The Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) and Minerals Council South Africa, through the Mandela Mining Precinct (MMP), officially launched the South African Mining Extraction Research, Development and Innovation (Samerdi) research centres, in Pretoria, on November 2.

The launch event took place on the sidelines of the two-day biennial Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Conference.

The MMP is mandated to facilitate the development of skills, capacity and capability in mining research, development and innovation. To this end, four Samerdi research centres have been established at the universities of Pretoria, Johannesburg and the Witwatersrand.

“This allows us to use existing facilities and entities, with structures that are working and already in place, thus keeping the capital requirements as well as internal overheads low,” said MMP strategic adviser Dick Kruger.

MMP director Johan Le Roux explained that, as mining-related research in South Africa has declined, so too have the number of competent researchers in mining-related areas. He said this diminished the capacity for this type of critical research at a time when South Africa needed to modernise its mines to make them safer, more sustainable, globally competitive and to have longer, more productive lives.

The Samerdi centres were designed to rekindle mining-related research and develop and encourage competent researchers by enabling them to perform the required basic research while allowing for several postgraduate students to obtain higher degrees.

The universities have been encouraged to involve postgraduate students from historically disadvantaged universities in their research work, with each centre required to support at least four postgraduate students – one of which must come from an historically disadvantaged university.

The Samerdi strategy is focused on the longevity of current mines, mechanised mining systems, advanced orebody knowledge, real-time information management systems and the successful application of technology centred around people (Satcap).

The strategy is implemented by the MMP, which is an initiative of the DSI. 

Higher Education, Science and Innovation Minister Dr Blade Nzimande said the research centres were welcome, in that they contributed to the modernisation of the African mining industry – a necessity for growing the mining industry and for job creation.

"This is the reason that, as South Africa, through the Samerdi strategy, we are providing the roadmap on how to work together to develop technological solutions that will contribute towards the survival of this industry," he said.

The establishment of the Samerdi research centres is part of efforts to ensure the next generation of mining researchers is well trained. The centres are also expected to create new knowledge in different mining strategic focus areas in South Africa.

Each centre comprises a full-time research leader, administrative staff and a number of financially supported postgraduate students.

The Samerdi strategy focuses on the modernisation pathway for mining to 2030. The research centres will conduct fundamental research to create new knowledge about mining technology, data systems and processes associated with the sector, as well as a people-centric focus on the impact of modernisation on jobs, skills, environmental, social and governance issues and stakeholder inclusivity.

The MMP is also researching how to ensure the longevity of current mines, mechanised mining systems and advanced orebody knowledge.

Each research centre will be headed by a research competence lead and will host a post-doctoral student, a doctoral student and up to four Master’s students in a three-year cycle.

The Wits Mining Institute (WMI) – part of the Wits Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment – said it would boost its contribution to the future of mining by hosting two of the new research centres established through the Samerdi strategy.

The outputs from the research centres will inform applied research at the precinct, the results of which are felt on mine sites, in communities and throughout the mining value chain, Wits Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment dean Professor Thokozani Majozi said.

These results would, in turn, inform the next iteration of the strategic focus for the fundamental research.

The two Samerdi research centres at the WMI will focus their fundamental research on the themes of real-time information management systems and Satcap, coinciding with the thematic areas pursued by the precinct.