Tracy Hancock

ON SCHEDULE The Mngeni shaft project is expected to achieve first coal in October this year, which is about 12 months after its start date

NQOBILE MTHEMBU ACTOM Signalling is constantly developing solutions that will curb the theft and vandalism of signalling equipment

MESELA NHLAPO It is in the country’s best interest to successfully advocate for the practical implementation of the third-party access rail policy to service the unserved market that previously benefited from our railways

LARS VEUL Consumers’ demands and expectations are at an all-time high and show no sign of slowing down

AMR UPTAKE Local interest in autonomous mobile robots is specifically focused on increasing productivity, employee safety and wellbeing, as well as on curtailing errors

JORDAN MARSH Having local service centres is key for efficient and effective pump repairs

ENGINEERING EXPERTISE Weir’s highly skilled, in-country engineers are focused on optimising clients’ sites

TACTICAL CHANGES Thos Begbie is expanding its business strategy to gain a major advantage over the local market, as demand for copper processing snowballs

AWARD WINNER WIKA won first place in the Rail and Transit category at the Bentley Systems Year in Infrastructure Going Digital Awards this year. WIKA building information modelling engineer Rizky Yusuf Ramadhan is pictured third from left along with other members of his team and, from left, Bentley Systems civil infrastructure VP Francois Valois, CEO Greg Bentley, chief success officer Katriona Lord-Levins and rail and transit industry marketing director Steve Cockerell

SUSTAINABLE LOGISTICS The Empty Trips digital freight exchange allows rail carriers to publish empty rail wagons on the platform, making this information visible to rail shippers so that they can book space on the rail wagons

AWARDING INNOVATION Acciona southern region digital engineering manager Daniel Easter (centre) was awarded first place in the Construction category of the Bentley Systems Year in Infrastructure Going Digital Awards last month. Also pictured (from left) are Bentley Systems CEO Greg Bentley, construction VP Rich Humphrey, senior product marketing manager Marion Bouillin and chief success officer Katriona Lord-Levins

UNITING AN INDUSTRY The Electrical Contractors’ Association South Africa is working with multiple associations to formalise and standardise training and requirements for electrical contractors in an effort to realise a united industry

PRESSURE VESSEL A typical pressure vessel produced by Efficient Engineering

PRODUCTIVITY PRUDENT Africa needs to develop new downstream businesses and secure the local production of products through a copper master plan

SABLE REFINERY The north of Jubilee’s Zambian footprint presents the opportunity to more than double the copper-producing capacity of its 14 000 t/y Sable refinery, which forms part of the company’s southern refining strategy

VLADIMIR MILOVANOVIC Municipalities should be considering ways to improve or digitise their grid in a manner that affords them the ability to monitor their network status and performance

INVITING INCENTIVE In July, the City of Cape Town expanded its small-scale embedded generation programme to permit commercial customers to sell more electricity than they use

A MORE EFFICIENT APPROACH Companies must consider energy efficiency and embedded generation together when calculating their energy requirements

DRIVING DEVELOPMENT Floating solar is one of two breakthrough technologies supported by the Water Technologies Demonstration Programme, the technology arm of the National Water Research, Development and Innovation Roadmap

JOYCE MOGANEDI The current water crisis facing South Africa has created new opportunities and there is plenty of room to adopt and embrace new technologies

GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY Through the Nkosuo deposit, Edikan also has the potential to, once again, become a very important component of Perseus Mining’s diversified asset portfolio

ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP While West Africa’s mining legislation is still evolving in many respects, regardless of in-country legislation, mining companies are also the drivers of compliance to prevent adverse environmental impacts

TRENDING TESTWORK The mining industry is increasingly adopting on-site cyanide detoxification testwork, which eliminates red tape and the addresses the exorbitant cost of sending samples to South Africa for testing

COAL CONCENTRATION A Clean Coal Technology research group study to characterise the associations, distributions and concentration of rare earth elements in coal focused on the Waterberg basin, in Limpopo, a region hosting about 40% of South Africa’s remaining coal resources

MINING MUSCLE Seven 90-t excavators and 21 60-t articulated dump trucks to mine the Gugulethu project, which is set to produce single RB3 product for export

RAYNARD LOOCH Managers and supervisors are an integral and essential part of an employer’s health and safety management system and deserve statutory recognition

RHYS EVANS The number of local companies undertaking substance abuse tests incorrectly is equal to those which are undertaking them correctly

JULIEN VAN NIEKERK Zambia is now poised to become one of Africa’s largest nickel producers with FQM’s commissioning of the Enterprise mine

A ROBUST RANGE Grindex has been active in Zambia for the past 25 years, with its range of drainage pumps capable of handling water with abrasive solids up to 12 mm in size

MMADIKA MOLOI The proposed changes to the Mines and Minerals Development Act are expected to encourage development at all levels of the mining sector and sustained investment in small-scale and gemstone exploration projects

SOKWANI CHILEMBO Things have been heating up in the exploration sector, with a couple of dozen prospects in the thick of second and third round earn-in negotiations, listings and capital raisings

WASTE NOT, WANT NOT Process lines could easily be designed and established in proximity with local coal wastes or collieries to produce activated carbons for cost-effective adsorbed natural gas storage and transportation

DAVID CLAASSEN Oil-cooled transformers are progressively being replaced with dry-type transformers, which are increasingly being specified for new projects

EDUARDO WERNINGHAUS Zest WEG is dedicated to bringing the most efficient products in its portfolio to the African market to assist customers in lowering total cost of ownership

LOW CARB FUTURE Exxaro aims to transition from a coal-based to a minerals and renewable-energy solutions business that will thrive in a low-carbon future

BULK UP STORAGE As part of its plan to end load-shedding, South Africa should invest in another pumped-storage scheme system, such as Ingula, as part of its effort to avoid future energy storage challenges

GOOD AND READY Eskom has 5 GW of grid capacity ready to go, but is finalising studies to ensure that the next tranche of land it offers is suitable for renewable-energy developments and has access to grid capacity

SAMPSON MAMPWHELI By reintroducing energy efficiency and demand-side management programmes, the country can reduce pressure on the grid within six to eight months

BEYOND BASIC Axis’s camera technology can introduce and improve operational efficiencies at a mine, beyond basic security functions

DEBOTTLENECKING DELIVERY The emulsion vertical delivery system contributes to efficiency, as it frees up cage time, consequently enabling mines to not only increase hoisting capacity but also productivity