Skip to Main Content
It looks like you're using Internet Explorer 11 or older. This website works best with modern browsers such as the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. If you continue with this browser, you may see unexpected results.

Wits Mining Institute: Home

This portal is a repository and a gateway to information for the Wits Mining Institute.

WMI Partners

Currently, WMI has the following partners;

  • University of the Witwatersrand
  • Sibanye-Stillwater
  • Gold Fields
  • Mine Health and Safety Council
  • IBM

For information of other partners, click here

WMI News

Sibanye-Stillwater Digital Mining Laboratory (DigiMine), Wits Mining Institute (WMI) at the University of Witwatersrand will host its annual DigiMine seminar in September 2021 with the theme of "Digital technology trends for 21st-century mining". The three-day seminar will run from 28 September 2021 to 30 September 2021.

For more details, click here

For registration, click here

Wits Mining Institute

South Africa needs a competitive mining industry for its sustainable economic development. The mining industry is the foundation on which the economy was built and it is imperative that the mining industry grows its contribution so that the country can achieve the objectives of the National Development Plan. Reducing poverty and inequality in South Africa requires current jobs to be sustained and the creation of new sustainable jobs. This is the fundamental objective of the WMI, which objective calls for a committed, collaborative mining sector with strong government support.

The Wits Mining Institute, along with several other Centres of Excellence, reside in the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment.

For more information about WMI, click here

WMI Projects

The following projects are currently underway,

  • Sterkfontein Project
  • VibraTech Project 
  • Schauenburg Project
  • MineTek Project 
  • China-Africa Lab Project
  • Mine Health and Safety Council Drone Project 

These projects are undertaken as postgraduate research projects by postgraduate students of different facilities. Click here to view the current research going on in the WMI. 

WMI Publications

The following publications are done in WMI 

 

