Ernest T. Rand resided on the Witwatersrand and became a member of the Chemical and Metallurgical Society of South Africa in 1894, the year of its formation. He remained a member when the society changed its name to the Chemical, Metallurgical and Mining Society of South Africa after the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902). On 20 May 1899 he read a paper before its members on "A continuous process of slimes treatment". The paper was published, with the resulting discussions, in the Proceedings for 1897-1899 (Vol. 2, pp. 686-691, 741-744, 770-792).
In 1905 Rand worked as cyanide manager and engineer for Charles Butters* and Co. of Virginia City, Nevada, United States. A few years later he was co-author, with W.D. Lloyd*, of a paper on a rotary extractor for precious metals from solution, published in the Journal of the Chemical, Metallurgical and Mining Society of South Africa (1909-1910, Vol. 10, pp. 201-).
