As one of the largest mining schools in the world, the School of Mining Engineering at Wits University in Johannesburg has a new head – and his eye is on breaking into the ranks of the top ten mining institutions globally.
South African-born Dr Paseka Leeuw, appointed as Head of School in February this year, brings rockface experience from industry and a long academic career to these ambitions. There is also plenty of momentum toward reaching this goal, built by the formidable achievements of Dr Leeuw’s predecessors.
“Wits is a solid brand in mining education worldwide,” he said. “This is reflected by our current place at number 11 in the QS World University Rankings for Mineral and Mining Engineering.”
Diamond experience
Having cut his teeth in production and management roles in South Africa’s diamond sector before joining the academic staff at Wits School of Mining Engineering in 2009, Dr Leeuw was himself a BSc Engineering (Mining) graduate from Wits in 1994. Among his roles in industry were managing the dump mining section at Kimberley Mines and acting positions such as section manager and technical services manager at Kimberley Mines.
He went on to gain a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in 2005 from De Montfort University, before achieving his MSc and PhD in mining engineering at Wits. In addition to teaching at undergraduate and postgraduate level, he has co-authored a wide range of academic articles with his colleagues and students.
Dr Leeuw has been active on various university committees but also in industry, including the education and student colloquium committees of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (SAIMM), and on the accreditation committee of the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA).
With about 700 undergraduate and postgraduate students, and an academic staff complement of 23, the Wits School of Mining Engineering has a large headcount compared to most peers. Students and staff alike have been attracted by the school’s dynamic and collaborative approach to its work – engaging mining companies, technology suppliers, industry stakeholders and other universities to build the quality of its teaching and research.
Embracing the digital revolution
“We took a big step in 2018, for instance, to embrace the technological advancements underway in mining and in the economy more generally,” he said. “We aligned our curriculum with the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and have worked hard to stay at the cutting edge of technology development – especially in terms of building data-centric courses into our curriculum.”
Students in their second year, for instance, learn the basics of programming and are introduced to the principles of automation and robotics in mining. Many carry out assignments to develop digital applications, leveraging the power of this technology to make mining safer and more efficient.
“Data is a key focus as there are increasing volumes of data being generated in mining operations, not least by sensors in a wide range of mining and processing equipment,” he said. “The industry’s challenge is to generate value by analysing these large data sets for insights into working smarter.”
Changing times in mining
Dr Leeuw acknowledged that much has changed in the local mining sector in recent decades. In his day, most students would arrive at university with a bursary from one of the large mining houses, and would spend vacations working in these operations. After graduation, employment would be almost guaranteed.
“Today, due to limited bursaries from mining companies, most of our students have never been on a mine,” he explained. “It is therefore important that our learning process includes practical opportunities to experience the mining environment.”
To facilitate this, the school has built on-site facilities to simulate the mining environment, and provides students with access to the Wits Mining Institute’s Sibanye Stillwater Digital Mining Laboratory (DigiMine) – a one-of-a-kind laboratory researching using digital technologies to make mining safer and more sustainable. These resources have contributed to Wits’ mining students being sought after, not only in South Africa, but on the African continent and the rest of the world, he said.
All-round collaboration
Dr Leeuw emphasised the close working relationships between the school and major mining companies such as Anglo-American, Anglo-American Platinum, African Rainbow Minerals, Harmony, Seriti Resources and Sibanye-Stillwater. It is also strengthening its links with junior mining companies.
“Our standing as a mining school has also been enhanced by the quality of our academic staff, most with extensive industry experience and over half of whom now have doctoral degrees,” he explained. “We also place emphasis on our research output, which is guided and facilitated through our engagement with mining companies, research bodies and other universities – thanks to the industry networks that our staff have established over the years.”
In South Africa, for instance, the school works with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), the Mandela Mining Precinct, the Mining Qualification Authority (MQA) and the Coaltech Research Association. It collaborated with universities around Africa and abroad, including staff development initiatives with Nigeria’s Federal University of Technology, Namibia’s University of Science and Technology, and Pakistan’s National University of Science and Technology.
“Our links with the University of Zambia’s School of Mines and Mozambique’s Instituto Superior Politécnico de Tete have been beneficial in their curriculum and staff development – funded by the NICHE programme in the Netherlands,” he said. “We also worked with Zambezia and Eduardo Mondlane universities in Mozambique on Work Integrated Learning (WIL), which was funded through the European Union’s Erasmus+ project.”
More to come
There are more collaborations in the pipeline, with memoranda of understanding to be signed with Kono University of Science and Technology in Sierra Leone, and other university mining departments internationally. The focus in these engagements will be on exchange programmes for academics and students, joint research and publications, and an exchange of academic material and information.
Dr Leeuw highlighted that the minerals sector in South Africa and the rest of the continent was a vital contributor to economic growth and social upliftment – but it needed to be supported by a reliable supply of skills and innovation that leveraged the power of the digital economy.
“At Wits, we believe we can enhance our positive impact on Africa’s future – and on the careers of our students – by jointly driving mining safety and productivity in concert with industry and other stakeholders,” he said. “We are confident that we remain among the world’s best, having been among the top 20 since 2016, and are pushing hard to be ranked within the top ten in the world.”
