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John Napier trained originally as a Chemical Engineer at the University of the Witwatersrand and joined the Chamber of Mines Research Organisation (COMRO) in 1971. He worked extensively on problems of operations research relating to coal mine production planning and then completed a PhD in the field of Gold Mine Planning with emphasis on the development of an econometric model of gold mine capital expenditure and the analysis of optimal grade selection policies. Following these activities, he became involved in rock engineering research and was responsible, with John Ryder, for the design and development of a computer code for the analysis of large scale tabular mining excavations (MINSIM-D) used extensively in the South African gold mining industry.
John subsequently assumed responsibility for coordinating research into deep level gold mine rock mass behaviour at COMRO, working mainly to develop models of rock fracture propagation and elastodynamic fault slip behaviour. Following the takeover of COMRO by the CSIR to form the Division of Mining Technology, John was elected as a CSIR Fellow in 1997 and has worked with the Fellow group in introducing initiatives relating to the promotion of scientific excellence within the CSIR. John is a Fellow of the South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and a Fellow of the South African National Institute of Rock Engineering. He has had close interaction with the Mining Department of the University of the Witwatersrand as an external examiner and part-time lecturer and was invited to be an MTS Visiting Professor at the University of Minnesota during 1997. He has published a number of papers relating to gold mine planning and rock fracture mechanics.
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