Capital Equipment News March 2023

MINING NEWS

African Mining Indaba unlocked industry investment potential

The 2023 African Mining Indaba recently held in Cape Town, drew mining sector heavyweights from across the country and the globe. Mining Indaba senior manager for communication strategy, Laura Cornish said that “when industry and government are able to come together and explore collabo rative opportunities, it fosters an alignment of ideas and that decreases or lessens the barriers to alignment.” Connecting influential thought-leaders from across the globe, the Mining Indaba welcomed high-profile guests including Felix Thisekedi, President of the Democrat ic Republic of the Congo, Chief Executive of Anglo American, Duncan Wanblad, and H.E. Eng. Khalid Bin Saleh Al-Mudaifer, Saudi Arabia’s Vice Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources for Mining Affairs. While South Africa remains an industry leader in the mining sector, the future of the industry will be determined by the sustainability of existing and new part nerships between stakeholders, investors, government, and corporations. Speaking on South Africa’s role in the Mining Indaba, Brand South Africa’s Acting Leading Spanish technology company TORSA has launched its pan-African busi ness hub in South Africa with intentions to drastically reduce mining incidents, and most importantly, fatalities in line with a presidential Memorandum of Understand ing (MoU) signed end 2022. During an official visit to South Africa in October 2022, South African president Cyril Ramaphosa and Spanish President Pedro Sánchez signed a MoU on coopera tion in the field of Industry 4.0. President Sánchez announced that Spain will make approximately ZAR35 billion available over the next five years to support the participation of Spanish companies’ proj ects in South Africa and beyond. With the governments intent to see higher levels of foreign direct investment by Spanish companies in South Africa, TORSA accelerated its expansion to the African continent as its collision avoidance tech nology addresses recently gazetted South African health and safety regulations, to reduce harm and fatalities in local mining. Most accidents on mines involve heavy equipment, vehicles and workers. This

General Manager for Research, Shamiso Hlatshwayo said “As a custodian of the South African Nation Brand it is particularly important for us to plant the seed in inves tors’ minds about what South Africa has to offer in relation to mining.” Hlatshwayo continued, asserting that it is important to showcase South Africa by highlighting its competitiveness and unique value proposition as an attractive invest ment opportunity. With many investors looking towards new sustainable energy sources, Hlatsh wayo asserted that South Africa was “stra tegically placed to be one of the regional

leaders in creating a green energy future.” It is evident that Africa is not resorting to complacency when it comes to the con tinent’s mineral riches, but is determined to ensure the future stability of the industry through international collaboration and responsible mining. The African Mining Indaba continues to be a powerful platform in its ability to con nect industry leaders and propose sustain able solutions that will not only protect the mining sector’s present economic signifi cance but also secure a stable industry that can feasibly prosper into the foreseeable future. b

TORSA launches its pan-African business hub in South Africa Collision avoidance technology addresses recently gazetted South African health and safety regulations to reduce harm and fatalities in local mining.

prompted the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy to bring into law the Chapter 8 clauses of the Mine Health and Safety Act Regulations relating to Level 9 vehicle intervention for collision avoidance in trackless mobile machinery, both surface and underground. Under this law, mobile machines must be fitted with technologies that automat ically detect the presence of any pedes trian or other machine within its vicinity. In the event where no action is taken to prevent potential collision, further means shall be provided for the mobile machine to return to a safe speed after the brakes

are automatically applied. The company’s award-winning solu tions, such as its High Precision Collision Avoidance System with Lidar3D and GPS technology (among other technologies) that offers centimetre precision and its unique Monitor Vibration System, has re duced human injury reports by 80 percent in a year. De Diego says that in addition to its South African launch, TORSA has its sights set on the Copperbelt region and other important markets including Botswana, Mozambique and Morocco for future African expansion. b

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