FEATURE
A VIEW FROM INDUSTRY Prof Con Fauconnier is an Honorary Professor in the Department, as well as the Honorary President of the Mining Alumni Society of the University of Pretoria (MASUP). In 2018, Prof Fauconnier was inducted into the Joburg Indaba’s South African Mining Hall of Fame.
By Prof Con Fauconnier
This review coincides with the advent of a global pandemic brought about by the rapid spread of the Coronavirus, now labelled COVID-19. This seemingly insignificant organism has not only disrupted our personal lives, but also the economies of nations worldwide. “Embracing disruption”, as the theme of this publication, thus proved to be almost prophetic, as we will indeed have to embrace disruption if we are to cope successfully with the havoc wreaked on the world by this pandemic. The words of two prominent individuals come to mind when contemplating the notion of embracing disruption in the present time. The late Prof Leon C Megginson from Louisiana State University observed: “It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive, but those who can best manage change.” Statesman Robert F Kennedy, on the other hand, stated: “Some men see things as they are, and ask why. I dream of things that never were, and ask why not.” Given these views, it is clear that embracing disruption, as an extreme form of change, is what we will have to do, not only to survive the deleterious effects of the virus, but also to realise our dreams of a better and more prosperous South Africa. I believe that the COVID-19 pandemic, with its consequential economic, social and political effects, will eventually be judged to have triggered fundamental change to the world order and way of doing things – and mining will not be left untouched.
While mining technology and our physical environmental responsibilities are the more obvious areas in which we should embrace disruption to create a more sustainable industry, we should also ensure that our mining engineers are equipped for future challenges. In this new reality, education and training will have to change fundamentally. Here, the Department of Mining Engineering has already gone a long way down this path. Mining is not an island unto itself, and the curriculum for mining engineers should include exposure to the following: • • •
As mining engineers, we can either allow ourselves to be swamped by the seemingly insurmountable task of bringing about fundamental change in society, or we can embrace disruption and play an important role in creating a better future for mining and our country, in an increasingly disrupted world.
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On the technological front, the disruption of the 4IR has become almost a given when contemplating a more efficient and effective industry using all the innovation and opportunity it may offer. This revolution basically brings together physical and digital technologies and relies on the effective handling and structuring of large volumes of unstructured data. With the proliferation of low-cost sensors and progressively cheaper computer processing power, it means that data can now be easily and cheaply gathered from virtually any piece of equipment we have. This, coupled with recent advances in artificial intelligence, is already making autonomous operations an emerging reality, where large pieces of mining equipment, and even entire facilities, can either run themselves or be controlled remotely.
DEPARTMENT OF MINING ENGINEERING
Leadership, including the very important aspect of ethics in business The social context of business, and its social license to operate Rectifying the imbalances created by past policies without creating new problems, such as has happened with the selective and narrow application of the current, cumbersome and administratively complex, broad-based black economic empowerment (B-BBEE) approach, which has taken place at the expense of broad empowerment International economic systems, with an exposition of the benefits and disadvantages, as well as the effectiveness of various systems to create a more equal, yet productive society
It is true that our main aim is to train and educate technically competent engineers who can mine, market and rehabilitate with confidence. Although we cannot turn them into experts in everything outlined above, in an increasingly complex and disrupted world, one must recognise that they need to be exposed to the broader society and environment in which they will operate if they are to be effective as mining engineers. If we can enable our mining engineers to positively and proactively embrace disruption in its broadest context, it is bound to benefit them, their organisations and the country as a whole. In this regard, I am confident that the Department will continue to embrace this challenge.
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ANNUAL REVIEW 2019/20
