Electricity + Control January 2019

CONTROL SYSTEMS + AUTOMATION

good news is that we have a number of large new underground mines on the way across the African continent which will all use bulk mechanised min- ing methods and which will probably all be auto- mated to a lesser or greater degree.” Projects in South Africa which lend themselves to mechanised – and potentially autonomous – mining methods are the Venetia Underground Project of De Beers in northern Limpopo Province, the Platreef project of Ivanhoe near Mokopane and the Waterberg project of Platinum Group Metals, north of Mokopane. Further north in Africa, Ivanhoe is developing its Kamoa/Kakula copper project in the DRC which will see highly mechanised underground mines being established, while Resolute Mining is on re- cord as saying that its new Syama underground gold mine in Mali – which it describes as a ‘mine of the future’ – will feature a high degree of mech- anisation and is amenable to automation. In Ghana, AngloGold Ashanti is planning the redevelopment, at a projected cost of US$450 to US$500 million, of its Obuasi mine. In a recent announcement on the proposed redevelopment,

A tipping point in market acceptance of automation is fast approaching.

for mines to employ a more diverse work force. “Traditionally, miners who work underground have had to be physically strong. Automation removes this requirement and could result in more women, for example, being attracted to careers in mining,” he notes. “It also opens the way for older people, who find an underground environment too de- manding, to be employed.” Better asset utilisation is another benefit as machines are able to work longer hours with less of the wear and tear associated with manual op- eration. “Typically, one needs fewer machines to do the same amount of work and those machines

it said the project “envisages a smaller but skilled workforce that can operate in a mechanised/au- tomated operation with a strong sense of accountability”. Apart from increased produc- tivity, a key benefit of automation is safety. “Obviously, automation takes operators out of the un- derground work space and puts them in air-conditioned control rooms on surface. With fewer people needed underground, the potential for accidents to occur is substantially reduced. In ad- dition, the lapses in judgement which can come from operators sitting in the cabs of machines and becoming fatigued are all but eliminated,” says Andrews. He adds that automation also presents the opportunity

Electricity + Control

JANUARY 2019

7