L earning b y doing Our modernisa tion pr ogr ammes enc our age indus try wide change Pr ogr ammes ar e c entr ed on a philosoph y of learning b y doing and aim t o tackle some of the sect or s mos t c onc erning is sues including impr o v ements in the health and saf ety of miners r etaining and cr ea ting jobs pr e v enting the pr ema tur e closur e of mines and pr o viding es sential c ommodities t o the w orld in a w a y tha t is ec onomically viable In 20 19 the Miner als C ouncil modernisa tion t eam and its partners c ontinued t o identify k e y tr ends f acing the South A frican mining indus try and t o de v elop solutions t o achie v e longt erm objectiv es thr ough r esear ch de v elopment and inno v a tion RDI Signifcant pr ogr es s has been made acr os s the modernisa tion pr oject portf olio T ogether with our partners the Mandela Mining Pr ecinct and the R esear ch Ins titut e f or Inno v a tion and Sus tainability RIIS w e ha v e dr ama tically shift ed the visibility of inno v a tion in mining in South A frica W e ha v e let the w orld kno w tha t mining is an inno v a tiv e spac e and tha t the F ourth Indus trial R e v olution is impos sible without mining S tr a t egic partnerships Mandela Mining Pr ecinct T he Mandela Mining Pr ecinct is a publicpriv a t e c ollabor a tion funded b y the Department of Scienc e and T echnology D S T and the Miner als C ouncil T he initia tiv e is aimed a t r e vitalising mining r esear ch de v elopment and inno v a tion in South A frica t o ensur e the sus tainability of the indus try Its vision is t o maximise the r eturns of South A frica s miner al w ealth thr ough c ollabor a tiv e sus tainable r esear ch de v elopment inno v a tion and the implementa tion of mining t echnologies in a socially en vir onmentally and fnancially r esponsible manner tha t is r oot ed in the w ellbeing of local c ommunities and the na tional ec onom y It also aims t o equip mines with the nec es sary skills and t echnology f or the ne xt gener a tion of modern mining RIIS RIIS belie v es tha t longt erm sus tainability can only be achie v ed thr ough impr o v ements and r adical changes in the w a y tha t both busines s and society inno v a t e RIIS w as ins trumental in supporting the Mandela Mining Pr ecinct and the Mining E quipment Manuf actur ers of South A frica MEMS A in pr ogr es sing the Isidingo Drill Challenge which is aimed a t impr o ving health saf ety and c ompetitiv enes s During 20 19 RIIS undert ook se v er al early s tage implementa tions based on the w ork of 20 17 and 20 18 and these w er e c omplet ed in close c ollabor a tion with int ernal t eams t o pr omot e the c ollabor a tiv e multi disciplinary appr oach fundamental t o leading inno v a tion pr actic e Our pr ogr ammes Mining Skills 4 0 A k e y objectiv e is t o de v elop an upskilling r eskilling fr ame w ork and s tr a t egy f or skills de v elopment f or the mining indus try of the futur e K e y outputs deliv er ed thus f ar include a Mining Skills 4 0 c onc ept document an indepth sit e visit r eport on curr ent skills de v elopment methodologies and an indepth analy sis of the da ta members pr o vide t o the MQA Emalahleni social inno v a tion A k e y objectiv e is t o r educ e the number of pr ot es ts in the r egion b y building s tr onger r ela tionships betw een the v arious s tak eholders in inno v a tiv e w a y s K e y outputs deliv er ed thus f ar included a s tak eholder engagement pla tf orm da ta analy sis f or a skills impact e v alua tion and an int er activ e map t o impr o v e the quality of decisionmaking Suc c es sful applica tion of t echnology c entr ed ar ound people A k e y objectiv e is t o c ontribut e t o a pr oductiv e indus try thr ough sus tainable r ela tionships and shar ed v alue f or all s tak eholders in a modernising miner als clus t er K e y outputs include s tak eholder c ocr ea tion w orkshops s tudies t o unders tand the pr oc es ses needed t o change mindsets f or modernisa tion as w ell as s tudies t o unders tand the impact of modernisa tion on emplo y ees and c ommunities C oal inno v a tion and t echnology r oadmap A k e y objectiv e is t o r esear ch a r ange of inno v a tion and t echnology lines locally and globally tha t ar e r ele v ant t o the South A frican c oal sect or including those r ela t ed t o a jus t tr ansition t o a lo w carbon ec onom y Inno v a tions and t echnologies tha t can be implement ed in the r oadmap ha v e been identifed Mining t ech incuba t or T he k e y objectiv e is t o de v elop a busines s model f or a t ech incuba t or f ocused on identifying and incuba ting t ech s tartups f or the South A frican mining indus try T he model w as de v eloped and an engagement pr oc es s with v arious pot ential partners has been initia t ed T es t mine T he objectiv e of the t es t mine is t o t es t and demons tr a t e t echnology f or both buy ers and builders of ne w inno v a tions particularly those manuf actur ed locally A frs tphase f easibility s tudy f or such a mine has been de v eloped PROMO TING INNO V A TION AND RD C ONTINUED S tr a t egic Goal 3 P age 82