1. Mijnbouwstraat 120 2628 RX Delft, The Netherlands, Phone: +31(15)278 5001, E‐mail:info@mineprofs.org, Web: www.mineprofs.org
Newsletter Number 44 December 2015
The Council
Council Officers:
President: Prof. Vladislav Kecojevic,
West Virginia University, USA
President‐Elect: Associate Prof.
Marilena Cardu, Politecnico di Torino,
Italy
President‐Elect Designate: Prof.
Zhongxue Li, University of Science &
Technology Beijing, China
Immediate Past President: Prof. Helmut
Mischo, TU Bergakademie Freiberg,
Germany
Secretary General: Prof. Bruce
Hebblewhite, University of New South
Wales, Australia
Deputy Secretary General and
Treasurer: Dr. Ludger Rattmann, RWTH
Aachen, Germany
The Council Members
Member for Oceania: Prof. Peter Dowd,
University of Adelaide, Australia
Member for South America: Assoc. Prof.
Oscar Jaime Restrepo Baena,
Universidad Nacional de Colombia,
Colombia
Member for Africa: Prof. Ronny
Webber‐Youngman, University of
Pretoria, South Africa
Member for Asia: Prof. Pinyo
Meechumna, Chulalongkorn University,
Thailand
Member for North America: Prof.
Vladislav Kecojevic, West Virginia
University, USA
Members for Europe: Prof. Jürgen
Kretschmann, TU Bochum, Germany;
Prof. Helmut Mischo, TU Bergakademie
Freiberg, Germany
Co‐opted Member:
Prof. Zach Agioutantis, University of
Kentucky, USA
A word from our President
Greetings from West Virginia! The brilliant colors of the fall 2015 have
almost left us here and we are expecting the first snow of the winter
season. It felt as if it was just yesterday when we had the last snow of the
last winter, and it feels like the time between winters is getting shorter. At
the same time, I hope that our SOMP members at the southern hemisphere
are very much exciting about upcoming summer season.
If there is one word to describe the state of Society of Mining Professors/Societät der
Bergbaukunde then it is the growth. We are growing in terms of number of activities, number
of SOMP members, and number of opportunities to share with our members. These numbers
are destined to grow.
A lot of our planning has focused around annual SOMP Meeting and Conference in
Washington, DC in September 2016. I hope that you received the preliminary program and
brochure that was sent to all SOMP members in October 2015. The Organizing Committee has
designed a very interesting and exciting program with several open and interactive sessions
and workshops that will help us reach the goals set in our Strategic Plan towards 2020 and
beyond. In addition to our educational, research and capacity building sessions, our Members
Development Committee has initiated a new Mentoring Program, and we will have a session
dedicated to mentoring, to include expert tips on successful strategies, and panel and open
discussion of mentoring needs and experiences. The SOMP will present its major awards and
recognitions during the meeting: the Guenter Fettweis Award, the Ludwig Wilke Award and
the Emeritus Member Award. A new recognition this year is the Tim Shaw Award, recognizing
young academics for innovations in teaching and learning. I invite you to nominate deserving
individuals for these prestigious awards. We have also planned a pre‐meeting optional tour of
mines, academic departments, and research and industrial facilities, and an interesting
partners program with visits to several amazing USA museums. We look forward to greeting
you in Washington, DC in September 2016.
The SOMP had a very successful 3rd Regional SOMP Meeting in Windhoek, Namibia in
September 2015. The meeting was hosted by the Namibia University of Science and
Technology’s Department of Mining and Process Engineering under the leadership of Prof.
Harmony Musiyarira. The theme of the conference was "Building Capacity for the Mineral
Industry" and featured technical presentations from academics, government and industry
professionals. The 4th SOMP Regional Meeting is now being planned for May 2016 in Colombia
under the leadership of Prof. Oscar Jaime Restrepo Baena of the Universidad Nacional de
Colombia. The meeting will be held in the city of Medellin, with a theme ‐ “Mining Education
in Latin America: Current Status and Future Challenges and Prospects.”
At the 2016 Annual Meeting of the USA‐based Society for Mining, Metallurgy and
Exploration (SME) in Phoenix, AZ, the SOMP will again have a session on Global Mining
Education & Collaboration. This session will be co‐chaired by our Secretary‐General Prof.
Bruce Hebblewhite and I, and it will provide an update on activities and projects of SOMP, and
discuss topics related to collaborative education and research partnerships, case studies of
collaborative international mining research, and distance education. If you are going to attend
the 2016 SME Annual Meeting, we would welcome you to this session.
