SA Mining Industry Snapshot March 2021

ONLINE EDITION INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT

SA MIN NG www.samining.co.za

EDITION 2 – MARCH 2021

SA targets greater exploration investment Eskom to lift licence limit for self-generators Tronox and Harmony outline COVID-19 safety measures

HEALTH INAND THE SAFETY SPOTLIGHT

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In the news Energy Junior mining Products and services

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INDUSTRY UPDATE 4

CONTENTS

UJCfE and CHIETA create small business development programme Lucara recovers 341ct diamond from Karowe SAICE welcomes new industry body

10 HARMONY PRIORITISES SAFETY AND HEALTHCARE INITIATIVES

Harmony shares its safety and healthcare initiatives, including those relating to occupational and lifestyle diseases.

FEATURES 5

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STATE OF THE INDUSTRY

SA looks to garner up to $500m of global exploration expenditure in the next few years.

ESKOM INCREASES LICENCE LIMIT FOR SELF-GENERATORS

Eskom is evaluating the potential of increasing the licence limit from 5MW to 50MW, says CEO André de Ruyter.

12 SMALL-SCALE MINERS HIT HARD BY COVID-19

Aspasa director Nico Pienaar highlights the impact of the pandemic on junior miners.

FROM THE EDITOR

ONLINE EDITION INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT EDITOR Nelendhre Moodley 011 280 5782

Vaccine roll-out

moodleyne@samining.co.za

ONLINE EDITOR Stacey Visser 011 280 3671 vissers@businessmediamags.co.za

ART DIRECTOR Shailendra Bhagwandin 011 280 5946 bhagwandinsh@arena.africa

A silver bullet to COVID-19?

T

ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS

Noël van Breda 011 280 3456 / 082 717 1962 noelvb@samining.co.za Ilonka Moolman 011 280 3120 moolmani@samining.co.za

Nelendhre Moodley

he good news is that South Africa has started rolling out its vaccination programme, with the president being the first to take the jab. The UK, which has among the most aggressive vaccine roll-out programmes in the world, has been recording impressive results and showing a marked decrease in COVID-19related fatalities and infection rates.

Here’s hoping that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is the silver bullet we have been waiting for and that life “as close to normal” will soon be a reality.

According to the Minerals Council South Africa, the mining industry will look to vaccinate not only its own workforce of 450 000 employees, but also employee family members and some community members. The mining sector

PRODUCTION CO-ORDINATOR

Gail Mortinson 011 280 5369 / 011 328 2226 gailm@arena.africa

expects to vaccinate between 60 000 and 80 000 people a day – three million in two months (pg 8).

In this edition, we speak extensively about the impact of COVID-19 on companies, including touching base with Tronox South Africa and Harmony Gold, which talk about measures they have in place to keep its people safe (pg 8 and pg 10).

Industry body Aspasa has also pitched in to provide insights into how smallscale miners are coping in the face of the pandemic, indicating that a few smallscale businesses have folded (pg 12).

Our energy feature gives insight into power utility Eskom, which is evaluating the opportunity of opening up the network to more self-generating power players (pg 6).

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SWITCHBOARD 011 280 3000 SUBSCRIPTIONS Gail Mortinson 011 280 5369 gailm@arena.africa

Arena Holdings, PO Box 1746, Saxonwold, 2132 Copyright Arena Holdings. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without prior written permission. Arena Holdings is not responsible for the views of its contributors.

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INDUSTRY UPDATE

Producer of exceptional quality diamonds Lucara Diamond recently recovered an unbroken 341-carat top white gem quality diamond from its 100%-owned Karowe Diamond Mine in Botswana.

The diamond was recovered from milling of ore sourced from the south-western quadrant of the South Lobe M/PK(S) unit. The recovery of large gem quality diamonds from the M/PK(S) unit of the South Lobe is in line with expectations and historical South Lobe recoveries, the company said.

Eira Thomas, Lucara’s CEO, said: “Lucara is extremely pleased to be starting off 2021 with the recovery of a 341ct high-quality white gem diamond that builds on previous historic recoveries which include the 549ct Sethunya, 1 758ct Sewelô, the 1 109ct Lesedi La Rona and the 342ct Queen of the Kalahari. The 341ct diamond represents the 54th diamond greater than 200ct to be recovered from Karowe since 2015.”

