South African mining was at one stage ahead of the world, leading on all fronts using the cheapest energy. All that has ended and South African mining now finds itself far behind.
Its African counterparts are streaking ahead in the use of renewable energy, the ushering in of automation and the pace of discovery and development.
Deploying leading-edge automation is the new Kibali gold mine, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Kibali has a mission control system that manages underground ore logistics from surface without intervention.
South Africa, on the other hand, is looking to curtailing its already shrunken gold mining activities markedly, despite there never having been more analyst consensus on the likelihood of a firm gold price going forward.
While deep South African mines are threatened by Eskom load-shedding, the Loulo-Gounkoto gold mine is about to harness Mali’s abundant solar resource. It is installing a 24 MW off-grid solar hybrid plant to support its existing 63 MW thermal power station and this solar plant has the potential to save ten-million litres of fuel a year, while reducing Loulo’s yearly carbon emissions by 42 000 t.
Loulo is joining many mines that are moving away from thermal power in Africa. In the past few years, an increasing number of mining companies have adopted wind, solar and hydropower alternatives – and always at a cheaper cost.
Moreover, in most instances, mining companies do not have to invest their own money; independent power producers, whose core business it is to generate electricity, invest in the renewable- energy infrastructure themselves and sell the electricity that it produces to mines through power purchase agreements.
Consideration can also be given to growing energy crops in mined-out areas that require rehabilitation and new non-mining business horizons. The required expertise is also available to convert these energy crops into biofuels, again with a renewable bent.
A positive thinker sees the invisible, feels the intangible and achieves the impossible, said Winston Churchill. He also said that one person with a conviction will overwhelm a hundred who have only opinions
South Africa is currently studying the results of sometimes good-looking policy but appalling implementation, which has also had its massive impact on mining, causing mine life curtailment across a broad front and a complete absence of discovery and development.
Improved policy and excellent implementation can quickly set South African mining back on a path that will rival the likes of Australia and Canada.
Eskom load-shedding is darkness we must reject and President Cyril Ramaphosa’s ‘new dawn’ State of the Nation address is light that must be used to illuminate the way forward.
It is good news that the Mandela Mining Precinct, in Carlow road, Johannesburg, is prioritising the provision of solutions to ever-shortening mining longevity and irrational resistance to modernisation.