I would like to invite you to share exciting news with SOMP members related to your
awards and recognitions within the professional societies, industry and governmental
agencies for your innovative and important work. We would like to hear about your
accomplishments and publish such news in our SOMP Newsletter and on the social media site
such as Facebook. To that end, I am happy to report that our two SOMP members, Dr. Emily
Sarver of Virginia Tech and Dr. Aaron Noble of West Virginia University, have received the two
first nationwide Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration (SME) Career Development
Grants. These competitive grants focus on rebuilding the USA mining school academic staff
pipeline to address the growing absence of viable candidates at universities offering degrees
in mining and minerals engineering, and provide support to rising stars in this field.
Congratulations to Emily and Aaron!

2. I would like to thank you very much for your contribution and active
involvement in our activities, and do hope you will continue to support our
Society. From a personal experience, the SOMP has brought a tremendous
positive impact on my career development and a long‐time friendship with
many SOMP members. Please don’t hesitate to let Secretary‐General and/or I
know how the SOMP can support your continued professional development.
It has been an exciting year so far, and we are looking forward to all SOMP
activities in the future. I hope you have a joyous and successful 2015‐2016
academic year.
Best regards / Mit freundlichen Grüßen und Glückauf / Saludos cordiales
Vlad Kecojevic
2015‐2016 SOMP President
(November, 2015)
A word from our President (cont.)
It is very pleasing to see so many new
members from many different countries,
and especially pleasing to see continuing
growth in our North American membership,
which for many years had been below
expectations, but is now broadly
representative of the major mining
educators in that region.
Congratulations and welcome to all of
our new members. We look forward to
meeting with you in the future and to your
active participation in the Society. Thank
you also to those members who encouraged
and supported you through nomination.
We now have over 250 members from
over 40 different countries. This is a very
pleasing number ‐ especially the number of
countries represented, making SOMP a truly
international Society.
Regarding new membership, all
members are reminded that membership is
not restricted just to those of us who are full
professors. This Society is not intended to
be an elitist group of senior academics only.
SOMP News ‐ from the Secretary‐General
Welcome to another newsletter from our Society, and especially to our new‐look, expanded content which we hope will provide more
information and timely communication to all members, as we agreed in Freiberg!
The purpose of these regular newsletter is to inform members of developments and progress on various SOMP initiatives; to provide a
brief account of previous meetings; and to provide news about future meetings and other SOMP activities.
New Members: May ‐ December, 2015
Firstly, I would like to highlight our new memberships since last newsletter in May, 2015. In the last two newsletters over 12 months to mid‐
2015, we welcomed a record forty one new members. I am very pleased to report that in the last 6 months to early December, 2015, we have
welcomed a further twenty one new members from eleven different countries. Details of these new members are given below. The following
new members have joined our Society since May, 2015:
NAME INSTITUTION COUNTRY
Professor Seitgali Galiyev Gliwice University of Technology Poland
Dr Andrii Cherep National Mining University Ukraine
Mr Johan Hanekom Uni of Pretoria South Africa
Professor Oleg Kazanin National University of Mineral Resources Russia
Professor Xuan Nam Bui Hanoi University of Mining & Geology Vietnam
Dr Steven Rupprecht University of Johannesburg South Africa
Dr Phongpat Sontamino Prince of Songkla University Thailand
Associate Professor Ioel Veres University of Petrosani Romania
Associate Professor Moe Momayez University of Arizona USA
Dr Bekir Genc University of the Witwatersrand South Africa
Professor Keith Heasley West Virginia University USA
Professor Gennadiy Pivnyak National Mining University Ukraine
Mr George Barakos * TU Bergakademie Freiberg Germany
Mr Tawanda Zvarivadza University of the Witwatersrand South Africa
Professor Jaire Koppe Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul Brazil
Asst Prof.Jhon Silva‐Castro University of Kentucky USA
Asst Prof. Cheng Chen Virginia Tech USA
Assoc. Prof. Brickey Andrea South Dakota School of Mines & Technology USA
Dr Ellen Gilliland Virginia Tech USA
Dr Cigdem Keles Virginia Tech USA
Assoc. Prof. Victor Hernandez National University of Engineering Peru
* indicates Junior Member
Table of Contents
A word from our President 1
SOMP News ‐ from the Secretary‐
General
2
Reports from Past Meetings 3
Future SOMP Meetings 4
Committee Reports 5
Visit the SOMP Website 7
Other Matters 7
Table of PhD Completions by students
under SOMP member supervision
8
SOMP Members Movements 8
The truth is quite the contrary. Under the constitution of the Society, any person who is directly involved or affiliated with mining engineering
education is eligible to join SOMP. In fact, we strongly encourage younger mining academics or faculty members who are just setting out on a
mining academic career to consider joining SOMP to benefit from the ever‐increasing international network of fellow mining academics. So
please encourage your younger colleagues and friends to consider membership. This includes current PhD students who may be considering an
academic career in the future – you can apply to join SOMP as a Junior Member, and gain access to all that the Society is doing and immediately
share in the international network of mining academics.
