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Andrew Lane
Mining the fourth industrial revolution way is the future says industry expert, Andrew Lane.

Innovation is imperative for the future of mining in South Africa. Industry expert, Andrew Lane proposes that leveraging on new information, mining technologies and energy knowhow, which are the hallmarks of the fourth industrial revolution, should set the scene for success.

Lane who is Africa Energy and Resource Leader at Deloitte, engaged students at a recent guest lecture hosted by the University of the Free State’s Business School on the Bloemfontein Campus. “The future is intelligent mining. It’s not just about technology; it’s about changing the way you do business,” he said.

Transforming traditional to trailblazing
“What gives you sustainable competitive advantage is the rate at which you innovate,” said Lane. Design paradigm shifts in the South African mining industry may have resulted in about 100 000 job losses during the past four years. However, mining companies stand to achieve significant gains through applying innovation.

Despite most of South Africa’s mines nearing the end of their lives, mining remains a large employer and investor attractor which ensures that the country holds a competitive advantage in the global economy. Lane is adamant that, “even though we have declined from 20% to 5% in terms of GDP contributions, mining remains a large contributor to export earnings”.

Reaching resource-rich regions
While some physical resources are inaccessible using current technology, “new mineral-processing technologies help tap into previously uneconomical mineral deposits”, according to Lane. In addition to the environment, 3D visualisation cameras can track employees and equipment in the bowels of the earth.

More mining, less loss
Integrating mining, energy, and information technology will ensure that companies reduce people, capital and energy intensity, while increasing mining intensity. The impossible can be achieved if technology is used well for developmental outcomes, employment, and improving standards of living.



News Archive

Enhancement of social justice focus at research colloquium
2010-10-07

At the third Education for Social Justice Research Colloquium the publication Praxis towards sustainable empowering learning environments in South were handed to Prof. Ezekiel Moraka, Vice-Rector: External Relations at the UFS. At this occasion were, from the left: Prof. Dennis Francis, Dean of the UFS Faculty of Education; Prof. Sechaba Mahlomaholo, Research Professor in the Faculty of Education Sciences at the North-West University; Prof. Moraka; and Dr Milton Nkoane, Senior Lecturer in the UFS Faculty of Education.
Photo: Leonie Bolleurs

 

This year, the University of the Free State (UFS) was the host for the Research Colloquium: Education for Social Justice for the very first time. It is the third time that this colloquium has been presented.

Prof. Ezekiel Moraka, Vice-Rector: External Relations at the UFS, opened the colloquium, stating that academics, through their research, are ultimately in a good standing to advise government on important issues such as social justice for them to address these issues accordingly.

Prof. Sechaba Mahlomaholo, Research Professor in the Faculty of Education Sciences at the North-West University, delivered the opening address on the theme: Validating community cultural wealth towards sustainable empowering learning environments for social justice. He said that the legacy of our recent past as South Africa still continues to haunt us, especially as exemplified in the dysfunctionalities that are rife in our education.

“With the colloquium we manage to bring together the ideas, thoughts, resources and efforts of educators and/or educationists concerned with the creation of a more equitable, equal, free, hopeful, peaceful and socially just society. Through our teaching, our community engagement and research activities we strive towards a more humane, caring, respecting and respectful South Africa and the world,” he said.

According to Prof. Mahlomaholo, education and its research are some of the most potent mechanisms at the very centre of social transformation. The papers at the colloquium focused on investigating, understanding and responding to issues of amongst others:

  • The medium of teaching and learning which continues to be a barrier to many learners to perform to the best of their abilities in the majority of the education institutions in South Africa;
  • Health, sexuality, HIV/Aids, stigmatisation and other deseases plaguing our communities currently;
  • Self-fulfilling prophecies and stereotypes about some learners not being as intelligent as the rest and this finally being reflected and confirmed in their poor academic achievements;
  • Differentiated levels of parental involvement in the activities of their children’s learning due to long absences from their families as they have to work in far-off places of employment;

Papers delivered at the colloquium moved beyond merely identifying the problems; they also suggested possible and plausible research-based solutions to these, such as integrating HIV/Aids education in curricula, listening to the aspirations of significant stakeholders such as mothers and parents generally in teaching and facilitating more rigorous community engagement practices.

At the colloquium gala dinner the book Praxis towards sustainable empowering learning environments in South Africa by authors Dr Milton Nkoane, Senior Lecturer in the UFS Faculty of Education, Prof. Mahlomaholo and Prof. Dennis Francis, Dean of the Faculty of Education at the UFS, was launched. The publication consists of a collection of the best peer-reviewed papers from a conference with the theme Creating sustainable empowering learning environments through scholarship of engagement. The main criterion for inclusion was that the paper should contribute to the theme by means of an original, tight, theoretical and empirical study conducted with the aim of informing the practice of creating sustainable empowering learning environments. The concrete cases examined in many of the chapters are very useful to helping readers understand the specific, on-the-ground concerns related to higher education and schools.

Media Release
Issued by: Leonie Bolleurs
Strategic Communication
Tel: 051 401 2707
Sel: 0836455853
Email: bolleursl@ufs.ac.za  
30 September 2010
 

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