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Bertus Smith

Prof Bertus Smith

Associate Professor​
Name: Bertus Smith
Location: C1 Lab 413 Auckland Park Kingsway Campus
Department of Geology Staff  Staff Members

Contact Details:
Tel: +27 (0)11 559 4709

Email: bertuss@uj.ac.za

About Prof Bertus Smith

Bertus Smith is currently specializing in Economic Geology with a focus on sedimentary iron and manganese deposits. Other research interests include Archaean and Palaeoproterozoic sedimentary successions and Geometallurgy, which is the quantification of the variability of ore deposits in terms of processing behaviour (blasting, crushing, milling, liberation and recovery). His present research work focuses on iron- and manganese-rich sedimentary units in the Witwatersrand, Pongola, Transvaal and Marquette Range (USA) supergroups, glacial deposits of the Transvaal and Karoo supergroups, as well as the process mineralogy and geometallurgy of base metal and precious metal deposits of the Bushveld Complex and the Aggeneys-Gamsberg Ore District.

Bertus Smith is a Y1-rated NRF scientist and has successfully supervised and co-supervised 13 MSc and 3 PhD students to completion. He is also an associate editor for the journal Earth Science, Systems and Society and recently acted as an editor for a special issue in honour of the late Professor Nic Beukes in the South African Journal of Geology.

Bertus Smith is the current director of the Palaeoproterozoic Mineralisation (PPM) Research Group in the Department of Geology at UJ. He is also affiliated with the DST-NRF Centre of Excellence for Integrated Mineral and Energy Resource Analysis (CIMERA). He is also the Vice President for Academic Affairs of the Geological Society of South Africa, co-chair of the Proset Committee of the National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF), acting on the International Committee for Stratigraphy’s Precambrian Sub-committee, and is a former chair of the Mineralogical Association of South Africa. He completed his PhD in Geology at UJ in 2014, which focused on Geometallurgy of the Merensky Reef at Bafokeng Rasimone Platinum Mine. He completed his MSc in 2007 on the banded iron formations and iron-rich mudstones of the Witwatersrand and Pongola Supergroups at UJ.

Research Interests

Economic Geology; Precambrian banded iron formations; Archaean and Palaeoproterozoic sedimentary geology; Iron and manganese ore deposits; Geometallurgy; Process mineralogy

