COSMO — Stochastic Mine Planning Laboratory

September 8th, 2006: Wynand Kleingeld, on the left, at the launch of McGill University’s COSMO Stochastic Mine Planning Laboratory, next to Christophe Pierre, Dean, Faculty of Engineering, Roussos Dimitrakopoulos, COSMO Director, Malcolm Thurston, De Beers, and Denis Therien, VP Research of McGill University.

Dr. Wynand Kleingeld was a leader in his field and inspired those he met and worked with. His counsel and wisdom were hugely respected. He embraced life and his storytelling over tea or a single malt, whether at work or at play, will be missed by all who knew him.

Wynand passed away on May 28^th, 2020 as a result of complications following a heart attack.

Wynand was born in Johannesburg on July 17^th, 1946. He attended the University of the Witwatersrand where he studied chemistry, physics, mathematics, and statistics, and obtained a B.Sc. (hons) degree in 1969. In 1987, he obtained PhD in Geostatistics from L’École de Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris, one of France’s foremost universities and a world leader in geostatistics and mathematical morphology.

After his first degree, Wynand worked for South African Railways, applying his mathematical and statistical abilities to Operations Research problems. Then followed a stint with the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which culminated in an extensive overseas research tour.

In 1974, a career change set him on a path for the rest of his life: he joined the Anglo American Corporation of South Africa as an Ore Evaluation Analyst, based at the Consolidated Diamond Mines complex in Oranjemund, Namibia, thus beginning his lifelong association with diamonds. In 1978 he went to work in Kimberley with Tinus Oosterveld at the Ore Evaluation Department, where he was instrumental in applying geostatistical and Operations Research techniques to the evaluation of diamond deposits.

In the late eighties, the Ore Evaluation Department took on work for the wider Anglo American Group of Companies in other minerals and commodities, and he, consequently, relocated to Johannesburg in 1988. The department was renamed the Mineral Resource Evaluation Department or MinRED and continued to expand due to Wynand’s enthusiasm and drive.

In 1998, following company restructuring, Wynand’s focus returned to De Beers and diamonds, and a wider brief to develop the holistic philosophy of Mineral Resource Management. This initiative was taken further in 2003 with the creation of a “think-tank” in Wells, England.

Retiring from De Beers in 2008, he continued as an independent consultant, splitting his time between his Keurbooms home on the South African coast, the West Country of the UK and, most recently, Ireland, where he and his wife Monica enjoyed the beauty and tranquillity of County Donegal.

Wynand made a huge contribution to the development and application of Geostatistics in the mining industry. Wynand is well known for his ability to describe complicated problems in a simple way using everyday objects and, no doubt, this is how he was able to successfully introduce spatial statistics to De Beers and Anglo American. He is particularly well known for his contribution to spatial statistics currently used in marine diamonds. He collaborated with leading scientists in the field including Herbert Sichel, Danie Krige, Georges Matheron and his good friend Christian Lantuéjoul.

Wynand was involved in setting up the South African Geostatistical Association and was President of the Society on multiple occasions. He was a fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, a Director of the WH Bryan Research Centre at Queensland University, Australia, a Visiting Professor in the School of Process, Environmental and Materials Engineering at Leeds University, and an Adjunct Professor at McGill University in Montréal Canada.  He contributed to the first SAMREC code and was a former Chairman of the Pan-European Reserves and Resources Reporting committee (PERC). He co-authored several papers on spatial statistics and, along with Dr Lantuéjoul, was the first to describe the “Kleingeld effect.”

A highlight of Wynand’s professional life was being nominated to present the second ever Georges Matheron Lecture in 2007 in Beijing. This lecture series is sponsored by the International Association for Mathematical Geosciences (IAMG) to honour the legacy of French engineer Georges Matheron (Wynand’s PhD supervisor) and is given by a scientist with proven research ability in the field of spatial statistics or mathematical morphology; it is only presented if an eligible and worthy nominee is found.

Wynand had a strong character and was a robust debater, especially if he felt strongly that a project or mine development was headed for trouble. Tenacious, but always driven by a sincere and genuine belief in doing the right thing, his opinion was highly respected within De Beers and Anglo American.

Wynand had a huge influence on the companies he worked for. He was instrumental in shaping careers and in creating opportunities for people to pursue qualifications in spatial statistics and related topics. He is well known for the phrase “Know your subject,” something that he was passionate about and often referred to when mentoring colleagues.

Wynand was married to Monica for 44 years and her steadfast support enabled him to be as successful as he was. Wynand and Monica were inseparable in their retirement doing the things they both enjoyed, travelling and spending time between South Africa, the UK, and Ireland. Wynand is survived by his wife, two sons Etienne and Eugene, and his daughter Eloise.

Authors:

Malcolm Thurston (malcolm.thurston@debeersgroup.com), Head of Mineral Resource Management, De Beers Group, 1601 Airport Road NE, Suite 300, Calgary, Alberta, T2E 6Z8, Canada

Niall Young (niall@kleingeldyoung.com), Director, Kleingeld Young & Partners, Michaelmas House Southtown, West Pennard, Somerset, BA6 8NS, UK

Chris Gordon-Coker (chris.gordon-coker@debeersgroup.com), Manager, Mineral Resource Management, De Beers Group, 20 Carlton House Terrace, St. James’s, London, SW1Y 5AN, UK