Prospective new members should contact Professor Zach Agioutantis with any queries regarding the online membership application
process (or any other website inquiries). His email address is: zach.agioutantis@uky.edu.
2

3. The following reports have been prepared by the meeting
coordinators.
SOMP2015 ‐ Freiberg
With the 2015 Annual Conference from June 21st until 26th at TU
Bergakademie Freiberg, the Society of Mining Professors has
celebrated its 25th anniversary since its re‐foundation in 1990. A
total number of 123 participants from 25 countries all over the
world (77 SOMP members and 46 external guests and partners)
have attended this conference, a number that once again has
shown that our society truly is an international community of
mining academics.
During the conference 29 papers and 10 posters have been
presented in seven technical sessions not only on
internationalization /globalization of mining education and its
opportunities and challenges, but also on new technologies,
strategies and research in mining engineering, deposit
evaluation, geotechnical engineering and mine safety. With the
annual conference being a core part of the annual SOMP
activities, the traditional Gala Dinner, this time as a typical
Saxonian Miners’ evening, the warm‐up at the Terra Mineralia
minerals exhibition and the Elbe river cruise have also provided
many opportunities to meet with colleagues and friends, to
strengthen existing cooperation between mining schools on all
continents and to form new partnerships.
We are looking forward to meeting again with all of you for
the next annual conference in September 2016 in Washington
DC, USA, under the auspices of our colleague Vladislav Kecojevic.
Helmut Mischo
2014 – 2015 SOMP President
Reports from Past Meetings
The 3rd Regional SOMP Conference for the Southern African region
was hosted by the Polytechnic of Namibia’s Department of Mining
and Process Engineering in collaboration with Society of Mining
Professors (SOMP) from the 28th September to the 3rd October 2015.
The first half of the conference of the conference was hosted in
Windhoek, the capital city of Namibia, while the second half was held
in Swakopmund, a major uranium mining hub on the Namibian
coastline.
The conference, held under the theme Building Capacity for the
Mineral Industry, provided a stimulating and professional platform
for active engagement amongst leading academics mining industry
leaders and government representatives. While the schedule was
intense, the conference equally provided a platform for information
sharing and facilitated the active role of industry as a key stakeholder
in minerals education. The conference, best described as a landmark
conference for minerals education in Southern Africa, attracted
delegates from a broad range of universities on the Southern African
region, namely Botswana, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia,
Opening Ceremony in Freiberg, Germany
Gala Dinner in Freiberg, Germany
3rd Regional Meeting ‐ Namibia 2015
Country University/ Government/Industry Number of
delegates
Spain Gomez 1
Australia University of New South Wales 3
Germany Freiberg, Clausthal, Georg Agricola
University
5
Zimbabwe Chinhoyi University of Technology
& Ministry of Mines and Mining
Development
2
Mozambique Eduardo Mondlane University and
Wutivi University
2
Zambia University of Zambia, Copperbelt
University
2
Botswana Botswana International University
of Science and Technology
1
South Africa Witwatersrand University,
University of Johannesburg and
University of Pretoria
5
Namibia Polytechnic of Namibia, University
of Namibia & Chamber of Mines
10 from academia
and 9 from the
local industry
Delegates representation by countries
Mozambique and Namibia. In addition, there were also delegates from Australia, Spain and Germany. The attendance was quite impressive,
with a total of forty delegates attending the conference, including notable figures representing the Namibian mining industry and government.
The broad attendance also highlighted the commitment and enthusiasm of all the key stakeholders that have a role to play in minerals
education. There were three accompanying spouses/partners.
Going forward, it is important to point out the immense support received from all the SOMP members across the globe whose input and
immense contribution made the conference a great success. The presence of the SOMP Secretary General, Professor Bruce Hebblewhite and
outgoing SOMP President, Prof Helmut Mischo also testified the commitment of SOMP to enhancing minerals education and consolidating its
presence as an organisation in Southern Africa. It is equally important to recognise the immense contribution of International Mining for
Development Centre (IM4DC) for sponsoring the Zambian and Mozambican delegates to attend the conference.
