Sir Robert Nelson Kotze died in Cape Town on 14th March, 1953, at the age of 74.
He was born in South Africa and educated at the South African College, obtaining a B.A. degree in science, and at the Clausthal School of Mines where he gained diplomas in mining and metallurgy. On his return to South Africa in 1895 he worked in Johannesburg for two years before taking the position of consulting engineer to Transvaal Goldfields, Ltd., which he held until 1907.
In 1908 he was appointed Government Mining Engineer for the Transvaal and later for the entire Union of South Africa. He evolved a basis for the leaching and exploitation of gold-bearing ground in the Far East Rand which the Government had acquired for the public estate.
He was the inventor of the ‘konimeter’ which has proved of such great value in combating miners’ phthisis.
In 1918 he was knighted and eight years later retired from Government mining service. He soon afterwards was made a director of a number of mining companies, including De Beers Consolidated Mines, Ltd., and the Johannesburg Consolidated Investment Co., Ltd. He also became a member of the Board of Control of the South African Institute of Medical Research. He was twice Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Witwatersrand, from 1922 to 1925 and from 1937 to 1938, and was Member for Springs of the Union Parliament for the ten years 1929-39.
Sir Robert Kotze was made an Honorary Member of the Institution in 1919. In 1925 he was awarded the Gold Medal of the Institution in recognition of his distinguished services to the Mining Industry with special reference to his work on the Dust Problem in the Mines of the Rand, and of his public work in promoting the development of the natural resources of the Union of South Africa. He was also an Honorary Life Member and a Past-President of the Chemical, Metallurgical and Mining Society of South Africa.
Vol. 62, Trans IMM 1952-53, p.504
