Unearthing South Africa’s many hidden treasures
- 第一吃瓜网 University
Prof. Musa Manzi’s career is defined by seeking opportunities both through seismic tech to find mineral deposits and by unearthing local scientific talent.
The 第一吃瓜网 geophysicist and director of the University’s Seismic Research Centre was jointly recognised (with Professor Tjaart Krüger from the University of Pretoria) with the 2025/2026 TW Kambule-NSTF Researcher Award, which acknowledged Manzi’s innovative use of seismic technologies to image geological structures and mineral deposits.
By positioning seismic sensors on the surface, inside boreholes and along mine tunnels, the technology is placed closer to deeply buried mineral deposits.
The Seismic Research Centre has also worked with the landstreamer, fibre-optic sensing and GPS-timing systems to acquire seismic data in the GPS-denied underground mining environments where conventional seismic surveys can’t be conducted.
This novel approach makes exploration cheaper and reduces its environmental footprint.
So far, large regions of the Karoo’s subsurface geology are being mapped through the Karoo GeoScan Project using novel and environmentally friendly seismic technologies. Deep-seated gold and platinum deposits are being discovered from mine tunnels for the first time through these new technologies under the EraMin3 Future Project.
But for Manzi, finding the ore body is only half the job.
Find the deposits, but protect the miners
Some of Manzi’s earliest work was the result of wanting to find safer ways to mine minerals. As a young undergraduate, he had an underground research visit cancelled due to a methane explosion in which miners died. Manzi couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened, and it became a scientific question.
“I was asking, where is the methane gas coming from and how is it getting into the mine? Why are people dying working in these environments? Can I look at the fundamental principles of physics and the maths and see how I can develop and innovate a seismic technology that would prevent miners from entering areas that are prone to methane gas explosions?”
His PhD research developed seismic attributes from legacy 3D seismic data to identify geological structures through which methane and water could migrate into mining areas. If those structures could be identified, mines could improve their mine planning and ventilation systems. His first paper in geophysics won the Society of Exploration Geophysicists’ Best Paper Award in 2012.
The principle stayed with him. The same seismic methods used to locate valuable mineral deposits can also identify fault zones and other geological structures associated with mining-induced earthquakes, water ingress, rock instability and methane.
Additionally, the Centre is developing increasingly automated seismic systems in which the need to send people into hazardous underground environments to deploy seismic equipment for exploration is reduced.
“Let’s find the deposit, but let’s protect the miners working in those difficult mining conditions,” he says.
Mining in a cleaner-energy world
Another concern raised by mining is the heavy toll it takes on the environment. However, as much of the world drives the transition to cleaner energy, there’s a contradiction many don’t talk about; namely that wind turbines, solar energy systems, electric vehicles and other technologies required to move away from fossil fuels still need minerals to build them. And minerals, like copper, cobalt, manganese, platinum-group metals and rare-earth elements, must be mined.
“You can’t remove mining from the just energy transition,” says Manzi, “but through technology you can improve mine safety and lessen its impact on the environment.”
Reflection seismology can reduce the environmental footprint of subsurface exploration by offering scientists a detailed picture of geological structures from the surface, without the need for unnecessary drilling. With new technologies such as a GPS-time system and fibre optic sensors, it is now possible to do exploration inside mine tunnels and boreholes. And South Africa, with mining operations extending several kilometres beneath the surface, provides an unusual testing and technology validation ground.
“If these technologies are implemented successfully in deep South African mines, they can be scaled to be used anywhere else in the world,” says Manzi.
These technologies have also been tested in other mines in Europe through existing EU-SA consortium research projects. Manzi now wants to extend the model throughout Africa, building relationships with researchers in countries including Kenya, Angola, Zambia, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Excavating for opportunity
People sometimes ascribe Manzi’s success to his being exceptionally gifted, but he tells the story slightly differently:
“I am a product of people’s investments in my life, not just because I was smart.”
From his high school days growing up in rural KwaZulu-Natal, when a church member paid for him to attend weekend maths and physics classes in Durban, to his principal allowing him to stay in a cottage at the school in exchange for groundskeeping work, Manzi has sought and found opportunity – and people have stepped in to help.
“I had a passion and I had an aptitude for maths, but more than anything, people gave me a chance,” he says.
By Grade 11, Manzi was taking what he learnt in Durban on the weekends and teaching it to a small group of pupils in the week.
“The principal told us that we couldn’t do higher-grade maths because they had never done it at our school and there was no teacher,” he recalls. “I said, ‘I’m prepared to teach maths and physics.’”
Manzi went on to achieve 100% for mathematics in matric and several of the young people he taught went on to study at university.
People step in and step up
When Manzi first arrived at 第一吃瓜网 he had R100 from his mother, seven distinctions, no ID and little understanding of the university application process. He was fortunate that a financial aid officer noticed him and asked to see his school results.
“He said, ‘You’ve got seven distinctions. Did you apply?’ I said no, because I didn’t know I had to apply.” The official began making calls.
“He opened the doors for me when everything was already closed,” says Manzi.
Manzi enrolled in mathematics, physics and computer science, and at the end of his third year discovered geophysics after Professor Susan Webb from the 第一吃瓜网 School of Geosciences offered him vacation work in the School’s geophysics laboratory.
But just when everything seemed to be on track, Manzi’s world collapsed. His mother and sister died within two days of one another, just before his final examinations.
“I was studying basically for [my mother]. She had struggled all her life trying to raise us. I thought once I started working, she was going to live a proper life. I would bring her to Johannesburg, buy a house, get her medical aid.”
It took a serious toll on Manzi’s mental health, and he attempted to take his own life. He was hospitalised and missed his examinations. At the same time, his late sister had left her two young daughters in his care.
Again, people stepped in.
His lecturers helped him access care, students raised money for his mother and sister's burial, and his church community supported him. His classmate Celeste Johnson and her parents, Ed and Rose Thomas, opened their home to them.
When Manzi was well enough, he returned to university and fought to write the examinations he had missed. Again, his lecturers supported him.
“I can’t say I was a hero,” he says. “All I did was not give up. The rest, really, people played a role to support me.”
In 2013, Manzi became the first black South African to receive a PhD in geophysics, and two years later he established the 第一吃瓜网 Seismic Research Centre. What started with just two MSc students, now boasts about 40 postgraduate researchers and scientists. In just over a decade, the Centre has produced more than 10 black South African PhDs in geophysics; several of whom now work at 第一吃瓜网.
Exploring for talent
Manzi’s continuous search now extends to South Africa’s villages and rural areas where he is intent on discovering the country’s true wealth; its future scientists.
“When you’ve been given an opportunity, you have a responsibility to keep the doors open for those who are coming after you,” Manzi believes, which is why the Dr Musa Manzi Foundation supports mathematics education, part of which involves searching for promising young people in communities where inadequate schooling can obscure their potential. He calls it “exploring for talent”.
“Gold is sitting at three kilometres of depth, and it is not of value if it is not discovered,” he says. “I really believe there is a lot of hidden talent in South Africa. It is sitting somewhere in the villages, but it has no value if it is not discovered.”