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24 February 2020 | Story Ilze Bakkes | Photo Supplied
UFS hosts Bloemfontein Schools principal

The relationship between the University of the Free State (UFS) and high schools in Bloemfontein and the region remains vital to the successful recruitment and enrolment of high-performing students at the university. 

To encourage and develop this cooperative bond, the office for Student Recruitment Services hosted a breakfast recently to honour school principals from Bloemfontein and surrounding towns for their continued support of UFS student recruitment programmes at their schools.

An educational nurturing ground for future Kovsies

At the event (hosted on 11 February 2020), the university presented school principals with awards for their contribution to student recruitment and enrolment. This year, the platinum award – which is the top award for more than 50 enrolments at the UFS in 2020 – was presented to Brebner High School, C&N Sekondêre Meisieskool Oranje, Eunice High School, Grey College Secondary School, Fichardt Park High School, Sentraal High School, and Jim Fouché High School. Other award categories were – gold for 20-49 enrolments, silver for 10-19 enrolments, and diamond for one to nine enrolments; these awards were presented to 22 schools from Bloemfontein, Thaba Nchu, Ficksburg, and Botshabelo.

Acknowledging their role as an educational nurturing ground for future Kovsies, Nomonde Mbadi, Director: Student Recruitment Services, says the value of the relationship with schools and principals is immeasurable, and will continue to be nurtured for years to come.

 “Principals, headmasters, teachers, and chairpersons of school governing bodies play an important role in advising and motivating learners to apply at institutions they regard as providers of quality tertiary education, and the UFS has been chosen, time and again, as the institution of choice.” 

School principals of Durban and Pretoria schools will be honoured by similar events during March and May 2020 respectively.

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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