Science Technology Minister Mosibudi Mangena has reaffirmed
government commitment to increasing South Africa’s research
and development (R&D) expenditure to over 1% of gross domestic
product (GDP) from its current level of about 0,7%.
Speaking during Mintek’s 70th anniversary celebrations last
week, Mangena lamented the fall in R&D spend, suggesting that
it was the result of a termination of key technology missions such
as defence, energy and food security.
“This reduction came at a time when the national system of
innovation needed to expand to cope with the needs of 40-million
citizens, as opposed to only five-million or six-million that was
previously catered for,” he added.
“The goal of the Department of Science and Technology is to
increase the country’s R&D spending to about 1%, by
identifying specific areas in which we can excel.
“The National R&D Strategy, which was approved by Cabinet
in 2002, recognises that, given South Africa’s limited
resources compared with other nations, the successful promotion of
R&D requires building on our natural strengths, including
mining and minerals processing, which have long been a cornerstone
of our economy.”
Mangena also pointed out that Mintek faced the challenge of
developing technologies to assist new entrants to the mining
industry, operating at various scales.
He said it also would have to play a role in addressing key areas
of the mining charter, human resources development and poverty
alleviation.
However, he congratulated the organisation on its achievements thus
far, pointing out that, while similar specialised bodies
internationally have become smaller, or have ceased to exist,
Mintek has not only grown from strength to strength, but has also
firmly established itself as a world leader in the fields of metals
and minerals technology development.
“This is a noteworthy achievement, which also points to the
strategic and economic importance of South Africa’s mineral
wealth.”
Mintek has been involved with numerous projects throughout its
existence.
The Minister briefly outlined the organisation’s
successes.
“During the 1930s, shortly after its founding as the Minerals
Research Laboratory at the University of the Witwatersrand, one of
Mintek’s first investigations entailed the beneficiation of
corundum being mined by what we would call in today’s terms,
artisanal miners in the then northern Transvaal,” Mangena
said.
“In the 1950s, a major effort was expended on a wide-ranging
collaborative programme to develop technology for extracting
uranium from the Witwatersrand gold ores – then a matter of
national strategic importance.”
He said that the 1970s and 1980s were marked by the development, in
close collaboration with industry, of a number of
‘breakthrough’ technologies which produced an
industry-wide impact on productivity, and for which Mintek became
renowned. These include carbon-in-pulp for gold recovery, which
rapidly became the industry standard internationally. The process
for recovering platinum-group metals from the UG2 reef of the
Bushveld Complex led to a major expansion of South Africa’s
platinum-group metals industry.
Mangena also mentioned that, at the end of the 1980s,
Mintek’s operating framework changed as it began a transition
to greater self-sufficiency, which not only gained it greater
autonomy, but also pushed it towards aggressive commercialisation
of its new technologies.
“At that time Mintek set itself a target of achieving a level
of 50% commercial funding and 50% State funding, which was thought
by some to be an impossible goal. As it turns out, currently only
35% of Mintek’s budget is now sourced from the core funding
– the remainder is from commercial activities and competitive
funding from the Innovation Fund. The optimal ratio will depend on
to what extent new technologies are being developed or existing
technologies being depleted,” he said.
“But at this stage, any further increase in the ratio of
private-to-State funding would probably come at a cost of
endangering long-term precompetitive research.”
In 2002, Mintek became one of the first science councils to
ring-fence its science vote funds, which are used primarily for
medium- and long-term technology development, with portions
allocated to human capacity building and socio-economic
development.
In the same year, Mintek also established its wholly-owned
commercial subsidiary, Mindev, which already has four operating
projects that are essentially joint ventures. The motivation behind
Mindev was to ensure that Mintek derives benefits from the
technology it develops, while ensuring that the gains from the
commercialisation of its technology are reinvested in the
organisation to fund long-term research.
“Work done in these areas is likely to impact positively on
developments in the mining sector both locally and
internationally,” he said.
“Through its 70 years of existence, we believe that Mintek
has gathered enough experience and expertise to cope with changing
demands for the metals and mining sector, which have prepared it to
tackle future challenges with the success it has shown in the
past.” |
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