SAICE WELCOMES NEW INDUSTRY BODY The South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE) has welcomed the establishment of the newly formed construction industry umbrella body, Construction Alliance South Africa (CASA).

Vishaal Lutchman, SAICE CEO, said, “We are proud to be one of the founding member organisations of CASA and look forward to playing an active role in creating a united voice in our quest to lead the post-COVID recovery of the industry as well as tackling a number of longstanding issues such as transformation of the sector, corruption and unethical business practices.”

341CT

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LUCARA RECOVERS 341CT DIAMOND FROM KAROWE

diamond recovered from Karowe

UJCFE AND CHIETA

PROSPECT APPOINTS CFO

TO PROGRESS ARCADIA LITHIUM PROJECT ASX-listed African lithium developer Prospect recently appointed Ian Goldberg as chief financial officer, replacing Chris Hilbrands. The appointment was effective 5 February 2021. Goldberg brings a strong commercial capability having led early-stage developments through project finance and into operations.

His most recent role was CFO for Tiger Resources, a copper producer in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Prior to that role, he held a number of CFO positions at producing mining companies across Africa and Australia, the company said.

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SA MINING INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT

CREATE SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME Chemical small, medium and micro enterprises in Gauteng have received a boost with a new small business development programme created by the University of Johannesburg’s Centre for Entrepreneurship (UJCfE) and the Chemical Industries Education and Training Authority (CHIETA).

The initiative aims to grow the number of small and medium-sized chemical businesses and their impact, boosting the overall chemical sector, which accounts for 6% of our GDP and 25% of the total manufacturing output.

“In South Africa, smaller and medium-sized enterprises account for 54% of the country’s entrepreneurial activity, but unfortunately the chemical sector is lagging. Changing this is needed urgently to grow the industry so it can become an even more powerful economic driver than it already is,” said CHIETA’s CEO Yershen Pillay.

“This requires a series of targeted interventions over the next decades, including helping small businesses grow. This is good for the economy and employment.”

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MINING MATTERS STATE OF THE INDUSTRY

By Nelendhre Moodley

SA targets a larger slice of exploration spend South Africa’s inability to attract greater exploration spend continues to be disappointing for the mining industry.

According to Mgojo, in 2019, South Africa accounted for only 1% of global exploration expenditure, far less than its peers Canada and Australia.

Between 2000 and 2018, Canada attracted $2-billion in exploration spend and Australia $1.8bn, compared with just $194-million attracted by South Africa.

As such, the industry, led by Minister Gwede Mantashe, was looking to grab more of the exploration spend and was looking at ways to garner up to 5% or www.samining.co.za

fp m K–

“At no time during 2020 has the industry let down its guard,” always ensuring that sanitising, social distancing, mask wearing, stringent screening and testing protocols were put in place. Further to this, every day close to 400 000 employees are screened and, where necessary, tested.

Unfortunately, and despite these efforts, around 275 miners have succumbed to COVID-19.

By the first week of February this year, an estimated 2.3 million deaths were recorded worldwide. For the mining industry, which has been working hard to reach its zero-harm target, the fatalities have been a serious blow.

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Number of people industry can vaccinate

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80 000p/d

In 2019 the industry recorded the lowest number of fatalities in the mining history, Mgojo said.

Although the industry’s safety programme was broadened in 2020 to encompass COVID-19, the sector was “disappointed” in the increase in fatalities.

Falls of ground continued to be a significant challenge in the platinum and gold sectors, with transport-related accidents impacting the coal and platinum sectors.

Further to this, gravity-related rock falls and seismic-related rock bursts were also key challenges faced.

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60 000 -

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he mining industry, a key economic contributor to gross domestic product, will be driving the COVID-19 vaccination programme not only of its own workforce of 450 000 employees, but also of employee family members and some community members.

“As an industry, our foremost priority is the health and safety of our employees.

We need to get as many jabs-in-arms as possible, as quickly as possible, to save lives and livelihoods,” said Minerals Council South Africa president Mxolisi Mgojo during a virtual State of the Mining Nation address.

“We believe that as an industry we can vaccinate between 60 000 and 80 000 people a day – so around three million in two months. And that’s not just our own workforce of 450 000 people,” he said.