3

4. We believe the conference served as an important precursor for further and broader collaboration amongst minerals education institutions in
Southern Africa and served as an important first step in creating the essential building blocks for more enhanced and fruitful interaction in
minerals education. As we head for the SOMP international conference in Washington D.C in 2016, we look forward to a more strengthened
representation of the Southern African region and that it will be a fertile learning ground on which our region can present its challenges on a
broader platform and create the necessary links to address those challenges.
Harmony Musiyarira
Head, Department of Mining Engineering,
Namibia University of Science and Technology
The 3rd Regional Meeting in Namibia
Thank you to both Helmut and Harmony for their leadership and organisation of two very successful meetings in 2015, and to all the
delegates and accompanying persons who attended.
Future SOMP Meetings
2016 SME Annual Meeting – Phoenix, Arizona, USA
(21‐24 February, 2016)
As occurred very successfully in 2015, SOMP has been allocated our
own session at the annual SME meeting, to provide a forum to
discuss matters of mining education, and to showcase SOMP to some
of our North American colleagues. The SOMP session is scheduled
for Tues 23 February, from 9.00am to 11.30am, and will focus on
“Global Mining Education and Collaboration”.
4th SOMP Regional Meeting – Colombia (May, 2016)
Planning is now well underway for the 4th Regional Meeting, to be
held in Colombia in May 2016, focusing on Latin America. Our
regional Member for South America, Professor Oscar Jaime Restrepo
Baena, from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, has taken the
lead in organising this meeting, to be held over three days from 26th
to 28th May, 2016. The meeting will be held in the city of Medellin,
Colombia, with a theme – “Mining Education in Latin America:
Current Status and Future Challenges and Prospects”. Further
details, including a provisional program, are now available on the
Society website.
27th Annual Meeting – 2016
The 2016 annual meeting of the Society is to be held in Washington
DC, USA – hosted by West Virginia University under the leadership of
Professor Vlad Kecojevic, in conjunction with Virginia Tech and
University of Kentucky. The meeting will take place between 21st and
24th September, 2016 – the provisional program including arrival and
registration on the 21st; the meeting held between 22nd and 24th;
then for those wishing to visit the major Las Vegas Mining Show, they
can do so between 25th and 28th September.
An optional mining and university tour is also planned ahead of the
meeting, between 17th and 20th September.
The preliminary brochure for the meeting has recently been
distributed to all members and is also on the website. Please start
planning now to attend what promises to be a very worthwhile and
enjoyable international meeting.
In particular, I would like to challenge all SOMP members
planning to attend to consider bringing along one of your up‐and‐
coming PhD students or post‐docs, who might be aspiring to a future
academic career. It would be great to have a large representation of
these younger people participating in our meeting, so please give this
serious thought.
An important first deadline – for those wishing to submit a
paper for the conference, abstracts are due by 1st February, 2016. I
encourage all members to consider this opportunity, and to prepare
an abstract over the coming weeks.
2017, 2018 and 2019 Annual Meetings
At the SOMP Council meeting in Freiberg in June, 2015 the decision
was made for the future leadership of the Society, and hence the
annual meeting venue, for both 2017 and 2018. These will be held as
follows:
2017 – under the leadership of Associate Prof. Marilena Cardu, the
meeting will be hosted by the Politecnico di Torino, Italy.
2018 ‐ under the leadership of Prof. Zhongxue Li, the meeting will be
hosted by the University of Science & Technology Beijing, China.
A provisional venue for the 2019 has been selected as being in the
UK, hosted by the University of Exeter (Camborne School of Mines) –
subject to further approval in 2016/2017.
4

5. Committee Reports
One of the new initiatives agreed as part of the Strategic Plan, was to
include in our Newsletters some brief reports on the activities of our
operational Committees. This is intended to improve the
communication process within the Society, and also to give members
opportunities to understand what is being done, and where they
might also be able to contribute further to the work of the Society.
So the following brief reports have been prepared by our four
operational Committees.
Education Committee
Mining Course Survey
The Education Committee would like to start the survey about the
mining courses again. For that, all members will receive a call to fill in
the data again. Target of that survey is to inform ourselves about the
topics and details of our mining courses. It would be great when
some more members would participate in this survey. We are sure
that the results of this survey will help every member in different
ways.
Annual Survey 2015 and 2016
The Annual Survey 2015 was updated and will be circulated, together
with this newsletter. The Annual Survey 2016 will be started in
February 2016.
