Global technology powerhouse Siemens has established a digital mining incubator at the University of the Witwatersrand’s (Wits’) Tshimologong Digital Innovation Precinct in an effort to develop the next generation of digital skills and mining engineering competence.

The digital mining incubator will allow university students to collaborate with Siemens’ experts to develop digital solutions that could transform the processes along the full mining value chain, from exploration to transformation.

The incubator provides a platform for the co-creation of digital use cases for the South African mining sector, with particular focus on stacker/reclaimer simulation, process simulation and virtual commissioning, plant life cycle, process control, routing management, asset health analytics, operations intelligence and virtual training.

“Together with mentors from Wits, Tshimologong and Siemens, students will be [empowered] with the necessary tools and skills to effectively transform and develop the South African mining sector,” said Siemens Southern and Eastern Africa CEO Sabine Dall’Omo.

“Mining remains a critical player in the macroeconomic landscape of South Africa and yet there is still enough potential for the sector to make a further positive impact on gross domestic product and skills development,” she said at the official opening of the facility in Johannesburg last week.

Digitalisation in the mining industry is more than just the automation of production, she says, adding that it contributes to the entire value chain, it ensures a shorter time to market, increases flexibility in volatile global markets, improves productivity optimisation and ensures safer operations.

It further allows for new approaches to business processes and creates opportunities to “merge the digital and physical worlds”.

The value of data, coupled with machine learning, artificial intelligence and additive manufacturing, offered South Africa the opportunity to create the smart mines of the future, enable stronger competitiveness globally and increase digital skills in the industrial sector, while promoting mining as a viable job enabler in the future, Dall’Omo added.

“Imagine intelligent machines able to adjust operating parameters based on information received from other machines. “These advanced capabilities will boost production, predictability and scalability.”

The mining sector will remain stagnant on the country’s journey to industrialisation if the Fourth Industrial Revolution is not embraced.

“Having Siemens open a digital incubator dedicated to promoting innovation in mining is a very significant landmark in bringing the benefits of twenty-first-century digitalisation to one of the most critical sectors in the South African economy,” adds Wits Joburg Centre for Software Engineering director and Tshimologong Precinct founder Professor Barry Dwolatzky.

The digital mining incubator will provide a dedicated platform for developing innovative solutions to some of the country’s greatest mining challenges, including health and safety, environmental protection and improved productivity, he concludes.