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Mandela Mining Precinct seeks to safeguard jobs, says Chamber of Mines

SIETSE VAN DER WOUDE  Industry has to address needs pertaining to the skills, health, safety and personal fulfilment of workers, while ensuring that mining operations become more efficient, and profitable

SIETSE VAN DER WOUDE Industry has to address needs pertaining to the skills, health, safety and personal fulfilment of workers, while ensuring that mining operations become more efficient, and profitable

27th April 2018

By: Nadine James

Features Deputy Editor

     

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The Chamber of Mines (CoM) is excited about the launch of the Mandela Mining Precinct, which seeks to preserve jobs while creating new skilled positions through its support, research, industrial and sustainable development initiatives for the local mining sector, says CoM senior executive: modernisation and safety Sietse van der Woude.

The precinct, a public–private partnership (PPP), looks to enhance and modernise the industry through focused collaboration between various stakeholders, including CoM members, government departments, manufacturers and researchers.

Van der Woude explains that representatives from various stakeholder groups will partake in steering committees, which will determine the focus, scope, outcomes and implementation of research and other programmes undertaken by the precinct.

As part of the Chamber’s contribution to the precinct, he explains that CoM consultant Alastair Macfarlane, accompanied by an intern, has a permanent presence at the precinct. “The idea is to have a combination of the wisdom of a mining luminary (Macfarlane), and the interest, enthusiasm, and novel approach of youth, thereby allowing innovation to thrive.”

Further, he notes that mining companies have nominated representatives to the different steering committees – this nomination process was facilitated by the CoM – to ensure the right industry representatives with the necessary skills and experience are placed in programmes relative to their interests and expertise.

Van der Woude says innovation and modernisation underpin the objectives of the precinct, however, he stresses that its approach to modernisation is not restricted to mechanisation, but is instead a holistic approach that “recognises that people are at the heart of the industry”.

As such, the industry has to address needs pertaining to the skills, health, safety and personal fulfilment of workers, while ensuring that mining operations become more efficient and profitable. This necessitates a wholesale change within industry, one that could be achieved by leveraging digital technologies and the implementation of innovative ideas and methodologies.

According to CoM research, if the industry fails to modernise, about 200 000 jobs will be lost in the sector within the next decade. “Given that one mining job is said to support up to ten people, failure to modernise the industry will affect close to two-million people, locally and from labour sending communities in Southern Africa,” Van der Woude explains.

He states that the success of the Mandela Mining Precinct will help to extend the lives of mines, thereby safeguarding existing jobs, while creating jobs “beyond mining”, by stimulating job creation in the capital goods manufacturing industry, the technological and social innovation space, and within mining communities.

Van der Woude says the PPP that forms the foundation of the precinct is cognisant of the fact that South Africa’s mining sector is mature, and that the shallow or easily accessible deposits have long since been mined. As a result, industry needs to find a way to mine “un-mineable” or uneconomical deposits, and do so in a way that reduces the environmental impact and “adds value to the people of South Africa”.

He lauds the collaborative effort that has led to the establishment of the precinct, noting that, prior to the 2015 Mining Phakisa, there had “never been a situation where the private sector and government had joined hands on the subject of modernising the industry”.

The Mandela Mining Precinct’s defragmentation of work undertaken by the research fraternity, mining companies and equipment manufacturers – previously conducted in an ad hoc, isolated manner – ensures that the modernisation effort will be more effective and efficient, says Van der Woude.

He adds that this collaboration has also been seen within the private sector. He cites Anglo American technical director Tony O’Neill, who pointed out that no company can keep pace with today’s advances on their own. “What he meant is that, because of the scale, complexity and fast-paced development of innovations such as digital technology, the traditional (individualistic) way in which mining companies approached modernisation has had to adapt and has become more collaborative of late.”

Van der Woude says the CoM welcomes the more than R200-million rand investment from government over four years, adding that it signals to industry that government recognises that “mining matters and government should invest in its future”. He adds that the chamber has co-invested an additional R30-million over and above the more than R500-million that individual members invest into their own modernisation efforts.

Emphasising the importance of a people-centric approach, Van der Woude quotes former President Nelson Mandela who said that “what counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we led”.

He stresses that the precinct will make a difference in the lives of others, and the Chamber and the other stakeholders have an obligation to collaboratively ensure that this opportunity is not squandered.

Edited by Mia Breytenbach
Creamer Media Deputy Editor: Features

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