In this the centenary year of the birth of the great Nelson Mandela, ‘minds for mines’ are being put to work at the inspiring new Mandela Mining Precinct, in Carlow Road, Johannesburg, which is going all out to revitalise and modernise South Africa’s high-potential but struggling mining industry.

The launch of this jointly funded public–private partnership follows the development of what is South Africa’s first coherent and collaborative agreement that harnesses the energies of government, business, equipment manufacturers and researchers to ensure the longevity of the South African mining industry, which is heading for a sharp projected decline under current conditions.

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the Chamber of Mines (CoM), in collaboration with the newly established Mining Equipment Manufacturers of South Africa (MEMSA), should take a bow for developing the vital mining research and development programmes that will guide mining’s peoplecentric revival and modernisation.

This important journey must be walked together to mark the end of mining’s fragmented past. What researchers must deliver is a new era of safer and healthier mining, the preservation of as many conventional jobs as is economically feasible, the creation of new jobs linked to new technologies and new equipment, and the lowering of costs through the creation of new technologies, particularly those able to turn the challenges of South Africa’s very narrow reefs and extremely hard orebodies to positive account at great depth.

It is fitting that the dousing of the flames that are currently threatening the future of particularly gold and platinum mining must be prioritised by Mandela Mining Precinct Co-Director (CSIR) Navin Singh, Mandela Mining Precinct Co-Director (CoM) Alastair Macfarlane, MEMSA chairperson Freddy Mugeri and MEMSA CEO Dr Paul Jourdan, who must rise to the task of helping to realise optimum returns from South Africa’s mineral wealth, through collaborative research and innovation.

Although there are short-term, medium-term and long-term programmes, the success of the Mandela Mining Precinct in fast-tracking quick wins for urgent short-term problems will be greatly applauded.

In later phases, one hopes that past dead ends will be turned into lucrative opportunities, including the development of new technology that will make possible the tackling of treasure troves left unmined in the past for economic reasons. One thinks especially of the unmined space between the Far West Rand and the mines around Klerksdorp, referred to as the Potch Gap, and of the unmined space in the northern Free State, between Welkom and Bothaville, which is referred to as the Bothaville Gap.

Mining Weekly today expresses the hope that the Mandela Mining Precinct will succeed with flying colours in overcoming current challenges and be acknowledged by history as the catalyst that repositioned South African mining in its hour of need through the development of appropriate technologies, systems and skills that succeeded in rendering the industry attractive to investors and laudably sustainable. (See also pages 16 to 30 of this edition of Mining Weekly.)