Modern Quarrying Q3 2020

The more pressing concern quarries face at the moment is the increased pressure to rapidly ramp up production, in an effort to recoup output lost during the hard lockdown.

FUTURE OF QUARRYING

UNPACKING THE ‘NEXT NORMAL’ FOR THE QUARRYING INDUSTRY

Like any other sector of the global economy, the quarrying industry is facing unprecedented challenges due to the coronavirus pandemic. Industry stakeholders concur that an imminent restructuring and re-thinking of the quarrying business could be the imperative of our times as the industry plans for the ‘next normal’. By Munesu Shoko.

T hat the coronavirus (COVID-19) times. Kevin Sneader and Shubham Singhal of McKinsey & Company maintain that the pandemic augurs the “imminent restructuring of the global economic order.” Like any other business sector, aggregates companies are looking at ways to protect their businesses during the pandemic, while finding workable solutions that will shape the ‘next normal’ post-pandemic. crisis is a world-changing event is no overstatement. Business experts believe that dealing with the pandemic and its aftermath could be the obligation of our

The impact Commenting on how the pandemic has affected the quarrying industry in South Africa, Andries van Heerden, CEO of Afrimat, an open-pit mining com- pany providing industrial minerals, commodities and construction materials, says the crisis came at a time when the industry was already suffering from decreased demand for construction materials, thus worsening an already complicated business environment. “The construction industry has been impacted by a shrinking market for the past three years, which left many quarrying businesses vulnerable when the lockdown was announced unexpectedly,” says

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MODERN QUARRYING QUARTER 3 - 2020