For every employee vaccinated, the sector was looking to vaccinate at least five more people (employee family members or community members).

According to Mgojo, the sector’s preparedness in dealing with health-related issues gave it an edge in dealing effectively with the pandemic in 2020, going into 2021.

Mining industry has capacity to vaccinate 3-million people in two months.

$500m in the next few years.

Mgojo cited lack of transparency in the permitting system, delays in the issuing of permits, regulatory uncertainty and a lack of proper tax incentives as being among the key reasons for South Africa’s inability to attract the required investments.

Mining industry performance Despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the mining sector made noteworthy industry contributions, including the sale of R608bn in primary mineral sales compared with R552.5bn in 2019, exports to the value of R414.5bn in sales compared with R361.7bn in 2019 and a contribution of R361.9bn to the gross domestic product compared with R376.4bn in 2019. n

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ESKOM LOOKS TO INCREASE LICENCE LIMIT FOR SELFGENERATORS

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By Nelendhre Moodley

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SA MINING INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT

© Freddy Mavunda @ Business Day

I

n a bid to close the ever-expanding electricity generation gap, power utility Eskom is evaluating the potential of opening up the network to more self-generating power players by increasing the licence limit from 5MW to 50MW, Eskom CEO André de Ruyter told delegates at the virtual 2021 Investing in African Mining Indaba.

“We understand that our lack of reliability in terms of electricity supply has created uncertainty in the mining industry.

We are taking steps to improve reliability, and through our corporate restructuring, we are creating the ability to add more capacity to our grid, and in particular, enable that capacity to be brought online for companies, including mines, that want to self-generate.”

Eskom’s poor system reliability is largely due to unplanned maintenance of “around 11 000MW at any given time”, coupled with about 5 000MW of planned maintenance, as well as a number of issues related to coal quality, which deducted a further 2 000MW. “So effectively of the 46 000MW, we only have available about 28 000MW of power.

Furthermore, in terms of the IRP 19, we are going to retire about 10 000MW over the next decade, which leaves us with a very significant shortfall which needs to be supplemented urgently,” said De Ruyter.

Citing a recent survey done by Chris Yelland and Meridian Economics, which indicated the availability of some 5 000MW of capacity that could be added to the grid based on the change in licensing regime, De Ruyter noted that this was

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ENERGY

Eskom is looking to lift the licence limit for own-generation from 5MW to 50MW. – DE RUYTER a great opportunity to unlock own-generated capacity.

The state-owned entity has put in place processes to helping customers in generating their own power.

“If you have 50MW or so that you would like to feed to the grid, please call us, we would love to hear from you – we think it’s a great opportunity for us together to resolve the electricity crisis in South Africa.”

However, the opportunity does not come cheap – Eskom is restructuring its tariff system, which includes a capacity charge for own-generated power. “This is to cater for the fact that the grid will essentially act as a giant battery to those who are self-generating, so there is a cost attached to that

MARCH 2021

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André de Ruyter

capacity availability,” he said.

The utility is also looking at repurposing its ageing fleet and undertaking targeted projects that can rapidly unlock existing capacity using existing infrastructure.

Eskom is exploring options to repurpose its coal-fired power stations to natural gas. Compared to a new greenfields gas-fired electricity plant, a repurposed old plant will be able to effect a saving in capital cost of between 30% and 35%, De Ruyter said.

Aside from the additional capacity of 2 000MW that Eskom is looking to bring on board by June 2022, the power producer is expecting to bring a further 11.8GW of new-generation capacity into the system.

To bridge its hefty shortfall, Eskom is eyeing the implementation of two successive increases of 15% pa followed by inflationlinked increases.

– DE RUYTER

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R450billion

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Eskom’s debt liability

Tariff tipping point If Eskom has its way, South Africans could well be coughing up “two successive increases of 15% pa followed by inflation-linked increases” to bridge Eskom’s hefty shortfall.

De Ruyter said the shortfall in the tariff decisions made over the years had contributed to the substantial shortfall in revenue, which had exacerbated the debt situation to the tune of some R450-billion.

“We understand that if we were to migrate to cost-reflective tariffs immediately, that would create an untenable price shock to the economy, which is not desirable at all as some of our customers would see very severe pressure on their electricity bill.

