Mechanisation, particularly in the gold and platinum sectors, may assist in saving the South African mining industry, says mining consultancy Core Consultants MD Lara Smith.

“I do not believe that the current state of South Africa’s mining industry is worrisome, I believe it is catastrophic,” she states.

Smith explains that, traditionally, mining was a labour-intensive business characterised by vast capital outlay, with the financial goal being to depreciate the capital and improve labour productivity.

“Operating costs were optimised and further need for capital expenditure was kept to a minimum. To this end, South Africa has led the world in low-cost mining for the past 100 years,” she points out.

Smith says that the reason for mechanisation of international mining operations has been primarily to reduce mine accidents and fatalities. However, she notes that contributing factors have included the shortage of labour and the need to reduce workforce numbers, owing to rising labour costs.

Additionally, Smith notes that the ability to move from batch mining to a continuous mining operation has been a significant factor in the growth of mechanised mining.

She highlights that the advent and proliferation of wireless communication have enabled a technology transformation in international mining.

Smith explains that, with the Internet of Things (IoT) – a giant network of connected things - unlike most data which is produced and consumed by people, such as text, audio and video, this information is produced and consumed by machines communicating between themselves to make improvements.

She says this futuristic concept aims to replace human decision-making through analytics. “The IoT is expected to disrupt every conceivable business model.”

Smith contends that the IoT will see machines operating in an automated, continuous fashion, running themselves, monitoring their need for maintenance and printing the exact part they require, as well as being safe to use. “This is the way of the future for most industries and mining is no different,” she asserts.

Smith believes that the IoT will assist mines locally and internationally in becoming more productive and efficient, thereby mitigating and eliminating many of the operational and financial challenges that they currently face.

However, she says that, currently, South Africa’s mining industry remains relatively “old fashioned” and more labour intensive than is the case in other countries, such as Canada and Australia. To compound matters, Smith highlights, over the past 15 years, South African mines’ operating costs have risen sharply, while productivity levels have declined significantly.

She emphasises that the lack of mechanisation in South Africa’s mines is not solely to blame for the current state of the sector. Smith states that the “real” factors for the industry’s depressed state relate to the lack of education among mine- workers and trade unions “destroying” produc-tivity levels through regular and prolonged strike action.

She adds that the lack of goodwill among mineworkers, government and mine management has negatively impacted on the ability of all parties concerned to resolve conflicts amicably.

“Over the past 30 years, 6 152 mines have been abandoned in South Africa, despite one of the biggest commodity booms ever during the early 2000s,” Smith points out.

Machines can go where humans cannot or should not go, owing to safety concerns, she highlights.

Smith notes that local scientific and technology research, development and implementation organisation the Council for Scientific and Indus-trial Research has developed a robotic crawler with sensors that can observe these crawlers underground. Additionally, these crawlers can be sent in after or during blasting without having to wait for noxious gases to dissipate, she points out.

“South Africa has the potential to lead the charge in technological advancement with respect to mining narrow reefs,” states Smith.

However, she says that technology alone cannot save South Africa’s ailing mining industry.

“If current trends continue, the gold sector is as good as buried. “With regard to the platinum sector, it will mechanise where possible, otherwise many platinum mines may also be forced to close,” Smith concludes.

Smith was a presenter at engineered solutions provider ELB’s recent Technology Day, which was held in Johannesburg.