An international conference on the design of structures in the mining industry, the first ever of its kind, is to be held in South Africa at Sun City from 9-11 November 2009. The conference is being organised by the Southern African Institute of Steel Construction (SAISC).

Steel structures - headgears, structures that convey both people and material up and down shafts, structures for transporting and containing ore aboveground and underground, structures for process plant and many others - play a significant role in the operations of any mine and South African engineers have developed a high level of skill in the design of these structures.

“Such is the extent of our global leadership in this field, the set of SABS standards for the design of mining related structures, developed under the auspices of SAISC, are generally recognised as the leading standards in the world,” says SAISC executive director Dr Hennie de Clercq.

Dr de Clercq says that the Institute hopes to attract leading designers of mining related structures across the globe to the conference.

“Our industry’s leadership position in this field gives us the opportunity to run a conference of the highest quality and relevance,” he concluded.

SAISC has invited anyone interested in presenting papers at the conference to submit an abstract of not more than 500 words as soon as possible.

For further information please contact SAISC on +27 11 726 6111 or go www.saisc.co.za.