“Therefore [we are thinking of] a more moderate approach of two successive increases of 15% pa followed by inflation-linked increases subsequent to that period of adjustment.

We believe that this would create price path certainty and enhance investor certainty in what the likely cost of energy is going to be, going forward.”

According to Eskom, South Africa’s electricity tariffs are significantly below its peers in the international arena, and even with the proposed cost-reflective tariffs, South Africa would be among the lowest electricity payers globally.

“So we think that these increases www.samining.co.za

are not unrealistic and not unreasonable, given the alternative, which is to rely on continued taxpayer subsidies to enable us to pay our interest off.”

However the energy supplier was willing to enter into negotiated price agreements for those intensive energy users that were distressed by the proposed hefty price increases.

“We think that by adding capacity to the grid and implementing a new tariff structure, we will have an electricity market that is sustainable and competitive in global terms; bearing in mind that the cost of unreliable electricity is always higher than the cost of reliable cost-reflective electricity.” n

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HEALTH & SAFETY

TRONOX OUTLINES SAFETY MEASURES

By Nelendhre Moodley

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he pandemic continues to have a devastating impact on the mining sector, with more than 300 miners already having succumbed to COVID-19. SA Mining recently caught up with Tronox South Africa MD, Mpho Mothoa to find out what measures the company is implementing to curb the spread of the virus.

How has the pandemic changed “business as usual” in the mining sector?

One of the more obvious changes is the fact that we had to quickly adapt to using technology so that where appropriate, we could get several employees to work from home either semi-permanently or sporadically. In the past, this was uncommon in the mining sector.

The COVID-19 protocols that have been implemented to manage the pandemic in the workplace are focused on saving lives and protecting livelihoods. We have applied a lot of time and energy towards ensuring that the protocols are being applied consistently.

We ensure that employees are able to maintain social distancing, especially in common-use facilities like meeting rooms, lunchrooms, change-houses and kitchens.

We also relooked at how we protect our employees when they are being transported to and from work and to certain work areas. Employees were continuously reminded to wear their masks and the new greeting – no handshakes, no hugs.

New procedures, policies and baseline

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SA MINING INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT

risk assessments have been drafted and implemented regarding COVID-19 in the workplace. Relevant signage has been placed across all our sites, especially in high-traffic areas.

All employees who were on-site were supplied with masks and hand sanitisers.

Other interventions we introduced included: Scheduled tea and lunchtime breaks.

COVID-19 protocol compliance at dedicated smoking areas.

Established a COVID-19 committee that included employee representatives to ensure compliance with regulations.

The Tronox South Africa COVID-19 Screening App allows for an electronic and accurate record of everyone.

– MOTHOA As Tronox South Africa, we are committed to protecting all employees and contractors. Over and above this, we believe we have an active role in the longer-term economic recovery of South Africa, which also includes supporting the livelihoods of our employees and contractors, thus providing job security. The strength and success of our business contribute positively to the economy and in supporting government’s effort in providing sustainable solutions to address the pandemic.

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www.samining.co.za

What new initiatives are being put in place?

The new initiatives include, but are not limited to: Adopting technology as a preventive tool.

When the country went into level 5 lockdown, the business ensured that all employees who could effectively work remotely were provided with the necessary IT equipment to be able to work from home.

Although face-to-face meetings have been the norm because of their effectiveness, we immediately adopted technological tools like Zoom, Skype, Microsoft Teams, etc., to host meetings. We also leveraged an online document control system that allows for seamless signing and handling of documents.

Health monitoring Owing to the pandemic, the industry has started to take the monitoring of employees’ health to a new level of seriousness.

This has led to the adoption of scanners at entrances and tracing as well as the tracking of the infected and exposed employees.

At Tronox we introduced the Tronox South Africa COVID-19 Screening App which has allowed us to keep an electronic and accurate record of everyone coming on-site, and ensured that we were complying with reporting to the regulator.

We also created health WhatsApp groups for immediate communication.

Tronox has introduced policies and procedures to help curb the spread of COVID-19.

Peer and wellness educators To ensure that the message gets to all levels of our workforce, we trained employees to be wellness educators so that we could raise the level of awareness and educate employees about the virus.

The wellness educators also assisted in coordinating counselling sessions for employees who either tested positive for the virus or who were living with someone who contracted the virus or even lost loved ones due to COVID-19. In future, this group will also be able to assist the business to raise awareness of the vaccine before starting inoculations.

