Council 2006-2007

Jeff Smith FREng FIMMM
Past President

Presidential Address (Word doc 51k)
Interview with Materials World (pdf file 103k)

Jeff Smith has worked within and for the mining industry for the last 28 years. After graduating from Newcastle University with a dual Mining and Mechanical Engineering Degree, he completed a further two years’ training with the National Coal Board, working in the steep coal seams in various mines in Lancashire. This practical hands on experience was a vital part of qualifying (under Health and Safety Regulations) as a Mine Manager. After spending two years in various underground coal production activities, an opportunity arose in the Mining Consultancy firm of K. Wardell and Partners, and Jeff joined them in 1972 as an ‘Engineer’ (a title he was proud of then, and still is!). He was promoted as the firm grew (from less than 20 staff), becoming a Partner in 1983 and Managing Partner in 1995. He is still the Managing Partner of the 30 Partner firm which now employs some 300 staff and generates a total annual fee income exceeding £12 million.

Projects undertaken by Jeff or under his supervision - both in the UK and numerous overseas countries - include research into the application of longwall mining techniques to non coal deposits (for the US Bureau of Mines), and similarly (for the UK's ODA, now DfID) into the feasibility of longwall mining coal seams which had previously been worked by bord and pillar techniques. Jeff spent 18 months in Southern Africa heading a design team (for Shell Coal) for a major new underground mine in Botswana.

Jeff was the project manager and chief designer for a major new underground coal mine in Bangladesh, now in the course of construction by Chinese Contractors, CMC. He was also the principal mining engineering expert for UK Nirex in their Sellafield Repository project, and represented them at the Public Inquiry into their proposed underground Rock Characterisation scheme.

Jeff was appointed by the British Coal Respiratory Disease Litigation Group (a solicitor's consortium) to be their chief engineering witness in the High Court against British Coal. This test case was on behalf of eight mineworkers from various coalfields across the UK who had contracted chronic bronchitis and emphysema. It was the largest civil action in the UK's legal history and was won decisively, largely due to the quality of evidence and its presentation.

A major area of work for which Jeff has overall management, and in which he has taken particular interest, is ‘subsistence mining’ in developing countries. This widespread activity, essential for the survival of millions of workers and their dependants, is almost completely unregulated and usually illegal. It involves child and female labour, and is often associated with conditions of extreme poverty and deprivation. Major social issues arise in this industry: so called artisanal miners are often in conflict with major mining companies and mineral owners (usually the Government Mines Department), and their activities generally have scant regard for the environment. A major investigative study is presently being undertaken on behalf of DfID in order to address DfID’s poverty alleviation agenda and decide how best to assist this sector in a sustainable way.

Jeff is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, a Board Member of the British Geological Survey, a Council Member of Keele University, and a member of the Advisory Board of the Minerals Engineering Department at Leeds University. He has served on the national Councils of the former IMinE and IMM, and a number of committees of those Institutions, for more than 20 years, and has twice been President of the IMM Western Branch. He was president of the Institute from January 2004 until the end of 2005.

Jeff Smith can be contacted on j.smith@iom3.org.