Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
In January 1848, James Marshall discovered gold at Sutter’s Mill on the Sacramento River in Northern California. He showed some of the nuggets he had found to Sam Brannan who ran the general store in Sutterville. Brannan placed the nuggets in a bottle and showed them to everyone he could, and it was this initiative, more than the find itself, that started the California Gold Rush. The very next thing that Brannan did was to buy all the shovels, picks and any other mining equipment that he could get his hands on. He was in the right place at the right time, and made a fortune out of selling the tools of the mining trade to miners. In the colourful history of mining equipment, his is one of the names in lights.
If we could still get at our precious resources with picks and shovels we wouldn't have half the problems we do. While pickaxes and spades still occupy an honoured position in mining, we now look to more innovative technologies to provide the mechanisms that will reveal, unearth and retrieve the riches in the ground beneath our feet.
It is this technology that we are here to discuss and admire, and it is a particular pleasure for me to have the opportunity to speak to you as we focus our attention on the critical question of technical innovation in the mining sector. Imaginative and innovative, more and better technology, is key to the long-term profitability and sustainability of the sector.
In 2007, the mining sector contributed about 6.8 percent to the country’s Gross Domestic Products (GDP) and about 18 percent if one takes into account the goods and services provided to the industry and the value-added beneficiation of mining outputs. The sector is both a major employer and a major contributor to the country's export revenues.
To a very large extent, the mining sector has driven the technological development of South Africa over the last century, with advances achieved mostly through government and industry-supported research programmes. Regrettably, most of these research facilities have closed over the past 30 years, as have many similar research facilities around the world. As a result, the current South African expenditure on research and development in the mining sector is minimal. In 2006/07 figures the proportion of GDP spent on primary mining and minerals processing research was 0,06 percent. In the same year, Australia's expenditure on mining research and development was 0,32 percent of GDP.
The decrease in research and development in the mining industry, and the recent and ongoing closure of research facilities, have taken place despite the fact that the minerals industry enjoyed an unprecedented “supercycle” between 2000 and 2008. Throughout that period there was also sustained and often increasing pressure to extract metals profitably from progressively lower-grade ore bodies, accompanied by rising costs, increasingly challenging safety and environmental issues, in a climate in which skills were becoming harder to acquire. This is an industry that competes well against heavy odds.
These odds, it must be said, have multiplied in the last two years. The impact of the global recession has been particularly severe on the commodities markets, and mining enterprises have been hit hard. A decline in demand, and therefore of production, has lead to job losses, thereby increasing social tensions and poverty levels. There is belt-tightening all the way along the mining infrastructure. Fortunately there now seems to be a glimmer of hope and indications are that demand is beginning to strengthen again, and that light is appearing once more at the top of the pit shaft.
That is particularly important since we are now confronted by a situation in which the expansion and consolidation of high-level engineering and scientific competence within the mining terrain is urgently required. Closing the doors of research laboratories has aggravated the problem, placing a number of young scientists in a vulnerable position. The Department of Science and Technology's ten year innovation plan sees the increase of human capital as a key action and driver in our planned transition from a resource-based economy to a knowledge based economy. We cannot afford for our best players to be off the pitch.
Technology tells us that there are vast untapped resources in our country. Common sense tells us to do whatever it takes to tap these resources. Pragmatism tells us to respond to these challenges by investing in technological solutions and human capital development. That is what we are doing.
The Centre for Mining Innovation at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) is currently looking at geophysical techniques that can provide valuable geological and rock engineering information ahead of mining, making mining operations more cost-effective and safe. Part of this research includes borehole radar systems for South African gold and platinum mines.
Other projects aim to facilitate data acquisition and underground control through the introduction of standards, including wireless sensor networks, to quantify the operations and the environment in which people are working.
Mintek has firmly established itself as a centre of excellence and a world leader in the field of metals and minerals processing technology. Given the number of technological breakthroughs engineered in Mintek laboratories and pilot process plants, its value to boosting the competitiveness of the South African mining sector is incalculable.
