mining news
14
06.13
According to the organisers, the rising importance
of Africa in the world’s construction and mining
markets will be taking centre stage at this year’s
bauma Africa – the international trade fair for con-
struction machinery, building material machines,
mining machines and construction vehicles –
which will take place from September 18 to 21 at
the Gallagher Convention Centre, Johannesburg.
The trade fair has reportedly been a sell-out suc-
cess with over 500 exhibitors taking up over 60 000
m
2
of exhibition space. Exhibitors from 34 countries
will be participating in the trade fair and over 200
companies will be part of international pavilions
from Austria, China, Finland, Germany, Great Britain,
Italy, Korea, Northern Ireland and Spain.
Elaine Crewe, Chief Executive Officer of MMI
South Africa, says that “as investors and busi-
nesses look towards developing countries for new
growth, the mining and construction industries
are set to profit from this move. The need for in-
frastructure presents a growing opportunity for
those present in these sectors to provide services
and products throughout developing countries and
benefit from this burgeoning growth. The growing
pool of international entrants into the African mar-
ket is a telling sign of just how important Africa is
becoming and the need for specialised players in
the industry. We trust that bauma Africa will high-
light new products in these sectors.”
Online visitor pre-registration has opened on the
bauma Africa website at
/
en/visitors/registration
. This will give visitors the
opportunity to be part of the bauma Africa match-
making programme, which has been designed to
assist visitors in setting up onsite appointments
with exhibitors prior to the show.
The number of first-year mining students at
the Wits School of Mining Engineering has
surpassed all expectations in 2013, reaching
record levels that will help solve the industry’s
skill shortages.
According to Professor Fred Cawood,
Head of the School of Mining Engineering at
Coal of Africa Limited (CoAL) says it propos-
es placing the Mooiplaats Colliery on care
and maintenance and will embark on a regu-
latory Section 189A process with effect from
3 June 2013 with stakeholders. This decision
follows sustained and concerted attempts
over the past two financial years to make the
operation profitable and enable it to produce
positive cash flows.
CoAL reports that its efforts to improve
productivity and establish profitable opera-
tions at Mooiplaats, including capital invest-
ment, have been hampered by the global
downturn in thermal coal prices over the last
year. The situation has been exacerbated by
the inability of the colliery to ramp up pro-
duction to achieve required targets due to
poor operational performance and challeng-
ing geological conditions. Consequently, the
company has continued incurring an unac-
ceptable level of operational losses.
Mooiplaats recorded a loss of approxi-
mately R167 million for the financial year
ended 30 June 2012 and has generated an
Record number of mining students at Wits
Professor Fred Cawood, Head of the Wits School
of Mining Engineering.
Wits, the word is out that mining is a good
career choice for a young person looking for
a secure job after graduation.
In less than 15 years, the number of first-
year students registering in the department
has risen from 43 (in 1999) to 302 at the be-
ginning of this year. There has been a particu-
larly sudden jump since 2012, requiring that
the first-year intake be split into two streams
to keep class sizes manageable. The School
is also hiring more staff to meet this increased
demand.
Professor Cawood said the School was
pleased with the demand for its courses, de-
spite the extra pressure that this placed on its
resources. It was already putting extra effort
into academic and other support for new stu-
dents to give them the best possible chance
of success.
Extra maths and physics classes on Satur-
days have been one way to address the lack
of academic preparedness for university.
“The outcomes-based education (OBE)
system simply does not prepare students
well enough for engineering studies,” he said.
“This is evidenced by the fact that their grade
12 marks bear no relation to the marks that
they get at university.”
The other main area of support provided by
the School is financial and logistical.
“Less than 30 % of our students have a
support system in Johannesburg; many of
them have never even been in Gauteng be-
fore,” said Professor Cawood. “Many first-
year students are the first in their families
ever to go to university – so they are not sure
what is required when they arrive, and often
there is inadequate provision for accommo-
dation and meals.
“In other cases, students have been
booked into sub-optimal living arrangements,
which are not conducive to learning. We have
raised money from sources like the Depart-
ment of Mineral Resources, Eskom, SRK
Consulting, the London Metals Exchange,
BME and the SA Institute of Mining and Met-
allurgy (SAIMM) to put students into a situa-
tion where they can focus on their studies.”
The school aims to attract 150 new stu-
dents into the degree course each year; this
is generally augmented by up to 50 students
who have not passed all their subjects and
must repeat first year.
At the post-graduate level, the Wits School
of Mining Engineering has stabilised at a lev-
el of about 200 students per year. Entrance
to the postgraduate programme is strictly
controlled to develop and maintain a better
match between available lecturing resources
and students serviced.
b
auma Africa “a sell-out success”
CoAL to put Mooiplaats on care and maintenance
average monthly loss of R20 million since the
beginning of the current financial year. The
company has an allocation of 3 Mt in Maputo
at the Matola Terminal and is working to miti-
gate the take or pay exposure.
“This decision has not been taken lightly as
CoAL recognises the importance of conserv-
ing jobs, but at the same time the need to pre-
serve the company’s financial structure and
ensure its future sustainability is paramount,”
says David Brown, Chairman of CoAL.
Kigosi gold project
in Tanzania awarded
mining licence
Tanzanian Royalty Exploration Corporation
reports that its Kigosi project in Tanzania has
been granted a mineral rights and mining li-
cence through its wholly owned subsidiary,
Tanzania American International Develop-
ment Corporation 2000 Limited (Tanzam). The
licence covers 9,91 km
2
.
Kigosi represents one of five projects – the
others are Itetemia, Buckreef, Bingwa and
Tembo – that are included in Tanzanian Roy-
alty’s production plan.
The company says its intention is to move
to production on all gold properties that
qualify, while at the same time expanding
exploration on its base metals project in the
Kabanga nickel belt.
