Modern Quarrying Q2 2018

EQUIPMENT PRODUCTS + SERVICES

The other yellow metal Mining equipment theft and subsequent cross border movement of these assets has long unbalanced the mining industry, but technology and collaborative tools are hitting back where it hurts. This article written by Kyle Dutton, Southern African Movable Asset Register, looks at ways for the police, border personal and mining organisations to regain their grip on valuable assets.

M ining equipment, often referred to as yellow metal, is one of the industry’s truly valuable assets and one of its biggest expenses. Crime syndicates, driven by a growth in the illegal mining industry, are moving mining machinery across borders at an ever-rising rate. This is placing the industry under immense strain. Insurance companies are forced to carry the costs of replacements, the mining sector is feeling the weight of the increased premiums and loss of produc- tivity, and the manufacturers or plant hire organisations deal with losses that place a drag on the balance sheet. It is an ecosys- tem sorely in need of increased visibility and control. This begs two questions. One, how does the mining industry ‘lose’ machines that weigh upwards of five tons and can hardly be hidden? Two, what can be done to provide border officials with greater insight into the ownership, status and validity of a vehicle so they can prevent it from crossing into another country? Most tracking solutions can be easily removed or hidden. In fact, the remains of trackers are often all that are left when police arrive at the last known location.

Often the theft is only realised sometime after the vehicles have already left the country and the only formof identification is a tracker that’s ruined or basic markings that have been removed. Registering an asset to the mining company doesn’t do much more than mark it with an invisible name and, once it has crossed the border, nobody cares where it came from or who owned it first. The removal of the protection provided by eNaTIS from yellow metal equipment has seriously impacted on the industry. There’s an estimated value of nearly R40- billion inmovable assets that has no record. The equipment arrives at the border and other than poor markings and registration, there is nothing to stop costly assets from meandering into pastures new, without their owner’s permission. For most officials, one of the biggest challenges they have is the lack of a sys- tem that they can use to systematically check assets as they arrive. A system that can determine if the vehicle is going in the right direction, is in the hands of the right people and if it is heading to a legit- imate destination. There has long been a need for a reliable record that’s not just visible and trackable, but up to date and capable of being monitored in real time. Expensive, in-demand assets need a system that can protect the owners, the financiers and the insurance companies and this is where the Southern Africa Movable Asset Register (SAMAR) steps in. This initiative provides the industry with a trackable and robust record of all those assets that, by law, are not allowed to be registered on eNaTIS. Anything from a jet ski to a generator to other precious yel- low metal equipment can now be tightly managed and controlled using a system that’s designed specifically for the chal- lenges that lie across Africa.

Border officials and the South African Police Services have easy access to the SAMAR register and can use it to identify the property and its owner, allowing for officials to have richer control over asset movement. It is an accurate, real-time solution that gives the right people the information they need. The solution has been designed to cover the entire owner- ship lifecycle of the asset so the names of both the titleholder and owner are main- tained and updated in real time. Finally, it provides a certificate of registration that similar in look and feel as the one issued by eNaTIS. Embedded within SAMAR is a cus- tomer relationship management tool that gives the owner real-time insight into the status of an asset. This registry includes: where the asset is based, who is using it, its payment status, its last loca- tion and more. The entire system is then supported by the SAMAR high security asset labels that are designed to with- stand significant pressure and tampering. Unlike traditional trackers, these have a high resistance to heat, frost, abrasion, chemicals and humidity, they are tamper evident and cannot be removed without being destroyed. In short, the last known location of the asset is very likely to be where the asset actually is. The police, border personnel and min- ing organisations can use this technology to regain their grip on valuable assets, working together to mitigate the com- plexities of asset tracking and control, and reduce the impact of cross-border crime. www.samar.co.za Mining equipment, often referred to as yellow metal, is one of the industry’s truly valuable assets and one of its biggest expenses.

Kyle Dutton, Southern African Movable Asset Register.

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MODERN QUARRYING

Quarter 2 / 2018