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INTERNATIONAL MINING HALL OF FAME
tenure with Gemcom (acquired by Dassault
Systèmes in 2012), Diering held several positions
including Chief Technology Officer and Vice
President of Advanced Technologies. As the
former Vice President, Block Caving, he played a
central role in setting up Dassault Systèmes’
GEOVIA operations in South Africa in addition to
overseeing the global development, marketing,
training and consulting for both PCBC and
PCSLC.
Dr Tony Diering is the pioneer behind
Dassault Systèmes’ innovative blockcaving GEOVIA PCBC and sub-level
caving GEOVIA PCSLC software
applications
The Metallurgy inductee, Dr Michael Virnig
whose primary contribution in the advancement
of the SX process was the development of
various LIX® products
extraction of copper, nickel, silver or gold – such
as LIX 34, a reagent for the extraction of copper
from acidic leach liquors, LIX 7820 and LIX 79, for
the recovery of gold and silver from alkaline
cyanide leach liquors or LIX 622N and LIX 622,
two formulations for the extraction of copper
from acidic sulphate leach liquors.
The leaching of ores – such as copper, nickel or
cobalt – followed by solvent extraction (SX) has
been practiced commercially since the late 1960s.
Since this SX reagent introduction, considerable
research efforts have taken place to make solvent
extraction processes more efficient, more
selective and more economical. Virnig has been a
strong contributor to the advancement of these
reagent extractants for over four decades – with
considerable success.
From the beginning, his focus was the
development of new SX reagents for the recovery
of metals from aqueous leach solutions. He has
been responsible for numerous programs which
targeted the development of new SX reagents
and applications and has provided technical
support to customers at mine sites.
Tony Diering is the 2015 inductee in Mining
Software. Dr Diering is the pioneer behind
Dassault Systèmes’ innovative block-caving
GEOVIA PCBC and sub-level caving GEOVIA
PCSLC software applications, which are used by
the majority of the world’s mines
employing these specialised mining
methods.
He began his career at SRK in
Johannesburg, where he developed a number
of stress analysis systems including two and
three dimensional boundary and finite element
analysis systems. At SRK, he was largely
responsible for the development and initial
marketing of DMIPS, a computerised mine
planning system. Throughout his long-standing
12 International Mining | MAY 2016
It was in 1987
that he, in conjunction with Dr Dennis Laubscher
(a previous inductee into the IM Technology Hall
of Fame), developed the world renowned PCBC
software while working for a premier diamond
mine in South Africa. In 1994, once again with
Laubscher, he perfo