The Kovsie GeoTalks series was initiated in 2014 with the aim of:
- Increasing academic discourse among staff and students in the department.
- Exposing students to non-Kovsie researchers, academics, and experienced industry professionals and their work.
- Allowing the broader public access to the wonders of geology.
For more information or to book your seat for the next talk, please contact:
Ernest Moitsi
T: +27 51 401 2414
E: moitsime@ufs.ac.za
List of upcoming and recent events:
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 15 April 2024
Time: 13:10-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Prof Judith Kinnaird (University of the Witwatersrand and Centre for Integrated Mineral and Energy Resource Analysis (CIMERA))
Topic: Critical metals for clean energy
The 2024 Alex du Toit Memorial Lecture (organised under the auspices of the Geological Society of South Africa)
Date: 20 February 2024
Time: 17:00 for 17:30
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Prof Christoph Heubeck, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany
Topic: Eight boreholes and three tunnels - ICDP project BASE probes the Moodies Group of the Barberton Greenstone Belt
Contact: Contact Ernest Moitsi (moitsime@ufs.ac.za) to secure your spot
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 6 September 2023
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Prof Gregoire Mariethoz (University of Lausanne)
Topic: Multiple-point geostatistics applications in Earth Sciences
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 3 May 2023
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Dr Leon Jacobson (Research Fellow, Department of Geology, UFS)
Topic: Geochemistry and archaeology: de-colonising the pre-colonial past
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 19 October 2022
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Prof Bruce Cairncross, University of Johannesburg
Topic: The Witwatersrand Goldfield: History, Geology, Minerals and Gold
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 12 October 2022
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Samkelo Radebe
Topic: Lineaments and what do they really mean for groundwater?
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 21 September 2022
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Dr Robert Muir
Topic: Constraining the early evolution of Africa's southernmost margin
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 7 September 2022
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Dr Martin Clark
Topic: Clast and fracture distribution in the lower extent of impact melt dikes: Evidence from the Lesutoskraal Granophyre Dike, Vredefort Impact Structure
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 24 August 2022
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Prof John Carranza
Topic: Multi-scale spatial patterns of mineral deposits: their exploration significance
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 10 August 2022
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Dr Hendrik Minnaar
Topic: Vuurdood Subsuite and conflicting age relationships in the Richtersveld Magmatic Arc
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 27 July 2022
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Sodiq A. Alimi
Topic: Data-driven predictive mapping for orogenic gold prospectivity in Wawa area, Western Nigeria, using Machine Learning as a predictive tool
Special Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 1 June 2022
Time: 13:00-15:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speakers: Prof Christoph Heubeck (University of Jena), Phumelele Mashele & Dr Dora Paprika
Topic: Drilling the 3.2 Ga Moodies Group: The ICDP BASE project - progress and public outreach
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 20 April 2022
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Jamie-Leigh Abrahams
Topic: Detecting AMD-related trace metals along streams using geochemistry, ground spectroscopy and airborne hyperspectral imaging
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 6 April 2022
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Prof John Carranza
Topic: Pyrite's fool's gold but ignoring to find gold is foolish
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 23 March 2022
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Prof John Carranza
Topic: Interpretation of structural controls on mineralisation based on the spatial pattern of mineral deposits
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 9 March 2022
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Dr Martin Clark
Topic: An introduction to the MAGIC lab and projects within
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 6 May 2020
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Adriaan Odendaal
Topic: The Ecca-Beaufort contact west of Bloemfontein
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 29 April 2020
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Prof Bisrat Yibas
Topic: The East African Orogeny
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 22 April 2020
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speakers: Various
Topic: Departmental Flash Fact Competition
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 15 April 2020
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Dr Louise Coney (De Beers)
Topic: De Beers Exploration
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 8 April 2020
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speakers: Prof Morris Viljoen (University of the Witwatersrand) & Maggie Newman
Topic: Geological Art
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 1 April 2020
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Dr Julio Castillo Hernandez (Department of Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology)
Topic: Geomicrobiology and biogeochemistry
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 18 March 2020
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Dr Robert Hansen
Topic: Pyrite dissolution and jarosite and goethite precipitation geochemical and process network modelling – Focus on sulfidic mine tailings pore water
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 11 March 2020
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Justin Nel
Topic: Namaqua tectonics: Discovery of intra-terrane thrust sheets
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 4 March 2020
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Prof Marion Bamford (University of the Witwatersrand)
Topic: Karoo flora
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 26 February 2020
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Dr David Morris (Sol Plaatje University)
Topic: San Rock Art
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 19 February 2020
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Dr Matthew Huber
Topic: Turbulent 'Trusion at Temperatures Tremendous: A case for rapid emplacement of Melt Dykes in the Vredefort Impact Structure
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 12 February 2020
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Dr Dirk van Reenen (Retired)
Topic: Heterogeneous strain, pressure-temperature-time paths and the polymetamorphic evolution of the Central Zone of the Limpopo Complex
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 16 October 2019
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Dr Johann Neveling (Council for Geoscience)
Topic: The late Permian Karoo
Honours Debate
Date: 15 October 2019
