Thomas Donaldson was an active member of the Chemical, Metallurgical and Mining Society of South Africa, serving on its council for 1913/1914. Two papers by him were published in the society's Journal: "Specific gravity of bisulphate solutions" (1909/1910, Vol. 10, p. 86) and "Electric blasting" (as co-author of W. Cullen*; 1913/1914, Vol. 14, pp. 174-192). In 1913 he, Gilbert F. Ayers* and the British South African Explosives Company registered a patent for improvements in fuse lighters. A few years earlier, in 1910, Donaldson presented "Some notes on the treatment of sands for stope filling" at the annual congress of the South African Association for the Advancement of Science, held in Cape Town. The paper was published in the association's Report for that year.
