COUNTRY IN FOCUS •
PANDEMIC CHANGES
LANDSCAPE
By Warren Beech: partner head of mining and infrastructure at Eversheds Sutherland
The global Covid-19 pandemic, and in particular the stringent lockdowns
and other measures that have been implemented in response, have had
a dramatic impact on the global economy, and all sectors, including the
mining and natural resources sector.
In South Africa, the declaration of the ‘state of disaster’ by
President Ramaphosa under the provisions of the Disaster
Management Act, No. 57 of 2002, and the subsequent
lockdown, has been the single biggest disruptor in
decades, and the consequences are unlikely to be properly
understood for months, if not years, and all South Africans
are likely to feel the impact for a very long time.
Covid-19 has, however, also provided new opportunities,
including the extremely quick transition for many companies
from supplying normal chemical-based products, to the
manufacture and delivery of hand sanitizers, and re-engineering,
to supply much needed components for ventilators. South
Africa has, once again, responded well to these immediate
opportunities. South Africa is likely to continue responding well to
these opportunities in the medium- to long-term.
There is no doubt that the pandemic has changed the landscape
in South Africa, possibly forever. But, on the other hand, memories
can be short, and the will to continue doing things differently,
may slowly disappear as the realities of unemployment, inability
to pay mortgage bonds and other credit payments, and the
associated socio-economic impacts, hit home.
Leon Louw
Due to the nature of a mining operation, it is difficult to practice social
distancing. In the ‘crush’, narrow stopes and cages, many workers need
to be accommodated in limited space.
South Africa was already facing bleak economic prospects for
2020, before COVID-19 hit, with unemployment figures rising,
inconsistent supply of sustainable electricity, and looming
downgrades. The measures, regardless of how necessary, that
have been implemented, including the lockdown, to prevent
contraction and spread of Covid-19, will worsen this position –
substantially.
Still in the ‘crush’
South Africa’s mining and natural resources sector, like the
construction and infrastructure sector, relies heavily on
large numbers of employees, despite the move towards
mechanisation, and ultimately, automation. Most of South
Africa’s large-scale mines are reliant on a substantial workforce,
numbering in the thousands.
An old term, the ‘crush’, which is still used by many miners to
refer to the area between the change house, and the shaft
head, where workers collect their cap lamps, self-contained
self-rescuers, and wait for the conveyance to take them
Leon Louw
Underground mines need to get their frontline workers to the stope as
soon as possible.
underground, comes to mind, as an appropriate description
of what the situation is on a day to day basis at several mines.
In the ‘crush’ area, workers congregate in their hundreds, if not
thousands, standing side-by-side, often in confined areas.
During the lockdown, or periods of restricted movement, while
these mines were on care and maintenance or on reduced
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African Mining • May 2020 • 23