PGE measuring tool

An engineering student in South Africa has invented a device to help the platinum mining industry increase the quantity of metal it mines.

The “level detection device” measures a critical variable in the extraction process, which allows a higher quantity of platinum to be separated from mined ore.

The brain behind the invention belongs to Christopher Haw, 23, who is in his final year as an electrical engineering student at the University of Cape Town. For his invention, Haw recently won a cash prize of 50,000 rand (US$7,500) in an entrepreneurial competition designed to help students start viable businesses.

Haw told a South African newspaper that similar devices used in the industry were not ideal for optimizing the process and that large savings could be achieved by the use of an accurate PGE sensor.

Haw’s idea has already generated a lot of interest, but he first wants to complete its registration with the South African Patent Office. He is negotiating with the University of Cape Town to bring his invention to market, and a venture capital company has expressed interest.

Opinions vary as to the importance of the variable that is measured by Haw’s invention, according to Jon Tapson, a professor of instrumentation at the University of Cape Town’s Department of Electrical Engineering.

Speaking to the Johannesburg-based Sunday Times, he said: “But on a management level and the level where people are doing the economic calculations, people say measurement is quite a severe problem and that the existing methods are not satisfactory, which is quite telling and suggests that (Hawe) has a technology that is important.”