The global mining industry is currently under pressure and is at the bottom of the largest mining supercycle since the Second World War (Bryant, 2011). Mining companies face everincreasing challenges to profitability due to low commodity prices, increasingly tough mining conditions, and rising pressure from stakeholders (Deloite, 2014). In the short term, the decreased commodity prices have been straining cash flows, while in the longer term many existing mines are maturing, thereby resulting in the extraction of lower ore grades and longer haul distances from the excavation face. Orebody replacement rates are also declining and the duration of development for new mines is increasing. Added to this, worldwide mining operations are up to 28% less productive today than they were a decade ago, and that is after adjusting for declining ore grades (McKinsey, 2015a).Depleting ore reserves and declining ore grades in existing operations also means that companies are required to mine deeper to reach new deposits, which in turn increases costs and results in reduced profits. Since the start of the 21st century, over 75% of new base metal discoveries have been at depths greater than 300 m (Deloite, 2014), highlighting both the gradual depletion of shallower reserves and the need for deeper mining. However, mining at these depths involves additional challenges, such as safety issues, flooding, gas discharges, seismic events, and ventilation problems (Deloite, 2014).Apart from the fact that mining operations are now deeper, the geology is also more challenging and mines operate at higher risk. The result is that continuous business improvement alone is no longer sufficient for companies to survive (Deloitte, 2016 A technology map to facilitate the process of mine modernization throughout the mining cycle by J. Jacobs* and R.C.W. Webber-Youngman* It is vital for organizations and individual operations to have access to a platform with technology-related information to consider for further research and development. This paper presents a technology map that was created with the purpose of facilitating mine modernization through technological advancement throughout the mining lifecycle/cycle. To achieve this, a platform was created to represent the mining lifecycle that incorporates each of the mining phases, i.e. exploration, project evaluation, mine design, operations, closure, and post-closure phases. The constituent value drivers for each phase were then investigated and included. These covered the various focus areas within the mining cycle, such as the applicable sub-phases, processes, systems, activities, or specific challenges, that impact a mine's operation.Technologies, both physical and digital, with the potential to add value to these focus areas were then incorporated into the platform to create a technology map. This potential to add value, if applied or modified for application, was assessed on any combination of five factors, namely the ability to increase production, increase productivity, increase efficiency,...

No abstract

The mining industry of the 21st century needs a new kind of leader as certain leadership styles and most leadership models currently employed in the world, and also in South Africa, are not sustainable. This article explores the historical leadership models that are now outdated and proposes a different approach in dealing with future leadership-related challenges. Questions are posed to explore leadership that can balance the leadership styles of the past (business acumen with technical capability on the one hand, and personality on the other hand) with increased intuitive discretion, a 'feel' for people and the future, and the ability to deal with complexity and to make timeous decisions to build organizational and industry resilience through the leadership characteristics identified. The question therefore arises: How are we going to manage and lead operations sustainably under these circumstances in future so as to deal with the challenges facing us in the Fourth Industrial Revolution? A new 4.0D Leadership model is proposed so as to increase appropriate leadership qualities (and therefore, industry effectiveness) in dealing with the challenges facing us in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Mining is an essential activity for meeting people's needs for commodities and services. This is done through mining (mineral extraction) and beneficiation to produce endproducts in sustainable ways that contribute to economic development and the provision of services to society. Mining engineering involves the application of the relevant knowledge and understanding of mathematical and natural sciences, and a body of mining engineering knowledge, technology, and methodologies. Mining engineering furthermore aims to deliver solutions, the effects of which can be projected even in mostly uncertain contexts. Streamlining mining engineering education therefore requires mastering of the necessary knowledge, and the teaching and learning of skills in ill-structured, non-routine, real-world problem-solving contexts (Jonassen, Strobel, and Lee, 2006).In the mining environment, these problems vary from well-structured repair-type problems (including repair and replacement of faulty equipment), to semi-and entirely ill-structured problems. The latter can include the upgrading of safety infrastructure, optimizing the application and use of existing mining and mining-related equipment, processes, systems and procedures, as well as the design of innovative tools and systems to operate effectively and adapt to changing physical mining conditions. In all of this, occupational health and safety (OH&S)-related hazards and risks need to be considered and addressed so as to ensure a safe, healthy, productive, and profitable working environment.The certified level of engineering education outcome and level of experience of the mining engineering practitioner (ECSA, 2015) together determine the nature and complexity of the problems a particular practitioner might be entrusted to solve. For this reason, when mining engineering learners at the University of Pretoria (UP) embark on their final year real-world mining projects, they are usually given relatively well-structured problems to solve. This, however, does not preclude introducing them to semi-and ill-structured problems as part of a larger research project or team effort. Establishing a sound problemsolving development process will serve them well in dealing with the semi-and illstructured problems that they will encounter in their future careers.One of the reasons for the difficulties in mining engineering education is that the mining environment is complex. Complexity This article is based on the premise that the purpose of engineering education, in general, is to deliver engineering practitioners who are intellectually capable of identifying, structuring, and solving complex problems, and that solving engineering problems is systemic. The solutions to problems are viewed as objects, tools, processes, and systems. The purpose of this article is, however, to specifically explore some of the aspects of the intangible world of mining engineering from a generic problem-solving perspective, which would also be applicable to any other engineering discipline. This is done by focusing...

SynopsisThis paper discusses a study that investigated different underground bulk air heat exchanger (>100 m 3 /s) design criteria. A literature review found that no single document exists covering all design criteria for different heat exchangers, and therefore the need was identified to generate a guideline with decision analyser steps to arrive at a technical specification. The study investigated the factors influencing heat exchanger designs (spray chambers, towers, and indirect-contact heat exchangers) and the technical requirements for each. The decision analysers can be used to generate optimized, user-friendly fit-forpurpose designs for bulk air heat exchangers (air cooler and heat rejection). The study was tested against a constructed air cooler and heat rejection unit at a copper mine 1 . It was concluded that the decision analysers were used successfully. This tool (decision analysers) can be used by engineers for the efficient and cost-effectively design of heat exchangers.