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01 October 2019 | Story Nikile Ntsababa (Registrar)

The nomination process for the election of two representatives to serve on the UFS Council was finalised on Tuesday, 17 September 2019 – the closing date for nominations.
 
Here are the names of the nominees (listed alphabetically):
 
Representative from the Qwaqwa Campus:
None
 
Other representative:
Mr Christo Dippenaar
Dr Pieter du Toit
Mr Lefa Mabaso
Dr Walter Matli
Mr Zama Sigwebela
 
Please note that no nominations were received for representatives from the Qwaqwa Campus.  Since this scenario is not legislated in the Statute, Institutional Rules, and Convocation Constitution, the Registrar will, after consultation with the President of the Convocation, open another round of nominations for Qwaqwa representatives to Council (with the closing date 8 October 2019) to ensure that the campus is also represented on Council.
 
Convocation and Alumni members from the Qwaqwa Campus are therefore given a second opportunity to nominate one representative from among their members for the Qwaqwa Campus.  All nominations must reach the office of the Registrar no later than 16:30 on Wednesday, 9 October 2019.
 
Every nomination form  shall be signed by four (4) members of the Convocation and shall contain the written acceptance of the nomination by the nominee under his/her signature as well as an abridged CV and a motivation of more or less 200 words.
 
Nominations are to be submitted to:  email: registrar@ufs.ac.za or delivered by hand to Nikile Ntsababa, Main Building, Room 51, Bloemfontein Campus.
 
Kindly take note that late or incomplete nominations will not be accepted or considered.
 
Further information regarding the election process will follow in due course.

News Archive

Prof Tredoux turns theories regarding the formation of metals on its head
2013-09-17

 

Prof Marian Tredoux
17 September 2013

The latest research conducted by Prof Marian Tredoux of the Department of Geology, in collaboration with her research assistant Bianca Kennedy and their colleagues in Germany, placed established theories regarding how minerals of the platinum-group of elements are formed, under close scrutiny.

The article on this research of which Prof Tredoux is a co-author – ‘Noble metal nanoclusters and nanoparticles precede mineral formation in magmatic sulphide melts’ – was published in Nature Communications on 6 September 2013. It is an online journal for research of the highest quality in the fields of biological, physical and chemical sciences.

This study found that atoms of platinum and arsenic create nanoclusters, long before the mineral sperrylite can crystallise. Thus, the platinum does not occur as a primary sulphur compound. The research was conducted at the Steinmann Institute of the University of Bonn, Germany, as well as here in Bloemfontein.

Monetary support from Inkaba yeAfrica – a German-South African multidisciplinary and intercultural Earth Science collaborative of the National Research Foundation (NRF) – made this research possible. Studies are now also being conducted on other metals in the precious metal group, specifically palladium, rhodium and ruthenium.

The discovery of the nanoclusters and the combination with arsenic can have far-reaching consequences for the platinum mine industry, if it can be utilised to recover a greater amount of platinum ore and therefore less wastage ending up in mine dumps. This will signify optimal mining of a scarce and valuable metal, one of South Africa’s most important export products.

For Prof Tredoux, the research results also prove thoughts she already had some twenty years ago around the forming of platinum minerals. “Researchers laughed in my face, but the evidence had to wait for the development of technology to prove it.” Young researchers were very excited at recent congresses about the findings, since the new models can bring new insights.

“Chemistry researchers have been talking about platinum element clusters in watery environments for quite a while, but it was thought that these would not appear in magmas (molten rock) due to the high temperatures (>1 000 degrees celsius).”

Prof Tredoux has already delivered lectures at congresses in Scotland, Hungary, Sweden and Italy on this research.

Read the article at: http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2013/130906/ncomms3405/full/ncomms3405.html

 

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