Dear Members
Please follow the links to the latest quarterly newsletter.
Download
This is your newsletter and I would like to hear from you. If you have any information or stories that we can use, please submit them via email to alida.hartzenberg@lonmin.com
Your feedback will be highly appreciated.
Alida Hartzenberg
When looking at your newly acquired smartphone, that red dot with a numerical value, for some, might be meaningless. For me, suffering with a mild case of FOMO*, I cannot stand it if my phone displays all the notifications on updates, new text messages or unread mails. I need to know what has changed. On an app upgrade, I therefore read the upgrade notes made on the application. I fear missing out on a special feature that will make my life better or easier.
This brings me to message that I would like to leave you with. You will not know what you miss if you do not know what you have. The upgrade from Ver1.0 to Ver2.0 will not bother you if you only downloaded Ver3.0. Once downloaded, you get the full capacity of the new app. In training and life, on the contrary, it does not work that way. Once you “downloaded” your certificate, it does not necessarily provide you with the experience, which unfortunately comes with time. Forty years’ experience, takes forty years – even in the new technology age where the technology gets replaced every 6 months. The question raised here is how do we stay abreast. In life, we need to learn from the past, and how that and our current status will influence the next UPDATE.
Each of us has the responsibility, believe it or not, to UPDATE our companies to a better environment for the sake of each other and the next generation. If we check our desks and To-Do-Lists, we will find some areas that could do with an UPDATE, and even in some cases, a DELETE. We need to know where to aim our energy and where to cut back. In order to reach your destination, you first need to know where you are.
In order to achieve your goals for 2018, consider the words of a famous South African Bank – “What is your next ...?” If you know what you want, determine what you need to do next to get yourself closer to that goal on a daily basis. Keeping STATUS QUO is LOSING GROUND.
To all members of SANIRE, may 2018 be a blessed year. To those attempting exams this year, good luck. To those looking for appointments, good luck. To those currently appointed, GOOD LUCK. May 2018 bring to each member the prosperity that we strive for and the health to pursue this with all our energy.
Keep those red dot numbers down ….
Jannie
*FOMO – Fear Of Missing Out
Recent developments
A reminder of decisions approved at the ISRM Council meeting, held at AfriRock 2017:
Online lectures
Two ISRM Online Lectures are available for viewing on or downloading from the ISRM website (www.isrm.net):
The 21st Online lecture will be presented on the 15th March by Professor Laura Pyrak-Nolte and will be on geo-physical characterisation of fractures.
ISRM Conferences
The following ISRM Conferences are scheduled:
| Event title | Start date | End date | Country | City |
| 1st International Conference on Advances in Rock Mechanics | 2018-03-29 | 2018-03-31 | Tunisia | Hammamet |
| EUROCK 2018 - the ISRM European Rock Mechanics Symposium | 2018-05-22 | 2018-05-26 | Russia | Saint Pe- |
| RockDyn-3 - 3rd International Conference on Rock Dynamics and Applications - an ISRM Specialised Conference | 2018-06-26 | 2018-06-27 | Norway | Trondheim |
| VIII Brazilian Rock Mechanics Symposium | 2018-08-28 | 2018-09-01 | Brazil | Salvador |
| ARMS10 - the ISRM 10th Asian Rock Mechanics Symposium | 2018-10-29 | 2018-11-03 | Singapore | Singapore |
| 2019 Rock Dynamics Summit in Okinawa | 2019-05-07 | 2019-05-11 | Japan | Okinawa |
| ISRM 14th International Congress on Rock Mechanics | 2019-09-13 | 2019-09-18 | Brazil | Foz do Iguaçu |
| YSRM2019 - the 5th ISRM Young Scholars’ Symposium on Rock Mechanics and REIF2019 - International Symposium on Rock Engineering for Innovative Future | 2019-12-01 | 2019-12-04 | Japan | Okinawa |
| EUROCK 2020 - Hard Rock Excavation and Support - an ISRM regional Symposium | 2020-06-00 | 2020-06-00 | Norway | Trondheim |
Full Name: Dewald Adriaan Wynand Lamprecht
Position: Unit Manager Rock Engineer
Company/ Organisations: Sibanye-Stillwater – Driefontein BU1 (1# & 6#)
Date and Place of Birth: 17 October 1986, Randfontein
Education: FMDP, COMSOC 1, COM SCC, COM REC
First Job: Top Vending – Driver
Personal Best Achievement/s: Obtaining my Rock Engineering Certificate
Philosophy of Life: Never judge anyone; you never know what they went through in life.
Favourite Food/Drink: Medium rib eye steak with mash and vegetables, together with and a glass of wine.
First Prize: Dewald Lamprecht
![]() |
![]() |
Second Prize: Jeanne Walls
![]() |
![]() |
Third Prize: Denisha Sewnun
![]() |
![]() |
First Prize: Adriaan van Zyl
See the video here...

By G.C. More O’Ferrall
Honduras is a Central American country, bordered by Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua. It has the Caribbean Sea to the Northeast and the Pacific Ocean to the South (Figure 1).
