Worldwide, the mining industry, indeed all sectors of the economy, face a major structural limit, warned Microsoft worldwide mining industry leader Joseph Starwood. A large number of people are retiring and national populations are declining. 

The result would be a permanent workforce shortage. This created the opportunity for technology, AI and agentic AI. 

This was also true of South Africa: the older generation was leaving, and new generations were coming in, noted Minerals Council South Africa skills head Mustak Ally. This meant that the industry needed to adopt different approaches. New technologies, such as collision prevention systems, mandated by new regulations, required new and different maintenance skills. 

These collision avoidance systems also generated a lot of data. This data, he observed, could be analysed and used to increase safety even more. Other new technologies also generated data. "How do we exploit the opportunities presented by these new systems?"

Digital transformation should be part of core training, including for new recruits, urged SmartOps Solutions CEO Mohene Benzane. Simulation projects had become very important, because safety was so important. In a simulator, people could safely make mistakes, and their errors be identified and corrected. And, again, data was generated and could be used to correct training. 

Digital technology was not a side programme for miners; it was a core programme, stressed Exxaro Resources head: people and performance Joseph Rock. If a miner didn't see it as core, they would cease to be competitive. 

Africa needed to embrace the new technologies, very quickly, urged Ally. That would allow the continent to get ahead of the curve and beneficiate its resources. 

"We're at a point where our strategy is going to change," asserted Starwood. "Change will become the strategy." Individuals and organisations both would have to "unlearn", to free themselves from outdated policies and practises. "We need to re-learn."