How is Tronox going the extra mile to protect its people and its operations?

In order to ensure that we succeed in our goal of saving lives and protecting livelihoods, we relied on our existing toolkits.

Health and safety of our people remains our number one priority, hence we have taken measures to give our employees reusable masks and sanitisers, increased cleaning frequency of common facilities and individual workstations, and redesigned work to ensure social distancing can be achieved.

People who can, are allowed to work from home, to limit the number of people

at work and on buses, and also not to expose any person who does not need to be on site.

We introduced the 50% maximum passenger capacity on buses and minibuses, even though this means that most of the light delivery vehicle fleet is used for travel to and from work.

This additional cost of fuel and fleet maintenance carried by the company is worth every rand to ensure employees’ safety and an uninterrupted operating environment.

We wanted our people to feel that they are much safer from COVID-19 at work than anywhere else!

Over and above this, we provide continuous communication with employees and contractors to educate and keep them informed with accurate and up-to-date

We wanted our people to feel that they are much safer from COVID-19 at work than anywhere else.

– MOTHOA

www.samining.co.za

information on the virus and the situation at hand.

Tronox has introduced policies and procedures which include: Implemented medical management plans for vulnerable employees.

Daily monitoring of employees with flu-like symptoms and possible COVID -19 exposure.

Daily follow-ups by the OHS on employees with COVID-19.

Care packs handed to employees with COVID-19.

Dedicated COVID-19 management meetings.

What are some of the key challenges being experienced?

At the start of the pandemic, mask-wearing was not being applied diligently by everyone. In addition, we found that people in the communities were often not adhering to social distancing measures.

As you know, humans are naturally social beings hence it was challenging to get them to adhere to social distancing.

It became clear that several employees apply the measures because they have to, not because they think it is important to do so. There was also a challenge of complacency with others believing that they are somehow immune to this virus.

What positives have come out of the pandemic?

The pandemic has given us tough life lessons, and the positive spin-offs are: The importance of being agile and adaptable as a business.

The need to speed up digitisation (4IR) in the workplace and virtual offices.

Once again, highlighting the importance of teamwork and empowering workforce to look out for each other.

Importance of learning from each other.

I think in the end, employees have developed a health and wellness interest and have realised the importance of managing their health and are showing more empathy towards each other. n

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HEALTH & SAFETY

HARMONY’S COVID-19 INTERVENTIONS

By Sihle Maake, Harmony Gold’s Group Communications Manager

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he COVID-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on our society and economy. Along with so many other businesses, Harmony faced the very difficult task of sustaining itself in a severely disrupted business environment. This included a compulsory suspension – either partial or absolute – of our operations both in South Africa and Papua New Guinea.

Harmony developed a standard operating procedure to help in the prevention and transmission of COVID-19 at all our operations. These were in line with the guidelines prepared by the Minerals Council South Africa, and the Guiding Principles on Prevention and Management of COVID-19 in South African Mining Industry published by the Department of Minerals and Energy.

The roll-out of our four-phase risk management strategy effectively equipped Harmony with the necessary resources and processes to proactively respond to COVID-19 and enabled us to continue operating safely at all times.

Our approach to safety and healthcare ensures healthcare is easily accessible to all employees. It is important that our employees are fit for life, fit for work and fit

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Harmony Gold has a multi-faceted COVID-19 programme in place.

to retire. The four pillars of our healthcare strategy are: Education, awareness and promotion of good health.

Disease prevention and risk management.

Clinical intervention (treatment programmes).

Continuous risk profiling.

Harmony has dedicated health hubs at all its operations which cater for all the medical and health needs of employees and, in some cases, of its host community members. Each health hub is staffed by doctors, allied healthcare workers and pharmacists. In addition, Harmony has ensured that medical doctors are part of the operational teams at each of the mines.

Increased awareness campaigns on the

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COVID-19 pandemic have been central in ensuring employees are kept abreast of reliable information and that they continuously take the necessary precautions in preventing the spread of COVID-19.

This was done through an in-house mobile app known as the Harmony Connect, a data-free employee mobile solution that offers two-way communication around the pandemic and other company information.

