BUSINESS
IOQ/ASPASA CONFERENCE CELEBRATES
50TH ANNIVERSARY WITH AWARDS
By Eamonn Ryan | All photos by Nico Pienaar
The 50th Institute of Quarrying (incorporating Aspasa) annual conference and
exhibition was held in Durban over the two days of 11 and 12 April 2019.
T
he conference celebrating its
50th anniversary was “a great
success”, says Aspasa director
Nico Pienaar. One of many highlights
was the Aspasa annual awards for top
performers in its health & safety and
environmental audits ceremony at a
gala dinner event it hosted during the
event.
Aspasa had arranged for the chief
inspector of mines (CIOM) to deliver
a paper, “and he gave a very good
summary of the surface mining
industry’s situation”, says Pienaar.
“We were also blessed that the CIOM
handed out the Aspasa Health and
Safety Awards and the recipients
were proud to receive it from the ‘top’
— the regulator.” There were other
speakers that Aspasa had organised
who all presented excellent papers.
Barry Pearce spoke on the programme
that Aspasa has developed on Quality
and Laboratory testing. It became
clear that there was a huge need for
Aspasa members to produce quality
materials when supplying to the
different clients like provincial and
national roads.
Dr Doug Potter spoke about the
issue of cannabis in the workplace and
included fatigue management. The
Aspasa chairperson gave a summary
of what Aspasa was doing and
this paper would be on the Aspasa
website.
A static exhibition was staged at the
Elangeni Hotel in Durban, KwaZulu-
Natal, open for the duration of the
conference and giving delegates
an opportunity to view the latest
technology in the quarrying industry.
The exhibition was open from 8:00
to 17:00 on the Thursday and 8:00 to
13:00 on the Friday.
12_QUARRY SA | MAY/JUNE 2019
The keynote presentation was ‘My
Father’s Coat’, an acclaimed story by
Michael Charton — the realisation of
his decade-long ambition to make the
incredible story of South Africa more
accessible. For Charton’s belief is that
our past, notwithstanding the trauma,
holds within it great powers of unity.
This is South African history as it
has never been told: An emotional
and provocative story tracking 200
tumultuous years through the eyes of
five interconnected and controversial
protagonists: Mzilikazi, Kruger,
Rhodes, Smuts, and Mandela.
“The talk on ‘My Father’s Coat’,
done by Michael Charton, was very
enlightening, to the extent that people
spoke about it during the conference.
The talk was so well presented that
the audience was glued to their seats.
The focus of the talk was on the
history of South Africa, but touched
on aspects that were not often known
or understood. There are books on
this subject, but the author covers the
five men who gave the history a great
focus. It starts with Mzilikazi, then to
Kruger, Rhodes, Smuts, and ends of
with Mandela. What is unique about
this talk is the interlink of the five
leaders,” explains Pienaar.
“There were two excellent student
papers done as well. Lebo Lebase did
a paper on Mechanical Fatigue Failure
and Remedial Design. The second
student paper was done by Matsobane
Manyathela who explained some of
the practical examples of blasting in
a quarry; this was very informative.
Bryan Rookledge gave a summary of
the lighter side of the history of the
IOQ and some of the escapades of the
previous generation — some hair-
raising stories that would land one
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