While the global mining sector lags other sectors in terms of innovation spend, South Africa’s mining research, development and innovation (RD&I) stands out as a key contributor within the country’s overall RD&I landscape, says minerals industry organisation Minerals Council South Africa modernisation and safety senior executive Sietse van der Woude.

Despite research from 2020 showing that mining companies invested less than 1% of gross revenue in RD&I, significant investments are, nonetheless, being made in the development of new mining technologies as the industry aims to improve operational and efficiency performance to drive down costs and increase profitability.

It is critical that the industry constantly adopts new technologies and ways of working to ensure it is ahead in terms of modern mining, considering the fast pace at which technology now becomes obsolete, he notes.

In many instances, mining RD&I is classified under manufacturing, as the majority of new technology is found in the general equipment space.

“Mining cannot modernise without innovation, and often this innovation stems from outside the mining ecosystem.”

One such mining-specific innovation is the Isidingo Drill, which was developed in 2022 through the Mandela Mining Precinct, the largest public-private partnership on sector-specific RD&I, hosted by the Minerals Council South Africa and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research.

The drill presents “a new era of hard-rock drilling”, with improvements to what was historically a dangerous, heavy and loud manually-operated rock drill, says Van der Woude.

The concept of the Isidingo Drill required the reduction of the weight of the drill from between 28 kg and 32 kg, to about 16 kg; the ability to be set up and taken down within 15 minutes; the use of an alternate power source (which was historically compressed air); and the incorporation of parallelism.

“South Africa is replete with similar examples, from advances in minerals processing technologies to the application of AI in ore processing, to more traditional mining equipment engineering.”

An active innovation ecosystem should form the core of a persistently modern industry and must support the development of new technologies, as well as assist mining firms in successfully adopting and implementing them, adds Van der Woude.

Further, technology should improve the industry’s ability to extract minerals in an environmentally responsible way by reducing energy and water consumption, says Van der Woude.

Research Partnership
For several years, Minerals Council South Africa and research institute the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) have independently undertaken research to understand the nature of investment in the South African mining RD&I ecosystem.

A partnership was established in 2023 to develop robust, accurate and comprehensive data on mining. The partnership is anticipated to continue to 2025, notes Van der Woude.

Facilitated by innovation-focused advisory firm the Research Institute for Innovation and Sustainability (RIIS), the partnership aims to produce an inclusive, industry-wide survey to gain critical insights into the key investment aspects that encourage or impede mining innovation in South Africa.

“The RD&I survey will further enhance our understanding of mining’s innovation ecosystem and indicate how considered investment will ensure mining’s position as a robust contributor to the South African economy,” says RIIS CEO Davis Cook.

The partnership also aims to identify existing investment gaps and highlight opportunities that can support the mining sector’s advancement towards a just energy transition, explains Van der Woude.

“By providing critical statistics on . . . mining RD&I investment, we can drive real industry impact, from assisting with the development of institutional innovation investment policies to providing industry RD&I investment benchmarks that have not been previously articulated,” says HSRC Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators Centre executive head Dr Glenda Kruss.