Mining

Excellence in manufacturing is being rewarded.

The first MEMSA Manufacturing Excellence Awards unearthed some innovative and ambitious projects. Mining Equipment Manufacturers of South Africa (MEMSA) is an industry cluster established in 2016 with the support of the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (dtic). The 2022 awards evening was held together with SEIFSA Awards for Excellence. SEIFSA is the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa.

The MEMSA awards are supported by the South African Mining Extraction Research, Development and Innovation (SAMERDI) programme, which in turn is backed by the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) and the Minerals Council South Africa (MCSA). Awards were given in four categories: Customised Customer Service, Localised Supply Chain, Manufacturing Solutions and MEMSA Member Manufacturer of the Year 2022.

The Localised Supply Chain award was shared by Buraaq Mining Services and Rham Equipment, a South Africa OEM manufacturing hard and soft-rock mining machinery.

NTGR Engineering Projects won the Manufacturing Solutions award for implementing GIS-based and advanced precision manufacturing technology. The award for Customised Customer Service went to ProProcess Engineering, and the MEMSA Member Manufacturer of the Year was Bell Equipment.

MEMSA’s headquarters are located in the Mandela Mining Precinct in Melville, Johannesburg. The Precinct is a public-private partnership between the DSI and the MCSA and is managed by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research.

Gauteng is home to most of the research and training bodies associated with mining. Sibanye-Stillwater supports the Wits Mining Institute’s Digital Mining Laboratory (Digimine). AECI, the explosives and chemicals company, sponsors the Virtual Reality Mine Design Centre at the University of Pretoria. Mintek is an autonomous body based in Randburg which receives about 30% of its budget from the Department of Mineral Resources.

The University of Witwatersrand started life as the South African School of Mines. The School of Mining Engineering at Wits is the highest-ranked school at the university in terms of the QS World University Rankings. Pretoria University has a Department of Mining

Online Resources

Council for Geoscience: www.geoscience.org.za

MEMSA: www.memsa.org.za

Minerals Council South Africa: www.mineralscouncil.org.za

Sector Insight

Engineering, the University of South Africa offers three national diplomas in mine-related fields, the University of Johannesburg has mine-surveying courses and the Vaal and Tshwane Universities of Technology have engineering faculties. Harmony Gold’s acquisition strategy, including the purchase from AngloGold of Moab Khotsong, will result in it being the country’s biggest gold producer. It could produce an annual total of 1.7-million ounces.

A new company, Shallow Reefs Gold, has been created to pursue projects in the shallow reefs of the Witwatersrand Gold Basin. The company believes that the grade of the deposits makes for a good economic proposition. Cullinan diamond mine is engaged in an expansion programme called the C-Cut Phase 1 project. Cullinan is famous for its rare blue diamonds. ■