South Africa takes gold at international science festival

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Legoale is researching a method of using wheat to harvest gold from mine dumps

Golden girl and FameLab South Africa 2017 winner, Tshiamo Legoale, was crowned FameLab international champion at the Cheltenham Science Festival in the UK.

In front of a packed audience, the 27-year-old Legoale, a geologist and researcher at Mintek, made South Africa proud by winning both the audience’s and the judges’ votes.

“Winning was a surprise to me, because all 31 contestants had wonderful research. They all had really good presentations. I’m very grateful for all the support that I got from back home. My friends on social media showed me a lot of love and support. When I felt unsure they gave me ‘likes’, and that boosted a bit of my confidence,” said Legoale about her win.

British Council South Africa country director Colm McGivern said that Legoale represented the best of South Africa: “South Africa’s world beating young scientist represents all that’s best about this country — brilliant, bright and set for a fine future. I’m so proud that British Council South Africa, together with our partners the South African Agency for Science and Technology and Jive Media Africa, can help her along the way. Huge congratulations to her from all of us, it’s a big win for Africa on the world stage.”

Taking African science to the world

South Africa was one of three African countries to make it to the finals. Mauritius and Uganda, who were taking part in the competition for the first time, were represented well by Roshnee Rakomar and Irene Kyomuhangi. These young female researchers are taking African science to the world and inspiring other young people to take up careers that advance science, research and innovation.

You can watch the full video of the FameLab International Finals 2017 here to see Legoale claim her throne: https://www.facebook.com/ FameLabInternational/. The event was hosted by the BBC’s Quentin Cooper. Each contestant delivered a three-minute presentation on their chosen topic. Every presentation was judged according to the golden rule of the ‘Three Cs’: content, clarity and charisma.

About Mintek

Mintek is South Africa’s national mineral research organization, established in 1934. It is one of the world’s leading technology organisations specialising in minerals processing, extractive metallurgy and related areas. Our commitment to innovation and our world-class research and development expertise is supported by a physical infrastructure of modern laboratories, pilot plants and workshops. We believe it is our extensive intellectual capital — engineers, scientists and technologists, all of the highest calibre — that forms the most valuable part of our proposition to our customers. Learn more here: http://www. mintek.co.za/ and follow us on twitter: @Mintek_RSA