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“We still have stocks of the Congress books, The Great Mineral Fields of Africa (Episodes V39, no 2) and Africa’s Top Geological Sites, and these are offered at special prices until the end of November, 2016. You can order The Great Mineral Fields of Africa for R150 plus postage, and Africa’s Top Geological Sites for R200 plus postage at info@gssa.org.za. In addition to these volumes, limited numbers of the Congress field excursion guides will be published in the coming months and will be made available. Additional papers on African mineral deposits are planned for a 2017 issue of the South African Journal of Geology. Please check www.35igc.org for information and updates.

With the dust having almost settled and all the post congress field trips now complete, we have had some time to reflect on 35 IGC. Although it was inevitable that there would be some challenges in managing an event of this magnitude and complexity, the overwhelming sentiment express by Prof. Roland Oberhansli and the IUGS team; as well as from many delegates and accompanying persons has been that the congress was an overwhelming success. This success has been largely due to the commitment and hard work of the Local Organising Committee coupled with guidance from the 35 IGC Foundation Board. We had a wonderful team and are very proud of their efforts, which were instrumental in us being able to stage such a world class event. The invaluable support of our sponsors was also a crucial factor in ensuring the success of the 35^th IGC and we extend our sincere thanks to them for their unwavering commitment.

The congress took place against the backdrop of extremely difficult economic times and thus we are most appreciative for the participation of the over 4000 delegates and accompanying persons who attended. We were thrilled with this attendance and welcomed delegates from 117 countries. Over 5000 abstracts were submitted for oral and poster sessions and we thank all the authors for their hard work. We trust that you enjoyed your stay in Cape Town together with any field trips you might have undertaken and we hope you had a safe journey home.

After six years of planning and hard work the closing of the 35^th IGC was somewhat an anti-climax. We take heart however in the knowledge that a number of excellent legacy projects, particularly from an educational, geoheritage and geotourism point of view have originated at the 35^th IGC. These will keep many of us busy for some time to come.

For the build up to the 36^th IGC in New Delhi in 2020, we wish the Indian Organising Committee all the best as their planning gets underway in earnest. We congratulate Korea on having won the bid for the 37^th IGC in Busan in 2024. We look forward to these events and would be happy to assist and pass on a few lessons learned from the planning of the 35^th IGC, if required.

Richard Viljoen,
Co-President 35IGC, LOC
Jeanette Mcgill,
Co-President 35 IGC, LOC
Greg Botha
Secretary General 35 IGC, LOC