The work environment underground is dark , hot , damp and restricted , and miners must enter an excavation after a blast to examine it and make it safe . This task becomes the responsibility of two miners at the beginning of each shift , clad in heavy PPE and equipped with two cap lamp spotlights to provide the only illumination . They tap the excavated walls with a pinch bar to identify and remove loose rock before bolting and netting is installed to prevent FOG . This is a risky business . Advances in technology are urgently needed to improve these conditions . In February 2023 , the Reutech team won the local Rock Hazard Identification and Safe Removal Innovation Challenge run by the Mandela Mining Precinct , the Minerals Council of South Africa , and champion mines – Sibanye-Stillwater and Impala Platinum – in a quest to better detect and monitor FOG – historically one of the biggest causes of fatalities on South African mines . 1 Reutech ’ s geotechnical engineer , Heinrich Greeff took African Mining
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through the company ’ s proposed innovation and its potential development path .
Making the invisible visible Greeff explained that after a blast , fracturing and rock hazards can sometimes be located in the skin of the excavation , where they are visible . These hazards are typically addressed through conventional visual inspection , followed by barring to
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Heinrich Greeff , Reutech ’ s geotechnical engineer . |
All images supplied by Reutech |