Full Name: Jeanne Walls
Position: Director; Principal Geotechnical Consultant
Company/ Organisations: Jewal Consulting (Pty) Ltd
Date and Place of Birth: 24 March 1976, Greytown, KZN
Education: MEng (Rock Eng.), GDE (Mining), CoMAREC, BSc (Hons) Geophysics
First Job: Exploration geophysicist (first job in mining)
Personal Best Achievement/s: Discovering after nearly 20 years that I have achieved a meaningful career, accomplished my own financial independence, established my own business, and developed valu-able relationships amongst my peers, superiors, and young up-and-comings within the industry.
Philosophy of Life: Every one of us walks a different path. The world is bigger than we are as individ-uals, but we are each of us uniquely relevant. Most of us deserve a second chance, most of us deserve some considered understanding, and there is always beauty and redemption somewhere, if we’re brave enough to know it.
Favourite Food/Drink: A fine whiskey
Favourite Sport: Mountain Biking
WASHINGTON — The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) has elected 83 new members and 16 foreign members, announced NAE President C. D. (Dan) Mote, Jr., today. This brings the total U.S. membership to 2,293 and the number of foreign members to 262.
Election to the National Academy of Engineering is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer. Academy membership honors those who have made outstanding contributions to "engineering research, practice, or educa-tion, including, where appropriate, significant contributions to the engineering literature" and to "the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology, making major advancements in traditional fields of engineering, or developing/implementing innovative approaches to engineering education."
Individuals in the newly elected class will be formally inducted during a ceremony at the NAE's annual meeting in Washing-ton, D.C., on Sept. 30, 2018. A list of the newly elected members and foreign members follows, with their primary affilia-tions at the time of election and a brief statement of their principal engineering accomplishments.
Napier, John A.L., extraordinary professor, department of mining engineering, University of Pretoria, Hatfield, Pretoria, South Africa. For contributions to computational simulation of rock fracture around underground excavations.
Prof. Don U. Deere died on 14 January 2018 in Gainsville, Florida. He was born in 1922, in Mt. Etna, Iowa. He was part of a small group of rock engineers that decisively influenced the development of rock mechanics in the 20th century.
Prof. Deere graduated in Mining Engineering at Iowa State University and obtained a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering at the University of Illinois in 1955. An expert on tunnelling, dam building and design, and the construction of large underground spaces, in 1989 he was appointed as Chairman of the US Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board. He received numerous distinctions throughout his career including being elected to both the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Sciences.
After working as a mining engineer in Arizona and New Mexico, Don moved to the University of Puerto Rico and started the Foundation Engineering Company of Puerto Rico. In 1955 he accepted an appointment as an associate professor at the University of Illinois. In 1972 he moved to Gainesville where he co-founded Deere and Merritt, a consulting firm in geology and rock mechanics, and joined the University of Florida.
He wrote and co-authored numerous papers and was the inventor of the rock mass assessment tool, the RQD – Rock Quality Designation. Together with Prof. Giovanni Lombardi, he invented the GIN method of grouting. He was the President of the Commission on Standardization of Laboratory and Field Tests of the ISRM from 1968 to 1973.
At this time our thoughts are with his close family and friends.
You are invited to the Mining and Tunnelling Seminar.
Agenda: Innovations and experiences in ground support for the mining and hydropower industry
Where: Ruimsig Country Club
When: 15 February 2018 from 8:30 (registrations); will continue until around 16:00
Contact: Mariette Esterhuyse (mariette.esterhuyse@geobrugg.com) on Tel. +27 83 7725564
Cost: Free of charge
Obituary Notice: Prof. Richard Z.T. Bieniawski,
Prof. Richard Z.T. Bieniawski, 81, of Prescott, Arizona died Monday December 11, 2017 at his home. He was born October 1, 1936 in Krakow, Poland.
Dr. Hon. Causa (Madrid, Spain), Dr. Hon. Causa (AGH, Krakow, Poland), Ph.D. M. Sc. Distinguished Professor (ret.) and President, Bieniawski Design Enterprises, Prescott, Arizona.
Paper 1 is a general theoretical paper covering basic rock mechanics theory applicable in all types of mining environments, surface as well as underground. This course will cover the Syllabi for Paper 1, preparing the candidate attempting the certificate of competence examination on the themes of stress & strain, constitutive behaviour, rock properties, stress in rock & rockmasses and rockmass properties.
The course will be presented over 5 days (12-16 March 2018), allowing sufficient time for transferring knowledge and information, resolving misunderstood concepts and practical.
For more information please contact:
Mpolokeng Rammutloa - mpolokeng.rammutloa@enterprises.up.ac.za
Jannie Maritz - jannie.maritz@up.ac.za
Dear SANIRE Members
In the recent past a couple of SANIRE members have received suspicious emails from unknow email addresses requested a refund with an attached Proof of Payment (PoP). This is currently a scam which is doing its rounds. Please note that the email does not come from info@sanire.co.za but other email addresses with info@sanire.co.za used in the signature section or as an address to send the PoP back too. Please do not reply to these emails. Please note that no personal information is accessible via the webpage and all personal details are safe with the SANIRE Secretary.
Thanks
SANIRE President
Jannie Maritz
+ 27 (0) 11 538 0231 | Email us