Associate Professor Bertus Smith

Bertus Smith is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Geology at the University of Johannesburg. He holds a PhD and MSc from the University of Johannesburg as well as a BSc and BSc Honours from the Rand Afrikaans University. His PhD focused on geometallurgy and its applications on the Merensky Reef. His MSc focused on the Mesoarchean iron formations of the Witwatersrand and Pongola Supergroups and their paleoenvironmental significance to the early Earth. He has published on both topics covered in his PhD and MSc in international journals and has presented his data at numerous international and national conferences and meetings.

 

His current research interests are focused on characterizing and understanding the genesis of high grade iron ore deposits, as well as chemical sedimentary rocks from the Archean and their implications for early Earth systems. He is also still involved in geometallurgy and its applications to various ore deposits. He has previously worked for AngloGold-Ashanti as a management trainee in evaluation and also taught physics and chemistry at Helpmekaar College in Johannesburg.

 

Recent publications:

 

Journal articles:

  1. Smith, A.J.B., Henry, G. and Frost-Killian, S. (2016). A review of the Birimian Supergroup- and Tarkwaian Group-hosted gold deposits of Ghana. Episodes, 39, 177-197.
  2. Smith, A.J.B. and Beukes, N.J. (2016). Palaeoproterozoic banded iron formation-hosted high-grade hematite iron ore deposits of the Transvaal Supergroup, South Africa. Episodes, 39, 269-284.
  3. Smith, A.J.B. (2015). The life and times of banded iron formations. Geology, 43, 1111-1112.
  4. Viehmann, S., Bau, M., Smith, A.J.B., Beukes, N.J., Dantas, E.L. and Bühn, B. (2015). The reliability of ~2.9 Ga old Witwatersrand banded iron formation (South Africa) as archives for Mesoarchean seawater: Evidence from REE and Nd isotope systematics. Journal of African Earth Sciences, 111, 322-334.
  5. Planavsky, N.J., Asael, D., Hofmann, A., Reinhard, C.T., Lalonde, S.V., Knudsen, A., Wang, X., Ossa Ossa, F., Pecoits, E., Smith, A.J.B., Beukes, N.J., Bekker, A., Johnson, T.M., Konhauser, K.O., Lyons, T.W. and Rouxel, O.J. (2014). Evidence for oxygenic photosynthesis half a billion years before the Great Oxidation Event. Nature Geoscience, 7, 283-286.
  6. Smith, A.J.B., Viljoen, K.S., Schouwstra, R., Roberts, J., Schalkwyk, C. and Gutzmer, J. (2013). Geological variations in the Merensky Reef at Bafokeng Rasimone Platinum Mine and its influence on flotation performance. Minerals Engineering, 52, 155-168.
  7. Smith, A.J.B., Beukes, N.J. and Gutzmer, J. (2013). The composition and depositional environments of the Mesoarchean iron formations of the West Rand Group of the Witwatersrand Supergroup, South Africa. Economic Geology, 108, 111-134.
  8. Smith, A.J.B., Beukes, N.J. and Gutzmer, J. (2010). Lithostratigraphic correlation of iron-rich sedimentary rocks in the Archean Witwatersrand-Mozaan succession: Implications for early depositional environments on Earth. South African Journal of Science and Technology, 29, 161-163.
  9. Smith, A.J.B. (2018). The Iron Formations of Southern Africa. In: Siegesmund, S., Basei, M.A.S., Oyhantçabal, P. and Oriolo, S. (eds), Geology of Southwest Gondwana, Springer, Cham, pp. 469-491.
  10. Albut, G., Babechuk, M.G., Kleinhanns, I.C., Benger, M., Beukes, N.J., Steinhilber, B., Smith, A.J.B., Kruger, S.J. and Schoenberg, R. (2018). Modern rather than Mesoarchaean oxidative weathering responsible for the heavy stable Cr isotopic signatures of the 2.95 Ga old Ijzermijn iron formation (South Africa).Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 228, 157-189.
  11. Smith, A.J.B., Beukes, N.J., Gutzmer, J., Czaja, A.D., Johnson, C.M. and Nhleko, N. (2017). Oncoidal granular iron formation in the Mesoarchaean Pongola Supergroup, southern Africa: Textural and geochemical evidence for biological activity during iron deposition. Geobiology, 15, 731-749.

Published abstracts:

  1. Smith, A.J.B., Beukes, N.J. and Gutzmer, J. (2013). Geomicrobiological activity in the Mesoarchean Witwatersrand-Mozaan Succession: Evidence from iron formations and shales.Mineralogical Magazine, 77, 2224.
  2. Smith, A.J.B., Beukes, N.J., Gutzmer, J., Johnson, C.M. and Czaja, A.D. (2012). Iron isotope fractionation in stromatolitic oncoidal iron formation, Mesoarchean Witwatersrand-Mozaan Basin, South Africa. Mineralogical Magazine, 76, 2384.
  3. Smith, A.J.B., Viljoen, K.S., Schouwstra, R., Roberts, J., Schalkwyk, C. and Gutzmer, J. (2010). The geometallurgical characterization of different Merensky Reef facies in the western limb of the Bushveld Complex, South Africa. Acta Mineralogica Petrographica Abstract Series, 6, 278.
  4. Smith, A.J.B., Beukes, N.J., Gutzmer, J. and Cochrane, J.M. (2010). Evidence for dissimilatory manganese reduction and availability of free molecular oxygen during deposition of Mesoarchean Witwatersrand-Mozaan strata. Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta, 74(12) Supplement 1, A973.