SEG - Society of Economic Geologists

36 SEG NEWSLETTER No 90 • JULY 2012
CODES Student Chapter
STUDENT NEWS
Field Trip — South Africa
and Botswana
In April 2012, the participants of the
CODES SEG student chapter field trip
visited the mineral deposits of South
Africa and Botswana. The trip was led
by Ross Large, David Hutchinson, and
Chris Large of CODES. It began with a
visit to the deepest mine in the world,
AngloGold Ashanti’s Mponeng mine,
where the group travelled down 3.2 km
to see active mining of the Ventersdorp
Contact Reef (VCR). This was followed
by a trip to the core yard, where several
examples of the VCR and the Carbon
Leader Reef were closely examined and
the sedimentology and mineralogy
were explained in detail by Ross Large
and by Rob Burnett of AngloGold
Ashanti. The next destination was
Lonmin’s Marikana core yard to see the
world-class PGE mineralization of the
Merensky and UG2 reefs of the
Bushveld complex. The following day
the group crossed the border into
Botswana and travelled to Francistown.
Based in Francistown, the students
and industry participants visited the
Mupane gold mine, Mokobaesi uranium
prospect, Pheonix nickel mine,
Trip participants and hosts pose at the Mupane gold mine.
Selebhi-Phikwe nickel-copper mine and
the Mowana copper mine.
The trip ended with a game drive
into the Okavango Delta, where we saw
hundreds of elephants, lions with their
cubs, and a wide range of other African
wildlife.
We would like to thank the mines we
visited: AngloGold Ashanti, Lonmin, Tati
Nickel, Galane Gold, A-Cap Resources,
BCL, African Copper and Discovery
Metals and our sponsors Barrick, Anglo
Gold Ashanti, Teck Resources, Data
Metalogenica and CODES for their support.
We also thank our industry participants,
representing AngloGold Ashanti,
Rio Tinto, First Quantum Minerals, and
Keiron Munro for their support. 1
Contributed by Dan Gregory, CODES
SEG student chapter president
CODES Short Courses
As part of the 2012 CODES SEG studentindustry
trip to South Africa and Bots -
wana, two short courses were organized.
The first course was on gold, with an
emphasis on the Witswatersrand basin
in Johannesburg; the second was on the
geology of Botswana in Francistown.
Ross Large presents at the Botswana geology short course.
The gold short course was presented
on April 25 in conjunction with the
South Africa SEG student chapter. Par -
ticipants included undergraduate and
postgraduate students, academics and
industry professionals. The course started
with an introduction to South African
geology and
metallogeny by
Nic Buekes of
the University
of Johannesburg,
followed by a de -
scription of the
Witwatersrand
basin and exploration
within
the basin by
Morris Viljoen of
the Univer sity
of Witwaters -
rand. In the
afternoon more
detailed studies
and new techniques
em ployed
in studying the
Witwatersrand
Basin were presented by Nic Beukes,
Bradley Guy (UJ), Rob Burnett (Anglo
Gold Ashanti), and Ross Large (CODES).
In the evening, the South Africa SEG
student chapter hosted a braai to welcome
the student and industry participants
of the trip.
The geology of Botswana course was
held on April 29 in conjunction with
the Botswana Geoscientist Association.
The day started with a discussion on
the mineral potential and licensing
requirements in Botswana by a geological
survey representative. The opening
talk was followed by a series of presentations
focussed on the deposits found
in and around Botswana, ranging from
coal to base metals to gold.
We would like to thank the South
Africa SEG student chapter and the
Botswana Geoscientist Association for
the logistical and financial support in
organising these short courses. We
would also like to thank our industry
sponsors Anglogold Ashanti, Teck
Resources, and Barrick Gold for their
support. 1
Contributed by Dan Gregory, CODES