Described as pioneer of block caving and a legend of the mining industry, Dennis Laubscher, the world’s foremost authority on block cave mining, died on 3 February at the age of 91.
Dennis was born in the Western Cape of South Africa. He earned a BSc (Eng.) in mining geology in 1952, and a PhD in 1964 at the University of the Witwatersrand. He worked initially as an exploration geologist and joined African Associated Mines in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) as a mining geologist and Head of Geomechanics. He joined Steffen Robertson and Kirsten, the forerunner of today’s SRK Consulting, in Johannesburg in 1984.
In the seventies, he introduced the mining rock mass rating system (–MRMR) to the mining industry. This classification system was based on work by ZT Bieniawski and was specifically designed for caving mines. The main objective of MRMR was for mining practitioners to communicate between disciplines and develop empirical guidelines for mining method selection and cave design. Dennis Laubscher and Jarek Jakubec updated this classification system in 2000 and it is still used as a “yardstick” today. His last contribution to the cave mining industry was in 2017, publishing a practical book, Guidelines on Caving Mining Methods, which was co-authored by Alan Guest and Jarek Jakubec.
An uncompromising humanist, he made an impact on people as well as projects. During his lifetime he received numerous prestigious awards: the SAIMM Gold Medal, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the South African Institute of Rock Engineering; the De Beers Mass Award at MassMin 2000, and the Brigadier Stokes Platinum Medal from SAIMM. Dennis Laubscher’s contributions to the industry and itspeople will remain a stellar legacy.
