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Profile and Vision

The Centre for Mechanised Mining Systems is a joint initiative of the University of the Witwatersrand (one of South Africa's leading tertiary engineering institutions), the country's mining companies and mining equipment suppliers.

The Centre is committed to upholding the high standards of academic integrity and independent professionalism for which the University of the Witwatersrand has achieved widespread international recognition.

Our vision is clear:

To develop skills and capabilities that make a significant contribution to the successful implementation of mechanised and automated mining in Southern Africa and, in the process to be recognised as a leading centre for practical and fundamental research into mechanised mining.

Our services are founded on sound business principles, delivering measurable value to the Centre's investors and to all stakeholders in the mining industry. We contribute positively to South Africa's developmental imperatives, financially and socially, offering world-class training and research services to mining companies and equipment suppliers in South Africa and beyond the country's borders.

Accordingly, our mandate is to develop skills and capabilities that make a significant contribution to the successful implementation of mechanised and automated mining in Southern Africa, and to achieve international recognition as a centre for mechanised mining systems.

Key focus areas are:

• the development of new skills and capabilities through knowledge transfer;
• influential thinking on novel mining systems;
• identification and transfer facilitation of new technologies;
• undertaking applied research into mechanised mining systems which is linked to high level skills development; and
• acting as a catalyst for collaborative relationships.

Our focus is on underground and surface mining, encompassing all commodities. The diversity of the companies that are formally invested in the activities of the Centre reflects this approach. These companies are:

• African Rainbow Minerals
• Anglo Platinum
• De Beers
• Gold Fields
• Joy Mining Machinery
• Lonmin
• Sandvik Mining and Construction

Funds for the operation of the Centre are sourced from the annual investment of the aforementioned companies. Additional income is generated from the development and hosting of post-graduate courses and specialist contract research projects undertaken exclusively for these investing companies.

Deliverables

Our service to the mining industry is to assist with the introduction of mechanisation projects. Our intervention will contribute to:

• the creation of safer and healthier working environments in mines;
• improved mining efficiency;
• improving the capacity for creativity and innovation within the mining industry;
• improving the quality of work in mines;
• improved employment opportunities in mines directly, as well as in the secondary industries that supply mines; and
• improving the international standing of South Africa as a favourable destination for mining investment.