In addressing our challenges we are alert to the fact that there are invariably further options emerging, together with new economic possibilities. There is a strong possibility that new ore bodies that are either low-grade or complex deposits could be opened up, extending the life of existing mines and creating opportunities for new ones. The cost of operations could be lowered with improved productivity and efficiency, keeping mines viable when commodity prices are low. And when the predicted upswing eventually materialises, and the global demand for resources increases, we will be in a position to take advantage of this.
To capitalise, we need a vibrant research community, one that can train and hone the technical minds that the industry requires to remain world class, one that can feed the talent pipeline with locally nurtured technical skills. Research can determine best practices for health, safety and the environment, and provide regulators and operators with a scientific basis for best practice.
The Department of Science and Technology (DST) is in the process of establishing a detailed survey of such activities in the Southern African region. We aim to determine the precise scope and content of what is occurring in the mining sector with respect to cleaner production, mining and mineral processing technologies, best practices, research activities, technology development, and research and information dissemination on mining and minerals technology.
Possibly even more importantly, we need to sharpen our focus on the frontier science aspects of mining research and development. Here we are talking about very promising areas, including nanotechnology, robotics, sea-floor mining, remote sensing, and extraterrestrial mining, among other disciplines. This constitutes a major challenge to the research community. Can you effectively collaborate with industry to develop the promising relationship that these areas have with mining?
Robotics, for example, has become commonplace in the controlled environment of the manufacturing sector, and the automobile industry is heavily reliant on the contribution of robots for vehicle assembly. But there are complex challenges when it comes to the application of automation techniques in the mining sector. Nonetheless, I believe that workable solutions are firmly within the capabilities of our mining engineers. The CSIR’s Meraka Institute, is currently honing its satellite-driven remote-sensing capabilities, contributing immensely in responding to challenges that confronts us as a country with respect to Space Science and Technology, and the sustainable functioning of the mining sector.
From the government's point of view, all these imaginative research initiatives are orchestrated to achieve a single objective the improvement of the social and economic conditions of all South Africans. In this respect it is essential to be fully cognisant of the probable impact of human-induced global weather changes. Here the mining industry faces three critical challenges: water, energy and emissions.
South Africa is one of many water-scarce countries. For us, the efficient use of water resources is critical. The output of our industries is at stake, but so, too and more importantly, is the essential sustenance of biological life, research into technologies that can reduce the use of water and facilitate the recovery and recycling of water, will benefit our country enormously.
As far as energy is concerned, I don’t have to remind you how serious this challenge is for our country. What can our miners do to help? They can think seriously about facilitating co-generation plants within the industry, as well as investigating the use of renewable energy sources. This would greatly relieve the stress on our overstretched energy systems.
As for emissions, in November 2007, South African corporations released data on their greenhouse-gas emissions as part of the South African Carbon Disclosure Project. They should be commended for this. Knowing your emissions is the critical first step toward reducing emissions.
There is a compelling need for technologies and innovations that will address the water, energy and emissions issues associated with the mining industry. This is essential if we are to succeed in refining our mining industry so that it does not harm the well-being of South Africans.
In 1932 archaeologists discovered that sophisticated mining techniques had been practised at Mapungubwe in South Africa's Limpopo province about 800 to 900 years ago and that the products of these enterprises formed the basis of trade with China, India and Egypt. The need to direct our best minds to improving mining techniques is by no means a new thing it is an ongoing process. With such a long history of mining innovation I foresee a bright future for sustainable mining in South Africa, all the evidence point to the likelihood of positive outcomes from the collaborative efforts of industry, research and government.
The Department of Science and Technology will continue its tradition of providing scientific, technological and innovative solutions and establishing partnerships to achieve progress.
Your deliberations at this conference will be a valuable contribution to the focus, prioritisation and implementation of positive activities in the mining sector, and I believe we can look to the future with optimism.
Thank you.
Issued by: Department of Science and Technology
3 November 2009
Source: Department of Science and Technology (http://www.dst.gov.za/)
