6
MODERN QUARRYING
January - February 2014
AROUND THE
INDUSTRY
Scaw to construct
Ghanaian plant
South African steel products manufac-
turer Scaw Metals Group, is to construct a
new grinding media plant in Tema, Ghana,
which will significantly increase the com-
pany’s grinding media capacity on the
African continent. This move, valued at
over US$40-million, is being carried out in
partnership with the Guma Group, a South
African player, and the Jospong Group of
Companies, based in Ghana.
The plant, with an annual capacity of
50 000 t, should become operational within
18 months, offering significant job opportu-
nities to the local community.
The Scaw Metals Group is the largest
producer of cast high chrome grinding
media in the southern hemisphere and is
the leading producer and supplier of high
chrome and forged grinding balls primarily
to the African platinum, copper and gold
mining industries. The company already has
a presence in Ghana.
South Africa needs to keep an eye on
whether policy, laws and practice are sup-
porting their aim of sustainable develop-
ment in mining and industry – and this
is going to need more applied research
across disciplines. Such research is already
underway at the Centre for Sustainability
in Mining and Industry part of the School
of Mining Engineering at Wits University,
and is being expanded as part of its new
research focus in 2014.
“Having established itself over the
past decade as an education and train-
ing centre of excellence in safety, health,
environment and community engage-
ment (SHEC), the CSMI is now focused on
accelerating its research mandate,” says
programme manager Nancy Coulson.
“The research not only meets the national
need for reflecting on policies and strat-
egies, but also provides longevity to our
training programmes at the CSMI, ensur-
ing that what we teach remains rooted in
current industry and social issues.”
The CSMI offers a range of SHEC-
related courses at Master of Science
(MSc) and certificate level, as well as
short courses, for practitioners through-
out Africa. Matching its research areas
with its educational focus, the centre
explores three main fields: environment
and sustainable development; occupa-
tional health and safety; and society and
engagement.
“Each of these ‘clusters’ support a
range of research activities,” she says.
“Also, we commit to understanding the
linkages between each cluster, and to
collaborate with other centres which are
outside of our particular disciplines.”
Governance and regulation is an
important theme across clusters, so legis-
lation and policy frequently comes under
scrutiny.
“We are interrogating the Mine Health
and Safety Act, for instance,” Coulson
explains. “As an example of outcomes-
based health and safety legislation –
which originally came out of the United
Kingdom in the 1970s – this law has been
implemented in SA now for the best part
of 20 years. However, we need to examine
how this type of legislation translates in
the South African context.”
An important aspect of the Act was
to entrench risk management and worker
participation in the daily practice of min-
ing operations; the CSMI has two PhD
students registered in this area of work, to
examine if the law’s outcomes are in fact
unfolding in the way that was envisaged
by legislators.
“Most of the research in this field is
currently coming from the UK, Canada and
Australia, while very little is being done
locally, which presents a huge opportu-
nity to the centre,” she says. “So the CSMI
is initiating applied research that could
inform the ongoing assessment of our
laws and policy. What we’ve observed is
that amendments to the Act get recom-
mended, but there is insufficient under-
pinning research to validate proposals.
“We are clear that our research should
be interdisciplinary,” says Coulson, “as the
solutions to many of the issues facing
sustainability cannot be found in one
discipline alone. We need to continue
working across disciplines, and the CSMI
prides itself on highlighting the linkages
between traditionally separate fields of
investigation.”
Management of the environment,
another key focus area for the centre, is
also being researched in terms of regula-
tory effectiveness. The impact of mining
on the environment has always been
regulated operation-by-operation, as
each site must ensure that its activities
comply with its particular license require-
ments. “This does not necessarily trans-
late into the best management of the
environment, because the natural envi-
ronment is more commonly a regional
issue,” she says. “You get ‘mining intensity’
in many regions, such as Mpumalanga or
Rustenburg, yet our regulations are not
allowing us to manage this regional envi-
ronment effectively.
“One approach to understanding how
the regional impacts of mining might be
better managed over time is by examin-
ing changes to the landscape. We have
a PhD registered in this area, which is
focused on the impact of mining on the
landscape of the Welkom area – using
geographical information systems (GIS) to
track the changes since before gold was
mined there.”
The multidisciplinary focus is impor-
tant here too. In the Welkom study, for
CSMI boosts 2014 research plans
Excited about the ASM research focus: Nancy
Coulson, programme manager, CSMI.
“You get ‘mining intensity’ in many regions, such as Mpumalanga or
Rustenburg, yet our regulations are not allowing us to manage this regional
environment effectively.”
