This again became obvious when UP won the bid to present the annual conference of the Society of Mining Professors (SOMP) in 2014. At the same time, Prof Ronny Webber-Youngman, head of UP’s Department of Mining Engineering, has been appointed president elect of the Society for the same period. He is currently serving on the Society’s executive committee for mining schools in Africa.

“This authoritative body originated in Europe, and this will be the first occasion on which a mining school in Africa will host the Society’s annual conference. As a matter of fact, it was only four years ago that the conference was first held outside Europe,” Prof Webber-Youngman said. SOMP has 171 members from 71 universities in 40 countries. All six the continents are represented in the Society and this year’s conference was held last week in Peru in South America. Prof Webber-Youngman pointed out that the awarding of the bid to host the 2014 SOMP conference to South Africa is particularly significant because the Society will on that occasion also be celebrating the 25^th anniversary of its existence. Prof Webber-Youngman believes that the 2014 conference will not only provide the University and its School of Engineering, but South Africa as a whole, with a wonderful opportunity to gain much needed international exposure.

This comes on the heels of the UP Department of Mining Engineering’s own celebration this year of its fiftieth anniversary, at a time when it is bursting at the seams. “In 1997 there were a mere 63 undergraduate students in Mining Engineering. Today there are about 250 undergraduate and a further 50 postgraduate students, which represents a growth of 400%,” Prof Webber-Youngman said. He added that mining engineers with a UP degree are internationally in demand and, like other engineers graduating from UP, respected throughout the world. “There can now be no doubt that Tuks Mining is on the map,” he said.