This app is also used by employees to do their own self-screening before coming to the offices/sites. Furthermore, Harmony has an independent COVID-19 hotline number which employees are encouraged to use should they experience symptoms or feel ill.

Harmony also launched the Employee Psychosocial Programme, in partnership

Harmony Gold has rolled out a fourphase risk management strategy to respond to COVID-19.

with the Reality Wellness Group, for all employees and their immediate family members. This multi-faceted programme offers face-to-face counselling and telephonic financial or legal advice by qualified social workers and psychologists.

This service is available 24/7 in all nine official South African languages and can be accessed via email, sending a “please call me” message or using a toll-free number.

The pandemic has had a significant impact on many of our employees, and as a result an additional programme to address the psychosocial effects arising from the quarantine and lockdown processes was launched.

Employees scheduled to go home for the festive season were required to sign a registration form and a full screening was conducted. They were also given a COVID-19 booklet with in-depth information of how to care for their families if they were to fall ill and how to celebrate responsibly during the festive season.

Upon returning to work, they were given a quarantine/isolation guideline booklet (translated versions made available) to help them understand the importance of the process. Those employees who were required to quarantine for a 14-day period were engaged with daily to ensure their mental well-being.

Each operation has a specific disaster mitigation room, which is set up to reduce churn among team members. As some employees test positive and are required to be withdrawn, we track and trace to ensure continual adherence to safety and health

COVID-19 measures in place at Kusasalethu mine.

protocols and that production is impacted as little as possible.

Harmony CSI and the Harmony Trust also embarked on community initiatives where food parcels, hygiene care kits and face masks were distributed to community members, including child-headed homes and the elderly in the areas of its immediate operations.

Some awareness campaigns have been extended to local radio stations and community print media. The most notable campaign was to distribute leaflets www.samining.co.za

addressing anti-stigmatisation in our host communities. These leaflets were also used by the Gauteng Health Department while initiating their COVID-19 screening and testing programme.

Harmony prides itself on the work done in managing the impact of the pandemic on all stakeholders, communities and employees. Despite the challenges faced, we will continue to prioritise all safety and healthcare initiatives, including those relating to occupational and lifestyle diseases. n

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INDUSTRY JUNIOR MINING UPDATE

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THE IMPACTONOF THE SMALL-SCALE PANDEMIC MINERS

SA MINING INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT

A number of smallscale surface mines have permanently closed down.

– PIENAAR those offering essential services including coal mines, operated with a skeleton staff, given that operations such as those of pumping water and the likes had to be maintained.

On a more positive note, what became very obvious during the lockdown level 5 period was that small operations were generally coping fairly well, with many

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Pochai

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Small-scale miners have been severely impacted by pandemic.

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extremely relevant and useful. Interestingly, many small opencast mines have been implementing some of the rules and information shared.

At the onset of the pandemic, Aspasa received numerous calls for assistance related to screening and testing, COVID-19 symptoms and matters related to remuneration for sick workers. In some regions and areas, there were no clear lists of laboratories available for COVID-19 testing.

In many instances, mining houses were initially unaware of where to take workers who displayed COVID-19-related symptoms, such as a fever or coughing.

Further to this, individuals themselves, not knowing where to go, often presented themselves to the workplace.

Following the implementation of lockdown level 5, many mines, including

– Burin

he COVID-19 pandemic continues to be a serious problem for most businesses and more so for the small-scale miner.

With the onset of the pandemic early last year, the mining industry body the Minerals Council South Africa had a session with the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Gwede Mantashe, who warned of an imminent lockdown.

Little did we realise that the lockdown would continue in its various forms way into 2021. In that same meeting the minister reminded everyone that the mining industry was important and the backbone of the country.

With most businesses bearing the brunt of the pandemic, the smaller miners, who are generally represented by Aspasa, have been among the worst casualties. A number of small-scale surface mines, often to be found scattered across the country, have permanently closed down. This is certainly an extremely sad circumstance.

Meanwhile, in a bid to keep the smallscale mining community informed of the latest COVID-19 rules and occurrences, Aspasa went flat out to inform, share and keep members up to date. The daily communication documents were also shared with the Clay Brick Association and the South African Diamond Producers Organisation.

