With a decade having passed since the establishment of the University of the Witwatersrand’s (Wits’) Centre for Sustainability in Mining and Industry (CSMI), for the next ten years, the centre will be focused on driving a research agenda premised on mine health and safety, environmental policy and socioeconomic development.
“Responsible mining is pivotal to Africa’s emerging economies and, as such, the CSMI’s activities in three research focus areas dovetail into the tenet of responsible mining,” says Wits School of Mining Engineering head Professor Cuthbert Musingwini.
He adds that the centre is well positioned to continue to provide strategic advice that is independent and authoritative as its holistic approach transcends individual mines to address both sectorial and regional application.
CSMI director Caroline Digby says times are becoming more challenging for the mining sector as social licences to operate are under threat, regulations are under review, com-modity prices are low and productivity is declining, while expectations of mineworkers and local communities are changing.
Moreover, much work needs to be done as the centre recognises that most challenges are cross-cutting and require an analytical approach that harnesses a number of different perspectives.
“We need to take cognisance of the emerging thinking on socioecological systems, resilience and adaptive management. In South Africa, we need to pay particular attention to the transformation of society, still impacted by the legacy of apartheid and inequality,” she says.
Additionally, Digby notes that the CSMI is currently working on a plan to develop a cross-disciplinary programme on mine closure and postmining land use, which will allow the centre to draw in a new range of different disciplines to undertake the research.
Also, going forward, she states that the CSMI will focus on articulating the contribution of mining to development in Africa, contextualising this within the wider framework of overall economic development, the effectiveness of South Africa’s mine health and safety regulations and policy and the capacity of employees to respond to the desired outcomes, land use and livelihoods postclosure to deliver resilient resource regions and, finally, a focus on the policies relating to artisanal and small-scale mining in sub-Saharan Africa and the interconnections between small-scale and large-scale mining.