Plant Equipment and Hire February 2020 | Page 22

INDUSTRY EQUIPMENT: MINING PERCEPTIONS HAMPER SURFACE MINER GROWTH Wirtgen’s surface miner could be a potential gamechanger, but the South African mining industry has been slow to accept new technology, writes Leon Louw. A number of coal mining, bauxite and iron ore operations in Africa have acquired the surface miner. T he best industry technology typically had its origin in a totally different application. The diamond sector, for example, today uses colour sorting technology that was initially used in sorting grain in the agricultural sector. So too, many ideas originally developed for mobile equipment in the construction industry evolved into being used in the mining industry and vice versa. 20 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 German-headquartered equipment manufacturer Wirtgen’s impressive surface miner was developed based on their mobile road construction and milling equipment technology. These surface miners have become a great subject of debate amongst open cast mining operators in Africa. When watching the machine in action, it is hard to believe that the take-up, especially in a country like South Africa, has been so slow. But then, it is a new concept for an industry known to be rather sluggish to adapt to new technology and change. Furthermore, South Africans are geared towards deep, underground operations and bulk surface mining is not such a big part of the culture in the country. However, the expanding coal, iron ore and manganese sectors offer ample opportunity for equipment like the www.equipmentandhire.co.za