Time: 17:00-20:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Event: Join us as our honours students in economic geology debate the value of mining polymetallic seafloor nodules against the environmental costs of such mining activities
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 9 October 2019
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Matlatji Molabe
Topic: Environmental Risk Assessment of Gold Tailings in Obuasi, Ghana
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 2 October 2019
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Prof Baojin Zhao (Fort Hare University)
Topic: Geopark China
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 18 September 2019
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Adriaan Odendaal
Topic: The contact between the Abrahamskraal Formation and the Teekloof/Middleton Formation
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 11 September 2019
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Dr Hendrik Minnaar
Topic: Modeling crustal thickness in the 1.9 Ga Richtersveld Magmatic Arc
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 4 September 2019
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Prof Frederick Roelofse
Topic: Trace element and Sr-isotopic variations in plagioclase of the Main and Upper zones, Northern and Western limbs, Bushveld Complex
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 28 August 2019
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Dr Martin Clark
Topic: Imagery to Models - Harnessing drone technology to enhance research
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 21 August 2019
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Dr Marco Andreoli (University of the Witwatersrand)
Topic: The shock diamond pebble Hypatia, Libyan Desert Glass area, Egypt. A puzzling astronomical object packed with extremophiles
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 14 August 2019
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Dr Robert Hansen
Topic: Insights on crystallisation of efflorescent salts in AMD environments from jarosite nucleation experiments
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 7 August 2019
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Dr Matthew Huber
Topic: Modeling a Massive Missing Melt from Millions of Years Ago: The case of the Vredefort Impact Crater Melt Sheet
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 31 July 2019
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Prof Bisrat Yibas
Topic: Managing South Africa’s Mine Pollution and AMD challenges using river water catchment area and Geo-environmental provinces approach
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 24 July 2019
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Dr Elizaveta Kovaleva
Topic: Shocked minerals and the story they tell about meteorite strikes
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 15 May 2019
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Mafete Malatji
Topic: Pre- and post-impact deformation of the Outer Granite Gneiss along the Vaal River in Parys.
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 8 May 2019
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Megan Purchase
Topic: Rehabilitation of Acid Mine Drainage
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 17 April 2019
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Ernest Moitsi
Topic: Mineralogical and metallurgical characterization of the mineralised footwall to the Brakspruit Facies of the Merensky Reef at Lonmin Karee Pt Mine, Bushveld Complex
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 3 April 2019
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Masi Zintwana, Anglo American Kumba Iron Ore
Topic: Russian Roulettes and Proterozoic Iron Ore Forming Processes
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 27 March 2019
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Justin Nel
Topic: New insights into Namaqua tectonics
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 20 March 2019
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Mpho Lekoa
Topic: The investigation of a dolerite dyke on the farm Bankfontain 11 in the Jagersfontein area
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 13 March 2019
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Dr Gerhard Meintjes
Topic: The Platberg Group: an Archaean silicic Large Igneous Province (SLIP)
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 6 March 2019
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Dr Robert Hansen
Topic: Oxidation state of Cu and Fe in chalcopyrite - what does it mean for environmental risk?
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 27 February 2019
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Prof Steve Prevec, Rhodes University
Topic: Ni-Cu-PGE Mineralised Offset Dyke emplacement from the Sudbury impact melt: punctuated intrusion or not?
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 20 February 2019
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Dr Francois Fourie, Institute for Groundwater Studies
Topic: Geophysical investigation of the granophyre dykes within the Vredefort Impact Structure
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 31 October 2018
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Rinae Makhadi
Topic: Assessment of groundwater quality in the vicinity of two municipal solid waste disposal sites
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 24 October 2018
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Adriaan Odendaal
Topic: Distributive fluvial systems
The great 'Witwatersrand Gold' debate
Date: 23 October 2018
Time: 17:00-19:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Event: Join us as our honours students debate the origin of gold in the Witwatersrand Supergroup
The 2018 Alex du Toit Memorial Lecture (organised under the auspices of the Geological Society of South Africa)
Date: 17 October 2018
Time: 17:00 for 17:30
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Prof Lew Ashwal (NRF A-rated researcher), University of the Witwatersrand
Topic: Wandering continents of the Indian Ocean
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 10 October 2018
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Jarlen Beukes
Topic: The Platreef... nothing is set in stone
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 26 September 2018
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Dr Martin Clark
Topic: The tectonic evolution of the East Range of the Sudbury Basin, Ontario, Canada
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 20 September 2018
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Tshiamo Legoale (Mintek)
Topic: Geology for Societal Benefit
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 12 September 2018
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Dr Hendrik Minnaar
Topic: Pegmatites in the Namaqua Metamorphic Province
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 5 September 2018
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Marvin Nicholas
Topic: Assessment of the applicability of South African waste classification legislation on mineral waste with special reference to gold mine tailings on the Witwatersrand basin - A geochemical perspective
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 29 August 2018
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Dr Louise Coney (De Beers Exploration)
Topic: Analytical Geochemistry as an enabler of Diamond Exploration
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 22 August 2018
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Dr Robert Hansen
Topic: Geochemistry of U and Th in the Witwatersrand Gold Tailings - Where is all the Th?
