IN BRIEF
THIRD-PARTY RAIL ACCESS IS NOW A REALITY
CATERPILLAR
AUTONOMOUSLY HAULS MORE THAN A BILLION TONNES OF MATERIAL For the first time in mining history, trucks equipped with Cat MineStar Command for hauling have autonomously moved more than one billion tonnes of material in less than a year. Roughly 1.2 billion tonnes (1.3 billion tons) were autonomously hauled in 2021 using Command for hauling. Autonomous trucks equipped with Command for hauling are operating at 18 mine sites by 10 companies across three continents. Commodities autonomously hauled include iron ore, oil sands, copper, coal and gold, spanning the 190- to 360-tonne (210- to 400-ton) class sizes. “A recent five-year study by one of our customers autonomously hauling iron ore reported an 11% reduction in fuel usage – resulting in a 4 300-tonne-per-year (4 740 TPY) CO2 emissions reduction – 11% increase in hourly production, 50% higher maximum truck travel speed, and 35% improved tyre life,” says Marc Cameron, vice president, Caterpillar Resource Industries.
PROMOTIONS AT NSDV NSDV, Africa’s first fully integrated law and consultancy firm – specialising in mining, construction and environmental law, has announced three senior promotions after growing the firm from three founding members to 28 legal/corporate consultants and support staff over the past three years. Samantha Reyneke has been promoted from general commercial litigator, operating particularly within the realms of disputes arising from construction and engineering, business rescue, and product liability, to director in the Construction Department at NSDV. Muhammed Khan moves from his role as senior associate to director in the Mining and Environmental Law Department and Sarah Forshaw has been promoted from associate to senior associate in the Construction Department after only six months in her previous role. “Growing our business during the pandemic climate has been challenging, but our philosophy towards people and their growth has allowed us to reward exceptional leadership and avoid the usual ‘bide-your-time’ gauntlet many legal practitioners face,” says co-founder and director Lili Nupen. “We offer an intimate team structure that doesn’t rely on traditional hierarchy and policies to reward exceptional results for our clients.”
6
SA MINING
MARCH / APRIL 2022
Private rail operators have welcomed President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement that third-party rail network access is allowed, as of April this year. Mesela Nhlapo, CEO of the African Rail Industry Association (ARIA), says the opening up of SA’s rail network to private, fee-paying operators will create cost-effective gateways into Africa for South African goods through the African Continental Free Trade Agreement. Just as trade across Europe has thrived through the European Union, Africa is expected to benefit similarly, but that will not happen without efficient and interoperated rail systems. Nhlapo says multiple operators will generate additional revenues for Transnet that will be invested back into catch-up maintenance. The aim is to return South Africa’s rail network to the source of global competitive advantage that it should be.
UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA TO LAUNCH RESEARCH CENTRE FOR MECHANISED MINING SYSTEMS The University of Pretoria (UP) is set to host the South African Mining Extraction, Research, Development and Innovation (SAMERDI) Research Centre for Mechanised Mining Systems in its Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology. Known as the Mandela Mining Precinct (MMP), its role is to modernise mining in South Africa, and is being implemented through five thematic applied research focus areas: the longevity of current mines; mechanised mining systems; advanced ore body knowledge; real-time information management systems; and the successful application of technology centred on people. Professor Francois Malan, head of the Mining Resilience Research Centre at UP, who will be one of the heads at the new centre, says it will function as a multidisciplinary research initiative between the Departments of Mining Engineering, and Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering. “It will establish research expertise in automated condition and performance assessment of rock and equipment, from the parameters obtained during drilling and blasting operations. The practical implication of this is that maintenance of equipment can be done more proactively. “Furthermore, significantly more data can be obtained from the behaviour of rock mass behaviour. This will allow designs to be adapted if, for example, a harder or softer rock mass is encountered in different areas.”
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