Teaching and Learning Award
Suggested by the Strategic Planning Committee, the Education
Committee decided to create an annual “Teaching and Learning
Award” for SOMP. This award will be named “Tim Shaw Award for
Innovation in Teaching and Learning”. It is endowed with three
parts: a certificate, a small gift, and 500 Euros.
The criteria were elaborated and discussed by the Committee
and with this newsletter we want to submit a call to all the members
to apply for this award.
Applications (max. 2 pages plus perhaps any publications to this
topic) addressing the award criteria (see below) should reach the
Education Committee latest by end of April 2016.
The first Award will be given at the Annual SOMP AGM in
Washington in September 2016.
Applicant criteria:
1. The applicant must be a current, financial member of SOMP.
2. The applicant should ideally be a younger, or mid‐career
academic.
3. The topic of the application must be one that the applicant has
developed or been engaged in within the last three years.
4. The successful applicant will be invited to make a presentation
on their topic at the 2016 SOMP annual meeting – all applicants
must therefore be intending to register and attend the 2016
meeting.
The topic criteria are:
1. Approaches to assessment and feedback that foster
independent learning
For example: integrating assessment strategies with the specific aims
and outcomes for student learning; providing timely, worthwhile
feedback to students on their learning; using a variety of assessment
and feedback strategies; implementing both formative and
summative assessment; adapting assessment methods to different
contexts and diverse student needs.
2. Use of innovative approaches to classroom education and the
impact it has on the overall course learning outcomes.
3. Scholarly activities that have influenced and enhanced learning
and teaching
For example: showing advanced skills in evaluation and reflective
practice; participating in and contributing to professional activities
related to learning and teaching; coordination, management and
leadership of courses and student learning; conducting and
publishing research related to teaching; demonstrating leadership
through activities that have broad influence on the profession.
4. Approaches to teaching that influence, motivate and inspire
students to learn
For example: fostering student development by stimulating curiosity
and independence in learning; contributing to the development of
students’ critical thinking skills, analytical skills and scholarly values;
encouraging student engagement through the enthusiasm shown for
learning and teaching; inspiring and motivating students through
high‐level communication, presentation and interpersonal skills.
Members Development Committee
The SOMP Members Development Committee convened at the 2015
Annual SOMP Meeting in Freiberg to discuss priorities and action
items for the coming year. In concert with SOMP’s strategic plans and
in response to specific needs of members, our near‐term activities
are centered on two primary themes – mentoring and diversity.
Via an informal mentoring program, we aim to connect SOMP
members on the basis of research and/or teaching interests. The
program will kick‐off during 2015/2016 with mentor‐mentee pairs
being designated and put into contact by this Committee. In‐person
meetings and a mentoring workshop will follow at the 2016 Annual
Meeting in Washington, DC, with a special emphasis on pairing PhD
students and fresh faculty with more established SOMP members.
You will already have received an “Invitation to Participate in the
SOMP Mentoring Program”. It is not too late to respond if you would
like to participate!
To better prepare the mining engineers of the future, diversity
amongst mining faculty is key. The Committee is undertaking a
comprehensive survey of mining faculty diversity – broadly defined
by a number of metrics including educational background, teaching
and research focus, professional experience, gender and nationality.
Results of the survey will be presented at the 2016 Annual Meeting,
and discussed in the context of near‐ and long‐term opportunities
and challenges.
The Members Development Committee is currently being
coordinated by Emily Sarver (Virginia Tech) and includes Deborah
Shields (Colorado State Univ. and Politecnico di Torino), Elisabeth
Clausen (Technische Universitaet Clausthal), Farshad Rashidi Nejad
(University of New South Wales) and Ebrahim Tarshizi (Michigan
Tech).
Research, Development & Industry Committee
During the 26th Annual Meeting held in Freiberg, the SOMP Research,
Development and Industry Committee (R, D & I) conducted a
meeting. The committee memberships were confirmed and the
following list indicates the membership of the committee. Attendees
of this meeting are marked in italics:
 Assoc. Professor Serkan Saydam, University of New South Wales,
Australia ‐ Coordinator
 Prof. Monika Hardygora, Wroclaw University of Technology and
President, KGHM CUPRUM, Poland
 Prof. Christoph Dauber, TFH Georg Agricola, Germany
5

6.  Dr. Kray Luxbacher, Virginia Tech, USA
 Prof. Pavol Rybar, Technical University of Kosice, Slovakia
 Dr. Ilija Miskovic, University of Utah, USA
 Prof. Godfrey Dzinomwa, Polytechnic of Namibia, Namibia
 Dr. Chris Cross, The Mineral Industry Research Organisation
(MIRO), United Kingdom
 Dr. Marion Wilde, Ministry of Economy and Energy of the State
Brandenburg, Germany
 Prof. de Jager Kobus, University of the Witwatersrand, South
Africa
The committee thanked Prof Hardygora for her leadership in
developing this committee. The committee will be led by Assoc.