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 15 August 2018
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Dr Matthew Huber
Topic: Lowermost termination of Vredefort Granopyre Dyke results in unusual features
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 31 July 2018
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Anre Vorster (De Beers)
Topic: The role of the Minerals Education Trust Fund in promoting quality education and minerals industry outlook
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 10 May 2018
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Dr Stoffel Fourie, Walter Sisulu University
Topic: The wave power potential of the South African coastline
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 14 March 2018
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Dr Elizaveta Kovaleva
Topic: Tectonic versus impact deformation in zircon: Implications for the Vredefort impact structure and for lunar zircon from Apollo 17
Kovsie GeoTalk (RSVP before 19 January to SwartPS@ufs.ac.za essential)
Date: 7 February 2018
Time: 16:30-17:30
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Prof Marian Tredoux
Topic: Tredouxite, another new mineral from the Bon Accord oxide body
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 18 October 2017
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Raimund Rentel
Topic: Research life at sea
The great 'Merensky Reef' debate
Date: 17 October 2017
Time: 17:00-20:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Event: Join us as our honours students in economic geology debate the origins of the Merensky Reef
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 7 September 2017
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Dr Igor Sharygin (VS Sobolev Institute of Geology and Mineralogy)
Topic: Carbonates and carbonate melts in Earth’s mantle
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 26 July 2017
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Nathi Chabangu (RC Developments)
Topic: The life of an exploration geologist
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 10 May 2017
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Prof Hassina Mouri
Topic: Medical Geology – an interdisciplinary emerging field of science
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 6 April 2017
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Prof Giorgio Garuti
Topic: Uralian-Alaskan complexes: a puzzling source of platinum
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 5 April 2017
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Dr Federica Zaccarini
Topic: Chromitites, and associated platinum-group elements, in ophiolites: an overview
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 15 March 2017
Time: 13:00-14:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Prof Poppe de Boer (Utrecht University)
Topic: Modern versus ancient controls on sedimentary systems; the present is not always the key to the past
The great 'Wits' debate
Date: 28 September 2016
Time: 17:00-20:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Event: Join us as our honours students in economic geology debate the origins of gold in the Witwatersrand Supergroup. Snacks will be served afterwards. RSVP before 21 September essential.
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 24 August 2016
Time: 13:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Dr Marco Andreoli (University of the Witwatersrand)
Topic: 30 Years of Earth Sciences at Vaalputs, South Africa: Some Proposed Research Guidelines for the Disposal of High-Level Radioactive Waste in South Africa
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 18 May 2016
Time: 13:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Prof Jan van Bever Donker
Topic: New insights into the development of the Kakamas Terrane
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 7 March 2016
Time: 13:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Prof Jock Harmer (Rhodes University)
Topic: Minerals exploration, Greenland style: lessons us Africans can learn
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 21 October 2015
Time: 13:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Dr Elizaveta Kovaleva
Topic: Bending zircons and breaking ages
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 20 October 2015
Time: 13:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Dr Matthew Huber
Topic: Meteorite impact events on earth: Craters and ejecta
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 12 March 2015
Time: 13:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Stuart Bateman, INNOVX Systems
Topic: Latest developments in portable X-ray equipment. (Lecture will be followed by a practical demonstration of equipment at the department's core storage facility.)
Postgraduate Student Colloquium
Date: 13 February 2015
Time: 14:00-17:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speakers: Postgraduate students
The 33rd Alex du Toit Memorial Lecture (organised under the auspices of the Geological Society of South Africa)
Date: 22 October 2014
Time: 17:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Prof Nic Beukes (NRF A-rated researcher), University of Johannesburg
Topic: Genesis and palaeo-environmental significance of Precambrian sedimentary iron and manganese deposits with special reference to the history of free oxygen in the ocean and atmosphere
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 9 September 2014
Time: 13:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Felix Yebo Amoako, PhD student with the Friedrich-Schiller University, Jena, Germany
Topic: The Bio-Geo interactions of mining waste
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 5-7 August 2014
Time: 5 August (13:00-14:00) - 6 August (12:45-14:00) - 7 August (13:00-14:00)
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Prof Duncan Miller, Affiliated Professor with the Department of Geology, University of the Free State
Topic: Archaeometallurgy in Africa
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 22 April 2014
Time: 12:30
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Dr Gerrie van Aswegen, Institute of Mine Seismology
Topic: Forensic rock mechanics and seismology as tools to help solve the rockburst problem
Kovsie GeoTalk
Date: 5 March 2014
Time: 13:00
Venue: Lecture Hall 1, Geology Building
Speaker: Prof Jan Kramers, University of Johannesburg
Topic: Comet Hypatia: a violent landing on earth and messages from beyond Neptune's orbit