 May 2006 – Presentation on ECSA registration requirements by Lampies Lamprecht of Anglo Coal Project Services.

29 March 2006 – Annual General Meeting + Presentation by Zelmia Oppel of Kumba Resources on the new Batac Jig at Leeuwpan. A lively discussion followed the presentation – enough to bring tears to the eyes of certain members of the audience.

25 January 2006 – Bea du Toit of Bateman presented a paper entitled “Characterization of static screens for dewatering and dense medium applications”. Bateman kindly sponsored the refreshments enjoyed after the meeting.

30 November 2005 – Lutke Von Ketelhodt gave a very good presentation on the MikroSort Optical Sorting Technology.

14, 15 & 16 September 2005 – SACPS Conference held at the Graceland Hotel, Casino and Country Club in Secunda. By all accounts, a very successful conference.

27 July 2005 – Dave Michael gave a very informative overview of the Moatize Project in Mozambique. This was followed by an interesting review by Mark Cresswell of his visits to coal mines (and places where coal was thought to be) in three countries in Africa. The snacks enjoyed after the meeting were kindly sponsored by DRA.

25 May 2005 – Koos de Beer of Sasol presented a talk on a sampling exercise carried out at Sasol ‘s mines in Secunda to measure the size grading of ROM coal. Gerrit Lok of Multotec presented a talk on the pitfalls of data interpretation.

6 April 2005 – Annual General Meeting followed by Jeremy Bosman presenting an interesting overview of the history of dense-medium cyclones entitled ” Dense Medium Cyclones – The Evolution of a Revolution”

2 March 2005 – Ernst Frohnwieser of Andritz AG (Austria) reviewed the advantages of dewatering flotation concentrate with a combination of screenbowl centrifuges and hyperbaric filters. Refreshments afterwards were sponsored by Andritz.

27 January 2005 – Terence Osborn, Senior Technical Sales Consultant at Larox presented a talk on the Larox Membrane Filter Press, used for the dewatering of ultra-fine coal. Thierry Johannes, General Manager Drytech, gave an overview of thermal drying of fine and ultra-fine coal. Refreshments were sponsored by Larox.

27 November 2003 – Mr. B. Feltkamp of Andritz presented an overview of recent developments in centrifuge technology. This was followed by Danie van Wyk of Mintek explaining how to determine washability data for coal, iron ore, chromite and many other minerals using a “Minerals Density Separator”. Refreshments after the meeting was sponsored by Andritz.

25 September 2003 – David Horsfall Memorial Lecture. Dr. Tako de Jong from the Technical University of Delft in the Netherlands gave a very interesting overview of technologies that may be employed for the dry beneficiation and sorting of coal (and other minerals and materials). The Society sponsored the refreshments enjoyed after the meeting.

24 July 2003 – Dan Steyn of Jig Mining presented a talk on the use of jigs to recover saleable coal from plant discards. Jakes Jacobs of Xstrata Coal discussed the new Larcodems installed at Tavistock to re-wash discard coal. Jig Mining sponsored the refreshments.

22 May 2003 – Paul Masia gave a presentation on the flotation testwork done at Koornfontein with the Multotec Column, the Outokumpu Cells and the G Cell. Rein Buisman of Particle Separation System introduced a number of new concepts and types of equipment that will influence fine coal beneficiation and dewatering in the near future. The refreshments after the meeting was sponsored by Particle Separation Systems and Maelgwyn Mineral Services.

27 March 2003 – Annual General Meeting followed by two technical presentations. Peter Hand & Mark Craddock from QVA Process Technologies (Pty) Ltd. gave an overview of fine coal beneficiation using the TBS / hydrosizer. Albrecht Truter (Micron Scientific) then gave a presentation on the determination of particle size consist with laser techniques.

23 January 2003 – Adrian Hinde (Mintek), Stephan Opperman (Goedehoop) and Andries Maoka (Optimum) gave excellent overviews of work done to date on the Kroosh Ultimate Screener. Their presentations are available on request from J de Korte.

5 November 2002 – David Horsfall Memorial Lecture. Peter Holtham of the Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre gave an overview of coal research in Australia. He also showed that new technology is being used to improve the canal system in the UK – something that was close to David Horsfall’s heart. (Peter’s presentation is available on request)

22 August 2002 – Pieter de Rooy of Martin & Robson presented a talk on Magnetite and the long-term supply outlook for magnetite. Carl Bergman of Mintek gave a very interesting overview of testwork done on the “Yang Jig” at Mintek.

27 June 2002 – Koos Vermeulen of Krebs Engineers gave an overview of the Krebs Milmax pump. Johann Grobler of Kumba Resources gave a very interesting talk on the application of the Larcodems at Sishen.

25 April 2002 – Multotec Day hosted by the Witbank branch. Talks were given by Spike Taylor, Anton vermeulen, Jeremy Bosman, Johan Engelbrecht, Horst Schulte and Ken Tuckey.

18 April 2002 – Annual General Meeting. David Brennan of SCMB Securities gave a very informative talk on the role of coal in the investment market.

11 – 14 March 2002 – XIV ICPC at the Sandton Convention Centre.