Professor Serkan Saydam. A new member has been invited to the
committee; Assoc. Professor Marilena Cardu from Politecnico di
Torino, Italy. She kindly accepted the invitation.
In our committee meeting at the Freiberg, Prof. Hardygora
informed committee members about the European Mining Projects.
Her presentation was sent to the all committee members.
Noteworthy successes ‐ SOMP R, D & I Committee:
Collaborative international research activities:
 Polytechnico di Torino and US and Australia
 K. Luxbacher (VTech) and R. Mitra & B. Hebblewhite (UNSW). The
Alpha Foundation for the Improvement of Mine Safety and Health
on “Improved Safety through the Application of Risk Management
in US Underground Coal Mines: A RISKGATE Approach”.
 Saydam S. and Kecojevic V. (2014) “Publication strategies for
academic career development in mining engineering”,
Transactions of the Institutions of Mining and Metallurgy Section
A: Mining Technology, vol. 123, no. 1, pp. 46 ‐ 55.
 Various staff exchange and visits
 The Mines of the Future Project has been initiated.
The Mission & Objectives of the Strategic Plan for 2015
The Council presented the strategic plan for 2015 for SOMP at the
Freiberg meeting and based on this plan, major mission objectives
are:
1. Actively developing and support the mining engineering
discipline,
2. Development the long‐term professional relationships,
3. Exchanging innovative experience in teaching and learning
practices,
4. Sharing research experiences, capabilities and future challenges,
5. Fostering professional career development and social
awareness,
6. Providing timely, authoritative and independent comments on
relevant global issues.
The Terms of Reference of the Committee
The Council identified the following terms of references for the R, D
& I committee based on the Mission Objectives:
 Sharing research experiences, capabilities and future challenges.
 Identify and maintain a SOMP‐awareness of industry R&D
priorities.
 Maintaining an awareness of research interests across SOMP
membership; and identifying/reporting strengths and gaps.
 Promoting collaborative R&D opportunities and showcasing
examples.
 Develop sessions within annual meeting structure that include
presentations of above, and focussed break‐out groups to identify
future research needs.
Major Initiatives Relevant to R, D & I Committee
The Council also created some initiatives for the committee to
achieve these objectives:
 Actively developing and supporting the mining engineering
discipline.
• Share resources and access to personnel for range of
functions, such as external examiners; staff referencing
for promotions etc.
Action: Promote and encourage the members to the SOMP
web site for member profile. Make sure that all the
committee members fill their profile.
 Sharing research experiences, capabilities and future challenges.
 Develop an annual meeting structure that includes focussed
break‐ out groups to identify and discuss future research needs,
for the benefit of members.
Action: Work closely with the current president.
SOMP should encourage collaborative research initiatives
and publicise examples of recent initiatives that have been
fostered through SOMP networking.
Action: The committee has decided to collect the following
information to be reported in the next SAM. This
information will be collected by the committee members
through their region however, a research forum will also be
created to collect relevant information.
What international collaborative funding opportunities are
available in each region?
What are the current leading international mining projects
in each region?
 The committee members agree to support the Chapter 6 –
Research in the Mines of the Future report.
 SOMP website will be searchable on member research interests.
 SAMs to provide informal opportunities to discuss specific
research opportunities individually.
Action: Make sure that the SAMs have sufficient time for
this. Work closely with the current president.
 Consider establishing SOMP Award for collaborative research
project initiatives.
Action: Under discussion in the committee. A guideline will
be developed within the committee and reported the
Council.
Capacity Building Committee
Most activities of the Capacity Building Committee of SOMP have
taken place in developing mining countries in Latin America, Asia and
Africa. More activities of the Committee members have been done
through the SOMP Regional Meetings resulting in more collaboration
and networking among the teaching staffs of the mining schools in
these regions. The SOMP Regional Meetings in the past were
arranged in developing mining countries such as:
1) The 1st SOMP Regional Meeting in Chiang Mai, Thailand, 13th‐
15th November 2013, hosted by Chulalongkorn University,
Thailand.