Aspasa, as a member of the international body the Global Aggregates Information Network, received vast amounts of information from other countries, which were shared with small-scale miners. In fact, some countries have been developing some great guidelines and best-practice documents, which we have found to be

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By Aspasa director Nico Pienaar

initiatives and clever ideas being implemented. Above all, there was a “we care” attitude that stood out.

It is gratifying to note that during the difficult times, many of the smaller mines assisted their workers by helping them to claim the necessary TERS funds. And difficult as it was for many small-scale miners, many paid their workers – certainly a sign that the “family” cared.

Meanwhile, following the onset of the pandemic, Aspasa – which undertakes health and safety audits – ceased to do so during the lockdown. The institution has since reinstated the audits and built into the audit protocol COVID-19 compliance as per the legal requirements.

The audits are especially helpful to a range of miners, be it the small-scale miner or the bigger operators. ■

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• MINING • TRANSPORT • WATER • POWER • ENERGY • FINANCE • COMMERCIAL • MANUFACTURING • PUBLIC SERVICES • EDUCATION • ENGINEERING

TO BOOK YOUR PLACE CONTACT: ILONKA MOOLMAN t: +27 (0) 11 280 3120 c: +27 82 346 3412 e: moolmani@arena.africa NOËL VAN BREDA t: +27 (0)11 280 3456 c: +27 82 717 1962 e: noelvb@arena.africa

PRODUCTS & SERVICES

TOMRA SORTING MINING OFFERS ACCESS TO ITS DIAMOND MICROSITE Manufacturer of sensor-based sorting technologies TOMRA Sorting Mining’s new diamond microsite offers clients access to its comprehensive technical information, says the company.

The diamond microsite enables diamond producers to understand the possibilities offered by its recovery solutions, how they would fit into their operations, and how they would be adding value.

“We want to allow our potential clients and end-users better access to all of our technical information so that they can understand our solutions and best implement them,” says Ryan Szabo,

R15.8bn

sales and project manager of diamonds at TOMRA Mining. Navigation of the diamond microsite is intuitive and the detailed information is presented in a clear and easy-to-understand format. “We developed it based on the questions our customers ask during our meetings,” says Szabo.

Value of local investment

by Ford Motor Company

VOLVO TRUCKS LAUNCHES FOUR NEW RANGES Volvo Trucks South Africa recently introduced four new truck ranges to the local market, with a strong focus on the driver environment, safety and productivity. The launch of the four new-generation extra-heavy commercial trucks – the Volvo FH, FH16, FM and FMX – is the biggest in the company’s history, says Volvo.

“Our aim is to be our customers’ ultimate business partner and help them attract the best drivers in an increasingly competitive market,” says Marcus Hörberg, vice-president of Volvo Group Southern Africa.

All the new models are locally assembled in the company’s plant in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. For this purpose, Volvo Trucks invested more than R2-million in the upgrade tooling and equipment in its plant.

Volvo Trucks also invested in the installation of innovative IT equipment and technology, which allowed Volvo Trucks’ global experts to remotely support the South African team. This ensured that the company’s highest levels of manufacturing standards and quality assurance are still implemented despite the challenges caused by the necessary lockdown measures.

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SA MINING INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT

MARCH 2021

www.samining.co.za

FORD MOTOR COMPANY

INVESTS R15.8BN IN LOCAL MANUFACTURING Motor manufacturer Ford Motor Company recently invested $1.05-billion (R15.8bn) in its South African manufacturing operations – marking the biggest investment in Ford’s 97-year history in the country.

“This investment will further modernise our South African operations, helping them to play an even more important role in the turnaround and growth of our global automotive operations, as well as our strategic alliance with Volkswagen,” says Dianne Craig, president of Ford’s International Markets Group.

“Ranger is one of our highest-volume, most successful global vehicles. This investment will equip our team with the tools and facilities to deliver the best Ford Ranger ever, in higher numbers and with superior quality.”

The annual installed capacity at the Silverton plant will increase to 200 000 vehicles from 168 000, supporting production of the all-new Ford Ranger pickup truck for the domestic market and export to over 100 global markets.

The plant also will manufacture Volkswagen pickup trucks as part of the Ford-VW strategic alliance.

The expanded production will help create 1 200 incremental Ford jobs in South Africa, increasing the local workforce to 5 500 employees, and adding an estimated 10 000 new jobs across Ford’s local supplier network, bringing the total to 60 000.

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