SA NEWS
The start of the Institute of Quarrying
Quarrying in South Africa has a long history.
To celebrate the 50th
anniversary of the Institute of
Quarrying in South Africa,
Aspasa director Nico Pienaar
trawls through some of his
personal memories and
anecdotes of the earlier days of
quarrying from those 50 years.
The evening of 14 February
1969 was a memorable event
at the then Edenroc Hotel in
Durban. Under the leadership
of Fred Davis from The Crushed
Stone Association in Durban
and some of his colleagues and
friends, it had been arranged
that a management meeting
be held of the South African
branch of the British Institute
of Quarrying. It was this
get-together that prompted
the formation of the Institute
of Quarrying (South African
4_QUARRY SA | MAY/JUNE 2019
chapter) on 15 February 1969.
There were more than 60
delegates from all over South
Africa who had travelled to
this inaugural gathering — the
first time that members of
the quarrying industry had a
legitimate reason for such an
assembly.
“Mr JJN Stapelberg took the
chair at this meeting and told
the delegates that quarrying
had become a highly scientific
and technical business. Mr
Stapelberg — who had been
the past president of the Natal
Chamber of Industries — also
said the following: ‘The days
of the one-man business are
fast disappearing. Competition
has forced takeover bids and
any quarries are now under the
control of the larger mining
companies.’” [The Institute of
Quarrying ‘Newsletter’ January
to March 1990]. This of course
was not entirely true as there
are still today large numbers of
independent and family-owned
quarries — but it does highlight
the start of an important trend.
The Institute of Quarrying
was established in Britain
over 50 years earlier (and is
consequently about 100 years
old) and had branches already
established in Australia and
New Zealand with about 20
individual members in South
Africa. The newly constituted
institute established offices and
the Associated Quarries body
in Durban allowed the institute
some space on its premises.
“The Institute of Quarrying
in the UK duly acknowledged
receipt of notification of the
formation of the South African
branch. A letter was received
from the IOQ in the UK, with
Mary Roberts acknowledging
that GBP50 had been donated
to the South African branch to
help put it on an initial financial
footing. During this time, it
was agreed that the government
mining engineering and the
chief inspector of explosives be
made honorary members of the
South African branch,” explains
Pienaar.
Today, these two positions
are a combined function which
is known as the chief inspector
of mines at the Department of
Mineral Resources.
In March 1982, Fred Davies,
who started the IOQ South
Africa, passed away.
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