Innovation Award: Corporate Organisation
UJ scholar bestowed with innovation award at the NSTF-South32 Awards
P
pected to ultimately elimiROFESSOR Simon nate most of the energy Connell, a profesintensive plant to reduce sor of physics within the need for water to elimithe faculty of engineering nate the slimes dams. Diaand the built environment mond mining will become at the University of Jogreener and cheaper with hannesburg (UJ), was bemore diamonds to be stowed with the Innovation found, and also less damAward: Corporate Organiaged diamonds. The world sation at the 24th annual will run out of new sources NSTF-South32 Awards. of natural diamond long Led by Connell, the UJ before it runs out of oil and Mining Positron Emission coal. In fact, we can conTomography Research Prof Simon Connell received the NSTF-South32 sider world diamond minGroup (MinPET) is a revoInnovation Award: Corporate Organisation from ing to be approaching the lutionary fourth industrial Higher Education, Science and Innovation Deputy end of commercially viable (4IR) invention that detects Minister Buti Manamela. life. However, MinPET will diamonds in mined rock. change that.” The project represents build the components – the univertechnology transfer, R&D and inno- sity, the venture capitalist and first Improving sensors, big data, artificial vation as a result of participation in customer – are engaged in de-risking intelligence, detailed microscopic level simulations and faster computation fundamental research with the ATLAS work packages. The decision to build are game changers. The low hangexperiment at the European Organia commercial pilot is expected in Febing fruit for an application in a sorting sation for Nuclear Research (CERN). ruary 2023.” context is provided by diamonds in Connell founded this participation in MinPET’s early business case is exkimberlite. South Africa in 2008, leading to SA’s pected to allow large diamonds to be “This is actually the extreme example participation in the discovery of the recovered with much less damage. of a rare object among waste. Once Higgs Boson. Today, more than one Many of the larger diamonds have trialled here, the MinPET technology hundred South African researchers evidence of recent breakage. As could also be applied in other areas. and students are involved at CERN. the recovery process involves a lot These include medicine, various oth“The project has worked in a laboratory in a full dress rehearsal with all of crushing steps, many experts be- er mining areas, homeland security, its components integrated together, lieve that this places larger diamonds landmine recovery and many others. showing scalability to detect at least a at risk. With MinPET, which enables “We hope innovation is going to make 6mm diamond within a kimberlite rock early discovery of diamond within a wealthier Africa. It will be the start of of at most 100mm diameter, in a run- kimberlite, the research team will fi- transforming universities to a culture of-mine scenario with a throughput of nally know what nature has to offer in of innovation, so that they become the African MIT’s and Harvards. Sci700 tons per hour. All its scaled-up terms of large diamonds. components are also shown to work “Even the Cullinan has a shattered ence and technology can play a role rear side and could have been origi- in building sustainability, democracy in separate contexts. “The technology partners, who can nally twice the size. MinPET is also ex- and decolonisation.”
