https://www.miningweekly.com

2015 Mining Phakisa birthed Mandela Mining Precinct

27th April 2018

By: Nadine James

Features Deputy Editor

     

Font size: - +

The Mandela Mining Precinct, as one of the key initiatives that resulted from the 2015 Mining Phakisa, is important in terms of developing new mining technologies that support the sustainability, efficiency, and longevity of the South African mining industry while simultaneously catalysing employment creation, says Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation outcomes facilitator Rudi Dicks.

The Mining Phakisa was a South African government initiative led by the Presidency based on a “quick results” methodology that brings together all stakeholders in the industry into a “lab” with the aim of identifying constraints and developing a shared vision and growth strategy for the long-term development and transformation of the sector.

It focused on various topics, including environmental effects of mining activities, engagements between the mining sector and municipalities, infrastructure financing and costing, an analysis of investment in mining, opportunities for local procurement, upstream and downstream linkages in the mining value chain and the cost structure of the mining industry.

Dicks explains that the establishment of the Phakisa was partially owed to the difficulty in ensuring that the various mining stakeholders would firstly agree to come together and, secondly agree on a strategy for the future.

“At the time, there wasn’t a consensus on what needed to happen within the mining sector . . . because there are various groups of people and stakeholders and all of them were competing for their narrow interests. The Phakisa was meant to develop a common programme, for industry, labour, communities and government to commit to . . . but at the time, finding commonalities within the mining sector was like finding a needle in a haystack.”

He states that, over and above the agreements that needed to be reached around labour relations, affected communities, and interactions with the regulator, the stakeholder groups found that one of the more common areas that had been “severely neglected” over the years was the development and export of mining technology.

“During the 70s and 80s, South Africa was a significant developer and driver of new mining technologies, but toward the end of the 80s this manufacturing base had all but collapsed . . . additionally, mining houses weren’t providing for new investment for mining technologies or for means of extending the life of existing shafts nor for sinking new shafts,” say Dicks.

He notes that, while the dearth of investment has worsened in recent years, some of the stagnation within the mining industry can be traced back to the disinvestment in the late 80s.

Around the time of the Phakisa, it emerged that the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research’s (CSIR’s) Carlow Road facility was going to be sold, Dicks recalls.

“The CSIR was planning to dispose of the facility, reportedly to a property developer . . . At the time we found it shocking that the facility, which had existed for a very long time and was well known to the mining sector, would in all likelihood become a retail or residential property. “We (the Presidency and partners in what would become the Mandela Mining Precinct) saw this good opportunity to revive the research facility.”

A key goal that resulted from the Phakisa was that of local manufacturers developing new technologies capable of sustainably extending mine life, specifically in hard rock mining. Dicks says that technology had already advanced significantly for bulk commodities, and that development of technologies for hard rock was prioritised because of the belief that these technologies would create significant value, given the country’s geology, while also contributing to employment creation.

“One of the more arduous discussions that resulted from this determination was around the need for balance – unions were concerned about employers using the new technology to reduce the labour complement . . . several government parties were also wary, because, in our experience, new technology has always implied that there would be retrenchments,” comments Dicks.

He explains that there was a commitment, particularly by government and labour groups, that this goal to manufacture mining technologies and enable digital transformation would not enable a carte blanche for retrenchments. Rather it would inform an adequate, digital transition that would enable job creation for “highly skilled and highly paid jobseekers” on the back of a more efficient and productive mining industry.

As such, the Phakisa outlined three key objectives, namely; to develop technologies that would improve sustainability, safety and export. In terms of sustainability, technologies would be aimed at ensuring that industry extracts ore in a manner that uses less resources and produces less waste.

With regard to safety, Dicks commented, “if we’re going to mine any further, particularly in terms of gold, we need to mitigate the significant risks facing human beings, when trying to mine below 4 km. In this regard, we’re trying to develop new technologies that would enable us to mine deeper, without endangering human life.”

Lastly, the objective to develop technology for export purposes, where instead of using local goods to prolong South African mines exclusively, the precinct would create an export centre of capital goods, able to compete in intentional mining markets, including Africa, Australia, Canada, and large swathes of Latin America.

“Once the stakeholders had committed to the Phakisa initiatives, it was decided that industry needed a central place to talk to the implementation of these initiatives . . . a place where the research, capital goods, geology, procurement, industrial and regulatory components could interact and discuss the way forward. This led to the revival of the precinct at Carlow Road, as the property, which is owned by the CSIR, was equipped with the necessary facilities and was readily available.”

Dicks concludes that one of the key achievements of the precinct was getting a commitment from national government to allocate financial resources to the operational cost of the precinct.

Edited by Mia Breytenbach
Creamer Media Deputy Editor: Features

Comments

The content you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.

If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.

If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.

For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION