‘Mines in need of technology boost’

SOUTH African mining companies and equipment makers have to collaborate to lift the country’s mining sector out of a selfinflicted technology slump and cannot expect the rest of the world to come to its rescue.

At last week’s Johannesburg Indaba mining conference, a panel of mining experts spoke of the urgent need to modernise and automate mining in order to bring down costs as well as extend the lives of deep-level South African gold and platinum mines – and save jobs.

In recent years, South African mining research and development has slowly been emerging from the doldrums – when less than R5-million was spent annually on exploring new ideas – to a

Picture: WALDO SWIEGERS TIME FOR CHANGE: Experts say the country’s mining sector must haul itself out of its technological slump