Teaching Responsibilities

Economic Geology, Applied Mineralogy

Recent publications
  • Hayes, B., Maghdour-Mashhour, R., Ashwal, L.D., Smith, A.J.B., Ueckermann, H. and Vermeulen, J. (2024). Melt infiltration in a crystal mush and pegmatoid formation in the platiniferous Merensky Reef, Bushveld Complex, South Africa. Mineralium Deposita, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00126-024-01278-z
  • Coetzee, L.L., Gutzmer, J., Smith, A.J.B. and Beukes, N.J. (2024). Mineralogy and mineral paragenesis of the Palaeoproterozoic manganese ores of the Avontuur deposit of the Kalahari Manganese Field, South Africa. South African Journal of Geology, 127, 31-54. https://doi.org/10.25131/sajg.127.0016
  • Motloba, G.B., Viljoen, K.S., Rose, D.H. and Smith, A.J.B. (2024). The processing behaviour of the sphalerites from the Big Syncline deposit, South Africa. South African Journal of Geology, 127, 71-94. https://doi.org/10.25131/sajg.127.0018
  • Li, Y., Sutherland, B.R., Ilin, A.M., Schad, M., Robbins, L.J., Kappler, A., Yusta, I., Sánchez-España, J., Owttrim, G.W., Dreher, C.L., Smith, A.J.B., Alessi, D.S., Gingras, M.K. and Konhauser, K.O. (2024). Cyanobacteria-ferrihydrite aggregates, BIF sedimentation and implications for Archaean-Palaeoproterozoic seawater geochemistry. South African Journal of Geology, 127, 359-378. https://doi.org/10.25131/sajg.127.0010
  • Halla, J., Noffke, N., Reis, H., Awramik, S., Bekker, A., Brasier, A., Callefo, F., Choudhury, A., Duda, J.-P., Fedo, C., Galante, D., Haddock, J., Haines, P., Hinnov, L., Hofmann, A., Homann, M., Huston, D., Johnson, S., Kah, L., Kaufman, A., Kovalick, A., Kuchenbecker, M., Koykka, J., Lowe, D., Nhleko, N., Reno, B., Sanchez, E., Shukla, Y., Smith, A., Van Zuilen, M., Westall, F. and Whitehouse, M. (2024). Ratification of the base of the ICS Geological Time Scale: the Global Standard Stratigraphic Age (GSSA) for the Hadean lower boundary. Episodes, 47, 381-389. https://doi.org/10.18814/epiiugs/2024/024002
  • Smith, A.J.B. and Beukes, N.J. (2023). The paleoenvironmental implications of pre-Great Oxidation Event manganese deposition in the Mesoarchean Ijzermijn Iron Formation Bed, Mozaan Group, Pongola Supergroup, South Africa. Precambrian Research, 384, 106922. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.precamres.2022.106922
  • Smith, A.J.B., Beukes, N.J., Cochrane, J.M. and Gutzmer, J. (2023). Manganese carbonate-bearing mudstone of the Witwatersrand-Mozaan succession in southern Africa as evidence for bacterial manganese respiration and availability of free molecular oxygen in Mesoarchaean oceans. South African Journal of Geology, 126, 29-48. https://doi.org/10.25131/sajg.126.0005
  • Robbins, L.J., Fakhraee, M., Smith, A.J.B., Bishop, B.A., Swanner, E.D., Peacock, C.L., Wang, C.-L., Planavsky, N.J., Reinhard, C.T., Crowe, S.A. and Lyons, T.W. (2023). Manganese oxides, Earth surface oxygenation, and the rise of oxygenic photosynthesis. Earth-Science Reviews, 239, 104368. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2023.104368
  • Le Heron, D.P., Busfield, M.E., Smith, A.J.B. and Wimmer, S. (2022). A grounding zone wedge origin for the Palaeoproterozoic Makganyene Formation of South Africa. Frontiers in Earth Science, 10, 905602. https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2022.905602
  • Humbert, F., Elburg, M.A., Agangi, A., Belyanin, G., Akoh, J., Smith, A.J.B., Chou, Y-M. and Beukes, N.J. (2020). A ~1.4 Ga alkaline mafic sill from the Carletonville area: connection to the Pilanesberg Alkaline Province? South African Journal of Geology, 123, 597-614. https://doi.org/10.25131/sajg.123.0039
  • Mkhatshwa, S.F., Guy, B.M., Smith, A.J.B. and Viljoen, K.S. (2020). A mineralogical perspective on the recovery of uranium from brannerite-rich ore at Cooke Section, West Rand Goldfield, South Africa. South African Journal of Geology, 123, 615-632. https://doi.org/10.25131/sajg.123.0031
  • Schier, K., Bau, M., Smith, A.J.B., Beukes, N.J., Coetzee, L.L. and Viehmann, S. (2020). Chemical evolution of seawater in the Transvaal Ocean between 2426Ma (Ongeluk Large Igneous Province) and 2413 Ma ago (Kalahari Manganese Field). Gondwana Research, 88, 373-388. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gr.2020.09.001
  • Smith, A.J.B., Beukes, N.J., Gutzmer, J., Johnson, C.M., Czaja, A.D., Nhleko, N., De Beer, F., Hoffman, J.W. and Awramik, S.M. (2020). Life on a Mesoarchean marine shelf – insights from the world’s oldest known granular iron formation. Scientific Reports, 10, 10519. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-66805-0
  • Humbert, F., Agangi, A., Massuyeau, M., Elburg, M.A., Belyanin, G., Smith, A.J.B., Iaccheri, L., Coetzee, L.L. and Wabo, H. (2020). Rifting of the Kaapvaal Craton during the early Paleoproterozoic: evidence from magmatism in the western Transvaal subbasin (South Africa). Precambrian Research, 342,105687. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.precamres.2020.105687
  • De Kock, M.O., Monareng, B.F., Blignaut, L., Smith, A.J.B. and Beukes, N.J. (2020). Geochemistry of Paleoproterozoic saprolite developed in diabase intruding the Hotazel Formation in the Avontuur deposit of the Kalahari Manganese Field, South Africa. South African Journal of Geology, 123, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.25131/sajg.123.0001
  • Smith, A.J.B., Gutzmer, J., Beukes, N.J. and Chisonga, B.C. (2019). Iron ores of the Hotazel Formation, Northern Cape Province, South Africa. Australian Institute for Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM), Iron Ore 2019, Perth, Australia, 22-24 July 2019, 414-433.
  • Albut, G., Kamber, B.S., Brüske, A., Beukes, N.J., Smith, A.J.B. and Schoenberg, R. (2019). Modern weathering in outcrop samples versus ancient paleoredox information in drill core samples from a Mesoarchaean marine oxygen oasis in Pongola Supergroup, South Africa. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 265, 330-353. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2019.09.001
  • Robbins, L.J., Funk, S.P., Flynn, S.L., Wachola, T.J., Li, Z., Lalonde, S.V., Rostron, B.J., Smith, A.J.B., Beukes, N.J., De Kock, M.O., Heaman, L.M., Alessi, D.S. and Konhauser, K.O. (2019). Hydrogeological constraints on the formation of Palaeoproterozoic banded iron formations. Nature Geoscience, 12, 558-563. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0372-0