  1. Cawood, F.T., Ali, S., Ashraf, H., & Feroze, T. (2020). Building International Capacity in Mining Engineering: The NUST-WITS Mining Educational Collaboration, Inżynieria Mineralna – Journal of the Polish Mineral Engineering Society, 2(46), 311–322.
  2. Atif, I., Cawood, F. T., & Mahboob, M. A. (2020). Modelling and analysis of the Brumadinho tailings disaster using advanced geospatial analytics. Journal of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, 120(7), 405-414.
  3. Atif, I., Cawood, F. T., & Mahboob, M. A. (2020). The Role of Digital Technologies that Could Be Applied for Prescreening in the Mining Industry During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Transactions of the Indian National Academy of Engineering, 1-12.
  4. Kolapo, P., & Cawood, F. (2020). Factors to be considered in establishing a scanning laboratory for testing the accuracy of terrestrial laser scanning technologies. International Journal of Mining and Mineral Engineering, 11(3), 180-190.
  5. Kolade, O., Shimaponda-Nawa, M., Versfeld, D. J., & Cheng, L. (2020). Optimization Algorithms for Improving the Performance of Permutation Trellis Codes. arXiv preprint arXiv:2004.08907.
  6. Kolade, O., Familua, A.D and Cheng, L. (2020) “Indoor Amplify-and-Forward Powerline and Visible Light Communication Channel Model Based on Semi-Hidden Markov Models,” in 2020 AEU- International Journal of Electronics and Communications, v 124, pp. 153108 doi: 10.1016/j.aeue.2020.153108.
  7. Kolade, O. and Cheng, L. (2019) “Permutation-Aided Space-Time Shift Keying for Indoor Visible Light Communication,” in 2019 IEEE International Conference on Communications, Control, and Computing Technologies for Smart Grids (SmartGridComm), pp. 1–6. doi: 10.1109/SmartGridComm.2019.8909722.
  8. Kolade, O. and Cheng, L. (2019) “Impulse Noise Mitigation Using Subcarrier Coding of OFDM-MFSK Scheme in Powerline Channel,” in 2019 IEEE International Conference on Communications, Control, and Computing Technologies for Smart Grids (SmartGridComm), pp. 1–6. doi: 10.1109/SmartGridComm.2019.8909718.
  9. Hussain, I., Cawood, F. T. and Ali, S. (2018) “Towards safer mining: scientific measurement approaches that could be applied for imaging and locating the buried container lamp-room at Lily mine,” Journal of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, 118(2), pp. 185–192. doi: 10.17159/2411-9717/2018/v118n2a12.
  10. Cawood, F. T. (2018) “Policy elements for twenty-first century African mining,” Journal of Science and Technology Policy Management, 9(1), pp. 87–101. doi: 10.1108/JSTPM-06-2017-0028.
  11. Mathey, M. (2018) “Modelling coal pillar stability from mine survey plans in a geographic information system,” Journal of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, 118(2), pp. 157–164. doi: 10.17159/2411-9717/2018/v118n2a9.
  12. Guj, P., Bocoum, B., Cawood, F., Gosai, N., Guj, P., Huibregtse, S., Martin, S. and Maybee, B., (2017). Transfer Pricing In Mining With A Focus On Africa. Washington, D.C.: The World Bank, p.303.
  13. Tetteh, M. and Cawood, F. T. (2017) “Design considerations for critical coal measurement points: Towards accurate reconciliation for integrated mine planning,” Journal of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, 117(7), pp. 629–635. doi: 10.17159/2411-9717/2017/v117n7a4.
  14. Ashraf, H. and Cawood, F. (2017) “Mineral development for growth: the case for a new mineral policy framework for Pakistan,” Journal of Science and Technology Policy Management, 8(3), pp. 246–274. doi: 10.1108/JSTPM-11-2016-0033.
  15. Bondarenko, V. et al. (2017) “Technological safety of sustainable development of coal enterprises,” Mining of Mineral Deposits, 11(2), pp. 1–11. doi: 10.15407/mining11.02.001.
  16. Feroze, T. and Genc, B. (2017) “A CFD model to evaluate variables of the line brattice ventilation system in an empty heading,” Journal of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, 117(2), pp. 97–108. doi: 10.17159/2411-9717/2017/v117n2a1.
  17. Feroze, T. and Genc, B. (2017) “A CFD model to evaluate variables of the line brattice ventilation system in an empty heading,” Journal of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, 117(2), pp. 97–108. doi: 10.17159/2411-9717/2017/v117n2a1.
  18. Cawood, F. T. (2017) “Global opportunities for twenty-first century mining,” Bizcommunity (Energy and Mining) www.bizcommunity.com/BizTrends.
  19. Feroze, T. and Genc, B (2017) “Analysis of the effect of ducted fan system variables on ventilation in an empty heading using CFD,” Journal of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, 117(2), pp. 157–167. doi: 10.17159/2411-9717/2017/v117n2a7.
  20. Feroze, Tariq and Genc, B. (2017) “Evaluation of line brattice length in an empty heading to improve air flow rate at the face using CFD,” International Journal of Mining Science and Technology, 27(2), pp. 253–259. doi: 10.1016/j.ijmst.2017.01.012.
  21. Hamid, A. and Cawood, F. (2017) “GIS-based monitoring system to enhance safety and stability.”
  22. Hussain, I., Cawood, F. and Olst, R. (2017) “Statistical Radio Propagation of Underground Mine: A Performance Study with Different Antennas,” IEEE 85th Vehicular Technology, Sydney (Accepted but withdrawn).
  23. Hussain, I., Cawood, F. and van Olst, R. (2017) “Effect of tunnel geometry and antenna parameters on through-the-air communication systems in underground mines: Survey and open research areas,” Physical Communication, 23, pp. 84–94. doi: 10.1016/j.phycom.2017.03.002.
  24. Feroze, T. and Genc, B. (2016a) “Estimating the effects of line brattice ventilation system variables in an empty heading in room and pillar mining using CFD,” Journal of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, 116(7), pp. 1143–1152. doi: 10.17159/2411-9717/2016/v116n12a8.
  25. Feroze, T. and Genc, B. (2016b) “Ventilation of underground coal mines – A Computational Fluid Dynamics study,” The Mine Ventilation Society of South Africa Conference, pp. 89–95.
  26. Maqelepo, A. and Zvarivadza, T. (2016) “Evaluation of Real-time Ground Behaviour Monitoring Above Mining Surfaces with a View to Enhance Safety and Stability. ,” Conference: 6th International Conference on Computer Applications in the Minerals Industries (CAMI2016).
  27. Grobler, HCI (2016) “Azimuth determination by gyroscope, 50 years later, has anything changed?,” 16TH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS FOR MINE SURVEYING.
  28. Grobler, H (2016) “Does the underground sidewall station survey method meet MHSA standards?,” South African Journal of Geomatics, 5(2), p. 175. doi: 10.4314/sajg.v5i2.6.
  29. Ashraf, H. and Cawood, F. (2015) “Geospatial subsidence hazard modelling at Sterkfontein Caves,” South African Journal of Geomatics, 4(3), p. 273. doi: 10.4314/sajg.v4i3.8.
  30. Feroze, T. and Phillips, H. R. (2015) “An initial investigation of room and pillar ventilation using CFD to investigate the effects of last through road velocity.,” Proceedings of the 24th International Mining Congress of Turkey, IMCET 2015., pp. 970–977.

 

WMI Events

Sibanye-Stillwater Digital Mining Laboratory (DigiMine) is organizing an annual seminar in Decemebr. For more information, click here 

About WMI eLibrary

Welcome to the Wits Mining Institute (WMI) LibGuide. This guide is a gateway to information, resources, help and support facilities within WMI. For more information about the Institute click here

  • Suggestions for improving this guide are welcome and they can be forwarded to WMI Director