???Postgraduate students in the Department of Earth Science at Stellenbosch 肆客足球 (SU) are making history this year, with two awards from the Geological Society of South Africa (GSSA) for the best MSc and the best BSc Honours thesis in earth sciences produced at a South African university in 2023 coming home to SU.
Rutger La Cock received the Johan Handley award for the best MSc thesis in earth sciences for his work on the gold-carbon coupled geochemical cycle, with a particular emphasis on how these cycles intersected in gold-bearing samples from the more than three-billion-year-old Barberton Greenstone Belt.
Llelani Coetzer received the Haughton award for the best Honours project in earth sciences for her work on metamorphic conditions in the plumbing systems of the Darling Batholith within the Saldania Belt. She was supervised by Prof. Gary Stevens, and is currently continuing with an MSc looking at the minerals and internal structures of meteorites.
What makes this achievement even more remarkable is that La Cock was also awarded the Haughton award in 2022. This makes him one of a very select group of only four student scientists who have won both the best Honours thesis and the best MSc thesis awards in their respective years. In both instances he was supervised by Dr Bjorn von der Heyden.
La Cock, who describes himself as a bit of a nerd, says he has always been passionate about science and more specifically geography and physics: “A degree in earth sciences seemed to marry the two. In the end, it was quite an easy decision for me to make, even though it is not the largest academic department out there."
For now, this former Fairmont High School learner is enjoying a break from academia and working in the mineral exploration sector for a company called Gryphon Exploration. They focus on exploration projects in Sub-Saharan Africa, mostly looking at precious metals and base metals.
Coetzer, who matriculated from Strand High School in 2012 and firs completed a BSc in Human Life Sciences, followed by a Honours in psychology, now reckons geology is the best discipline to pursue: “We're doing such cool research. From geochemistry and isotopes and tiny minerals to massive mountains – there is indeed something for everyone!"
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