JOHANNESBURG – EXPERTS have forecast innovation and technology to play increasingly valuable roles in boosting performance and sustainable efficiency in mines throughout Africa.
Marc Ramsay, an industry executive, said of all the trends impacting the mining industry currently, none was likely to be as critical as digitalisation for the over-arching impact it is beginning to have on every aspect of the industry operation, while also offering significant potential for improving operational efficiency.
He is the Vice President of the Anglophone Africa Mining, Metals and Minerals (MMM) Industry Business Unit at Schneider Electric South.
The company, which has been partnering with mining companies for more than four decades, has the MMM division, a digital technology platform aimed at impacting productivity in the sector.
“We are continuing to develop solutions from our areas of expertise that include buildings, industry and infrastructure, and utilities, to contribute to enabling mining companies achieve new levels of efficiency and productivity,” Ramsay said.
Schneider offers the Internet of Things (IoT) enabled EcoStruxure, dubbed “the next generation of active energy management and automation architecture.”
It features open and inter-operable architecture and leverages the latest in digital technologies – including cyber security, analytics, cloud, and mobility – delivering real-time control and operational efficiency. Such initiatives are borne out by Deloitte’s “Tracking the Trends 2019 in the Mining Sector.”
According to the report, the mining industry appears poised for greater growth than it has seen in a decade but today’s market realities are different than those of the past.
Mining companies now need to determine how to operate in a market characterized by constant disruption, volatility, rising stakeholder demands, a widening talent gap, dwindling access to key inputs such as energy and water, Deloitte stated.
The firm said solving this value conundrum mandated them to push the boundaries on their digital transformation.
“It also requires them to make technology a strategic priority by acknowledging its role as an enabler across every facet of their business,” Deloitte added.
– CAJ News
