Automation & robotics
Africa in particular, the mining sector has its particular social compact in place, which sees it provide potable water and electricity to villages in mining areas. He notes a stretch of some 175km of particular note, which includes three or four villages serviced by nearby mines since 2003 – but these good acts are all but unknown outside of the mining industry itself. During the Covid-19 pandemic, similarly, the mining industry stepped up and brought in vaccinations for its workers and their families ahead of the national rollout.
“Here in South Africa, amid a lack of service delivery, the mines have stepped up,” Mackay notes. “They have taken responsibility for their communities – they’re giving them potable water, they’re providing them with electricity. […] I feel like people don’t recognise the good that mining does, they always keep on thinking of it as just this horrible extractive industry.”
Of course, the role that education should play isn’t limited to changing the public’s perception about the mining industry. It’s vital, too, that universities and schools offer the right courses to prepare those with an interest in mining with the skills the industry needs. “From our study’s perspective [‘Ten insights into 4IR’], our CEOs were talking about the fact that we don’t have the right courses at university right now,” says Mackay. “At school level, we don’t actually have mining-specific courses. So, one of the things that they’re suggesting is that we need to go and change the way that the schooling curriculum works, to some extent.”
Standard bearers Beyond that, there’s an awareness within the mining industry that it needs to raise itself up to the standards set by other industries. For example, in 1998, it was illegal for women to work in many parts of South Africa’s mining sector. Today, the industry employs nearly 72,000 women out of a workforce of 475,500 people, which equates to about 15%. “I want to invite you to think about the change needed in the physical environment and in the culture to enable that,” says Mackay. For one thing, he adds, it led to the industry accelerating health and safety efforts. Digital technologies and real-time data offer great potential to improve the health and safety of miners – something that has received vocal support from many mining unions in South Africa, as Mackay’s study notes.
“Unions like digital technologies,” he adds. “When I asked what difference digital has made in their lives, they said ‘It’s safer’.” Among the many safety benefits that digitalisation has offered mining, one that has been implemented rapidly the use of increased automation and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) in mining vehicles. Sensors, for example, are being used
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to detect nearby obstacles and help prevent potential collisions. Similarly, ventilation systems have made a huge difference to the health and safety of underground miners. “Since digital tools arrived to measure the dust and diesel particulate matter in the environment, alarms now go off, and you’re not allowed to work when it’s dangerous,” Mackay notes. As a result of these safety measures, mining companies were incentivised to improve ventilation, which resulted in dramatically improved air quality. “One clear thing that the unions told us is that digital has given us a visibly cleaner and more environmentally conscious workplace – it’s night and day.” Ultimately, it’s evident that the mining industry is undergoing a period of transition. As it continues to embrace digital technologies, however, the benefits could easily provide a knock-on effect – by improving health and safety, efficiency, profitability and so on, the industry will become more attractive to those with key skills it needs. Despite this, however, the industry clearly
can’t afford to sit back. By addressing current deficiencies in education and communication, the sector could go a long way to repair its image in the popular consciousness – which it needs to do, if it hopes to attract those with the skills to propel mining forward in the future. “The guys in mining are crying for the right skills,” Mackay notes. “Because we’ve got to realise that a lot of this improvement that we want to make is dependent on specific skills – we can’t make the world of mining better without those people coming and helping us.” “We need to better communicate how health and safety have improved,” adds Khutlang. “You can see what technology can do now, and if things continue improving, safety and efficiencies can get even better. So, you need those skills – people who have the ability to see and say what we need to change.” ●
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Issues like job security and the perception of mining as a ‘dirty’ industry need to be addressed to attract new talent.
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