Universities adapt to develop mining skills
Amid various conversations on the importance of technology in African mining, a panel discussion at this year’s London Indaba titled ‘Is asset management the key to unlocking growth for mining in Africa?’ focused on the importance of asset management in the sector.
During the discussion, Wits Mining Institute and Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment director Professor Glen Nwaila highlighted the role the university was playing in ensuring students were equipped with the necessary skills to meet industry demands.
He pointed out that there was a skills gap between the expectations of the industry and what was being taught by universities. As a result, he said Wits and other universities had begun to build the necessary infrastructure to fill these gaps.
He cited the example of the Sibanye-Stillwater DigiMine Laboratory – a mock mine that exposed students to a real mining environment before taking them to the field.
Nwaila added that new courses havd also been introduced for first and second year engineering degrees, which included data-driven decision-making, to allow upcoming engineers and upcoming scientists to gain hands-on experience.
Moreover, he said the university had introduced capacity development courses.
“This is actually a partnership between the Wits Mining Institute and a number of original-equipment manufacturers, together with mining companies, because we have realised that us coming up with problems and presenting them to the industry as solutions doesn't really work. We actually have to go into the industry and find out what are some of the core issues. And that is what we have been doing,” he said.
“The university becomes a safe space to actually test technology before you deploy it in a mine,” he added.
Comments
Research Reports
Latest Multimedia
Latest News
Showroom
Immersive Technologies is the world's largest, proven and tested supplier of simulator training solutions to the global resources industry.
VISIT SHOWROOM
Rentech provides renewable energy products and services to the local and selected African markets. Supplying inverters, lithium and lead-acid...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