2) The 2nd SOMP Regional Meeting in Vung Tao City, Vietnam, 19th‐
20th October 2014, co‐hosted by Hanoi University of Mining and
Geology, Hanoi University of Natural Resources and
Environment and Ho Chi Minh University of Technology,
Vietnam.
3) The 3rd SOMP Regional Meeting in Windhoek, Namibia, 28th
September‐2nd October 2015, hosted by Namibia Polytechnic
University, Namibia.
6

7. Regular lectures by members of the Committee have been given to
mining schools in these developing mining countries. Some members
have published books on knowledge transfer in mining and related
activities in these countries. In 2015, individual members of the
Committees have also been involving in promoting of capacity
building activities in many countries, including Russia, Thailand,
Vietnam, Iran, Peru, Colombia, Namibia, Cambodia.
More capacity building activities have been planned and it is
expected that two more Regional Meetings will be arranged next year
(2016) and will give the fruitful outcomes from the strong
commitment of the members of SOMP Capacity Building Committee.
The 4th SOMP Regional Meeting is now being planned for May
2016 in Latin America and will be hosted by Professor Oscar Jaime
Restrepo Baena, the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, for 3 days
(26th‐28th May, 2016). The meeting will be held in the City of
Medellin, Colombia, with the theme – “Mining Education in Latin
America: Current Status and Future Challenges and Prospects”.
The 5th SOMP Regional Meeting is also being planned to be held
in South East Asia and will be hosted by Professor Pinyo Meechumna,
Chulalongkorn University, for 3 days (30th July‐1st August, 2016). The
meeting will be held in Bangkok, Thailand, with the theme ‐
"Strengthen Cooperation of Mining Education in ASEAN : Toward
ASEAN Economic Community".
Visit the SOMP Website
Members are encouraged to regularly visit the Society website for up
to date information about our activities and to seek out information
concerning other members. In particular, you are reminded about
the following:
Members Details
Please check that your personal details on the website are correct.
Where possible, you should make corrections yourself, but if not,
then please advise our IT & Communications Director, Professor Zach
Agioutantis, and request corrections or updates to be made. His
email address is: zach.agioutantis@uky.edu.
All members are also strongly urged and encouraged to take 10
or 15 minutes to insert their teaching and research interests into the
members database. It is simple to do – we are only seeking
keywords to describe your three priority teaching areas and three
priority research interest areas.
Strategic Plan – Towards 2020 and Beyond
A very important Strategic Plan was developed by the Strategic
Planning Committee, when it met in May 2015 in Aachen, and was
formally adopted by the Council and the membership at the AGM in
Freiberg in June 2015. The plan drew heavily on the comprehensive
membership survey that was undertaken in the first quarter of 2015.
We had a very good response from the majority of our membership
to that survey, so once again, thank you to all who participated.
Both the Strategic Plan and the summary survey responses are
available on the SOMP website and members are encouraged to read
these and to see how they might become engaged in the many
strategies and actions that have been adopted to take our Society
forward. These and other valuable actions will only be achieved
through involvement right across the Society.
Other Matters
Mining Technology Journal
Members are once again reminded that the Mining Technology
Journal is our official SOMP avenue for publications, having replaced
our former Mineral Resources Engineering Journal.
The SOMP logo appears on that Journal to recognise our integral
connection to it. Members are encouraged therefore to regularly
submit papers to that Journal for publication, which will help it to
gain even greater international credibility and readership. You are
also reminded that your SOMP membership covers your annual
subscription to the Journal. You can access the Journal via links on
the SOMP website, or alternatively, if you click on the following link,
and then click on the Mining Technology link under the heading New
Issue Alert, you will be directed to a full set of current and past issues
of the journal in electronic form.
http://www.ausimm.com.au/content/default.aspx?ID=103
PhD Completions & Members Movements
Two of the suggestions put forward during the survey process in
2015, as part of our improved communication across the
membership, was to use this Newsletter to regularly report on
a) PhD students who successfully graduate under the supervision
of a SOMP member; and
b) Movements of SOMP membership due to promotions, job or
employment changes or other significant matters that members
are prepared to share with others.
These two ideas have been adopted by the Society, and will continue
in the future, subject to membership participation. So you will find
two tables at the end of this Newsletter that provide this interesting
and useful information. The information included is based entirely
on what has been provided, and the next period of reporting will fall
due at the end of April, 2016, for inclusion in the May 2016
Newsletter – so please send me relevant details for inclusion.
A final word (or two)!
