The Future of Mining in a Digitally Transformed World
DIGITAL in MINING
Free Wits / JCSE Webinar
23rd June 2021 @ 7pm (SA time)
The Webinar Event
What's it About?
Of increasing interest in South Africa and Africa are the ways in which the Mining Industry will be impacted by Digital Transformation, and the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR). The theme of this Free Webinar is “The Future of Mining in a Digitally Transformed World”. It refers to the application of existing digital technologies and future innovations in areas such as AI, machine learning, Big Data Analytics, the Internet of Things (IoT), etc. to all aspects of mining. There are several key features associated with mining in South Africa that will determine the trajectory that the mining industry will follow on the road to digital transformation. These include: ultra-deep-level mining; labour intensive operational models; environmental impact; availability of critical information at the point of production; and dealing with the after-effects of mining.
The Webinar focusses on South Africa’s and Africa’s mining sector, with a strong emphasis on using data to improve operational effectiveness. How does digital transformation support this?
Panellists
Pierre Swart – Accutrak
Pierre has a strong commercial background with a technical interest. He studied at Stellenbosch University, the University of Johannesburg and North-West University, where he obtained a M.Com degree (Management Accountancy), doing his thesis on product costing in the mining industry. He has extensive general management experience in manufacturing, has been Divisional Managing Director of two large, listed groups in South Africa, has implemented a start-up operation, and implemented a turn-around strategy where he managed 260 people with an annual turnover of R2bn.
He was appointed as CEO of Accutrak in July 2012.
Accutrak is an electronics company specialising in tracking vehicles in the underground and surface, or open-pit, mining environment. The objective is to improve production management and productivity. All the technology is designed and created in-house, both hardware and software.
Alex Fenn – Sibanye-Stillwater
Alex is a professionally registered mechanical engineer and has been involved in new technology and innovation in mining for the majority of his career. He currently heads Sibanye-Stillwater’s technology and innovation department which is responsible for group’s Continuous Innovation strategy, specifically focused on innovation culture, structures and processes, as well as organisational innovation, research and development.
M Ahsan Mahboob – DigiMine Lab, Wits University
M Ahsan Mahboob is the Head of Sibanye-Stillwater Digital Mining Laboratory (DigiMine) at University of The Witwatersrand. He holds a Masters degree in Remote Sensing and Geographical Information Systems and is at an advanced stage of submitting his PhD thesis at the School of Mining Engineering. Due to his extraordinary academic performance, he has earned the President’s Gold Medal during his master degree along with several other international awards. Besides that, he has published several research papers in national and international research journals/conferences. During his professional career as an Assistant Professor in Geospatial Technologies, he carried out projects for government and industry organizations. His personal research interests include automation, UAVs, satellite remote sensing, GIS, smart mineral explorations, data science, artificial intelligence and cyber-physical spatial data modelling. Under his leadership, DigiMine has initiated several new projects, starting with the integration of technologies for smart, secure and sustainable mining – for near real-time decision-making from a control room environment.
Gys Malan, Solutions Manager, Huawei
Gys is a data and communication network solutions architect, who is responsible for developing and growing Huawei’s market position within the private sector.
His career spans over 20 years within the ICT sector, where he has garnered a multitude of technical and business skills covering a specialist knowledge around IP networks, WLAN, Transmission and Access networks, structured cable design, ICT services as well datacenter facilities.
As an advocate of good and best practices, Gys’s passion lies in the delivery of best-of-breed ICT Services and Solutions. With great pride and joy, Gys Malan creatively designs and oversees proof of concepts and after-sales implementations of small to large-scale enterprise solutions.
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Webinar Details
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