I hope you have enjoyed our new‐look, expanded Newsletter, with
more content; more input from a number of members, and of course
from our President. I think you will agree that there is a lot going on
across the Society, and so this and future Newsletters should help to
keep you all better informed, and hopefully will motivate you to
become more engaged in SOMP activities and initiatives. And please
always feel free to make suggestions for further improvements –
whether it relates to the Newsletter, or the Society as a whole.
Constructive suggestions are always welcome.
I apologise that this Newsletter has come out a few weeks later
than intended, but it should have reached you before year‐end.
Finally, I wish all our members Seasons Greetings, and very best
wishes for the year ahead in 2016.
Bruce Hebblewhite,
Secretary General
Society of Mining Professors
Society of Mining Professors
Mijnbouwstraat 120
2628 RX Delft, The Netherlands
Phone: +31(15)278 5001
E‐mail:info@mineprofs.org
Web:www.mineprofs.org
Direct Contact:
Professor Bruce Hebblewhite
School of Mining Engineering,
The University of New South Wales
Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia
Ph: +61 2 9385 5160
Mobile: +61 417 267 876
Fax: +61 2 9313 7269
Email: B.Hebblewhite@unsw.edu.au
Website: www.mining.unsw.edu
7

8. Table of PhD completions by students under SOMP member supervision
(Period: 1 January 2015 – 31 October, 2015)
Student Family
Name
Student
First
Name
Principal
Supervisor
Department/School University Country PhD Thesis Title
JANG Hyongdoo Prof Erkan
Topal
Mining Engineering &
Metallurgical
Engineering/
Western Australian
School of Mines
(WASM)
Curtin University Australia
Unplanned Dilution and Ore‐Loss
Optimisation in Underground Mines via
Cooperative Neuro‐Fuzzy Network”
LI Yu Prof Erkan
Topal
Mining Engineering &
Metallurgical
Engineering/
Western Australian
School of Mines
(WASM)
Curtin University Australia
Optimum Waste Dumping Using Mixed
Integer Programming (MIP)
SANDANAYAKE Sameera Prof Erkan
Topal
Mining Engineering &
Metallurgical
Engineering/
Western Australian
School of Mines
(WASM)
Curtin University Australia
Stope Boundary Optimisation in
Underground Mining Based on a Heuristic
Approach
RESTREPO Juan
Camilo
Oscar Jaime
Restrepo
Materials and
Minerals/School of
Mines
Universidad
Nacional de
Colombia
Colombia Synthesis of calcium silicates through scs
combustion methods
VANDERMAAT Damon Serkan Saydam School of Mining
Engineering
UNSW Australia Australia Stress Corrosion Cracking of Rockbolts: A
Laboratory Based Approach Utilising A
Controlled Mine Environment
ZOORABADI Mahdi Serkan Saydam;
B Hebblewhite
School of Mining
Engineering
UNSW Australia Australia Hydraulic Conductivity of Jointed Rocks
QUE Sisi Kwame Awuah‐
Offei
Department of
Mining & Nuclear
Engineering
Missouri
University of
Science &
Technology
USA Describing local community acceptance
with discrete choice theory for enhanced
community engagement
ZHANG Chengguo Mitra, Rudrajit
School of Mining
Engineering
UNSW Australia Australia
Evaluation of mechanisms contributing to
valley closure subsidence effects under
irregular topographic conditions
CHENG Yolanda Mitra, Rudrajit
School of Mining
Engineering
UNSW Australia Australia
Tomographic imaging of rock defects and
rock failure process
CHERKASHIN Alexander O.I. Kazanin Mining Engineering National Mineral
Resources
University
(University of
Mines)
Russia Parameter`s determination for the flat‐
lying coal seams intensive mining
technology at the Kuzbass mines in
conditions of increased water inflows
COOK Nicholas Emily Sarver;
Leigh‐ Anne
Krometis
Biological Systems
Engineering
Virginia Tech USA Surface Water Quality and Aquatic
Ecological Health in Central Appalachian
Streams
SOMP Members Movements
(Period: 1 January 2015 – 31 October, 2015)
Title SOMP Member
Family Name
First
Name
University Changes in Position/Circumstance
Dr TUCK Michael Federation University
Australia (formerly
Ballarat)
No longer Program Coordinator for postgraduate taught mining
programs at Federation University Australia. Reason to allow
me more time to devote to PhD students, own research and
consulting.
Asst Prof SARVER Emily Virginia Tech, USA Recipient of SME’s Career Development Grant (2015‐2018)
Professor MITRI Hani McGill University, Canada Director of Mining since January 1, 2014
Asst Prof NOBLE Aaron West Virginia University,
USA
Recipient of SME’s Career Development Grant (2015‐2018)
8